please read this...

[back alley]

let’s talk about a few things.

first off, i am slowly becoming unhappy about the behaviours of some at various
times on this forum.

before i start, please don’t assume that i am talking about other people and that
you and i are on the same page.
you just might be the one or one of the ones that are beginning to irk me.

i don’t have a long list of offenses or a great variety of them either.
i don’t have a long list of people or a long list of examples.

but what i do have is a fear that because we are getting bigger that some of you
feel lost and de-valued as members.
and that some of you think that you can get away with something because there
are so many posts that neither jorge nor i can keep up.

or maybe some feel it is your right to be abusive, judgmental, dogmatic, bullying,
etc. please remember, it is not your right to even be a member here. we are all
here as guests of jorge and he and i (as his moderator) have the authority to ban
your sorry ass off the premises.

let me back up a bit.

i don’t like the tone lately of some of the posts here.
strong word are not substitutes for strong arguments.
words like hate, idiots, disgusted have no place being directed toward others.

if you want to argue and someone wants to argue with you then fine.
but behave AS IF you are gentlemen and if you have to pretend then please do so.

i do not want to start editing posts or threads, but i will.
i do not want to toss members, new or old, out of here, but i will.

digital or film?
old lens or new?
fake this or that?

if you feel the need to ask a question please give some thought as to how you ask.
if you feel the need to answer a question then please give some thought as to
how you answer it.

this is not the place for street fights or brawls of any kind.
if you don’t like someone then ignore them.
if you think someone is a troll then alert me. it is not your responsibility to ferret
them out, teach them a lesson or make others aware.

this place has been and i hope it continues to be, a sanctuary for many of us.
a calm, peaceful place where we stop off to chat about rangefinders.

oh and about that...we are a rangefinder based community.
if you cannot handle that then go somewhere else.
and for the purists...we ‘allow’ others to stop by also. if someone wants to post a
photograph that was taken with a digital camera or printed with ink then we
welcome them also, knowing that it is usually from someone that also uses
rangefinders.

i’m getting tired of reading posts that want to change who we are or create rules
to make us exclusive in some form or another.
if you really want others to follow your rules then get your own damn forum!

ok, enough from me.

joe

 

[JoeFriday]

got it.. thanks for the reminder, Joe

 

[Honu-Hugger]

Joe,
Read, understood, and I thank you as well for all of your efforts. I will certainly try to do my part -- if we all keep the good spirit of this forum in mind it will no doubt remain the pleasant place it has always been. Best wishes to all this holiday season.

 

[Andrew Touchon]

Joe

Thanks for keeping this forum a nice place to visit.

 

[ray_g]

Thank goodness I am travelling, and I have not been able to log in too much, otherwise I'd have thought I might have done something wrong 🙂

Joe, thanks for looking out for us, but stress is not good for you.

 

[pesphoto]

Sometimes we all need a reminder, thanks!

 

[egpj]

Thanks Joe. I promise to be good. At least I'll try.

 

[peter_n]

Well said Joe. I will try to be good too. It can't be doing your health any good to be getting upset about this stuff...

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

before i start, please don’t assume that i am talking about other people and that
you and i are on the same page.
you just might be the one or one of the ones that are beginning to irk me.

i don’t have a long list of offenses or a great variety of them either.
i don’t have a long list of people or a long list of examples.

That's great Joe. And with this you are doing a lot more than I've seen in other places. But since you've already stated that we are not to assume that you and each one of us are on the same page, and you don't have a list of people...perhaps a "yellow card" notice on the thread as the offense or source of "ikrness" may help out the person(s) you may need to be on the same page with?

Some may not take well having their entries edited without a warning first or without an explanation as to why -- just what I've observed in the past.

But your overall advice is always sound advice, and I should begin exercising it with more force: ignore/avoid fanning "flames".

I have observed, however, that people tend to do this (reacting and/or do their own pseudo-moderating) out of some perception that the issue has not been addressed over time -- and of course, that perception is highly subjective.

 

[back alley]

i usually try to inject some humour into a potentially negative heading thread and if need be try something a bit stronger. perhaps i need to be more forceful.
i truly dislike the idea of being a forum cop as i think most and certainly i, come here for fun and relaxation. to become a place where it starts off uncomfortable makes no sense to me.

as to addressing some of the issues/people here, i also try at first to handle it through p.m.'s which of course you guys would not be aware of.

i've been told that i'm laid back and maybe that needs to change some...

joe

 

[DougK]

Thanks for looking out for us, Joe, you're doing fine.

