Do we need moderators now?
Printed From: Yachts and Yachting Online
Category: Dinghy classes
Forum Name: Dinghy development
Forum Discription: The latest moves in the dinghy market
URL: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1279
Printed Date: 15 Aug 25 at 2:29am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.665y - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Do we need moderators now?
Posted By: Guest
Subject: Do we need moderators now?
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 1:11pm
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Seems to me some threads lose their way and mutate into different threads ... Not enough new threads get started when this happens ... Other forums I participate in have "moderators" who keep discussions on track or split threads to new threads if the topic devates. That way the thread title is meaningful to people rather than all the good advice being buried in a huge thread with a different title. Would that improve this forum? Rick
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Replies:
Posted By: MikeBz
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 1:19pm
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So, what is your favourite cheese?
Mike |
Posted By: Guest
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 1:28pm
Very good ... but do we ? ------------- |
Posted By: Scooby_simon
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 1:52pm
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Maybe;
There is the Report icon to let Mark know when we get spammed. Moderating is a thankless task most of the time (I do it on 2 other Forums, I'll give you 1/2 a guess on one of them). ------------- Wanna learn to Ski - PM me.. |
Posted By: JimC
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 1:52pm
| nAh, topic drift is entertaining. You only really need active moderation if youre getting more serious problems. |
Posted By: Bumble
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 1:53pm
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The rather organic nature of some of the threads on this site is one of the things I enjoy about it....... a thread may start with some serious hot debate full of gleaming info and stuff, and end up a sl*gging match between a few posties over whatever..... it adds character to the people envolved and allows it to break free a soar, up and over other forums. Just my view mind. Further, my favourite cheese is a really mature blue stilton. |
Posted By: Bumble
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 1:55pm
| whow.... I didn't know sl***ing was a forbidden word...sorry chaps. |
Posted By: Bumble
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 1:59pm
| Another thing..... I thing that suprises me with regard to threads, is some people can argue till the cows come home and beyond over some pointless topic, and some topics you'd expect to be so close to their hearts it burns, hardly get a bye si bye. This would explain why Rick feels his hot topics are deviating. |
Posted By: Guest
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 2:45pm
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I just think that the wandering threads are OK for those who use the forum a lot but a bit of moderation would make the forum more appealing for the infrequent visitor ... If you look at the stats I'd say that there are only a few regualr posters ... Rick ------------- |
Posted By: Bumble
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 2:50pm
| Fair comment.... |
Posted By: Bumble
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 3:34pm
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So why is this thread still in 'dinghy development'.........enter stage left - Ricks suggestion for a moderator. I couldn't be bothered myself...so I vote Rick as most suitable. Are there any ayes? |
Posted By: Guest
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 3:36pm
I think it is for Mark to make that call ... ------------- |
Posted By: Bumble
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 3:49pm
Yeah.... I bet your his first choice...... and me a close second. |
Posted By: Hector
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 3:50pm
| Yes we do. Take for example the RS500 thread - current page. Hardly a mention of RS500 but an interesting debate going on about the effect of weight. How would a newcomer find that? Certainly not by searching under RS500! |
Posted By: MikeBz
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 3:52pm
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I think Rick makes a good point, though I'm not sure moderation is really needed or desirable as things stand. It's a very time-consuming job and can end up with some rather subjective calls being made depending on the attitude of the moderator. In practice most sites I frequent which are moderated are done so very well, with little or no intervention by the moderator(s). Mike |
Posted By: Guest
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 3:54pm
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I guess that is my point - good stuff that will never be found unless you happen to have been following for the start. The moderators roll is to facilitate discussion not of couse to stop it ... Rick ------------- |
Posted By: Bumble
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 3:56pm
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yep.....click search - then keyword - weight; mainbody; dinghy development ; most recent first. Robert is the name of your Uncle. |
Posted By: Rupert
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 4:12pm
