Cleaning Up The Community

[Piggy]

I just wanted to point out that I'm a good little piggy! :shifty:

[petrossa]

Definitely. Seems like recently, the political discussions (which is mostly Sarah Palin and Obama news or just people bitching) dominate the "Latest Forum Activity" posts.

They are interesting discussions (some of them), and it is interesting that people with very similar interests in technology can have very different political views. But the political discussions and non-tech related news stuff seems to be out-of-scope IMHO.

Nowadays you can' t survive as a techonly site or you must have some huge existing following. There's just too many tech sites about. Diversity in topics is necessary, it's just which kind of demographics are you going after?

Neowin covers a good range of topics in the fora, perhaps the frontpage should reflect that more rather than less.

[Shadrack]

But by then the uneven moderation has already been done, by which time the damage to your reputation (the moderators) is already done.

I'm suggesting a way to improve your site why not just accept that and say you will look in to doing it? It's not like I'm suggesting something that would ruin the site, this would improve it.

There's a forum for that.

[Growled Member]

There is a set time when warnings are reduced.

Warnings are reduced by 20% after 6 months of recieving the warning, unless in that time the member recieves another warning. it has always been this way ever since automatic warn reductions were introduced.

Thanks for the correction. I had forgotten that bit. I'm back at work today after a two week vacation and I'm a bit fuzzy on a lot of things. :)

I still think a reduction based on post count might be an idea worth considering. :)

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Thanks for the correction. I had forgotten that bit. I'm back at work today after a two week vacation and I'm a bit fuzzy on a lot of things. :)

I still think a reduction based on post count might be an idea worth considering. :)

What difference does the post count make? People with 10,000 posts can be asses just as good as people with 10 posts. There's no reason to be more lenient towards the former.

There should be more mutual respect. You expect staff to be fair and respect member opinions - well, it'll help if some of you are fair towards staff as well instead of being downright insulting. As mentioned earlier - I've been staff before and saw some of the crap people would sling at mods for a warning.

The devs ought to embed a banner into the post editor. 'ENGAGE BRAIN BEFORE POSTING!' in big red blinking letters.

[PixilEyes]

If you don't like it leave?

Create your own forum? Set your own rules.

Don't post?

I mean gueeze people Its a message board. Calm down. If a message board gets you that worked up, you might have to re-evaluate your priority's in life.

The handful in the IRC seem to get along pretty well. Why can't everyone else?

[Lord Ba'al]

If rules like this are going to be applied, it would also be fair for the warning system itself to be made a bit fairer, it is too easy on here to get warned for stupid things.

Very true. As it is now, you can easily get warned for nothing whatsoever :pinch:

I don't see how being overly strict is supposed to improve the qaulity. Ruling people through fear never solved any problems.

We're not trying to be Nazi's here

I'm afraid to say that you're not trying very hard there :no:

I also believe that on here you get warned for things that on most other forums moderators wouldn't even blink their eyelids at

I can definitely confirm that.

and I just don't see how restricting members and banning them for stupid things is going to increase the quality of the site, I can understand the need to remove real troublemakers, but I just don't see it as being necessary as the way I see it restricting people's accounts will just annoy them and they will leave. I wasn't trying to call you nazis as such, but I do believe that the moderation on here is still a bit heavy handed compared to what you see on a lot of other message boards.

Fully agree. Clamping down on trouble makers certainly is neccessary, but handing out warnings like candy for ludicrously stupid things, for which mods on other forums wouldn't even bat an eyelid, certainly won't create a good atmosphere or a friendly, happy community. As I said already, ruling through fear never is a good idea.

[Growled Member]

What difference does the post count make? People with 10,000 posts can be asses just as good as people with 10 posts. There's no reason to be more lenient towards the former.

Then why be lenient in 6 months time? An arse can still be an arse regardless of the time length. I was just making a suggestion.

There should be more mutual respect. You expect staff to be fair and respect member opinions - well, it'll help if some of you are fair towards staff as well instead of being downright insulting. As mentioned earlier - I've been staff before and saw some of the crap people would sling at mods for a warning.

I agree. Every time we have a thread like this it turns into a slam on the mods. I see no need for that. If I had a problem with a mod or the mods in general I would take it up in private, where it belongs. Personally, I think the staff here does a good job. We have a few hotheads here and a few posters who seem to have no respect for anyone, especially staff. I'd probably end up banning them all if I was on the staff.

[vincent]

Reinstate Radish and his ban hammer (Y)

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Then why be lenient in 6 months time? An arse can still be an arse regardless of the time length. I was just making a suggestion.

The idea is to give people time to grow up a bit. We do have a fair number of teenagers here.

[vincent]

I still think a reduction based on post count might be an idea worth considering. :)

We should be glad that there's a warn reduction policy at all. Most forums don't have such a thing.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Then why be lenient in 6 months time? An arse can still be an arse regardless of the time length. I was just making a suggestion.

On the flipside 6 months is a very long period of time for someone to change.

For my warning rating to reach 0% it's going to take 2.5 years. It's fully my fault it is where it is, but it's something that gets me down and I do think I've been changing around the GH quite positively.

Now that doesn't bother me in one sense I'm doing my best to clean my act up and are nowhere near as bad as I have been in the past, which was mainly due to personal reasons but I keep trying not to involve them as if you aren't fit to be on the board you shouldn't be.

However it's already been admitted to that there is a campaign in place to follow and track those with higher ratings. That is sometimes a little scary, not that it makes me want to post cautiously I shouldn't need to feel that way as whatever I'm posting should be inside the rules.

