Navigating Our Growth

[PamlicoTraveler]

Kind of wondering what all the fuss is about.

I have participated in other forums and I enjoy this one now for the abundance of good info, but you don't want to get it overly monitored. I don't see why it's necessary to encourage reporting posts and using ignore buttons. If it ain't broke, why fix it. If a board has "personalities," is that a bad thing? It's kind of like real life - some people are opinionated, others humorous...it takes all types to make a community.

Anyway, this is a good forum. Keep it fun and don't try too hard to find ways to stifle what has made it work.

[Andy R]

Originally Posted by PamlicoTraveler

Kind of wondering what all the fuss is about.

I have participated in other forums and I enjoy this one now for the abundance of good info, but you don't want to get it overly monitored. I don't see why it's necessary to encourage reporting posts and using ignore buttons. If it ain't broke, why fix it. If a board has "personalities," is that a bad thing? It's kind of like real life - some people are opinionated, others humorous...it takes all types to make a community.

Anyway, this is a good forum. Keep it fun and don't try too hard to find ways to stifle what has made it work.

Point noted and I agree. It's a fine balance and one that we have been successful at for many years. This was just intended as a reminder to members that it takes all of us to create a respectful community (which is our goal). We don't plan to go on a witch hunt or anything like that. We do plan to enforce our rules and chat privately with members who appear to be stirring the pot and ask them for their cooperation as well.

[Pblais]

I dunno if me has also been given the black spot (to keep it nautical )

But you usually do stay nautical after a friendly reminder We know you know how things are around here and a gentle reminder is all you need after 3000 posts. As the only high-profile representative of Jersey your benefit to trouble ratio still shows as positive. You can also be entertaining at times. Face it Dave you really do know how things work around here.

[Minggat]

Originally Posted by PamlicoTraveler

Kind of wondering what all the fuss is about.

I have participated in other forums and I enjoy this one now for the abundance of good info, but you don't want to get it overly monitored. I don't see why it's necessary to encourage reporting posts and using ignore buttons. If it ain't broke, why fix it. If a board has "personalities," is that a bad thing? It's kind of like real life - some people are opinionated, others humorous...it takes all types to make a community.

Anyway, this is a good forum. Keep it fun and don't try too hard to find ways to stifle what has made it work.

I like to think that it's because the forum has been well monitored and moderated that the reason for the fuss is not so visable. I have seen some downright ugly stuff before it was removed, so... Somebody has been busy cleaning things up. To me the thread is, besides a request for our assistance, a reminder that the request would not be made if they weren't busy behind the scenes.

[Pblais]

I have seen some downright ugly stuff before it was removed, so... Somebody has been busy cleaning things up.

Most things are not a big deal so we don't make a big deal. We have too many small deals to handle. Often someone makes a post only to decide later they didn't really want it written the way it was posted. If you make a mistake you can report your own post since there is a limited window of time to edit or remove it yourself. We do that for members willingly. Reporting anything allows you say why and all moderators are informed at the click of a button. We track them too. you also have a Thanks button to thank anyone you think helped you. These little behind the scenes tools are yours to help make this a better place. Thanking helpful members make them post more.
Most days we are but janitors sweeping up. Most is spam and there is more of it now yet we have added additional automation and tools to deal with it. It still is a large job. Spammers get better! Reporting has been one of the new tools that help us the most! Please report spam! If it is indeed spam it's gone and the perpetrator handled swift and sure.

We clear out a lot of commercial stuff that is almost spam or may seem like spam. Some people join up to post subtle ads and make innocent chit-chat, but it's really spam. You won't get to know them for long here.

The above is most of what we do in terms of the number of posts by a large margin. You don't notice it because we want it that way.

The next group of posts are the cases where members get into rules issues. Most of those only require a simple request and the problems never happen again. That includes most of what was left over from the first group. It's why CF is as nice as it is. We ask people and they help. We ask a question and someone helps you. If it were not that easy we couldn't do this job and you wouldn't want to be here.

The next group of posts includes copyright issues. You can't cut and paste copyrighted material here. It gets CF in trouble with other people's lawyers. As a "publisher" CF is expected in the world community to take that responsibility. This is a case where we can't negotiate. These problems are usually resolved quickly.

The last group of posts are the times when thread drift, off topic material, unintended, or misinterpreted posts generate arguments. Arguments are not desired but disagreement is expected and required to explore the complexities the topics here. Some members are better at it than others. Both starting arguments and making them worse are issues we can't leave alone. In the heat of an argument we can all cross the line. It's why we stop them before they hurt other people. Some controversial topics generate this easily. If you have been here more than a few months you know some of them. When they go out of control we stop them.

