Issues with RS

[tankgirl]

I think I need to bring this out in the open - I've got some mounting disillusions with RS and am edging closer to taking my toys and playing elsewhere.
I love everyone here, will miss you all if worse comes to worse.

1. Why was 'Robz tank pics' moved to the photography forum?

I started that thread in Gen. Discussion because when people come to browse, that's where they go - I wanted it to be seen and consider it a showcase thread - the kind that brings people to the forum. There are a lot of photo threads in Gen. Discussion - including Trav, your latest pic thread of one of your tanks, so please don't tell me it was because it "belonged" in the photo forum. The only possible reason for moving Robz thread to the Photo forum is to boost the numbers for the photo forum. But, imo, if you want to boost the numbers there, come up with your own threads to do so. Don't take one of the most popular threads here and stick it there, where fewer people will see it. I don't like seeing a thread stuck someplace for your own purposes at the expense of the forum and thread.

2. Trav, several months ago, I made a passing comment about something that was said, that hurt my feelings. You replied that I should "re-read" the thread mentioned - but you edited that thread and took the comment I was talking about out!!! That tells me that you're dishonest and I can't trust you. A big hit to my faith in the honesty of this place.

Those two things are only the tip of the iceburg.

I think I've done good things for this forum, brought a lot of people here and contributed a lot to making it a great forum. But, my faith in the powers that be is at an all time low.

 

[nivek]

Man, I would hate to see you go and I hate confrontation. For future posts, why not ask the person who started the thread permission to move the thread to another section. This is only valid for non-abusive threads and constructive threads of course. Just my thoughts on the matter.

 

[LuckyInk]

Hmmm...
I have seen alot of members banned recently. In other boards (not reef related) banned members are few and far between. I think it is a little unfair and somewhat extreme. And yes, I know there are three sides to every story...

But, my faith in the powers that be is at an all time low.

I agree to this to an extent. While most of our mods here are well spoken and quite diplomatic, there is one in particular that I feel could benefit by stepping back from certain situations and segregate their personal feelings from the topic at hand. And in general, could be a little nicer when problematic situations arise.

Those two things are only the tip of the iceburg.

Agreed, I too can see the proverbial iceberg...

 

[wooddood]

sorry tg i too would hate to see you leave, i really like talking to you in differant post. i think it's time for teri and travis and yourself to have a talk and get this resolved before it gets any worse. again i dont think anyone here wants to see anyone leave i know i dont. good luck getting this resolved.

 

[dgasmd]

WOW, I guess I had no idea things like these were brewing in people's minds. Who are the moderators here anyway? I've only had to contact someone for a problem with the gallery and couldn't find out who they were, so I jsut emailed Terri. Maybe it is posted in an obvious place and I just missed it.

TG it would be a shame, I think I speak for most, to see you go. I hope you can have a peaceful resolution of you issues.

Alberto

 

[Hooked]

I hope this is just what we call "growing pains" I don't spend as much time here as I'd like to, so I'm oblivious to some of what's going on, but I do believe that TG, the admins, and mods are all reasonable people. I think and even more so, I hope, this can all be worked out

It would be a shame to lose those who contribute so much.

 

[birdman204]

This morning driving to work, I was thinking of a thread at RC.com that was deleted rather quickly. It was, I believe the FCC thread I posted, Someone in a previous post mentioned religion, The next thing you know, I couldn't respond, thread gone. Kinda made me feel like ostracized, almost Hitler-ish of them.
Yes things can get off topic, But in my heart I think that is what keeps people coming back. We can only learn so much at a time, and we get bored of learning and wanna have fun occasionally. Hence, Gina's Good morning thread / happy birthday threads. Cmon people, we can only talk about reefs so much.
Moving a spectacular tank photo thread to the photo forum is not good practice IMO, not many people visit the photo forums... She had a good point. Aren't the forum links on the main page from the general discussion? It would seem good practice to have them show there. People love eye candy.
TG , Trav may have removed the thread for other reasons, maybe your view of it coulda been taken by others, so he wanted to avoid conflict. I have seen this happen often recently tho...
One member got banned, for some pretty minimal stuff. if it offends a mod , it's gone, If it offends a new user, Eh, go somewhere else right? Well, traffic and new users is what makes a site popular, and brings in the advertisers. Allowing people to express their feelings and beliefs (maybe in a special forum) makes them feel more at home than a moderated post ever would. Over at NanoReef.com, the threads in the Lounge rarely get edited, or modified, and they lead to very interesting conversations. When things get outta hand, mods will step in and say take it easy, not take them out back and beat them, then lock the door. Maybe a fair warning, or an open forum for discussion of such things would be good.

