Panacik Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 There is something I would like to point out:In this thread a staff member has thrown a subminal at me. He did not talk about himself nor did he talk about me but he refered to us as staff and member and insulted me but of course since it is a subminal noone knows who he is talking about and of course this staff member isnt talking about himself but just a "staff member". I believe if this happened the other way around (I thru a subminal at a staff member and he saw it) I would get warned, especially the insult he has made towards me. Completely uncalled for and the one of the reasons I think cleanup should be done in the staff area. So contact a super. If you feel your being victimised by a staff member, contact a super, if you dont get the response you want, then contact an Admin, still dont get the response, then either try to DDOS Neowin as Kidd0 did back in the day, or simply leave. To be honest, i dont know why a staff member would bother to give you subliminal messages. Staff members are staff members, because they are able to use maturity, integrity and professionalism on Neowin, without showing any bias toward a race or religion. Granted there are always a few that slip up and in the past i know of some staff who lost their rights and where removed from staff completely because of their attitude, but on the whole i dont and never have seen a staff member directly attcking standard members. To be honest, i cant even see how they could be doing this to you, considering the staff already admitted you where warned recently and this is why you created the thread in the first place... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titoist Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Read the first post: it's author intended it to be a place where he could answer criticism about his religion, if anything it aims to reduce the confusion and ignorance about one of the worlds major religions which is the way you go about reducing hate.While the quality of the discussion varies it hasn't devolved into a mud-slinging crap shoot. The original poster is still active and answering questions. Just to be clear. My original post was not about the poster of the thread. I know what he was trying to do, but I was talking about the replies he has recieved and some of the heated debates that have occured. These debates were crazy compared to the Gaza conflict thread where someone made a comment about how Israel should stop imprisoning people in Gaza thus resulting in the closure of the thread. My main point was that there is political bias on Neowin, where some (very few) moderators will close the thread because of the threats they have recieved from members or personal political beliefs. The Gaza conflict issue is the only one I can recall where I have seen such moderation and I do not remember who closed it, but I do know its a mod that I haven't really seen on neowin. After the vandalism of my blog by the JIDF, I am very skeptical of the "right of free speech" on the internet and the people that claim they are protecting that right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green_Eye Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 HeyI have a feeling this will get closed as Neowin doesnt even accept constructive criticism but oh well... In my opinion, year after year Neowin is starting to decline. The staff warn for the smallest thing. Members (myself included) argue about (example) if a pie should be blueberry or apple. The news on the frontpage keeps getting worse and worse, both written and quality. The site (with the new skin) is just horrible (thank god you can still change it to the old version). I dont think this will become 4chan thanks to Neobond but it just wrong to come here anymore :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titoist Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 How long do these warnings last before they decrease to say 0%? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean B. Veteran Posted February 18, 2009 Veteran Share Posted February 18, 2009 How long do these warnings last before they decrease to say 0%? OMG I got a warning, now what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redvamp128 Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Declining I would say no, more or less would call it evolving and adapting. For example When everyone was running XP the topics swayed to Win98 and XP. But when Longhorn came out more topics were on that which turned into Vista topics. Now I would say most topics now are Win7 issues. Though lately I would say that the only diversions are Hums post of off the wall news items(Some are good and Some are Bad). That and I wish I could remember the guys name but some of the Joke posts actually make me laugh. I have seen a decline in the Linux as well as the Older forums- But somehow someone resurects a thread from way back. So I would have to disagree with you on that one. There are some topics we don't discuss and they are well if you read the faq and the rules, clearly defined. Logic should tell you that adblockers, hacks, and cracks should be off limits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PL_ Veteran Posted February 18, 2009 Veteran Share Posted February 18, 2009 Another issue I have is the Stardock issue. I remember once that a new premium theme was released for WB. A member said it wasnt up to scratch and to my surprise he was banned within 5 minutes. I messaged some Admins but got the generic reply and nothing else back. Again why bother? Before I was on staff I'd think similar things about banned members. What most people don't know is that discussions on whether or not a members should be banned can sometimes go on for months before a decision is reached, so his ban may well have been in the works long before. He may also have been a dupe account or something. Going back to ban discussions, it makes me laugh when people talk of heavy-handed moderation, because in some cases we have been incredibly lenient in how long we've let a member stay before we've decided enough is enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+shift. MVC Posted February 18, 2009 MVC Share Posted February 18, 2009 Going back to ban discussions, it makes me laugh when people talk of heavy-handed moderation, because in some cases we have been incredibly lenient in how long we've let a member stay before we've decided enough is enough. Most recent example I can think of is snyper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RadishTM Veteran Posted February 18, 2009 Veteran Share Posted February 18, 2009 The only purpose of this thread is for the OP to vent his frustrations, which stem from disciplinary actions which have been taken against him as a direct result of his not being able to follow the rules here, not once, but repeatedly since his account was registered. That's all this is about, whether the OP wants to admit it or not, and historically that's what sparks the majority of these threads. The tools are in place for every member to contribute to Neowin, to make it a better community. Don't like what's on the front page? Use the