• Members 516 posts
    March 30, 2023, 8:16 a.m.

    softmarmotte wrote: ChatGPT's suggestion for basic forum rules...

    LMAO
    Why donโ€™t we get AI to run the forum, the machines are coming anyway. lol

  • March 30, 2023, 8:28 a.m.

    I'm guessing this is the bit you tweaked ;-)

  • Members 224 posts
    March 30, 2023, 8:31 a.m.

    A couple of bits but that was one :)

  • Members 878 posts
    March 30, 2023, 9:20 a.m.

    Same here. Please keep the Canon moderator away (also policing the Open forum and a few other). If not, it would be like the pilgrims moving to a new land and taking the king with them.

  • March 30, 2023, 10:33 a.m.

    My most demanding management role was at the head of a group of 65 people. I had a lot of complaints about a manager one tier down, so I had a word with him. One of the things he said was "I'm someone who likes to have rules to follow and likes to follow the rules." It struck me that the outlook was completely different from mine. I think that rules are a necessary evil. We do need rules, and if they are rules they need to be followed, but I for one always want to know what is the reasoning behind the rules. If there is a good reason for the rule, I follow it willingly, assiduously and wholeheartedly, but if there isn't I follow it only because some sanction would be applied against me if I don't. This fellow's outlook was a bit different. He regarded himself as an acceptor of rules given from elsewhere, and didn't care about the logic or reason - he just wanted to follow the rules. The reason for his unpopularity was that he expected the same approach from everyone else, and further, he worked on his own interpretation of the rules, for rules are rarely so unambiguous that there is only one interpretation.
    I suspect that a lot of moderators who really want to be moderators are in the same position - they understand that their responsibility is to enforce the rules, but don't mind much what the rules that they enforce are. The job in the first place is to have a good set of rules, reinforced by a good guide to interpretation. Then there will be more consistent moderation, even if some of the people involved are the same.

    On a different note, I know the individual that you are talking about and just note that his attitude has been exemplary in the process of establishing successor sites. He hasn't taken sides, but has actually worked hard to ensure that those trying to do something get the opportunity to discuss it on DPReview. That doesn't apply (at all) to some of his colleagues.

  • Members 878 posts
    March 30, 2023, 10:53 a.m.

    I do not think that the rules mean much when you have people enforcing them with totalitarian instincts. I had courteous communications with a few other mods, even in cases they had to warn me or remove some of my posts. We were both cool with it, no hard feelings. Then there was this guy who was following me as an NK prison guard. Same rules. I can imagine him being very nice to people he feels he cannot control or even holding the door of the elevator for someone.

  • Members 217 posts
    March 30, 2023, 12:14 p.m.

    A very measured response I can fully support. When I see people drafting up posts with words such as 'court', 'ammendment', 'rehabilitation', 'banning'. I start to wonder if it is worthwhile to contribute if that is the direction taken here; hopefully not. Honestly I am in regular contact with several members on dpreview and have been for a very long time (One sadly passed tragically last year). Every single person I've spoke to has commented on the moderation there. We must go back to 2011 values.

    Have there been any spats yet? Isn't it functional right now without a moderator anyway? Not saying that will go on forever but just pointing it out that discussion fidelity is already on the rise here.

  • Members 217 posts
    March 30, 2023, 12:16 p.m.

    I'll bet the warning was for petty stuff to protect thin skinned individuals though right? So still a farce...oh don't mention that the Z cameras have AF issues. It might affect those amazon sales figures!

  • Members 1587 posts
    March 30, 2023, 2:27 p.m.

    A perfect example of a beautiful moderation
    I just got banned (for 7 days) from DPREVIEW after posting this

    All aboard!
    dprevived.com/
    More than 1300 members!

    Banned.jpeg

    Mako2011.jpeg

    Today is March 30 and DPREVIEW will be closed on April 10 ๐Ÿ–๐Ÿฟ

    Mako2011.jpeg

    JPG, 280.4ย KB, uploaded by Maoby on March 30, 2023.

    Banned.jpeg

    JPG, 107.0ย KB, uploaded by Maoby on March 30, 2023.

