New member posts

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New member posts

Postby SABOAMAN » Thu Dec 22, 2011 11:36 am

Why do SAReptiles not have a system in place were new members first number of posts are screened by an administrator or moderator before the post go live?

On most of the international reptile sites this is the case. If the administrator or moderator doesn't agree with your post he can return it to the poster for correction. If the poster transgressed some website rule or rules he can be warned or banned depending on the severity of the offence.

I know we have a system were some members get a blue label but that is always after the fact. With the current mud slinging and name calling from 1st post members, maybe its time to look at something like this?
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Re: New member posts

Postby Bushviper » Thu Dec 22, 2011 12:17 pm

We did think about this but assumed that this website would be there for people who need emergency help and that system would cause potential problems. Trying to get advice about a snake bite (even if its not for a human) or an injured animal or identification to assist with a snake bite will not work if we vet everything first.

We assumed that the local community would be mature enough to not pull these childish stunts that have spoiled the forum over the past few days. We were wrong.
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Re: New member posts

Postby Seaborne » Thu Dec 22, 2011 1:47 pm

If I could add to this please. I have read the thread and also think that is has caused quite a bit of damage to not only this forum, but also the reptile community. Please for the sake of other people in here wanting to learn more about this great hobby could we not just rather get rid of the mud slinging going on. Is it not better to alienate a few people by deleting posts than to alienate the majority by allowing this to happen? I for one love(ed) this forum, but lately it has become rather disturbing. Mods please return the site to what you intended it to be when you started it.

Merry Christmas and may you all have a herping good New Year.
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Re: New member posts

Postby Marion » Thu Dec 22, 2011 2:42 pm

Awwwww what did I miss? :smt021 I have not been a member for very long and I have noticed the odd catty remark and impatient reply to some of the posts. I know there are members on the forum that know waaaaaaay more than I do and most of them will always know more than I do, but each and every one of us started at the beginning. We all asked so-called stupid questions and probably annoyed some more knowledgeable person than ourselves.

I know that I have asked a few lulu's and most people have been very kind (and polite) and have replied to my query. There were the odd one or two that sounded a bit "snotty" but I really don't care about them. Unfortunately in every field there are those that think they are superior to everyone else and have no problem throwing their weight around. The problem with them is that they were also beginners once but have forgotten how scared a person can be when something goes wrong with their pet or when they wanted an answer to a simple question. I have found that these people exist in every field - just look at dog and cat shows - boy can the fur fly!!!

We all have our own experiences and if we see someone is asking a question to a problem that we have also had and solved in the past, we can only add our comments in the hope that it will help in some way. Some other member of the forum may think the question and answer stupid, but the person asking is not stupid at all. Rather ask a "stupid" question than make a mistake that can cost the life of your animal.

There are many "experts with opinions" out there and most of them do a fantastic job answering queries with patience and a genuine interest in teaching a greenie something new. It's those other "experts" that are a pain in the butt!!! I think everyone that offers an opinion should do so with respect and sympathy and if they can't then shut the hell up!! We don't need cowboys on this forum - we are herp lovers and in the herp community we need each other to lean on in times of stress and trouble. So if a person hasn't got something nice to say then PLEASE don't say anything!! We don't need them here.

There is not a single person in the world that is not still learning something new - even those who have had many years of experience. We ALL learn from each other, young or old, experienced or not. So let's stop the cattiness and concentrate on what I'm sure the forum was created for - to teach, to learn, to expand the reptile gene pool and meet people with the same interests.

To those who are considering giving up membership to the forum or others joining for the first time - don't let the odd screwball put you off - there are many others here who have a genuine interest and are always willing to help.

Marion



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Re: New member posts

Postby rolandslf » Thu Dec 22, 2011 3:10 pm

SABoaman- I for one am so glad that you have raised this issue. I belong to 8 different Reptile Groups on Face Book, and I can assure you that I am always doing damage control, and elevating SAReptiles Status, because the majority of people on these groups have a very negative perspective of SAReptiles, specifically because of the reasons you have mentioned.

