Weekly news from Mod Squad, week ending 24 February 2002

Yet another good update.

But why did you guys stop talking about new Mods?

It was in the last Mod Squad update.

Unless you've already decided...

 

They didn't...

"Continued discussions of ways to improve mod-member relations, and discussion of new moderator nominees."

 

shoot.

I guess I'll read more carefully next time.

I looked through it twice, and didn't see that.

At any rate, thanks Sapient.

Oh, and what exacatly is Newbie Bashing? Is it the yelling at a newbie because he's a newbie, or just yelling at a person who says something stupid.

I don't ever get mad at someone just because they're a newbie. I know quite a few non-newbies who 'act' like a 'newbie'.

Could you just clarify what is meant?

 

I'll tell you exactly what it means in the PSA. Typically, someone who has recently joined does not read through previous threads or is not well-versed in where we are exactly in terms of known information. There are classic threads that have been discussed ad nauseum.

A new member is typically quite anxious to get going and will start posting many new threads and often they are about these dead-horse discussions. Older members will try to be polite and direct them to the 'New to Spoilers' thread or provide links to similar threads. They may even take the time to explain the ropes.

But what happens more often than not, is the new member will get an attack of such negative and slandering proportions that it borders on harassment and the new member is either forced to retaliate or leave altogether. Many times, it is both situations that occur. Their first experience is such a negative one that the end result is they leave and we lost the potential of a long-term valued member.

 

Well, I'm immune to that, becauseI don't visit the PSA.

Are there any examples for those of us who visit other forums?

I mean, in Fan Films, there's usually someone new who comes, and asks 'How do I do lightsabers', and we calmly give them links to the FAQ and the numerous tutorials hosted by TF.N. I guess to 'newbie bash' I'd tell them they were stupid, and why didn't they visit the FAQ???.

Fan Films seems to have gotten better about that, and I haven't seen any 'newbie bashing' of the sort at JCC.

Is PSA the only place where there's rampant Newbie Bashing?

 

Yes. These are the most active forums - that and the YJCC. But bashing is especially harsh over in the PSA. There are much fewer examples of bashing in the other forums, although it does exist. Actually, the biggest problem in YJCC is spamming. The biggest problem in the PSA is bashing.

 

But it just wouldn't be the JC without the egos. Bashing makes the PSA.





!snap

 

Any chance of some elaboration on this "Continued discussions of ways to improve mod-member relations" and this "Discussed the status of "____ by ____ threads"."?

Yes, please elaborate. Also, maybe I missed this, but how many new mods are we going to have?


The biggest problem in the PSA is bashing.

Bashing or flaming?

 

I can't really go into details on the 'improving member-mod relations' issue, as several ideas have been brought up, but we haven't really settled on anything specific yet, so it's hard to say with any certainty what's likely. I think the important thing to note here, however, is that we're actively pursuing a better, more open relationship with the general populace. It's a top priority. At this stage, we're just kicking around some new and old ideas, but giving out details now could cause some people to get their hopes up for things that might not happen for one reason or another, or might cause people to get up in arms for something that might not happen.

Regarding the ____ by ____ threads, right now we're focusing on the JCC, and what to do with those threads there. Right now there's sort of a freeze on them in that forum. The solution we're looking at is to possibly have one dedicated LBL thread, called something like "LBL Anonymous". The thread will cycle through different movies, based on the nominations in the thread. Once a movie is settled on, the thread runs through that movie once, then moves on to another movie. If you want to repeat any movies, you'll probably have to wait a few rounds.

Nothing is set in stone for any of this yet, so don't take this as gospel. If you want to offer your thoughts or opinions or suggestions for any of these topics, by all means, do so.

Vertical

 

Tnaks Vert,

But...

"I can't really go into details on the 'improving member-mod relations' issue, as several ideas have been brought up, but we haven't really settled on anything specific yet, so it's hard to say with any certainty what's likely"

I know you don;t want to say for fear of getting peoples hopes up or ticking ppl off, but I think it might be an idea to air the ideas and see what people think of them. At this point, ptobably any openess would be welcomed. See this thread for example--almost everyone is in agreement that it;s a step in the right direction. So tell us the ideas for more openess, that way you'll have a better idea of what would be effective.

 

Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly is a '_______ by ________ thread'?

 

line by line, word by word, letter by letter -- mostly for the 4 films (though I'd love to see a Christmas Special line by line ), sometimes in different languages.

 

Line by Line, word by word... etc.

Where members recite a movie "line by line" or whatever.

Vertical

 

They are referring to a "Line by Line" thread that garners thousands of posts. It is exactly as it sounds - it is every single line of dialogue from a movie. Many consider it to be spam.

 

Most people who post in those threads do so just to increase their post counts, I think. Line by lines are bad enough, but some have posted "letter by letter" threads, and that's totally ridiculous. I think Line by line threads are acceptable, but word by word and letter by letter should be prohibited.

 

When I come across line by line threads, I have to ask myself WWBD?

What Would Buttsteak Do?

 

Oh, those threads.

They're high on my 'Get rid of if they ever make you an admin' list.

 

"But bashing is especially harsh over in the PSA. There are much fewer examples of bashing in the other forums, although it does exist."

Actually I don't think I got bashed that much in PSA when I started out. I may have been pointed in the right direction, but I don't remember been bashed. On the other hand I got plenty of bashing in the YJCC when I started my first thread there about my views on human cloning.

 

I remember being a newbie and getting bashed by the forum regulars. I see it as a right of passage, survival of the fittest and whatnot.

If a user can't survive a little razzing, then they probably wouldn't make a good contribution

 

Quote:
"But bashing is especially harsh over in the PSA"

It's gotten better. I lecture them about it every once in a while and try to discourage it. It used to be a lot worse. In defense of the regulars though, you don't just log on to a message board and start making threads asking really basic questions or making bold statements without reading any of the existing threads. That's just common netiquette for any board. So some of those newbies need a little kick in the rump. Outright bashing or flaming is unacceptable but we shouldn't have to treat the ruder newbies like Fabregè eggs just because they're new, either.

 

And, of course, sometimes it's the newbie that starts the flaming. A "regular" would point out the redunancy of their post, and direct them, politely, to another thread on that topic or to the "New to Spoilers" thread, and then the n00b would go ballistic. That's not acceptable behavior, either, and they need to learn that.

 

What Jasman said.

When I was a newbie, I was fairly abrasive for a while, before I learned the rules of good netiquette. Heh.

 

Someone touched on the point of the Mod-Member relations. I am sure the Mods are coming up with ideas, but why dont you start a thread for the members to come up with ideas? There are a lot more members than mods, so you might get a lot more suggestions.

Besides, its the members that are the ones that need apeasing, so why not get their suggestions?

Its just an idea. If you guys think youu've got it covered, then ignore away.

 

If anyone has any suggestions they can bring it up themselves. They don't need an official thread from us.

 

well, perhaps we common members are constantly in search of moderator affection, like a homesick puppy