I think everyone is just anxious to see if anything under the tree has a red dot on it... 😀

 

[Flinor]

I've been anticipating this, Joe. Very well put.

I think that it's partly a result of our growth and was inevitable. This is to nice a place to let deteriorate, so we are with you. Just take care of yourself and don't let the stress mount.

 

[dmr]

i've been told that i'm laid back and maybe that needs to change some...

Joe, you're doing a good job and those of us out here in net-land appreciate it.

For my first few months here I really wasn't aware of your role here -- that's a compliment. I for one don't want to see the style of moderation change. There are too many net forums (fora?) which have all kinds of nitpicky disputes and over-reactive moderation. Thankfully I haven't seen much of it here.

Maybe I'm missing a few things here, I mean I don't read every thread, but I really don't think this place has any major problem with user disputes or user/moderator tension. (Am I missing anything?)

I hope that if I ever get out of line here, you'll confront me directly about it, as I don't want to be one who the others get annoyed by. (Yeah, I know I can be a motormouth and somewhat of a smart@$$ at times.)

I really think most of the users here feel that way.

The one thing I do appreciate here is the diversity of the people, spanning an enormous multidimensional spectrum. All cultures, all philosophies about photography, related issues, and life in general. OF course there will be some disagreement, but if all of us agreed on everything the world would be a very boring place. I see the diversity (and some disagreement, actually) as a strong point of this place.

 

[wlewisiii]

I think that DMR has summed up what I've been looking for a way to say quite well. It took me a very long time to realize that you were the moderator. 6 - 8 months perhaps? That is a massive complement to the skill with which you have handled a quickly growing community. Perhaps I might think differently if I had seen some of the "other" sites at a very early stage, but I doubt it.

Just keep on the way you have and we'll all be fine. I really do believe that, joe. You have done an unreal job thus far and I really don't want to loose that special touch that you have.

Thank you, from the very end of my RF baseline 😀 ,

William

 

[JoeFriday]

personally, I think our only problem here is letting the canadians post comments.. is there some way we can put them all on 'read only' status? 😀

 

[dmr]

personally, I think our only problem here is letting the canadians post comments.. is there some way we can put them all on 'read only' status? 😀

"Blame Canada!" 🙂

(Yeah, I saw it.) 🙂

 

[VinceC]

Joe,

Well-spoken.

I think flagging an offending thread just draws attention to it.

I was troubled by the tone of a discussion awhile back when a newcomer posted some very basic, possibly naive questions and was treated with an odd mix of suspicion, distrust and condenscending paternalism. But for the most part I find this site to be astonishingly civil and occasionally thought-provoking.

 

[cp_ste.croix]

Well said Joe, message recieved, loud and clear.

 

[Bryan Lee]

All things considered it hasnt been bad over here. The hands off style is by far the easiest way to deesculate anger, People get tired or they move on from boredom. Editing and banning just makes a big mess of things because then people feel as though they have the right to attack the forum because a moderator took sides angainst them. When someone is angry with a member they can send PMs to the other member but when they are banned and angry it is almost impossible to get rid of them. If you block IP addresses they can use simple programs to change the IP and as a international forum you cant really block entire country codes and even that one can get around easily. For that matter it is just as easy to create multiple usernames or just have your cousin in the next state create a new username and then go from there. Anyway most of us are old enough we should know better, The scary forums are the Religion, Politics, and Gun ones. This is just cameras and everyone here likes cameras and still it can go over the top.

Just a sidenote, Some of the people on the forum while good English typers are still Non-Native English speakers and sometimes word things in a unintended way. Play nice and give people a break before jumping to conclusions and cursing or using the dreaded TROLL BOMB.

 

[franceluxemburg]

Joe,

I must agree with you statement : a forum where people are to
to TALK to each other is a great thing.
If on a post someone comes to tell you sudenly :
"you are a heretic and you will bur in hell"
well not much point of pursuing the exchange :bang:

I am now on a french photo forum quite relaxing,
people avoid telling staight away : you wrong, you are a traitor
or if they do so you will know that it is joking :angel:

So lets stay relax

Thanks again Joe