Submit to Newsdesk link. See a problem in the forums or the news comments? Click the Report button. Think you'd make a good addition to the staff? Try making an example by being a good addition to the community first. Constantly violating the rules of any society is no way to gain respect and admiration among the peers of that society, and Neowin is no different. +1 (Y) Radish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panacik Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Hahaha! This should be the ONLY real reply to this thread :rofl: (Y) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_Guy Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 I can't vote because it's not a Yes or No answer. For awhile I did think Neowin was on the decline. Lately it's been better. Part of the problem is with member conduct. Some of the comments are unbearably immature, ignorant, thoughtless, off topic, or are flamebait. Neowin can't do a lot to control that except maybe enforce the rules a bit more. However, user conduct is better now than it has been previously. Part of the problem is what gets classified as "Front Page" news. I joined NeoWIN in 2003 when it was geared primarily towards Microsoft news. Lately there's been a ton of Apple news. I don't mind the stuff that's, in my opinion, news-worthy. But it seems that every time there is a slight change to one configuration of one model of computer, it's front page news. When there's a minor revision in Safari, that's front page news. If the same principles applied to Microsoft news there would be hundreds of news articles to read through every day. How about just the major stuff like a shift in marketshare? A drop of DRM in iTunes? Steve Jobs taking sick leave? Those are news worthy. I think the "Bang On" editorial feature is a great idea but so far not well executed. I was hoping this feature would give Neowin readers something thought-provoking but instead we get titles like "We need Apple". Well, no, we don't. That's just bias and the points raised in the editorial don't have much backing to them. For an Apple theme, how about an article about how Steve Jobs managed to make iPods the "must have" portable media player despite having better, cheaper alternatives in the market? The same goes for Windows. Windows didn't "kill" the skinning community and even if it had, so what? At the end of the day, Neowin is still my primary source for all IT news. They seem to get the most stories and I usually hear about things first on Neowin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane Pitman Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Vent my frustrations would be to give a finger to the staff members, cursing all over this thread, etc. AFAIK, this has been a normal thread. You are just stiring up the pot by saying "The only purpose of this thread is for the OP to vent his frustrations, which stem from disciplinary actions which have been taken against him as a direct result of his not being able to follow the rules here, not once, but repeatedly since his account was registered.". Is this comment really neccesary? And on that note, this seems to be (I feel) like this is a personal attack since I have been singled out in this post. But is Shane going to be warned/his post removed? Nope. I didn't attack you, I stated a fact, a fact that would have been obvious to anyone participating in any of the conversations that got you to where your warning level is at now, in other words, public knowledge. You were "singled out" because you started this rant, a rant against a community that most of us take to heart. This thread is because certain actions that have been against me I find incorrect and about the frontpage article on Apple. I find that story and posting it on the frontpage to be screaming, "Come here and flame about your favorite OS!" So you disagree with your warnings and you take it public. Haven't you gotten into trouble for that very thing before? Also, if you'll look at the icon that goes with the Apple article that you refer to, you'll see that it says Editorial. The definition of editorial from dictionary.com is "an article in a newspaper or other periodical presenting the opinion of the publisher, editor, or editors". It's an opinion piece, we have them, we will continue to have them, and if people can't refrain from violating the rules when commenting on them, then they will face disciplinary actions as set forth by the Terms of Service that everyone agrees to when they register for an account. "My frustrations" dont compare to the anger I got from reading your post Shane and both dont compare at all to the subminal I recieved without being able to do nothing about it from that staff member. But life goes on and for the record it seems this is not a one sided poll and there are much others that think like me :) Sumbliminal you received? That just makes no sense, sorry. :dontgetit: So Subscribers do get credit? Because Ive seens a bunch of times (granted it has gotten alot better lately, one point where Neowin is getting better) people complain about them submiting the news use the function and a couple of days laters a staff member "Added." then adds the members name to the article. Again, this statement makes no sense. Look at every article in the Around the Web section. They're all member submitted and every one of them credits the member that submitted it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the evn show Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 After the vandalism of my blog by the JIDF, I am very skeptical of the "right of free speech" on the internet and the people that claim they are protecting that right. Free speech is not guaranteed on the Internet. Citizens are subject to the rules of the country they post from and those that they are likely to visit (I wouldn't expect to be left alone in North Korea if I were to make a habit of bad-mouthing dear leader). You specifically agree to restrictions on what you can say on Neowin when you sign up. If Neowin decided as a matter of policy that any post that didn't praise ponies was unacceptable we wouldn't have any place to complain: even those of us that have paid to become subscribers. For a while there was a moratorium on Mac vs PC threads (or maybe was Apple is moving to x86, I can't remember) because those threads inevitably ended in flames. If threads like the one you describe show little chance of turning into rational discussion then it's reasonable for forum moderators to decide that the topic is inappropriate for the time being. If you're really interested in forums where "say whatever you like" is acceptable they do exist (try /b) but most people find that the restriction on sites like Neowin increase the overall quality of discussion. I, like others?notably MVCs/moderators/subscribers??would like to see much stricter moderation of users based on the content of their posts but I suspect that most forum members would dislike a standard set that high. The current standards are a passable compromise between the near-academic level of discussion I'd like and the free-for-all that it seems you would