Religious, political debates, and current sporting events are common in everyday conversation around the world. With so many different countries represented we request those topics are not appropriate in this forum because they are off topic. The internet has other forums and they may not be as nice as this one but there are places devoted to almost anything you want to discuss.

Gray areas are a judgment call to determine where the line was crossed. It's not just one member of the staff in those decisions. All serious issues are reviewed internally with the team. We disagree and agree and work out reasonable solutions in our own forum. We work with each other and do what you do here in the public forums to learn more. We may decide the line has to be drawn in the better interest of CF as a whole and some members in particular. Making the decision is what we are forced to do. We take the time and make the effort to sort things out to the benefit of the members involved.

We can't do it instantly and as a consequence it can't be perfect. We may close the tread and / or prune out some posts. It is a measure of last resort. The forum moves along all day and every day. We can freeze a thread but not forget the growing sea of information. At some point everybody needs to move on. Popular topics come back to try again another day.

If at any time any member involved or not feels something isn't being done right they can contact any member of the staff directly in private mail including Andy. We are open to any issue you think is a problem.

The civil discourse at CF is the main reason we are a leading web site community. We learn from each other because it is better to learn from people that do it. Today you learn and tomorrow you teach. It's why we can attract the best experts on topics to help us all. We know this is what most members really want and like about CF. If you want access to people willing to share then you need to meet them on those equal terms. It invites new members and more experts.

[Brob2]

Originally Posted by Pblais

But you usually do stay nautical after a friendly reminder We know you know how things are around here and a gentle reminder is all you need after 3000 posts. As the only high-profile representative of Jersey your benefit to trouble ratio still shows as positive. You can also be entertaining at times. Face it Dave you really do know how things work around here.

Could you please reference these allegedly 'entertaining' posts?

Blair

[Pblais]

You need to forage through the forum sections to find them. It's good for business

[Chief Engineer]

angry clowns <<<<<shiver>>>>>>

I thought we weren't going to be having political discussions?

[goboatingnow]

I for one, would caution great patience before intervening. Often cultural differences mean that peoples views of the " civility" of thread postings differ widely. I remember when living in the US I had some English and NZ friends over we had a spirited conversation about some political topic or other all carried out with a fair bit of profanity and generally running down the character of the other guy. All normal stuff for us. The owner of the bar called the police!! . ( we all thought we were having a great argument). Remember facts and courtesy are boring brothers in a argument. We need to avoid the college debating syndrome here.

Make the place too civilised and noone will come. CF may have 0000s of lurkers but it's a core group of contributors that makes it happen. Remember mods do not make a forum, we do.

I would recommend threading! carefully.

PS I would advocate that mods should not be themselves contributors to threads. Your either a moderator or a contributor.

Dave

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

I for one, would caution great patience before intervening. Often cultural differences mean that peoples views of the " civility" of thread postings differ widely................ Remember mods do not make a forum, we do..............
Dave

It seems to be these wide views of "civility" are the cause to codify behavior. The "we do" that make the forum covers a very wide range and it's important to accept that the "we" you refer to is far more than you. It may be that the very plea you make to accept cultural differences would be the cause to accept the culture of this forum and the rules of the community.

[s/v Beth]

Dave,
All of us are sailors and very much into sailing. Thats why we joined CF in the first place. Why would it be fair to keep us out of the conversation? I agree that moderators can do things that other members can't directly do, but we are bound by the rules like everyone else. Why can't we participate?

[goboatingnow]

Because newt it breaks the basic rule of guardians of the " systems" becoming involved in debates about it.

A view expressed by a mod is automatically accorded a higher status purely by the fact of it being posted by a mod. Equally one is less likely to challenge a mods view if it leads to private email criticism from the mod or the potential to be banned

Btw if someone breaks a rule then chastisement from a mod should come in the thread it should be there for all to see, otherwise we have a classic " who guards the guardians" issue.

It's very obvious that mods are acting to close threads without any demand from the users to do so.

Equally newt a lot of threads have nothing to do with sailing ie they are opinion /personal view/ political opinion based threads and hence should be afforded more latitude.

Dave

[Weyalan]

I strongly disagree with the idea that mods shouldn't be allowed to post. These guys can have valid opinions sme as everybody else. It isn't like they are getting paid to moderate. There are plenty enough moderators to moderate a moderator if, as is human, they err.

[PamlicoTraveler]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

PS I would advocate that mods should not be themselves contributors to threads. Your either a moderator or a contributor.
Dave

What an odd idea.

[goboatingnow]

I have many odd ideas

By the way I never said these guys and gals can't post. There's nothing to stop them having a normal user account that doesn't indicate that they are mods.

It's merely that mods flagged as such such merely moderate

Dave