Poachers do make the best gamekeepers... ------------- Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686 |
Posted By: Stefan Lloyd
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 5:08pm
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Yep. A remarkable number seem to turn into discussions on Cherubs. I don't really have a problem with either the particular or the general there. The purpose of moderation is to stop abuse and spam and Mark does a fine job. If it goes beyond that is becomes control freakery or censorship. See the utterly grim Scuttlebutt forum for an example of how to kill discussion and a forum stone dead. |
Posted By: Wave Rider
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 5:42pm
If you can't beat us, join us ------------- -[Franko]- Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club RS600 933 |
Posted By: Bumble
Date Posted: 09 Dec 05 at 5:45pm
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Id second Lloyd and get my nose a bit brown.... good job Mark. Now this is getting off topic.... the original suggestion was to send topics off the point to a new thread. Now we are defending censorship and blatent 3rd party editing. |
Posted By: Isis
Date Posted: 10 Dec 05 at 11:51am
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I dont think we need mods personaly. Mark does a good job of keeping out the spam and abuse etc and in my experiance repeatedly splitting/moving/closing topics because the natural conversation wavers off to some other topic just kills the atmosphere. People deliberately asking totaly off topic questions when they could just make a new thread or bump up an older, more suitable one is annoying but sliding off topic occasionaly is a fair sacrafice for mentaining healthy discussion Right, rant over, back to the topic at hand.... Woooh Cherubs!! ------------- |
Posted By: les5269
Date Posted: 10 Dec 05 at 3:54pm
Back to Cherubs!!!!!!!! Never tried one myself but... 5000s and 49ers Great!------------- 49er 531 & 5000 5025 and a mirror(now gone to mirror heaven)! http://www.grafham.org/" rel="nofollow - Grafham water Sailing Club The greatest inland sailing in the country |
Posted By: Shingle
Date Posted: 12 Dec 05 at 12:28pm
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Only to get rid of ads for boat covers. ------------- Drink Feck girls! |
Posted By: Mark Jardine
Date Posted: 12 Dec 05 at 12:55pm
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Hi all I've been following this topic to guage the feeling towards topics and moderation. I try to leave the forum to evolve in its own way - we don't have an agenda here for its direction - we just want it to be a place where sailors can discuss topics and I believe that is what it has become. The thing I'll always delete is blatant commercial advertising and many, many thanks to all the members who report these posts to me - your input is very much appreciated! I am going to hold off having moderators on the forum at the moment. I quite like the ways that topics can miander around and it seems to are many of the forum users. If it gets really out of hand we'll have to re-evaluate the situation but all is ok for now. Of course, every so often I've got to step in on topics. We never want threads to get to a situation where it is close to the lawyers stepping in... |
Posted By: Bumble
Date Posted: 12 Dec 05 at 2:45pm
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I think I speak for all the posties when I point out how aware we are of the balance needed, when a forum is linked so directly to a commercial product such as Yacht and Yachting. All the Joking aside, I hope this balance is not toppled to the extent where by moderation and censorship is considered, and thank you again for performing a thankless task so honourably. 'Excellent' job Mark. |
Posted By: Worthy
Date Posted: 13 Dec 05 at 2:53pm
| We definately need moderators - even this thread has gone off topic too much at times!! |
Posted By: carshalton fc
Date Posted: 13 Dec 05 at 3:56pm
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no we dont need modirators it is just pointless. mark does a great job at the moment and i think that the threads would be tini if they didnt go off topic. like how did the rs500 get 23 pages if it didnt go off track a little bit.
 and anyway it is only a bit of light hearted entertainment.
 happy posting ------------- International 14 1503 |
Posted By: Worthy
Date Posted: 14 Dec 05 at 3:43pm
| an example of why we need mods is this thread is in the wrong section!! |
Posted By: elmo
Date Posted: 14 Dec 05 at 4:07pm
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Yup I think we do. This forum looked promising when it first started, but I have to admit to having virtually given up on it (bar when immensly procrastinating useful work) as it went through as stage of only being used by annoying 14 year olds with their "banter". Now it is impossible to make head or tail of most of the discussions, which could be much more useful and informative. The RS 500 one could have been good, but it went of track. In reply to someone a few posts ago, you cant judge a thread by number of posts, you want quality discussion not just random waffling. Just my 0.02$ worth. |
Posted By: Philsy
Date Posted: 14 Dec 05 at 4:51pm
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Moderators usually do no more than check for abusive and inappropriate
