I became the moderator of one of the busiest tech forums in the world when I was 15. I think he appointed me as a mod to attract the crowd also because of the age factor. The admin of the website gave us moderators a clear idea about what we should and what we shouldn't do. And he told us that we should be consistent with our decision. To be frank, this forum lacks that consistency. Some are punished and some are not punished for making the same mistake. Some mods are very kind to new members and some are v.strict.
And friends, I'm way way younger than you all. I always feel a personal attachment to this website because my family is full of civil engineers. I know absolutely nothing about civil engineering:yes:. But I do know a lot about moderating a busy website. I'm of the opinion that mods should be a little more friendly and some mods already are.
Let me tell you, mods are not like police. And if the mods consider themselves as the police, the whole website will be closed in 6 months. You can't ban everybody for for making silly mistakes can you? Mods should be humble and simple in their approach but should amaze the members with the quality of their posts and also with the extraordinary potential they possess. I think the mods here are definitely a step above the rest. Go to any website and the first thing you will notice is the behaviour of the mods. They will be the first one to help you, not to punish you.
I wont say that mods should be selected via rating or voting system because a good mod wont always get the highest rating. But they should be consistent with the decisions they make. It's democracy, not communism. Guys, how many members will dare to complain to the admin about a mod?:lol: I think disputes should be cleared at that point itself. If a member is not following the rules, punish him/her. There is no need to give the user an opportunity to complain because only those people having good common sense and temperament are selected as mods.
This is just my personal opinion based on my moderating experience of 2 years.
Regards,
Dear PrinceOf Heartz
I'm very impressed by your knowledge of english, your knowledge of computers world and your experience.
You are very young and i think you have many free time for your hobby but i'm afraid you missed the point.
We the moderators are civil engineers working at office or at site 9-12 hours per day, travelling to distant sites sometimes, we have family - wife, children and sometimes grand children, bills to pay, maladies and so on.
When this site is open every day 80-100 users from around the world register and most of them i'm sure, at work are very serious men but here the majority don't think we are thousands and every one must try to not disturb the others.
We all have problems using english and every action demand time and effort including deleting the every day useless thanks (accepted in other sites but not here).
You cannot see the hundreds of private messages we receive and the hundreds of private messages we send to users, explaining, helping to resolve problems and sometimes warning.
We don't want many posts, we want quality posts and this site belong to Admin and it is not a social network.
Until now the moderators and the VIP was selected between the top posters and the good posters by their peers and not in a referendum. I love democracy but even in democracy we have rules and this is not a governmental but a private site hosted by a private person.
This site is for civil engineers and even if it is not perfect it is better than others because we don't like spammers and users thinking this is a wall for their graffiti.
Now about you my young friend. I'm older by many years (think - i bought my first IBM PC in 1983), i'm MCSE, CNE and more but i will be very happy if you will help the other users in anything related to hardware, software etc.
Please let the management of the site to Admin or at least wait, watch and try to understand us and maybe we will be happy to receive advices in the future.
Yes I can understand. But why cant you be consistent with your decisions. All mods should act in the same away against misbehaviour. Some of you will tell the user not to repeat such actions whereas some others punish the users even without giving a warning. I know that different people have different character. But you guys are the mods... You shouldn't allow your emotions to influence your actions. You guys are the role models. I'm well aware of your responsibilities in life. I never said you guys should do some extra bit of work. It is OK if you punish without warning. But all those people who commit the same mistake should be punished in the same way. That was my request. I'm not willing to talk much about this. Let's put an end to this dispute.:JC_handshake::JC_cheers:
Sir, I know that I'm no match to you when it comes to experience (both in personal and professional life), certificates etcetc.:blush:
But I do have some achievements to be proud of:clap:. I'm the beta tester of many of the software that you use daily, I write articles and reviews for websites and I'm one of the most popular mods there. I know that these are not the greatest of achievements. But I think I'm doing a decent job. Especially when you consider my age.
I know that you guys are really serious. You guys rarely use smilies.:JC_tongue: But I like them. I'm not trying to insult anybody by using them. I'm just trying to see the funny side of things.
Cheers,
POH
Some important points to think about:
1- As a matter of fact, this is a site plenty of of illegal software and copyright violation books! So, all moderators and admin are in risk! A calculated risk, but still being a risk! Consequently, it´s our obligation and necessity to protect our self and the whole forum!
