Community Helpers

**John** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 05:02 AM

I am pleased to announce that four respected members of the community have accepted my invitation to help me out and become 'community helpers' for the forums here. Aaron Young, Martin Liss, Megatron, and Serge will be joining me in helping to keep this board a productive and friendly atmosphere to learn more about Visual Basic while still having a fun time.

I have chosen them because they have all proven over their time here that they are responsible members of the community. They will now be helping me out by ensuring that chit chat posts don't stray into other forums and that discussions are maintained peacefully and happily.

They have my full backing and support in everything that they do, but please treat them nicely as they learn the ropes. I have not been around the forums as much as I should have been recently, so I hope that these four will be able to respond a bit quicker to complaints and reported posts than I have been able to.

Congratulations to you four, and I look forward to many more VB questions being asked and answered! It will not be long until we hit half a million!

John

**Ianpbaker** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 05:49 AM

Arrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhh, the Nazi's are invading

**honeybee** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 08:25 AM

Thanks for not including the following members:

Parksie
Dennis
Kedaman
Jethro
Katie
TD
SD
...
...
Honeybee
...

The members you have chosen are really a nice team, some of the best in the forum. The only thing is we need to look at them just like we look at John, as Gods!!

Congratulations, all of you five (that's including John) and I promise full cooperation from my side to all of you.

.

denniswrenn · Jul 23rd, 2001, 10:01 AM

John, I thought we were friends? Oh well, then I'm not taking back that comment I made in chit chat.....

Can you let somebody that HB mentioned be moderator of chit chat? Just so serious posts don't go astray in there?

spetnik · Jul 23rd, 2001, 10:55 AM

Thanx for listening to my email, John!!!

**SurfDemon** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 11:15 AM

Sounds like an excellent idea... as long as they don't get over-zealous in our beloved chit-chat room

SD

**parksie** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 11:21 AM

OK time for a kicking

What did I ever do wrong? Nothing. Of course that's if you ignore the repeated attempts to gutter every thread, being a total maniac, disliking VB (this is the capital offence

), tormenting newbies, and generally being a twisted git

I'm always nice to the 4 VB Programmers of the Apocalypse

denniswrenn · Jul 23rd, 2001, 11:31 AM

Joooooooooooooooooooohn, don't let them moderate chit chat..... pleeeeeeeeeeeease Joooooooohnnnn I'm gonna keep whining until you do something

**parksie** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 11:33 AM

I retract my previous comments of support, after that appalling display from MartinLiss in Chit Chat.

**barrk** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 11:56 AM

It seems to me that the whole world has become much too politically correct and it is sucking (can I still use that term?

) the individuality and fun out of the world.

Now even the Chit-Chat Forum, one of the last vestiges of pure unmoderated fun, has been taken from us.

There is a report this post to the moderator link on the bottom of each thread. Can you please explain the reason for anyone to just subjectively make decisions to censor Chit-Chat unless it has been found offensive and reported?

**parksie** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 11:58 AM

Go Katie!

denniswrenn · Jul 23rd, 2001, 12:02 PM

Woo! Let's keep on bitching until they leave us kids alone......

**parksie** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 12:04 PM

And us adults

denniswrenn · Jul 23rd, 2001, 12:05 PM

shhhh it makes more sense if you just say kids....

**John** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 12:12 PM

VB World has and always will be a family friendly site. I have been asked by certain people around here, and indeed I wanted to anway, make sure that the chit chat forum in particular, could be counted on as a place that is suitable for people of all ages.

My inbox has been flooded, at an increasing rate, with 'reported posts', which is why I took this decision to have some helpers around so that I was not the only one dealing with them. I daresay people just relied on the 'report this post button' because they were afraid of being publicly attacked if they ever dared say anything about it in the open. This is not an attempt to censor your fun, or stop you having a good time, is it a call for you guys to find some fun things to talk about that people will not find (too) offensive. The 'moderators' are not out to stop you having fun, but to try and keep discussions in the right direction -- that is, not straying into offensive areas.

I am sorry if that does not please everyone, but it was the way that I always intended this forum to stay, but due to time constraints on my part, I have not always been around to try and keep it that way. I am not out to destroy the community that has built up around the chit chat forum, but rather to help it grow into a more mature place, where conversations can be held and read by all.

