@Joe13 @etrain16 ...Real name was just an idea that floated past, doesn't matter who floated it. I seriously doubt that would ever happen ,or be thought about for even a second.
After reading all this I think I can do fine with anything I've heard Joe plans on doing. I've never had "Points"! I don't believe I've had a mod warn or remind me about anything. So I must be okay, right?
All I'll say is that this place is like a large room. There are many people in this room. With a lot of people come different ages, backgrounds, attitudes, incomes, ethnicities, outlooks, opinions, intelligence, writing style, introverted, extroverted etc, etc, etc. Etrain16 is, [among others] one of our top posters, so well written and easy to read and understand. There are many people out there that are way at the other end of the spectrum. That are not so "Discussion Forum Savvy". It's tougher for those, and many others in between, to write what they want to convey as easily as Etrain16. I don't want to see those people moderated off the board because they are rough around the edges. Even folks that are combative, or insulting at times can have valuable input. Reprimanding someone who doesn't post much may cause them to leave. The people on this board, compared to ifish, for the most part ignore rude people and for the most part they go away or change their tone. So the membership has great moderation power in that respect. If ignoring doesn't help those types along, well, then they get the "MOD HAMMER"
The "Why so much hate thread" was THE perfect example of how we shoot ourselves in the foot. When that thread came up I thought "GREAT, we have a chance to educate one of the "On the fencers", for lack of a better term. It didn't take long for someone to come out and shout "TROLL". I wasn't even going to post on it after that for fear of being called out. What would it have hurt to take that individual seriously?
I've said before, ignore isn't a feature, speaking just for myself here, that I use. I have a scroll wheel for that. Besides, like I said above, even the turds have something worth reading at times.
Links? Post 'em up! Putting convoluted rules to posting links sounds terrible. Do you really want moderators to have to police links too? It would be nice if people included some of their own writing/opinion with a link but....Besides, I click on the thread/link and don't like what I see? That back button is just as easy to use as the scroll wheel.
I like this place, faults and all!
Jeez Mike, you're going to make me blush Thanks for the kind words though. This forum has quite a good list of well-spoken folks that regularly contribute and make this place a great place to visit - I'm thankful for them all.
One huge problem in any online forum is the fact that emotions do not convey well in written form. How many times have all of us been mistakenly accused of being angry or attacking someone when we just wrote our thoughts out without intending it to come across that way? I've certainly done it, and, upon reading my post again, found that what I said could be taken the wrong way. I try to avoid writing a post when I'm angry about something, but don't always manage to succeed at that. What I can't take into account in anything I post is how the other person will perceive what I wrote - their emotional response is something I can't always anticipate.
I'm quite fortunate in that my job includes a LOT of writing - bid letters, contract documents, code clarifications, etc., so I get a lot of practice. And those letters often get incorporated directly into contracts. In that sense, I've learned over a lot of years of mistakes, how to be careful in what I say, and precise as possible, at least most of the time. It's probably why I tend to be a little wordy in my responses. Everyone has a different style. For some, it's obvious what their emotions are in their writing, for others, you may have to get to know them before you realize they're not angry, it's just the way they communicate. That's why I hate to see over-moderation of a site. Not every misunderstanding is due to someone being a Richard, sometimes it's just a simple miscommunication that may have seemed completely benign to them. Trouble makers, in my opinion, are limited to a very few folks here.
This is a good site, and hopefully, with these changes, will be even better.
@Joe Link, I've got an idea that popped into my head recently and wanted to run it by you, and since this thread seems like the right place - here it is. I was thinking about creating a position at the forum known as "Ambassadors". The idea would be that there would be a pool of folks, preferably established members, that would or could be 'assigned' to new members and visitors. The purpose of the ambassadors would be to help the new folks learn to navigate, answer some questions and just be certain that the new folks get a warm welcome. It could be an optional thing, that a new member could select to have assigned to them. Most of the jobs I've worked, you have someone assigned as kind of a welcome team, to help guide you in your initial arrival to a new place. It's kind of along those lines. We have some pretty friendly folks here that I'm sure wouldn't mind offering to fulfill such a position. I know the mods and you are busy with other things, so it wouldn't put any additional burden on any of you. Ultimately, it assures that they make at least one personal connection when they come to the site, and that may just help more folks comfortably enter the NWFA space.
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