how the forum is run and moderated

[Manator]

Bit of a faux pas there Doc. Suggest you revisit O level physics. You have a very dictatorial manor, if you don't mind me saying. I have picked up on that quite early on in the forum. Maybe the title of moderator gives you that slight terseness to your tone.

I will go a step further, I would invite you to reply and be totally honest, let us see what your gripes are without the threat of infractions or bans.

We do try to help, sometimes we can become complacent I can not deny that, to a large extent the way these forums are conducted the actual members moderate them without our intervention.

I would really like a discussion on this, because we may learn something and be better at governing the way this forum is portrayed.

If you decide to post in answer I am sure no admin or moderator would ban you for having a frank and truthful rant. Afterwards can we forget this ever took place and get on with what really matters.

 

[unphased]

You know what...this forum just doesn't feel right somehow. Its like you have to go around like treading on egg shells. Easy to upset people and all that. And saying your mind invokes mods and admin from the woodwork. Proper boys club isn't it. All very politely said if you understand me.

 

[Manator]

You know what...this forum just doesn't feel right somehow. Its like you have to go around like treading on egg shells. Easy to upset people and all that. And saying your mind invokes mods and admin from the woodwork. Proper boys club isn't it. All very politely said if you understand me.

Then tell us where we are going wrong, every member is a valued addition and if you can start by being truthful maybe some things can change.

 

[steptoe]

You know what...this forum just doesn't feel right somehow. Its like you have to go around like treading on egg shells. Easy to upset people and all that. And saying your mind invokes mods and admin from the woodwork. Proper boys club isn't it. All very politely said if you understand me.

well, Ive been here from day one,! look at my join date if you want,

and I still get infracted, on at least one occasion.

its just that this forum I find doesnt really take to purporting opinion as fact,

I say a lot of stuff that is 'near the knuckle' , I think it is how you phrase it that matters a lot.

you will find a lot of threads where I speak my mind, backed up by experience and regs though.

 

[unphased]

Then tell us where we are going wrong, every member is a valued addition and if you can start by being truthful maybe some things can change.

Okay. But you may wish to start a new thread if you feel it necessary as it will mix the thread up. it is very nice of you to invite me to comment and I appreciate that.

I have been in the trade from day 1 as a a self-employed electriciain. My background is from a different discipline but I am good at maths and physics, the cornerstone of our trade, and picked up the theory quite quickly.

My main gripe, if you can call it that, is how moderators and administrators of forums behave towards posters. IMHO, and it is an opinion, moderators have a difficult but valuable job to perform and sometimes over tsep their remit. Unfortunately it is very easy to upset people from a written word as the meaning can be difficult to convey at the best of times. I deserved what I got the other day when I name called sidewinder, but there are two sides to everything and in that particular case three mods and an admin were on my case very quickly and perhaps too quickly to see what was going on. I felt hurt and intimidated during that thread and was quite uncomfortable for several hours afterwards. Rule one would appear to me to perhaps private message a member who is causing concern and try to deqal with it "oof the forum". If the member continues to incur unwelcome behaviour then by all means sanction it as the moderator or administrator sees fit. I feel that Doc has made some remarks that were wholly unnescessary as a maderator when he "opinionated" a reply. This is not IMHO the remit of a moderator to stamp their own opinion on a post and whether it deserves it or not it is not right to condemn. I can see it is a vey difficult position to have but at the same time a very powerful one on a forum and maybe that is the problem some moderators like to weild the power too urgently without stepping back, counting to ten and informing the person that things aren't what they should be.

There is a reluctance among forum posters to accept that they may be wrong. This is endemic on forums. People just won't back down from any point and this causes friction, too. I feel moderators can help more in this regard by being absolutely impartial to the posters and helping to diffuse the problem. I sense that on this forum loyalties have become established and new members or less experienced people asking questions often fall victim to opinionated responses to OPs. I also feel dictatorial repsonse is provocative too and again not in the remit of a moderator, no matter how stongly the moderator feels he should not make it personal.

Don't get me wrong, I am guilty of behaving shall we say, in less than friendly manner, on occsions but I will admit to being wrong and I will reconsider a post if a feel it is needed.

May I also say this forum appears to have an excellent foundation with good knowledgeable people and lots of information to share. I am not just saying this to illicit favour, I genuinely feel that about the forum. But my staement above regarding how I feel having been around it for relatively short time was an unease generated by the long established friendships on here.

