Jomarac5

quote: Zuuky wrote:Do you accept? No. Sorry not interested. It's a waste of my time. It's obvious that you want to run the local community with your little buddy from North Van and no one else here wants any part of it. In fact, I will no longer reply to your drivel at all -- it's boring and I find it lacking in intellectual content. ***** You need a good command of the language to be a moderator.

sniff... sniff... sniff... What's that smell? Smells like something that fell out of the rear end of a male cow. This question has yet to be answered. ***** You need a good command of the language to be a moderator.

Even if it is true that you don't know Cache-Advance (funny that you would argue that not ever receiving an e-mail from him proves something -- that was rather transparent), you both do seem bent on the same objective, which seems to be that you and he want to rule caching in our neighbourhood and heaven help the person who steps out of your confined court. Seems funny that nearly every issue that has popped up in the past week or so has you right in the thick of it -- arguing vehemently against anyone with an opinion of their own. I'd say that is a sign of a vendetta. And yes, I *can* address both of you with this one post -- because you are both doing exactly the same thing. Attempting to prohibit many of those in your local community from enjoying themselves in a way that we want to. You do this by trying to censor discussion and by posting complaints about everyone who is not you. Time to take a white wake-up pill Zuuky, the blue ones are not helping you anymore. ***** You need a good command of the language to be a moderator.

Hmmm... what was that noise? I thought I heard something -- guess it must have been the wind. Anyway, back to the topic. Moderating is a very difficult job. But done properly, a moderator is respected for being fair at all times. For showing restraint by not voicing their own opinion in situations that have gotten heated and staying focused on the main priority -- to keep the conversation on track. For those who are having a problem understanding what a moderator does (and I don't mean this in an insulting way), there are a good many resources on the web about running discussion forums and online communities. Try doing a search at google -- you'll see that forum moderation is virtually and art form when done properly. There are also several books available on the topic at amazon.com. ***** You need a good command of the language to be a moderator.

quote: Cache-Advance wrote:Unfortunately, we believe that these events are not in the interest of the general geocaching community. Well, I find it rather interesting. And it does have something directly to do with the caching community. These guys (who've posted to this thread) have contributed a great deal to caching in BC -- I don't get why this is such a big deal to you. And Zuuky, if it's not bothering *you* so much then why are you making such a *big* deal about it? Reminds me of the old cache-cop days. Who *did* make you God? Why is it that you guys are getting so worked up about this -- let me let you in on a little secret -- you guys are not the only ones who cache in this community. Lighten up already -- this is really beginning to look like what it is -- a vendetta. ***** You need a good command of the language to be a moderator.

quote: Doc-Dean wrote:...a moderator is a guide or a leader not an executioner. Exactly. The moderator guides the conversation -- gently, not with the thunder of a herd of elephants. The moderator will send a message to someone who is stepping out of line -- and remind them what the discussion is about, either in the post, or in a private e-mail -- which ever is most appropriate at the time. If the discussion is in a lull, or if posts are getting too silly because people are bored, or the subject being discussed has been exhausted, the moderator will give it a little shove or lead it in another direction -- and encourage the discussion to remain headed in that direction until it once again needs to guided along. Heavy-handed rule does not have a place in public forums in all but the most severe situations. And generally, if the discussion has become so contentious that it requires closing, the situation is either extraordinary, or the moderator has not done their job as best as it should have been done. ***** You need a good command of the language to be a moderator.

quote: Zuuk wrote:Done properly, we would be self moderating on these forums (like we used to be, or tried to be). You mean like the private thread that you hosted? Zuuky, I don't want to get into it with you here. This is a serious topic and it's very much on track. If you insist on posting unsubstantiated posts, I will simply ignore what you have to say. If you want to add something to the discussion that will be of positive benefit to the problem at hand, then please, let's hear from you and I'll respond if you'd like. If you're interested only in continuing your little personal vendetta, then please find a better way to do it. ***** You need a good command of the language to be a moderator.

quote: Bloencustoms wrote:I think that's exactly how they are being used. It's not how it's being done at all. The moderator should step in far before it gets *bad*. That's the whole idea of moderating forums -- to stop discussions from getting out of hand in the first place. Done properly, you should all but notice that the moderator is even there. ***** You need a good command of the language to be a moderator.

Just out of curiousity, do these keenpeople.com stats graphics have anything to do with the deletion of sig line graphics? Seems that the timing for this is a bit convenient(?) as we're seeing more and more of these stat graphics on forum posts. If it is the case, why should it be a problem? It couldn't be the slightly negative article about this site that they ran on the front page of their site a few short weeks ago, could it? Perhaps Jeremy could answer these questions as no one else really can. ***** You need a good command of the language to be a moderator.

quote: Doc-Dean wrote:I don't think either of those should be a choice. Those should be implements of last resort. Absolutely. Neither is a choice until things have gone past the point of no return. A good moderator will interject only when necessary and will keep personal opinions about the discussion to him/herself. In a well moderated discussion there should be almost no time when a thread should be closed -- and virtually never should a thread or post be deleted. Moderation does not equal censorship. ***** You need a good command of the language to be a moderator.

quote: Bloencustoms wrote:Please tell me you don't believe good moderation is locking a thread because of one or two posts. I prefer the other option. Hardly. Forum moderation is neither deleting threads, closing thread, deleting posts, or editing posts. It is regulating the discussion to keep it on track and civil. Only in the most extreme instances should editing, closing or deleting be necessary. ***** You need a good command of the language to be a moderator.