 

[Robz]

Im sure this would be resolved soon, you are very important to this forum, and we are not letting you go for something that has to be fixed and im sure will be fixed soon, I had no idea this was going on ...
I think Travis can take care of this he is a resonable person, I really dont understand what's the big deal really having it on General discusion, lots of people endup asking not only how to take photos but what species the carfe taking of them , lights filtration etc, so I would say could fit there

common this forum Is cool lets keep it that way , like a group of friends ...

hope everything works out well



Robie

 

[LuckyInk]

Originally posted by birdman204
She had a good point. Aren't the forum links on the main page from the general discussion?

Actually I am pretty sure all posts except ones in the Off Topic forum appear on the main page.

 

[dickie52]

I for one say we get a linching party ready just in case.....

 

[Curtswearing]

Originally posted by LuckyInk
Actually I am pretty sure all posts except ones in the Off Topic forum appear on the main page.

Correct.

 

[Hooked]

Alberto - a listing of mods, etc is at the bottom of the Forums page--click on Forum Leaders. Not obvious at all.

Just an FYI

 

[Dingo]

Hard to believe that you don't know who the moderators are. From the first day that me and my group of friends from the JCT started posting here, they have been dogging our every step. Two or three of them post in every single thread where we show up.

I give this a few minutes, and then it will be shuffled off to the 'Off Topic' forum. And then they will tell you to take it private in the "Suggestion box" where all criticism of them should be.

The mods here are always polite, but at the same time have worked to try to make us feel uncomfortable and leave. Every attempt at humor is either called out as too "blue" (when the mods themselves use the same sort of innuendo) or off topic, so quit it and get serious. As a group, even the most innocuous references to things like being a smoker have been edited or deleted. Forget anything controversial, like pointing out political or religious hypocrisy. Several popular threads that we started were moved out of sight because the mods decided that they didn't want them in easy view.

This blatant dogging has lead the more sensitive or stubborn people in my group to rise in anger and defend themselves and others whom they felt were wronged. We have had numerous PM wrangles and one banning because of their heavy handedness.

You may say, Hey, this is a reef board, so shut up and talk about fish. I say, this is an online community of people who are bound together by a hobby, and people talk about all sorts of things to keep it interesting.

At first glance, everything here seems terribly nicey nicey. Just under the surface is a rigid structure of repression. It's too bad, really.

 

[EdgeKrusher]

Originally posted by dickie52
I for one say we get a linching party ready just in case.....

Not funny.

 

[mojoreef]

TG I think it would be a shame to have such a valued member leave for any circumstance. I don't have an answer for the questions that you posed, so I think it's better than I leave it to Travis to answer them.
However, I think I can answer a few of the other points raised. I can honestly tell you that no member has or will be banned without considerable debate and warnings. Of this you have my word. It is pretty hard to accommodate and to cater to what everyone wants to get from this board, and we work very hard to find the middle ground, that would please all involved. The moderators on this board, have put in countless hours to make a fun place to be and I believe that for the most part, it is a fun place. I think, however, what is fun to some is not fun to all.

I'm going to move this thread to the feedback and suggestions form. So that we can talk about their.

Mike

 

[ScottT1980]

Wow TG, I had no idea...

I have been fairly satisfied with the action of our mods although I have seen them interveen a bit early or perhaps a bit independently (in other words, taking action on his/her own with out first conferring with others). It is a fine line and so I understand the difficulties involved.

Nevertheless, I too have had some qualms with some of the recent goings on with certain threads. However, I perhaps use RS differently than others do, I try to recognize that, and move on. I can always make my way to rec.music.phish or rec.music.gdead on the usenet and reap the benefits and burdens of an unmoderated environment...

Take er easy
Scott T.

 

[dgasmd]

OK, maybe I live in my own cloud and don't see any of this. I don't even go into each particular forum where I may have interest. I go to the forums list and hit "view new" or something like that. It brings out all the threads with new posts in it. I can pick and choose from there. Half the time I don't even know in what forum they are in.