However I think the scale being as rigidly black and white as that could be a talking point for moderation. I do put a lot of good into this community, alongside the bad that has marred my warning rating, but I'd rather there were others way I could somehow work to reducing it rather than a black and white 6 month system. I work my ass off sometimes alongside some of the other GH crew to make topics for big events, post guides and other things, and I know someone can't just say "Oh good guide I'll take 20% off your warning".

But maybe some other kind of discussion after 6 months staffers make a decision on how much to deduct, just the systems 20% or has the person redeemed themselves worthy of more?

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

I think when it boils down to it most people at the moment won't realise or understand why they've been warned until they've been told about it, so they will either alter their behaviour... or dispute the warning. It's not as if they're intentionally being bad.

I went for the former. No point in disputing it, no matter how I feel about it. At the end of the day it's just a warning on an internet forum. Not the end of the world. :p

[c3ntury]

Politics will always be a divisive topic, no way around it, people are too entrenched into their opinions and positions to ever "give in" to the opposition

Then why dont we have a huge poll and see if its even worth having such a section if its dragging the site into the gutter.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

But maybe some other kind of discussion after 6 months staffers make a decision on how much to deduct, just the systems 20% or has the person redeemed themselves worthy of more?

The two problems with that is:

1) Some moderators will have favourites

2) It would encourage some people will suck up to the moderators

The system we have avoids those problems are instills a sense of fairness.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

The two problems with that is:

1) Some moderators will have favourites

2) It would encourage some people will suck up to the moderators

The system we have avoids those problems are instills a sense of fairness.

Well I would brainstorm the system to work off a moderator(s) providing proof of said person working hard within the community. You guys hand out MVC badges right? In a way that's picking out favourites, for the right reasons I agree with MVC, but I'm sort of trying to apply that to warning ratings as well.

Sucking up to moderators? You guys have been picked because you're the most level headed and well equipped people to deal with the tasks here - My suggestion isn't about being nicey nicey, but a member showing their hard work for the community possibly warranting some kind of "reward" in regards to their bad behaviour in the past. Community work to warrant reward, not PMing a moderator "Hi" every morning.

It's just a suggestion, and I wouldn't like to think it's something mods would act upon themselves anyway, I know for a fact you guys heavily discuss things before doing anything to a member, unless it's a spammer or an outright clear warning/ban.

Anyway it was just an idea, some might say it's just coming from me because I am at 100% but I didn't think it was a bad idea, people get warnings for reasons, we're lucky there is even a system in place to reduce them, however you have to admit it is very rigid and robotic, there's no "parole board" kind of human side to it, warnings just drop off at specific times.

Either way just a suggestion, I'm thankful you even replied Fred.

[Growled Member]

The idea is to give people time to grow up a bit. We do have a fair number of teenagers here.

Just for the record I wasn't arguing against the six month period. I think it's great that we offer posters this opportunity. I was just suggesting 6 months or xxx amount of posts, depending on the poster. However, this could lead to charges of favoritism as some posters would have to wait 6 months while others might get reduced after xxx amount of posts, so I withdraw the suggestion.

[+M2Ys4U Subscriber¹]

Sure it's not nice to have the bar there reminding you that you screwed up in the past, but if the staff see that you're doing good for the community, then surely they'd overlook your warning level for any interactions with you unless you were doing something dodgy.

[ATGC]

:rolleyes:

[Shadrack]

Then why dont we have a huge poll and see if its even worth having such a section if its dragging the site into the gutter.

Political discussions do drag the site into the gutter IMHO. Shouldn't need a poll for that, just the site admins to see it. I wonder if this has effected the site stats. Certainly within the past year the political discussions have been very intense and persistent on the "Recent Forum Activity" section.

The problem with political discussions is that there are never any resolutions (as already stated). Nothing anyone says on this site is going to change my political views, and nothing I say is going to change anyone else's political views so the whole discussion is nothing more than flaming and trolling.

People's feelings get hurt, and then they carry that with them to other threads that are unrelated.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

An easy way to avoid warns is to review the Community Rules and be civil. Don't like somebody's post? Then don't bother replying if you're going to insult him/her. It's quite easy, really. It takes more effort to get a warning then it does not to get one.

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Once upon a time (actually until fairly recently), RWI forum posts were hidden from the "Recent Forum Activity" (except for staff). That seems to have gone off the rails and the devs are currently working on bigger projects that will eventually make that redundant.

[PricklyPoo]

Political discussions do drag the site into the gutter IMHO. Shouldn't need a poll for that, just the site admins to see it. I wonder if this has effected the site stats.

I've often wondered, but I think the drop in activity goes far beyond this. What petrossa said earlier is the truth, there are WAY more tech sites than there used to be. Anymore, when I have a PC problem, I just go on google and the answer is already there on one of the thousands of popular sites. I don't bother getting my tech news articles from neowin, since I can just go on digg or similar sites which have way more material from all over. Any specific problem I might have with extra technical stuff, it's usually better to just go on the product forum and ask. Same with reviews...I really don't know why people bother asking for reviews on anything here, when you can just go on headphones.com for example, and look at thousands of reviews from professionals.

I think it's better to open the discussion to all areas equally, as being a tech forum just isn't going to cut it these days, with all the options. Imo, you either have to be somewhat of an everything forum, or a forum dedicated to something very specific.

[aussiefloyd_fan]

I personally am glad to see a return to the more applied moderation :)

me too. I shall try to be a better person now

[forster]

Interesting thread so far guys, definately a good read (Y)

Cant say I agree with some of the reactions of the mods, but they've got a point, we're just passengers on the Neowin bus and whether you got on for free, or paid for a ticket, if you act like a fool you're ruining the ride for other people.

(Even if what you said was deserved coz the **** behind you has been kicking the back of your chair for the past hour) ;)