I don't feel that anyone is doing anything wrongly in particualr I just feel that soem of the long established members may need to look at what the say and how they say it in a less provoking way. I am all for a bit of banter. Clever banter is healthy but maybe some of the banter has got just too personal and needs to be corrected by the mods, gently.

I mean no ill to anyone and I feel I can contibute to a post in a knowledgeable way as much as I can learn from knowledgeable people. Let me know your own thoughts as this is a discussion and needs participation.

:Applaud

 

[Sidewinder]

unphased,

I was the brunt of your "anger" the other night & I was annoyed.

Oh, I am NOT a Mod in disguise by the way!!!

As I'm sure (hope) you have realised, I have not held a grudge.

Your point above is well made as I read it.

As you say it may be best to move this to a new thread?

You will find however, that I don't often answer questions directly, I will answer them with questions to get the poster to find their own answers, they learn better that way and are more likely to retain the knowledge IMHO.

Also it is likely that none of us will be there with them when they come unstuck on site so it is better that they help themselves with guidance rather than blatant answers, again IMHO.

However, that is the way I have and will operate.

That is unless the question is so direct & accurate that it can only be answered.

 

[unphased]

Thank you Sidewinder. It is a good way of answering people. I trust you now understand I misunderstood and I too bear no grudge. I quite like you now. :x

 

[ProDave]

I find this forum well behaved in general. If you want to see a poor forum go and have a chat on the screwfix forum (you said I could mention anything without fear of infractions) You will soon be back.

 

[sellers]

put a group of 100guys in a room and expect them to get on. Its not going to happen. The forums the same. Simples.

The forum is just an extension of day to day life.

 

[Evans Electric]

I find this forum well behaved in general. If you want to see a poor forum go and have a chat on the screwfix forum (you said I could mention anything without fear of infractions) You will soon be back.

As long as its not " We don't have Part P in Scotland ,you know ":tongue in cheek

 

[Doc Hudson]

Rule one would appear to me to perhaps private message a member who is causing concern and try to deal with it "off the forum". If the member continues to incur unwelcome behaviour then by all means sanction it as the moderator or administrator sees fit.

Thank you for the points you have raised Unphased. As a comment in relation to the specific point above. There are a few other complexities that need to be considered. Such as quite a lot of the "problems" from members that require moderating, are similar and repeated over the course of time by multiple members. It can be quicker and easier to point out the issue of concern "on forum" thus reaching more members with one post, rather than spending all evening in PM discussions with one specific member that may have to be repeated a month later in a near identical vein with another member. I personally do have better things to do with my personal free time than PM'ing strangers a repeated similar message.

If a problem cannot be discussed in an adult way on open forum, where there is the advantage of others moderating that discussion itself as well, it is debatable if it would be discussed in an adult way in PM off forum context. Group discussion is a very valuable tool, a lot can be taught and learned from reading open posts, both about the electrical industry and the how the forum itself runs. If open forum discussions can become bitchy and personal, there is the danger that off forum discussions being equally unsavory. As such I prefer open third party witnessed discussion, where others can provide an unbiased second opinion.

The moderators and Admin do not have any specified shift time to be on the forum, it is a purely voluntary open schedule as and when they each give up their own free time to contribute to posts and/or moderate any issues highlighted or that they themselves notice. If all first comments go off forum by PM, then I would have no idea if one two or no other moderators had addressed a situation to a member. There is a risk of leaving something unattended, or a member getting three independent PM's all unrelated to each other. It would create more work for each moderators and/or Admin to keep all the other Mod's and/or Admins up to date so as not to overkill the off forum comments.

It may not be a perfect arrangement, but I would suggest the current method does appear to tick more boxes?

Doc H.

.

 

[Mr Smith]

as a non electrical moderator

mr smith would make his thoughts felt

on this subject

mr smith was not in the building

and unaware of the fracas

had mr smith been present

mr phased would have been provided with a seven day all inclusive holiday

from the forum

by their very name

moderators are provided to moderate

among other parts of their remit

they protect

any

member from unwarranted abuse

mr smith welcomes this thread

as a chance for

any and all members

to air their grievances

or otherwise

however

unless mr smith is offered a more effective solution

mr smith will continue to act as his conscience dictates

in what he considers to be the best interests of the forum at large

mr smith holds no bias

no friendship

no malice

and no ill will

towards any other member

if a member

steps out of line

the moderation team and administrators

would be remiss not to put them back in line

with regard to the comment about private messaging

this has been done on occasion

if the subject is felt to be approaching the limits of the rules

however

if a poster is seen to break the rules

the justice must be equally visible

 

[kme]

Oh, gawd!