  • Members 621 posts
    March 30, 2023, 2:35 p.m.

    That is a ridiculous abuse of moderator authority. Mako should be banned for a week for that nonsense. This is why when I saw old mods becoming the new mods at the DPRForum, I bailed and will be deleting my account.

  • Members 284 posts
    March 30, 2023, 2:55 p.m.

    I agree with J A C S (now known as Snapper) and others that bringing those moderators here it wont be good.

    As I previously mention, my first DPR account was deleted years ago because I said Amazon should be renamed "AmaSony", obviously it was a joke.

    Just this week one member opened threads like: "Canon EF lenses are useless with RF-mount cameras and everybody knows it" or "Nikon Z cameras are absolutely terrible, the ugliest ever" so I reply: "Another useless post just to make waves?"

    5 minutes later I got an "incident report" and was "sandboxed" so now all my comments in any forum or article have to be approved by a moderator to see if they are politically correct prior to being published.

    Another insta-ban is if you dare to type the T word. ๐ŸงŒ

    Pretty childish in my opinion.

  • Members 284 posts
    March 30, 2023, 3:06 p.m.

    And it you think the decision is unfair, they invite you to reply with an explanation -that obviously they won't ever bother to read.-

    I really hope this Mako guy do not get a moderation job here.

  • Members 184 posts
    March 30, 2023, 3:37 p.m.

    I think I only managed to escape ban as I only added a comment, not a thread (you've already seen it here)

    This is the moderator's last chance to not only show the power, but make sure less of DPR members migrate to other forums.

    I've moderated some forums myself, including the one in a decay state similar to DPR; the worst thing you can do as a moderator is meaningless law enforcement and display of power. Not the best final chord on the DPR side.

  • Members 173 posts
    March 30, 2023, 3:50 p.m.

    Interesting. I've posted numbers in similar threads in the Canon R forum and Nature and Wildlife forums with no ban. Is this the guy that started the 'competition'?

  • Members 27 posts
    March 30, 2023, 4:49 p.m.

    Agree that moderators should contribute along their moderation. The more of the former, the better. What I did not appreciate on DPR was when a moderator made a contribution to the discussion and signed as moderator. I think it should be clearly visible in what capacity a contribution is posted.

  • Members 167 posts
    March 30, 2023, 5:30 p.m.

    I'm signed up there, but I haven't even looked around much. How do you see who the moderators are?

    If they're really going to be the ones at DPR, that's a serious red flag to me.

    I said in my first post here that term limits are a good thing. I'll add that power corrupts. Ideally, moderators should be first-timers and they should term out after one year.

  • Members 54 posts
    March 30, 2023, 5:40 p.m.

    The problem with that is that as a mod I didn't get a choice as far as I could see; getting the 'mod' tag was automatic with my original login. I'd have had to create a separate account to log in as a non-mod--and multiple accounts are a violation of the rules! It was either live with the tag, or not contribute (I'd been a contributing member for years before I was asked to mod.)

  • Members 25 posts
    March 30, 2023, 5:51 p.m.

    I could not agree more. On all points.

    Like someone else said: (paraphrased) peoples' relationships with mods may not be great.
    Well, it's not always the poster's fault. Sometimes it IS the mod. Open Talk is a good example.

    It's not my forum, and Bob and Co. have done a great job to get here...especially so quickly. So my way is moot. But DPR ran well when there were a few admins watching over things. Their sudden addition of mods changed the place. I remember a sizable group from the Nikon forums leaving for a Flickr group they created. Anyway, I see at the other forum they have added more mods than probably reg. members. Makes that place look very unattractive. If I see names I recognize with "moderator" next to their name, I'll keep looking (big deal, I know), but I agree with many others... a "fresh start" would be welcoming.
    Maybe don't label mods. That label is part of the power trip. I pushed and successfully had the label removed at a forum I helped mod. Puts everyone on the same playing field...at least visually. Made it more comfortable.
    "But what if someone has a problem, who do they contact?" If people have an issue, they can post it in a dedicated forum.

    tldr; any people asking if they can come be mods here too... are the wrong people for the job.