article PVW-badly dubbed-forums

[syncro]

I think that we are alone 'cause we don't really have a problem! Most of the guys here are good blokes. Go check out the other forums.

[rayray086]

I think that we are alone 'cause we don't really have a problem! Most of the guys here are good blokes. Go check out the other forums.

x 2

Edit: forum says my message is too short, but there's not much more to write!

[brackie]

I like this thread. We're having a sensible debate without getting personal and causing distress to other forum members.

In general the behaviour of our users has been excellent and in the almost 2 years since we have been running it's only been necessary to ban one member and he was given miles of rope before we did. There have been lots of instances of flaming and abuse but generally the admin team and mods have acted on it quickly because other users have alerted us. I would like to see this continue, please. I don't see it as "telling tales" but as preventative maintenance that makes this a good place to be.

On a couple of occasions I have been accused of "over-editing" and "over-reacting", however I make no excuses for this. In general if I see a problem arising I contact the person who is causing it directly and ask them to back off. In 99% of cases they've done this with an apology and haven't transgressed again. I'll continue to do this in the future, but remember that mods and admin are people too and we have feelings. I was a high school teacher and TAFE lecturer for 27 years and I had to deal with all kinds of people including upholding rules and handing out discipline, so this is nothin' new to me. Don't get me wrong, I don't want this forum run like a classroom but we have to have standards of behaviour because if we don't people get hurt.

Recently we lost Eddy, who I believe is a kind and cheerful person who loved this forum. He made the choice to leave because of the behaviour of another user who made him feel uncomfortable, and I know that everyone has different comfort limits but we should all be sensitive to each others' feelings and behave accordingly.

I transgressed reasonable behaviour by calling dealers "stealers" and although I did this because the play on words amused me at the time, it certainly didn't amuse a user who works in the trade! I became contrite and publicly apologized to him, 'cos that was the right thing to do.

So if we all try to do the "right thing" and think about the feelings and possible reactions of others we can keep this forum the way it is. A comfortable, safe and non-threatening place to be.

(Phew...Haven't gone so long about anything for years .)

[gpk_gti]

Go check out the other forums.

Im not interested or do I care about any other forums,I care about this forum and its members.so thats why I have gone to the trouble of writing this thread.

I don't see it as "telling tales" but as preventative maintenance that makes this a good place to be.

This is exactly how I feel.by discussing the current issue we as a community understand that ,yes there is someone on the other side of the screen,who "might get upset by what I have written".You are also right brackie that this is not a classroom with untold amounts of laws BUT I believe there is a small number of people that forget that this is still a group/club/comunity and we must still remember our manners(as we do in normal face to face contact).
I have met some of the members that I have argued with online and funnily enough,their online persona is nothing like the quiet/unasuming/friendly people they are in real life.
constructive debate whether for or against can only make us better.
thanks...

[Golfer]

Hey guys,

I think this thread is fantastic, kudos to George for taking the initiative.

We have in no way become a complete blithering mess of a forum. A few recent hiccups are tarnishing our otherwise near-faultless record. I agree that this is merely preventative maintainence - if we are aware of what the problem is, then we have the opportunity to avoid making this problem ourselves. Lets learn from someone else's mistakes...

The vast majority of people on here have nothing but constructive opinions to contribute, and many friendships have formed as a result of this forum, right across the board. We don't have a big problem with serial "flamers" like on the vast majority of public forums on the internet, because we make the effort to keep our friendly community exactly that - a friendly community.

If I may, I would like to impart one piece of my own mindset...

We are all sitting in front of computers. A screen and keyboard at best, with little or no emotion, and what we take away from the experience depends entirely on us. No amount of emoticons, bold type, j/k's or winks can be a real substitute for normal human interaction, subtlties in voice tone and body language in specific. Please consider this before you type - "In how many different ways could anyone else interpret what I am writing?". Make it clear, and understand that just because you know what you are trying to say, it's not always clear to everybody else, and not everybody is always in the same state of mind as yourself. If we all take this into consideration, no-one needs to constrict their opinions, just make the effort to make it absolutely clear. If someone misunderstands you, make the effort to let them know what you were actually trying to say, and hope that they will offer you the opportunity to correct them. And don't be offended if someone else doesn't agree with you, we're not all the same, just share a common interest, and we're all friendly contributing individuals.