posts. They do not try to steer the direction of threads. Part of the appeal of internet forums is the fluidity of discussions. It's akin to a conversation in a pub - it moves naturally from one subject to another and, maybe, back again. I see no problem with the threads here. They don't go off-topic as much as diversify; if they didn't, they'd die a death very quickly and we'd all be worse off for it. If a thread doesn't interest you anymore, simply unsubscribe from it and move on; but don't stop others from enjoying it. I say leave things as they are. Phil ------------- |
Posted By: Garry
Date Posted: 14 Dec 05 at 5:02pm
I don't think we need moderators but we do need to separate out the rubish from the useful. I'm using the site (and posting) a lot less than I used to. there are some good threads, maybe all it needs is some self control  The Dinghy mag forum has gone the same way and is now really dominated by a few posters continually posting near rubbish. Maybe this forum is also headed in that direction... unless we exercise some self control.------------- Garry Lark 2252, Contender 298 www.cuckoos.eclipse.co.uk |
Posted By: Philsy
Date Posted: 14 Dec 05 at 5:07pm
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But who's to say what is rubbish and what isn't? I think that, generally, the
posts here are of good quality. There's a nice mix of serious and amusing, and - generally - there is no unpleasantness. The main problem with the Dinghy Sailing forum is that it's way underused - possibly because there is no option to be notified of replies. Phil ------------- |
Posted By: elmo
Date Posted: 14 Dec 05 at 5:22pm
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I would imagine that a good example of forums with 2 much rubbish are
ones with a large number of one line replies about nothing
constructive, and ones with people having conversations between
themselves with not much in particularly. Although I would have to say that this kind of bitching also comes in my category of rubbish and thus i think i shall just expel myself from the debate, |
Posted By: Matt Jackson
Date Posted: 14 Dec 05 at 5:40pm
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Maybe there should be better publicised 'rules' on useage, rather than moderators, so everyone knows if they're taking the michael and change to PMing rather than clogging up inboxes. Also others would feel more comfortable about telling people to change to PM. However, sometimes one line answers are funnier than a well thought out and argued point, which has some merit. I for one use this forum because it is a bunch of sailors having a (sometimes lively) debate which is usually about sailing. It's like being in the pub and I like that - it forges a sense of comunity where there isn't one in a traditional sense, and which is (IMHO) what the internet does best ------------- Laser 203001, Harrier (H+) 36 |
Posted By: Matt Jackson
Date Posted: 14 Dec 05 at 5:41pm
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Oh, and I like a good argument now and then ------------- Laser 203001, Harrier (H+) 36 |
Posted By: Bumble
Date Posted: 15 Dec 05 at 7:06am
| Oh no you don't! |
Posted By: Isis
Date Posted: 15 Dec 05 at 11:47am
Agreed and well put. ------------- |
Posted By: carshalton fc
Date Posted: 15 Dec 05 at 11:49am
yes theads do go off track a little bit but what u have to take into account is that we cant talk about an rs 500 for ever and the theads are like evolution they just develop into what people want to talk about. and anyway maybe if u posted a bit more on the relivent theads they might stay on track.
there is only a few people out of the 2000 people that have joined that post regually. ------------- International 14 1503 |
Posted By: Scooby_simon
Date Posted: 15 Dec 05 at 12:38pm
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People, just to give you some idea of what mods actually do, I'm a mod on a couple of other forums and we do the following:
1, Moving posts around that are in the wrong forum 2, Help users to use the forum 3, Deal with spammers 4, Deople who abuse the forum-generally people plugging their ebay auctions or other websites (so far light on Y+Y) but can be a real problem and take considerable time educating people 5, Sorting people (or persons) who have dis-agreements and who cannot act in the correct manner with each other - sorting out things when things get out of hand. 6, It is usually a thankless task and takes time. ------------- Wanna learn to Ski - PM me.. |
Posted By: Stefan Lloyd
Date Posted: 15 Dec 05 at 1:43pm
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I also moderate a couple of small forums. Most people know each other so they are reasonably civilised, and I don't allow anonymous users. It makes a big difference if you insist people put their real names to what they say. I certainly wouldn't move posts around; give me a break, I can think of better ways to spend my time. Mostly it is a matter of removing advertising and helping some of the less techno-savvy users. "I've forgotten my password again" accounts for quite a proportion of requests for help. Certainly agree it is time-consuming and largely thankless. |
Posted By: Guest
Date Posted: 15 Dec 05 at 2:17pm
The forums I participate in are appreciative of the moderators (excepts car forums); they perhaps just don't say it often ... Rick ------------- |
Posted By: Matt Jackson
Date Posted: 15 Dec 05 at 5:12pm
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I think Mark gets a mention quite often, certainly more than other administrator/moderators on fora I've participated in (but perhaps not enough when things are running smoothly!) I hope he knows we appreciate what he does and how he's always wanted to know what we want from the forum. ------------- Laser 203001, Harrier (H+) 36 |