Not a joke poll.

[Paul in NZ]

In a strange coincidemce we have a vote for mods goin on on another bimmer board i frequent....I want to hear what ed thinks...

[genphreak]

you are dead nuts on here

Who mods the mods is an important point. I know you don't feel powerful Jeff, but many others would be percieving you as such. I'm all for some fun, but that comment (on the surface) sure reads to me as an Over The Top (OTT) reaction to Wingman's post. However I take it with a pinch of salt as I probably don't get your context in which you say it. On the other hand, I can see he too might be over the top from your POV

HOWEVER, this illustrates kinda what I am talking about; ie , if the barb was directed at a lesser person he might seek to clarify it (perhaps in a similarly misunderstandable way) and before you know it there goes a big spat (with people 'defending their reputations'); one we could all do without.

Gayle is dead right. She is considering many people's point of view and taking the time to explain it for the rest of us. We really need to prevent the verbal stoushes, they are ugly to newbies and make the place seem like it is run by the thugs- so much of it is so easily out of context to those who do not know the personalities or history involved.

On an International forum that is well on its way to being a truly great community, there needs to be an air of sensitivity. Many online communities have been taken to the cleaners by people (and businesses) that have been denigrated and/or defamed. Once things get bigger this sort of thing easily becomes a problem. Often just cultrural misunderstandings can make a few words seem unreasonable when they are read out of the real context in whic the member wrote them. There is also a risk issue for the forum itself but I don't think we are quite there (big enough) yet. However a set of rules seems good preparation.

Most forums have teh rules setup before the mods as I said earlier, I still can't work out why it is not this way here, except that regulation requires effort and risks pissing some people off. We might enjoy the banter, fun and jokes as well as our various common interests, but I know that having mods without rules leaves the back door open and risks dictator sports starting (even if mod powers are not real and are simply percieved).

btw, thanks for the thoughts- I agree my rules are too strict for us now. They are just the sorts of things I am used and wanted to put them up for consideration here.

[632 Regal]

Ed probably thinks were more of a PITA than it's worth...

[632 Regal]

your on the right track with the rules...for the future when were a lot bigger but them kinds of rules will probably at this time cause boredom and we would lose most of the people that do in fact help nubes and each other. I for one do try at times (at least once per month) try to answer a question legitimately. I myself have asked legitimate questions and never got an answer... much lower than the average people. I try to help anyone that has a question especially if its going off the first 2 pages without an answer at least in an attempt to revive the thread (bump) and let others that may know whats going on see it. I was on a forum that enforced the rules and quite basicly it had NO personality, was very boring, dry and not fun at all...did I find what I was looking for? No cause I didnt post in the appropriate section (I guessed with about 50 to choose from) I just googled another search and found a nice board semi similar to ours and got a reply within a day to my question.

What I really detest is bad and wrong advise (I am guilty also) from nube to nube, this is the crap that can ruin the reputation of Bimmer.info. Mild swearing and severe off topic I dont mind unless it is like your rules state "personal attack, religion etc" which is in Eds read me sticky. But from the loks of it theres 600 more views to my Nikasil sticky than Eds rules that was stickied way before mine. This leads me to believe that nube's dont read it AND dont care about whats in it.

If the simple rules were followed we wouldnt need to waste time here. When we get a-holes that had a real bad day picking on everyone for NO reason thats the only time we need intervention...and nubes bad advice posts, which is why I developed the "use the search button" sticky.

Anyways for what its worth, I like the place like it is but to actually be able to nuke someone as chscrotum in the bud would have made things a lot nicer. The point of moving his thread to the classifieds was beyond great, it took him about 2 hours to figure out where it went before he came back and attacked again.

[genphreak]

Ed probably thinks were more of a PITA than it's worth...

Agreed. But he is not as hands-on as most... That's our great but busy Ed!

Since he is the only real 'mod', his say is what counts ultimately...

One thing I should point out tho, having rules is usually less of a restriction (practically speaking) on members's postings than moderating every post manually- as the onous is more on the members to comply than the mods to moderate.

I can't believe I am saying all this tho, I am against rules and laws more often than not

Nick

[wingman]

I was on a forum that enforced the rules and quite basicly it had NO personality, was very boring, dry and not fun at all...did I find what I was looking for? No cause I didnt post in the appropriate section (I guessed with about 50 to choose from)

This is essentially what I was trying to say with my post. If we were over-policed and there was no place for common sense to prevail it would be a dull place indeed.

[HDhandyman]

It won't be that bad, guys. This is all about what happens when a noob realizes that the existing mods don't have real mod powers. They are already used to it on other V-Bulletin forums. We can get used to it as well.

Gen, I think your willingness to handle this issue in a mature fashion is comendable, thank you.

I also don't think that true mods will sterilize this place the way you think. In a nicely modded forum, all the work of the mods is taken care of away from the population. Mods can have there own stickies with instructions and messages from the Admin. that the popultion won't be able to access. It usually works best if the mods are not "initial buds", and come from different walks of life. This way they can be here at different times and only hold allegiance to the board, not to each other.

Just cause I'm about you guys, I'll tell you that I actually (and this is personal) go to a heavily modded forum about Harry Potter where people write vulgar short stories about fantastical relationships within that universe. I go because the writing is great, and I'm into Harry Potter theory. As it turns out, it's actually the best site for Potter theorists because the people there are unrestricted and incredibly briliant. Yet they also write Harloquen romance novels about sexual relationships within the Harry Potter Universe. Other Potter sites attrack the soccer mom crowd, and I hate em cause they're boring--they are also sterile with only slight modderation. The point is that even though the good site is heavily moderated, people feel secure enough there to just " go off" in terms of creativity and thought. Bottom line, it's all about the spirit of the board, and not what the mods do.

Jeff, I know this is a busy time, but are you or somebody going to address the issues I brought up about cataloging (new guy topics and a petition to locate a V-Bulletin programmer who can write the app for a nicer search function)? I really don't think now is the time for me to start another thread, but I don't want this one swept under the rug.

Thanks, guys!

[Javier]

as this kind of attention is just what the saboteurs would like. We have the freedom to read or ignore what we do not like, so any one trying to get attention (that is the only reason I see for bad manners) will bore and quit.

To ban somebody is not that simple, they can just register back on another login and keep bothering till eternity!

I like the forum as it is, just pick what to read, and quit reading what I feel not interested in, yesterday put my first guy in the ignore list, so will not use my screen space to display his bad intentioned posts. I am available trough PM and e-mail for any one that wants to call my attention to any thread I can miss and may be important to me, and also to any body that feels I offended him and want me to rectify. I also make mistakes, and am willing to fix them, but will hurt me to get attitude from any buddy, as are all the moderators.

Javier

[mikell]

MORE RULES!! No, I agree with Jeff. Just look at all the replies the "bad" threads get - if they are so obnoxious, just move on to a thread that has interest for you - nobody requires anyone to read or contribute. The bad apples will rot and fall off on their own, unless they get encouragement.

[Anthony (M5 in Calgary)]

Who is on the other end of the little button at the upper right of each post window? You know, the triangle with the red outline and ! in the center which is marked "report bad post".

Once a few different people hit the button on the same poster, action or review could take place. Warnings, suspensions and banning to follow at the discretion of the mods.

That's about as far as I'd go.