Now look what you`ve done............ :run

"He who shall not be named" is awake (duck for cover - hide - leg it..........

or...

"Smile & wave boys............smile & wave :Welcome:

 

[sparky b]

:innocent

 

[steptoe]

as a non electrical moderatormr smith would make his thoughts felt

on this subject

mr smith was not in the building

and unaware of the fracas

had mr smith been present

mr phased would have been provided with a seven day all inclusive holiday

from the forum

by their very name

moderators are provided to moderate

among other parts of their remit

they protect

any

member from unwarranted abuse

mr smith welcomes this thread

as a chance for

any and all members

to air their grievances

or otherwise

however

unless mr smith is offered a more effective solution

mr smith will continue to act as his conscience dictates

in what he considers to be the best interests of the forum at large

mr smith holds no bias

no friendship

no malice

and no ill will

towards any other member

if a member

steps out of line

the moderation team and administrators

would be remiss not to put them back in line

with regard to the comment about private messaging

this has been done on occasion

if the subject is felt to be approaching the limits of the rules

however

if a poster is seen to break the rules

the justice must be equally visible

:_|

what have I done now?!!!! :|

 

[Evans Electric]

The Dark Rider is afoot ,the Nazgul is loose in The Shire , someone has opened the Portal ...be afraid .... be very afraid ...I realise now why the Voltstick in my pocket was glowing and the toecaps in my boots were draging me toward that dark and evil place from whence he comes.

Do not bandy words with him , back away but keep smiling , do not let him into your head ... do not look upon him directly, only through a mirror.

And remember , he does not return to that Dark and Bloody ground, That Road Down Troublesome, That Old Reedy Creek Road ...alone !!! After He has been called He does not return without a Forumite dissapearing , an empty chair before a PC tuned to the Forum is all thats left ..... the only clue ...a PM saying ...." Mr. Smith has left the building "

 

[Technician]

I would like to see Manator's very dictatorial manor.

It must be a very imposing residence.

Could you post a virtual tour on the forum, Manator?

---------- Post Auto-Merged at 08:09 ---------- Previous post was made at 08:01 ----------

The Dark Rider is afoot ,the Nazgul is loose in The Shire , someone has opened the Portal ...be afraid .... be very afraid ...I realise now why the Voltstick in my pocket was glowing and the toecaps in my boots were draging me toward that dark and evil place from whence he comes. Do not bandy words with him , back away but keep smiling , do not let him into your head ... do not look upon him directly, only through a mirror.

And remember , he does not return to that Dark and Bloody ground, That Road Down Troublesome, That Old Reedy Creek Road ...alone !!! After He has been called He does not return without a Forumite dissapearing , an empty chair before a PC tuned to the Forum is all thats left ..... the only clue ...a PM saying ...." Mr. Smith has left the building "

Awfully sorry Evans. The Nazgul should be in the plural.

Watched Lord of the Rings over the weekend.

Where is Galadriel on this forum? Will some lady member

step up to the mirror?

 

[unphased]

Okay, I take the point about PMs. It would seem that open forum "slapped wrist" approach works. In my case though, I had ONE complaint made against me from a forum member and within seconds three mods and an admin berating me. That was unnecessary. Only one modrator or one admin needs to deal with it. PLEASE. You don't need a wholescale attack on a member to bring someone in to line. This smacks of bullying.

I haven't met mr smith before.

"had mr smith been present

mr phased would have been provided with a seven day all inclusive holiday

from the forum

by their very name

moderators are provided to moderate

among other parts of their remit

they protect

any

member from unwarranted abuse

mr smith welcomes this thread

as a chance for

any and all members

to air their grievances

or otherwise

however

unless mr smith is offered a more effective solution

mr smith will continue to act as his conscience dictates"

An excellent example of my gripe. Here we have a maderator who is hinting that he would have given me a 7 day ban. On top of the three mods and an admin who had their say. So which one of the mods and admin do I answer to? This is a very bad way to run a forum. When any mod is seen to interject then other mods back off. There really is no need for several moderators to deal with any member behaving badly. This I feel very strongly about and should be discussed by all the mods and admin. ONE mod or ONE admin takes ona case. That was wrong what happened to me.

Just exactly how many modrators do we have on the forum? And how many administrators? Do we have too many?

 

[remustered]

As a newbie I think the benefits gained from the forum far out weigh the occasional pain in the neck.

One observation however.....I find Mr Smith's approach very "Crisp" :thumbup:

 

[SLIPSHOD & SLAPDASH]

mr smith holds no bias

no friendship

no malice

and no ill will

towards any other member

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