quote: Bloencustoms wrote:Well, it's a shame that an alternative to completly locking threads isn't well recieved. Too bad. You'd think people would be thankful that discussion was allowed to continue. I think you've got the wrong idea of what good forum moderation is. ***** You need a good command of the language to be a moderator.

quote: Jeremy wrote:Heck, some folks with great linguistic skills often have nothing to add to a discussion. Generally, if accompanied by a rational thought process, I find that those with good language skills do add favourably to discussions. The biggest downfall that I encounter is that most people don't *read* what is being written carefully enough. ***** You need a good command of the language to be a moderator. edit: typo [This message was edited by Jomarac5 on October 11, 2003 at 01:40 AM.]

quote: Jeremy wrote:Not everyone has to be a cunning linguist to get the point across. Nobody said he had to be cunning. But being able to accurately express yourself to others is certainly necessary to be able to moderate forums. ***** You need a good command of the language to be a moderator.

quote: Jeremy wrote:I think CO_Admin is doing a great job. Then why all the negative comments about his methods in this discussion? ***** You need a good command of the language to be a moderator.

The problem here is that this is censoring -- it doesn't even closely resemble moderating. Moderate means keeping discussions on topic and civil -- not heavy-handed threats at the beginning of a thread -- that technique got everyone worked up right off the bat. Furthermore, a moderator should have a good command of the language so that he/she can adequately get their point across in a succinct manner. If they don't have a good comprehension, writing, and reading skills, then perhaps they should stick to approving caches and stay away from moderating forums. ***** You need a good command of the language to be a moderator.

Forum Moderators school: www.moderatethis.com ***** You need a good command of the language to be a moderator.

quote: Sissy-n-CR wrote:So, because some people had huge graphics in sig lines we all have to suffer? Why not a polite, firm, private email asking the offender to remove the graphic? You know, you probably have something here -- why not make an addition to the forum rules about sig lines and just put something like "Animated gifs or images wider than 400 pixels or a height more than 100 pixels are not allowed". This way the none-intrusive sig line images (like your own -- which I personally do not have a problem with -- I think it's cool) could be removed if necessary. And as you suggest, all it would probably take is a nice e-mail bringing attention to the sig line rules. ***** You need a good command of the language to be a moderator.

quote: Sax Man wrote:I guess this must have been handled through email, as I've never seen this complaint mentioned in the forums Actually, on one occasion, I commented negatively on the graphic in one person's sig line because it was too wide and forced the window to scroll sideways. Personally, I also find the animated gifs quite annoying. ***** You need a good command of the language to be a moderator.

I'm glad that there are no images in sig lines anymore -- I always found them to be quite annoying. Seems as though CO Admin finds words in posts annoying as well. Did you miss that part in my post CO? *****

quote: BadAndy sort of wrote:Off topic Erased CO Admin [This message was edited by CO Admin on October 10, 2003 at 04:05 PM.] Wow. The term is moderate, not mutilate. Seems that there's a lot of deleting going on around here lately. I'm glad that there are no images in sig lines anymore -- I always found them to be quite annoying. Seems as though CO Admin finds posts annoying as well. ***** PM.]

quote: Ish-n-Isha wrote (in referrence to Sax Man's post):Perhaps it was because it was such a bad one. In your analogy the "fans" decide which one they like. Well fans are people who would rather talk about it than do it so maby your right after all. LOL. Four out of five cachers now recommend the football analogy (your results my vary). How petty. ***** edit: typo [This message was edited by Jomarac5 on October 10, 2003 at 02:53 PM.]

Hmm... perhaps I did misread Sax Man's analogy somewhat. In that case: quote: Seneca wrote: Football and Basketball are played on different courts, with an entirely different format I suspect that you meant "each with an entirely different format" (not trying to nitpick). This makes sense. And as I've mentioned before on a few other threads, traditional caches and virtual/locationless caches should be considered completely different -- with no crossing-linking of stats. And no sharing of the 1/10th mile rule. Personally, I think that the current virtual rules are not fair. The process is far too subjective. In a personal example, I submitted an idea for a virtual and was told that some admins thought it was alright, but some didn't like the idea. In the end the idea was rejected because the admin that I submitted the idea to, didn't agree with it. The impression I got was if an admin who liked the idea had seen it first, it probably would have been approved. Getting a cache approved should not be a 'luck of the draw' affair that depends on the approvers personal interpretation of the rules, or his/her mood of the day. ***** [This message was edited by Jomarac5 on October 10, 2003 at 01:39 PM.]

quote: mtn-man wrote:Sax Man's analogy is not equating a cache to a football, but rather the cache is analogous to a ball. I'm not sure whether you're agreeing with me or not. I took Sax Man's analogy to mean that of the game itself -- not specifically the ball, not specifically the goal posts, but the spirit in which the game is played. *****

quote: Ish-n-Isha wrote (in reference to Sax Man's post):Perhaps that is why you will never understand this issue. YOU ARE NOT ON A TEAM! Perhaps it is you that does not understand. Sax Man's analogy makes perfect sense to me. We are all part of a team that hides things and then finds things. Although we're not on teams that directly compete against another team, we do in fact play this game with a team spirit -- if we didn't, there would be no game at all (unless of course, you want to go and hide a cache somewhere and consequently be the only one that goes to find it, i.e., the lone football player). We are all on a team that plays both defensively (hiding) and offensively (finding). That being said, where's the harm in variations of the game, whether it be in the form of virtuals, locationless, or other variations that people opt into playing? *****