A case in point is a thread I started 14 months ago about a "Hooge House Snake", the actual thread ran for about two weeks, and then became dormant as threads do, "Lo and Behold" , a couple of days ago a noob on their third or fourth post on the Forum, lays into me about my practices and questioning my ethics so to speak.

Well done to you on attempting to find ways of curbing such disturbing behaviour from newbies.

All of us at some time or the other will have an issue with one or the other, however, I feel that some sort respect and decorum should always be maintained, no matter how long or how short, one has been a member of the Forum.
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Re: New member posts

Postby TJ&ACP » Thu Dec 22, 2011 4:15 pm

Thank you BV and Marion I agree with both what you said, in my opinion if a person young or “OLD” or new to this forum post ‘MY SNAKE IS NOT EATING’ he is coming to this forum, because that person is desperate, as 99% of the information that he did received from so-called experts all failed and by this time the animal is already half dead.

Yes more and more children are turning to the internet for answers as they are seeking information therefore we as old members can not turn there questions down as he might be the next BV or Chris Barnard.
As a general rule, the more we learn about snakes and their ways, the less fear we have of them. This is usually not so with the Mamba.
The more one learns of his ways, the greater grows the dread of him.
He, without doubt, is the King of Snakes in South Africa.
For quickness, aggressiveness, and the deadly nature of his venom, he has no equal.
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Re: New member posts

Postby Badasti » Thu Dec 22, 2011 6:01 pm

Well the best way to deal with retards is to make a spectacle of them imo. Enjoy it for the entertainment value.

One of the gaming forums I use does just that. It's basically a forum designed for intelligent discussion of game mechanics. Retard posts get sent to a subforum called "the dung heap" - so long as they don't need to be deleted. Not sure if they get locked or not.

Just an idea... :cool:

We could have like the darwin awards or something and members can vote idiot of the month / year?! :D

Edit: BTW I'm not referring to 'noob' questions... I still ask lots of them, I'm referring to posts that are made simply to provoke the community...
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Re: New member posts

Postby SABOAMAN » Fri Dec 23, 2011 8:51 am

Marion: I raised this question not because of the newbies asking “dumb” questions. There is no such thing as a dumb question for the newbie. Those questions will get through the filter system(if SAReptiles had such a system in place). I'm more concerned about the abuse from new members first posts in the discussion that went south in the last few days.

Badasti:

We could have like the darwin awards or something and members can vote idiot of the month / year?!


This is the reason why I posted the question, because of the darwin award topic

This problem with newbies and mud slinging is seasonal but for some reason this time its really bad and as Roland has said always damage control and Seaborne alienating members because of the few.Surely some balance must be found.

I do hope there is some solution to this problem
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Re: New member posts

Postby froot » Fri Dec 23, 2011 10:55 am

I copy and paste part of a post I made a while ago in response to those on other online communities who like to complain about what happens on our site:

The way I choose to handle it is like this: This site operates on the SISO principle (sh!t in sh!t out), what you get out of it basically depends on what you put in, and then some. When you register on the forum it is a clean slate and you are free to engage with it however your fancy sees fit. We have a basic set of rules that everyone is expected to adhere to. Break these rules and your freedom becomes more and more limited. Manipulate these rules to misdirect the leadership of the site and we will come at you tenfold. Immediate banning and if necessary, litigation. I cannot multitask so I prefer to keep things simple.

I also feel the need to respond to comments made about various members no longer here because of unpleasantness of some form or another. This really irks me to no end! Well thanks for the allegiance - not, and get the hell off my conscience. Don't expect a welcome back from me when you decide to revisit after we have made the place a little more pallateable for you. Rather just leave quietly and come back quietly without offering any reasons, or stick around and help us.