Thank you for your support in this.

John

denniswrenn · Jul 23rd, 2001, 12:19 PM

Well then John, can you make a hidden forum, just for us immature people? So we can talk about smutty dirty things?

Me, Katie, Mike, Simon, etc....?

**parksie** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 12:22 PM

Good idea on that one - anyone who wants access will have to go through John.

spetnik · Jul 23rd, 2001, 12:45 PM

Originally posted by denniswrenn
Well then John, can you make a hidden forum, just for us immature people? So we can talk about smutty dirty things?

Me, Katie, Mike, Simon, etc....?

Spetnik...

**Kzin** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 12:47 PM

Another way of doing it would be to create a named but accessible forum for this stuff *moderated* by some of the chit-chatters like Katie or Mike (presumably John wants to minimize workload and responsiblity on this) and bearing a warning about its contents.

The *moderators* would name it and take initial responsiblity but John would reserve the right to *prune* it with warning if he was having problems with advertisers, customers, 'VCs' etc (which is what I'm guessing is one of the things at the back of his mind).

I can see feeling riding quite high with some of the forum regulars here and it would be nice to get it sorted out without mass migration.

Just a thought . . .

**parksie** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 12:50 PM

So warnings like they have on porn sites? Not that I've been to any

**Skitchen8** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 01:00 PM

Originally posted by parksie
So warnings like they have on porn sites? Not that I've been to any

parksi the amazing porn dictionary... knows every legal agreement on every porn site accross the net

John i do believe you forgot my name there!!

... i think that katie should be a chit-chat mod also.

**Kzin** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 01:52 PM

Another way of doing it would be to create a named but accessible forum for this stuff *moderated* by some of the chit-chatters like Katie or Mike (presumably John wants to minimize workload and responsiblity on this) and bearing a warning about its contents.

The *moderators* would name it and take initial responsiblity but John would reserve the right to *prune* it with warning if he was having problems with advertisers, customers, 'VCs' etc (which is what I'm guessing is one of the things at the back of his mind).

I can see feeling riding quite high with some of the forum regulars here and it would be nice to get it sorted out without mass migration.

Just a thought . . .

**Kzin** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 01:55 PM

Originally posted by parksie
So warnings like they have on porn sites? Not that I've been to any

. . . Depends what you are using as an Avatar

. . .

. . . no . . . that warning would be that this area (the open forum) is unmoderated (or minimally moderated) and may not be suitable for all tastes. or somesuch thing

I'm guessing AOL must have the wording sorted out for this sort of thing since they have built a multi-billion dollar company and had to work around this sort of problem.

**barrk** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 01:57 PM

John,

I respect your decision to try to respond to those who have sent you reports. I just wonder if the reporters are the same people who have shown a very offensive (to me) lack of intolerance toward people who have different opinions than they do or if they are genuinely offensive topics.

As you may know, I am a forty-two year old, married woman with three children. I have seen people hurt by religious intolerance, hatred towards people of alternate life-styles (gays), racial bigotry and just plain stupidity but I have never, ever seen anyone hurt through smiling.

Chit-Chat had many threads that I thought were offensive in nature because they showed a marked intolerence for other people...none of them were the threads that your moderators would find offensive I imagine. Just because they bothered me, I chose not to read them or respond to them. If I felt very strongly about them I let the poster know!

There are a lot of very wonderful people with a sense of whimsy and delight that brings happiness to the community. When my husband had a heart attack and I was gone from this site for over a week the community reached out to me and has helped me get through this hard time. They are a very special group of people! It is shame to see them censored.

Do the new moderators have a guidline to follow before banning or locking? If someone refers to me as a seppo, will they be there to defend me? Somehow I don't think so. Up until now, I have just defended myself. (As it should be!) I have a voice and I used to be able to use it! It's a shame that power has been taken out of my hands and put into the hands of someone else.

I'll take my soapbox and go home now. Thanks for listening!

Katie

**Skitchen8** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 02:01 PM

i agree with katie... i think that the chit-chat forum does not need a moderator, if people have complaints there is always the link to report the post to you. I don't think that it is necessary to censor the people in chit-chat because if someone is offended they can choose on their own not to read a thread. If they choose to read it and get offended there isn't much anyone can do. And one more thing someone just shut down post-race and its pissing me off so please do something about it.

spetnik · Jul 23rd, 2001, 02:01 PM

*WILD STANDING OVATION*

Well, said Katie. We all admire and love you

.

