28th May 2012, 11:52 pm | #301 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Oxford, UK.
Posts: 17,846
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Re: This forum
Quote:
But note that it's only a tiny minority of posts that stand out as falling below the usual standard of politeness that we have come to expect here. Even so, all this does prove how important moderation is to keep things from falling apart. Nick. |
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28th May 2012, 11:55 pm | #302 | |
Heptode
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Killamarsh, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK.
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Re: This forum
Quote:
Helped me when I was at school and still helps me today. Now can we please end this spat between you and Sean, as far as public viewing goes? If you want to continue it - well the Private Messaging and email functions are there for a reason. |
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29th May 2012, 12:02 am | #303 |
Retired Dormant Member
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Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear, UK.
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Re: This forum
I have asked Sean not to reply to any post that I make, both on this thread and by PM
If he does not try to interact with me (as per my request) I can see no more problems. But I can not accept people disrespecting me with the sort of rubbish that he chose to start. |
29th May 2012, 1:05 am | #304 | |
Heptode
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Killamarsh, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK.
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Re: This forum
Quote:
This is a public forum, people, to a certain extent, have to the right to criticise and say whatever they want and this is something that must be accepted when posting on a public forum like this - no matter what you do or say, someone will be there to pick holes. If you do not want him to interact with you, block him. Can I remind people that if they want to cause trouble, please, don't post on these forums. If you don't want to, then don't. |
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29th May 2012, 1:17 am | #305 | |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear, UK.
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Re: This forum
Quote:
I have used that all of my life, I try never to start the trouble and I started no trouble here either. I was not the one who disrespected Sean in the first instance, and have asked him to not post in response to anything that I write. As long as he does this then there is no more problem. Lets not start a new argument over this. |
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29th May 2012, 4:12 am | #306 |
Hexode
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Derbyshire, UK.
Posts: 289
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Re: This forum
Well said Richard in post 299!
Also it's very easy to take offence from written posts when none is intended. You don't have the body language, tone of voice or facial expression to help convey meaning that you would get from normal interaction. Michael. |
29th May 2012, 7:35 am | #307 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Re: This forum
Desperately looking for the gagged smilie.....
I think I have probably done enough to defend the position of the moderating style here, sadly one or two members insist on being obtuse and destructive. I have no desire for conflict, I won't allow this thread to devolve to the level of the PMs I am now attracting. These PMs have been reported, and I will leave it to the management to deal with. As I have already stated, I will donate to keep the forum running. I would not support any move to reduce the high standard that exists now. I support the current moderating and ownership I stand by the rule "if you dont like it go elsewhere" I'm off to build a new workshop now, much more effective use of my time.
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29th May 2012, 7:54 am | #308 | |||
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: North London, UK.
Posts: 6,168
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Re: This forum
Quote:
OK, you need a bit more in the rulebook than I have suggested but not a lot. Peter the organ wrote: Quote:
Many people, perhaps a large majority, are happy to go along with the rules for most of the time and not ask awkward questions. This is true in all walks of life. I'll even put myself in that category for a lot of the time. You get a few hotheads who stir for the sake of it and a very few brave souls who stand up against genuine tyrrany. Then you get the "concerned citizen". Quite a few of us in this thread fall into that category which is why we are having this debate at all. In our own small corner of the real and virtual worlds this forum has grown to be bigger than any of us. I don't mean just physically bigger though that is true. I'm talking about the sum total of contributions, great, small and trivial taken together as representing the accumulated effort and wisdom of a community. I'm getting perilously close to Godwin's Law (google it if you haven't come across it before) when I make the plea: "Don't burn books". We have proved beyond reasonable doubt that funding and hosting are entirely solvable problems. There are details to be worked out but nothing beyond the capability of a few sensible folk. The hard part is working out a structure with the right balace of powers, rights and responsibilities to safeguard and build on what we have already achieved. After around 300 posts, I'd like to look back at my post #11, where I picked up on my "manifesto" thread which was effectively amalgamated into this one. I shall quote my original manifesto post verbatim: Quote:
My final plea in this post is "Stop the abuse." I probably should have used the actual anglo-saxon word here in blatant contravention of the rules just to get folk to sit up and take notice. There have been several posts in open forum that have been the wrong side of the line. If it could be taken as personal abuse, but not intended that way, then don't post it. Or if you already have, then apologise and withdraw the remark. Hate mail, by PM or otherwise is equally unacceptable. It is unfortuante that Sean and I are on opposite sides in this debate but I wouldn't dream of insulting him in a PM or email. Last edited by ppppenguin; 29th May 2012 at 8:03 am. |
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29th May 2012, 8:27 am | #309 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK.