I will be taking a closer look at some of the new users from that Darwin topic with the intention of deleting as many as I can. The fact that that topic got locked and this one got started tells me one thing - time to get anal again. It's not the first festive season we've had nonsense on here. People PLEASE REPORT POSTS you feel do not belong here, it's easy to do and you get to keep your anonymity.
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Re: New member posts

Postby Badasti » Wed Jan 25, 2012 12:33 pm

Hey guys, just got back from Romania on the 15th so this is my first time logging since my last post.

Anyway I took a look at the darwin topic that sparked off this one. Man I never imagined it got that bad! I thought this post was made about a couple of forum trolls, not a 25 page long thread. I'm not sure how the admins would like to handle it but I'll give my 2c worth.

I've been involved in various gaming communities for over 10 years, I've also moderated several forums myself. I'll try make my post as fluent as possible without going back to the same points over and over again.

Now for me the entire thread was quite amusing. Especially BV calling somebody a 'knob' - that part made my morning. While I totally agree that some of those people are indeed knobs and undermining our beloved pastime (in some cases careers) activities, there has to be a line. The saying that comes to mind is - if you argue with an idiot they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience. Basically for anyone that comes across that post weather they agree or not there are a few things they will notice. A petty squabble and admins getting invovled by returning fire. As much as I understand the intention to protect the community and the light that herping is viewed in, it serves to do the opposite when there is no order among the chaos.

A typical example would be World of Warcraft. I'm not sure if you guys are familiar with the game. Basically it is the most popular MMO in the world. Hosting for 13-14 million people. Anytime an admin, moderator, designer, whatever posts, it immediatly catches the communities eye. Therefore public image comes into play and they all have to be extremely careful what they say. Over the years a couple have been dragged down by thousands of hormonal gamers and most likely fired from their position for letting it happen.

The community here isn't as big but the message is no less important. As I say the entire arguement within the post was random idiots giving the hobby a bad name. I'm sure we'd love to see the reptile community grow as there is alot of missinformation surrounding the animals. It's harder to attract fresh, intelligent blood into the hobby than it would be for say a kitten convention.

When I joined the forum the first thing I noticed is a couple of people have red names, most have green and so on. It's easy to establish who the local authority is. If I had stumbled across a post like this when I first joined the forums, I doubt I would have joined at all. Why? Because new blood won't understand what the community is about when they first arrive. I'd be wondering if I joined and made a stupid post if I'd be ganged up on and pwnd by half the community. That may not make much sense to an experienced member but to potential members of the community it will. While we attempt to protect herping the way it is meant to be, we serve to do the opposite by getting involved in such a controversial topic.

For what it's worth and in future I'd suggest doing exactly what WoW does. The moment a thread becomes a flame war, it gets locked. In order for the admins to have their say they make a final post before locking that refers any readers to the forums Terms & Conditions and what the community stands for (such as a post telling people in a nice way that free handling venomous snakes is idiotic) and or banning people where necessary. That way people that may stumble across the site and possibly the post in question, will have an immediate sense of some law enforcement. In it's essence that's exactly what it is. If some guy just donnered his girlfriend, another guy saw it and went to bliksem the guy and I was a cop and saw the whole thing, my first reaction would be to help the guy go donner the boyfriend. Unfortanely the job calls for keeping order in what would otherwise turn into a chaotic society. Later we find out the girlfriend was psychotic, shot his favourite pet dog and was sleeping with his brother.

In my honest opinion it's best to steer clear of things that could potentially endanger the community. BV calling someone a knob scores a 10 / 10 on my scale of entertainment value but I think personal opinions are best left behind closed doors, simply from a PR point of view. The sooner you stamp out a small fire the sooner everyone goes on with their lives. At the end of the day there will always be the odd idiot that undermines the entire community. If we just turn our noses up at them and shun them from the community, therefore not allowing them the pleasure of turning it into a bickering war then we serve the purpose of not supporting it and still getting the message across.

Just my input!
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