2- As reported, we have some important difference: our forum is essentially a sharing programs and book (pirated!) and could not be a any type of social forum! Believe me, all of us receive a lot of Private Messages asking for all kind of help, and most of us really help a lot! But it´s impossible to open to this type of behavior;
3- English is not the native language for most of us (moderators) (believe me again: - one reason that I make my subscription here was to learn English!). So, it´s difficult for us do communicate in polite way and knowing all foreign cultures, habits and particularities.
4- Most of moderators really believe that education should come before the rebuke, and we practice it a lot!
5- And, finally, as BennyP sad, all moderators are civil engineers working at office or at site 9-12 hours per day!
As BennyP, I´m impressed with your fluency in English! Congratulation!
You´re welcome!
Dell Brett
Dear colleagues.
Do not let this issue get out of its limits. It is true that sometimes when someone makes a forum a mistake, the moderator on duty sometimes differs from his sentence with respect to the other. A very simple example: I was also enacted at the time and you will see from my avatar I still have traces of the warnings sent me. I will not deny that some warnings do not make sense for them not so grossly violated the rules, but there are others that if violated, all for the failure to have understood the rules from day one.
Above all of those who were a kind of warning errors that I found after the use of any software, because from what I've seen on this forum are more concerned if it does crack if the crack with its own software delivers the same results.
So far I have not had the patience to explore all the site, therefore I had no comments to all moderators, but if there are some who maintain that patience to repeat the correction when someone in the forum by laziness did not read the rules, such is the case Timosi and oam2000. By the way, thanks for your kindness.
But others are not so. That attitude is best to regard Solution.
I've never been a moderator and not want to be, but I worked in welfare committees and sometimes meet many people, the level of stress was too much, sometimes descuidabamos our studies. Something similar happens with the moderators, to address questions that often so silly as to see if a download brings his crack or be VIP, etc etc, without reading the relevant references, can sometimes lose patience. The solution? It's that simple. One such member must check the downloads, and check results. And before you ask, prior review in the same forum if someone has not asked the same question.
Believe it or not, these are the most common mistakes. And to the moderators as to what their avatars can place the main lines of the rules and if possible, highlight the links of the rules.
Not everything is also against the moderators. There are some members who love to make others feel less may not know a thing. To this I would recommend having a lot of humility, or if they know that then resolve the doubts of others. So humility is first.
Greetings
:JC_cheers::JC_cheers:
@ Dell Brett
As I indicated in my last post, I'm not going to comment on the mod issue again.
Thanks for praising me for my English. But I also make a lot of mistakes. English is not my mother tongue. But I was forced to learn it because everyday, I deal with people from USA and UK(mainly). I knew that they wont accept me as a mod if I'm not good at English.
About one third of the Indian schools have English as their first language.
I know that there's no need to write this much about the language factor. But people here (including the mods) give too much importance to it. This is not a website for poets:lol:. One should understand what the other is saying. That's the main thing. Look at the Germans and Italians. They don't know English but they produce the best cars in the world.
Quote:all moderators are civil engineers working at office or at site 9-12 hours per day!
:wacko2::wacko2::wacko2: I will challenge my biggest enemy to join BE in civil.hehehe
Quote:So, all moderators and admin are in risk! A calculated risk, but still being a risk!
You guys are taking a big risk. And it is bigger than you think.
I think this website is hosted on s server in the US where anti-piracy rules are very strict. At the moment, I don't have much more information about the website. But I will get more information soon. Then only I can comment on the magnitude of the risk you guys are taking. And I also don't know about the other steps you guys are taking to protect yourselves. Do you guys visit this website like you visit all other sites:no:? Please PM me if you are not willing to post such things here.
Regards,
Guys, what's the big fuss? Everybody here should just follow the rules, members and mods alike. And while we're at it, it's good to exercise some restraint in our words, and that goes out to both mems and mods again.
The english language can be easily misunderstood when it is in written form because its tone may be not be as crystal clear as when it's spoken, thus the true intent and message is lost somehow. And our subjective opinions sometimes get in the way and make things worse than they actually are. Case in point: I believe BennyP has the best intentions in trying to point Solution towards the right direction, but the tone of his message offended Solution. Now I'm sure some of us, myself included, wouldn't have felt the same way if we were the ones at the receiving end. Why? It's because the issue is subjective, that's why. My point is, some of us may or may not be offended, but at least we can be civil and respectful to one another.
I know I'm a newbie here and I haven't contributed much, so people here may frown on me stepping up and saying these things. But hey, it's a free world and I just wanted to put my two cents in.
Cheers!