**Skitchen8** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 02:03 PM

*all rise as the world echoes with loud clapping... then wait theres parksie with your name written accross his chest

**parksie** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 02:45 PM

Tattooed, no less

**Ianpbaker** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 04:15 PM

Originally posted by Ianpbaker
Arrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhh, the Nazi's are invading

Ironic really, that I post this 12 hours ago as a light harted joke, dpn't really look at the site, and come back to this

**SurfDemon** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 04:17 PM

John,

It is your forum and you have the right to make the rules as you see fit. If I offended yourself or anyone in the forum with any of my posts in chit-chat, then I apologise unreservedly.

Unfortunately I do not wish to be constantly second guessing everything I say to see if it is politically correct or not. Therefore, I thank you profusely for the use of your excellent site, and for allowing me to meet with other like minded individuals, but as I am un-comfortable with this heavy handed policing policy, I don't think I will be returning to the site in the future.

Thank you once again,

SD

**Ianpbaker** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 04:26 PM

I'm with you on this one SD

**filburt1** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 04:26 PM

Originally posted by denniswrenn
Well then John, can you make a hidden forum, just for us immature people? So we can talk about smutty dirty things?

Me, Katie, Mike, Simon, etc....?

Yay! Dirty smutty things!

chenko · Jul 23rd, 2001, 05:30 PM

I dont mind that we have moderators (well not really) but not when they are gonna make a mess all over the forums with confusion and hatred.

**parksie** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 06:00 PM

John, please read: http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...threadid=91314

chenko · Jul 23rd, 2001, 06:29 PM

To be honest i think its a load of bollocks. keep em to there own forums, they dont come here every day to post and chat.

**Beacon** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 08:09 PM

John:

Aaron Young, Martin Liss, Megatron, and Serge

1) I've never seen serge nor aaron here!
2) Megatron hardly ever is on!
3) Martin liss is on occasionally!

May i ask who's going to moderate chit chat while your asleep!!
Sweet dreams and rest of world is awake.

How can you moderate chit chat! Have you ever been on IRC?
If you dont like it tough!
You really dont want to lose your mainstream audience do you john?

If there's gonna be some underground chat i'll be in it!
But i mean it shouldnt be this way!

**Beacon** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 08:23 PM

I'm not pissed off by anymeans! I dont give 2 hoots if someone moderates free speech.
Hey it's your world do what you will!
But what annoys me is when i come here and some ppl have gone and ruined it for everyone else. Time to grow up i think.

Also what do you mean by Family Orientated?
I'm yet to see the day when i family sits down to type away at a computer. Especially on a vb forum.
Perhaps the demographic you thinking of is wrong!!

Perhaps this underground chat is good. It'll get more ppl in it than a moderated boring childrens chat.

**SteveCRM** · Jul 23rd, 2001, 09:14 PM

speaking of IRC and such, what ever happened to the VBW chat idea?

Matthew Gates · Jul 23rd, 2001, 09:14 PM

Why are you all acting like this? I believe the four who are picked were a great choice that John has made. Let it be, they all come on and have been here for over year and a half and have proved themselves worthy, they are all very smart, have helped so many, so leave them be and show respect, congradulate them, don't make them enemies, geez, calm down everyone. You're all acting very immature over this.

Matthew Gates · Jul 23rd, 2001, 10:08 PM

Although, I do agree with you guys about how Martin should have not closed that thread, it was just a joke, "rape". Nothin' too serious, not like, "I'm going to come to your house and rape you." Just over stupid stuff, and we should be able to talk about sex in Chit Chat, I defintely agree with that. The thing that I think should be stopped is the calling of others gay and stuff. Like the threads with kovan and Dennis, calling each other gay. That's what the moderators should be for, to stop non-sense like that. To stop the people that target others. Members trying to create war with other members, not good. But not over sex talk or whatever. The sex talk doesn't go too deep, as to where it's grossed out. Everyone is good at keeping that to a level where it's just funny. Moderators should be a bit more careful, as John is when it comes to judging whether something is too bad to continue or not.

Thread: Community Helpers

Thread Tools

Display

Community Helpers

Well ...

Posting Permissions