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Re: This forum
I was always taught "LEAST SAID, SOONEST MENDED".
Would seam that could be applied here. Rob |
29th May 2012, 8:37 am | #310 | |
Nonode
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK.
Posts: 2,543
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Re: This forum
Quote:
David
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29th May 2012, 8:57 am | #311 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Seaford, East Sussex, UK.
Posts: 5,997
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Re: This forum
A search on this forum will always return educational, informative and relevant results. This is why many of us stay and contribute. This is not by accident, it takes rules, administration and moderation.
The forum has outgrown the current management methods as they are too time consuming and are not raising sufficient funds. We now need to put in place a new framework that allows the forum to continue to grow whilst retaining the quality of the content which this site is renown for. My personal recommendation would be: 1. Members only section. Modest annual subscription fee. 2. Voluntary contribution button with usual target graphic and warnings of impending doom if not met. 3. A move to moderation by exception with members all having some moderating responsibilities. A 'report' button only available to members. A 'like' button or similar which will determine if a thread is to be kept. 4. Maintenance of strict rules which would ban members who are reported too often or 'report' too often. The attraction of this forum is the governance that keeps threads on topic. If the content all ended up like this thread I doubt anyone would use the forum. This is a community and we need rules to live in harmony. Those that are willing to give up their time to administrate the forum have earned the right to determine the rules. PS: I am surprised I have 2000 posts worthy of keeping! Last edited by PJL; 29th May 2012 at 9:06 am. |
29th May 2012, 9:09 am | #312 | ||
Retired Dormant Member
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Location: North London, UK.
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Re: This forum
Quote:
1: If we had simplified rules then this thread would likely not have occurred in the first place 2: Even if it did, it would have been resolved amicably or run out of steam long ago |
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29th May 2012, 9:11 am | #313 | |
Retired Dormant Member
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Location: North London, UK.
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Re: This forum
Quote:
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29th May 2012, 9:22 am | #314 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Oxford, UK.
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Re: This forum
Quote:
Speaking as someone who was very briefly a moderator, the amount of work the mods do behind the scenes is absolutely immense, and we all owe them a great deal of thanks for giving up significant amounts of time to help the forum run smoothly. Like others, I do feel that there are ways that the load on the mods could be lightened without adversely affecting the smooth running of the forum e.g. by turning a blind eye to all but the worst spelling and grammatical errors, and spending less time archiving, now that the excellent Google search function is in place. Nick. |
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29th May 2012, 10:58 am | #315 |
Nonode
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Re: This forum
So what exactly are the moderators doing wrong?
David
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29th May 2012, 11:23 am | #316 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Re: This forum
Assuming your question's aimed at me, David, I don't feel that the mods are doing anything "wrong" at all. Quite the opposite in fact.
All I was trying to say is that maybe they could achieve more, avoid offending some valued forum members, and make their workload less onerous by changing the emphasis slightly. Nick |
29th May 2012, 11:32 am | #317 |
Administrator
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Location: Cardiff
Posts: 9,071
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Re: This forum
The last two or three pages have been little more than bitching and arguing, and have completely lost track of the purpose of this thread.
Yet again a good example of what happens when a forum is not moderated, and of the sort of thread that ends up in the skip and ultimately deleted. We have so many post reports about this thread that they are taking time away from moderating the rest of the forum. This is the second such thread recently. When I see this sort of thing going on I really do wonder why I bother, why I am spending time trying to find a workable solution to the technical problems here, investigating viable hosting options and prices, etc. I don't get anything for it. It's supposed to be a hobby, it's supposed to be fun. But right now I and several of the other mods are sick of the whole thing. The temptation to just close it and call it a day has never been greater. THREAD CLOSED. Once we have reviewed it certain trouble-making contributors may find themselves banned. Any attempt to restart this discussion (any of the subjects raised here) in other threads will result in bans. The future of the forum is still in the balance - more-so than ever after this. |