As far as off topic posts and such, I think I probably look at maybe 1 out every10,000. I am one of those that can't see why in a reef or marine forum there has to be the need to be talking about Saddam, the Spanish train bomb, or how many times do you have to go out to put out. That is jus tme though. I feel a lot of the times these kinds of postings can derail a site considerably. Case in point, RDO> that used to be the best site all around. RC couldn't hold a candle to it. Over the last year and a half, 90-95% of the posts have been in their version of the lounge. About 8-9 months ago I complained to the administrator that everytime you hit "view the new posts" all you see if lounge crap and why not exclude the lounge from it. They did and it made a world of difference. Now, since then, a new breed of arguments and threads have plagued that site. Every other post and thread is in "the industry behind the hobby" about the same 5-6 people arguing about the same crap over and over daily. Half the time they are the only ones that know what they are talking about. It would literally take a mirarcle to take that site back to where it was once.

Alberto

 

[ScottT1980]

Hard to believe that you don't know who the moderators are. From the first day that me and my group of friends from the JCT started posting here, they have been dogging our every step. Two or three of them post in every single thread where we show up.

I kind of see their point here bud. It is very easy to respond with a sarcastic comment when a given person asks a legitimate question. In fact, I enjoy the usual "wise-crack" every now and then. However, have you ever hung around someone that never gaves a straight answer? Well, the first 5 minutes are entertaining but then that person just gets old, especially when you are trully interested in a subject.

Some of the threads have just turned into a game of who can be the biggest smart- a$$ (and have sort of been hijaacked) and while I could easily join in the fun, I don't see that as the goal of RS. Instead, as I previously mentioned, I take that to the usenet...

I just fear that individuals that want to ask legitimate questions will hold back for fear of never getting a straight and informative answer.

With that being said, I have seen some pro-active work by the mods that personally, I probably would have let go. But, talks like this are good and hopefully some progress will come out of it instead of ruffled feathers and hurt feelings.

Take er easy
Scott T.

 

[Curtswearing]

TG,

Ya just can't leave. I even went running around the internet looking for you to make sure you were here when we opened up.

I cannot speak for whomever moved that thread. It wasn't me. However, I move threads all the time, and once people have the opportunity to see this particular thread, I will move it to The Suggestion Box Forum.

There is a good reason why I categorize threads. If we don't categorize them, then the general forum fills up too quickly. That is problematic because current issues being discussed could easily be on page 2 of the general forum instead of page one. I also move threads for another reason. Most of you know me an my links. I have TONS!!! of them. Eventually it got to the place where I knew I had great information for someone but couldn't find it. There has to be some order to it.

I'm telling you my reasoning why I move threads. I have noticed that I'm inconsistent but a lot of that is due to tax season. I just don't always have enough time.

I can tell you that this job is harder to do than it looks. I'm always willing to listen to hear someone elses side. We may agree or disagree afterwards but at least people got to speak their minds.

 

[ReefLady]

First of all Tankgirl, I was not the one who edited that post. That was true the first time I told you that, and it still is true. So it sounds like you haven’t trusted me from the beginning.

Second of all, three people have been banned- one for his actions in the chat room several weeks ago, one who helped said ex-member gain control of our chat room, and recently, Trig, who was obviously intent on being banned and didn’t give me much of a choice IMO. Crak was not banned, he was sent a warning and decided not to be here anymore.

Third, I don’t know who moved the Robz thread, obviously one of our mods felt it was better suited to the Photography forum. If that was their decision, I stand behind it fully. Honestly, I don’t see why it matters, as the thread will appear on the home page and in public view. We do not do anything to try to boost any numbers around here, so you’re just plain wrong on that point.

This thread was moved to the Suggestion Box, because that’s where it belongs. It’s still on the home page as well.

Dingo, our moderators work very hard to keep this place a friendly site for all, and I am behind them 100 percent. I agree we could have handled the whole thing better, chalk that up to growing pains, as Teri and I have not been doing this for long. We are moving forward with some new guidelines, lessons we’ve learned from the whole thing, but that is between Teri, myself and the Mods. And in the end, the actions of a couple of the members in question did nothing but prove the mods right in their actions all along.