appreciate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panacik Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 @ Shane Pitman Although i do agree with what you are saying, as a staff member (mod or news), you are somewhat starting to look a little like your directing an attack and also publically giving information on a members warn level and what it was for. I do believe the overall decision on giving this information out was decided against by Neobond, some time back last year. As i respect you, i just wanted to let you know how it looks from another members perspective. So you dont get in trouble with the higher forces that be. At the same time, it has now become obvious that mclaren05 is somewhat opinionated and having any kind of discussion where you are trying to make the guy understand the opposing view, is impossible. He also made it obvious that he has something against me and now, it seems, you also. Not sure exactly why, other than i had an opposite point of vew to him on other threads and he didnt like the fact and decided to do, pretty much, what he is doing here. After realising this fact, i decided that the best course of action would be to simply ignore and use the report function where needed, which seems to have worked well. So for the sake of your sanity, i would suggest using any mod powers you have to close this thread and put the matter to rest, or ask a fellow member of staff to do so. This thread really is serving no purpose to Neowin. No constructive ideas etc are being given on how to improve the site, its just a thread to moan and bitch about staff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phot0nic Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 I have to agree on some points. It seems that the levels of fanboyism (for anything, really) has reached new extremes. However, I disagree about the new skin. I think it's much better than the old one (not that the old was bad). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricardo Gil Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 At the same time, it has now become obvious that mclaren05 is somewhat opinionated and having any kind of discussion where you are trying to make the guy understand the opposing view, is impossible.He also made it obvious that he has something against me and now, it seems, you also. Not sure exactly why, other than i had an opposite point of vew to him on other threads and he didnt like the fact and decided to do, pretty much, what he is doing here. After realising this fact, i decided that the best course of action would be to simply ignore and use the report function where needed, which seems to have worked well. So for the sake of your sanity, i would suggest using any mod powers you have to close this thread and put the matter to rest, or ask a fellow member of staff to do so. This thread really is serving no purpose to Neowin. No constructive ideas etc are being given on how to improve the site, its just a thread to moan and bitch about staff. Agreed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre S. Veteran Posted February 18, 2009 Veteran Share Posted February 18, 2009 I agree with the OP that the new default skin sucks, but the old one isn't gone, so where's the problem? Weee, new ugly skin for those who like it! Not for me! Big deal, huh? Otherwise, I've been here for quite a while and I think that in the Programming and Hardware Hangout sections, the level has stayed quite consistent. I tend to check out Real World Issues a bit more often now and discussions tend to be a lot less constructive there, but Neowin doesn't need to be a good forum for politics and philosophy, for me at least. It's a nice tech forum with not too may ATI vs NVIDIA flame wars, not too much anti-M$ fanboism and where you can say "Internet Explorer 7 is a decent web browser" without getting slaughtered, and that's all I really care about. Disclaimer : this was posted using Opera, not IE. :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane Pitman Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 @ Shane PitmanAlthough i do agree with what you are saying, as a staff member (mod or news), you are somewhat starting to look a little like your directing an attack and also publically giving information on a members warn level and what it was for. I do believe the overall decision on giving this information out was decided against by Neobond, some time back last year. As i respect you, i just wanted to let you know how it looks from another members perspective. So you dont get in trouble with the higher forces that be. I'm not directing an attack, just answering his allegations that he directed towards me. I haven't given out any information that wouldn't have been public knowledge to anyone that participated in any of the discussions where his actions warranted the disciplinary actions taken against him. I'm not angry, not upset, I'm just stating the obvious facts. This thread really is serving no purpose to Neowin. No constructive ideas etc are being given on how to improve the site, its just a thread to moan and bitch about staff. To that I will agree, and also will agree that it should be closed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panacik Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 I'm not directing an attack, just answering his allegations that he directed towards me. I haven't given out any information that wouldn't have been public knowledge to anyone that participated in any of the discussions where his actions warranted the disciplinary actions taken against him. I'm not angry, not upset, I'm just stating the obvious facts.To that I will agree, and also will agree that it should be closed. I know you are, but as a staff member, would it not be easier and more responsible not to fuel him with more reasons to reply and keep moaning about you, by simply ignoring his mindless allegations and just closing the thread? I realise why you are replying etc, but really, i think your going to get a sore head from all the wall banging you are doing, trying to get the guy to see sense :rofl: Glad im not the only one who sees no point to this thread though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdnem Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 Here is something EVEN worse about Neowin: If you are banned, Neowin has a script that actually freezes your browser, makes it crash, and you must close it and open it up again. I consider this even criminal and its too bad there isnt a organazation to report this :( Rich thank you for your defense :) Don't continue because you might get a warning yourself for going against a mod. Shane....You have let me down. Didn't think you would stoop this low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Posted February 18, 2009 Share Posted February 18, 2009 (edited) I think this thread has served it's purpose. Thread Closed Edit: I just wanted to comment.... the OP was not banned for anything related to this specific thread. We do not ban members for disagreeing with staff members.... but we do ban members who cannot follow the Community Rules. Edited February 18, 2009 by Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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