I have a lot of pride in this forum. Like George, VWW is my only online forum, because let's face it - It is the only online VW COMMUNITY!!!

Share the dub love!!!
JHN

[shaneth]

Ok i thought i would add my 2c worth. Might not even be worth that much. As i tell everyone tha i greet on this forum, it is a friendly forum. Probably the friendliest i have ever been on or read and i have been on a few quite (15-20 maybe more if i sit down and count ) But as with any large gathering of people there is going to be a clash of personalities, its how we dal with them that sets us apart.

If I may, I would like to impart one piece of my own mindset...

We are all sitting in front of computers. A screen and keyboard at best, with little or no emotion, and what we take away from the experience depends entirely on us. No amount of emoticons, bold type, j/k's or winks can be a real substitute for normal human interaction, subtlties in voice tone and body language in specific. Please consider this before you type - "In how many different ways could anyone else interpret what I am writing?". Make it clear, and understand that just because you know what you are trying to say, it's not always clear to everybody else, and not everybody is always in the same state of mind as yourself. If we all take this into consideration, no-one needs to constrict their opinions, just make the effort to make it absolutely clear. If someone misunderstands you, make the effort to let them know what you were actually trying to say, and hope that they will offer you the opportunity to correct them. And don't be offended if someone else doesn't agree with you, we're not all the same, just share a common interest, and we're all friendly contributing individuals.

Here Here, couldnt agree more. One thing i would like to add to this is that if you do have a problem or upset use the PM function, not only can you talk directly to them (and generally they will make amends once they find out the way you feel) but it also keeps the forums clean if this conversation goes on for a bit. There is nothing worse then a thread being taken over by bickering between 2 or more members. Not only does it bring morale down (which if you notice generally a section of the forum will go quite after a little incident) but if other people are considering joining and see it they may think twice.

Recently we lost Eddy, who I believe is a kind and cheerful person who loved this forum. He made the choice to leave because of the behaviour of another user who made him feel uncomfortable, and I know that everyone has different comfort limits but we should all be sensitive to each others' feelings and behave accordingly.

I couldnt agree more brackie its a terrible loss to the forum loosing Eddy and i hope he comes back soon. You and admin and mods do a terrific job and i take my hats off to you as i know from experience its not easy to be a mod at times. And unfortuneatly you have to take the hard line sometimes. Which isnt always a popular thing to do but is the best thing for the COMMUNITY in general.

In closing after my little speech This is only my opinion and experiences. This is a terrific forum and i hope that we can make this better by having grown up conversations like this.

[DubSteve]

I couldnt agree more brackie its a terrible loss to the forum loosing Eddy and i hope he comes back soon. You and admin and mods do a terrific job and i take my hats off to you as i know from experience its not easy to be a mod at times. And unfortuneatly you have to take the hard line sometimes. Which isnt always a popular thing to do but is the best thing for the COMMUNITY in general.

Well said Shaneth, and I aggree with Brackie, George and all other members. We are a friendly community, the friendliest forum I have ever gone on. This only sends messages of greatness for the forum as we can only expand cause of this. The article a few days ago about our forum in PVW, was great we with that bit of priceless advertisement, we can only saw to new heights.

[syncro]

Problems with forums;

1/ People don't read the posts correctly.

2/ People without a sense of humor.

3/ Some people are paranoid.

4/ Some people take an opinion personally.

If you misunderstand, it is better to send a PM than a post.

[DaveMack]

Problems with forums;

1/ People don't read the posts correctly.

2/ People without a sense of humor.

3/ Some people are paranoid.

4/ Some people take an opinion personally.

If you misunderstand, it is better to send a PM than a post.

Couldn't agree more, Phill. (Your website is looking a treat.)

Cheers,
Dave

[gpk_gti]

We are all sitting in front of computers. A screen and keyboard at best, with little or no emotion, and what we take away from the experience depends entirely on us. No amount of emoticons, bold type, j/k's or winks can be a real substitute for normal human interaction, subtlties in voice tone and body language in specific. Please consider this before you type - "In how many different ways could anyone else interpret what I am writing?". Make it clear, and understand that just because you know what you are trying to say, it's not always clear to everybody else, and not everybody is always in the same state of mind as yourself. If we all take this into consideration, no-one needs to constrict their opinions, just make the effort to make it absolutely clear. If someone misunderstands you, make the effort to let them know what you were actually trying to say, and hope that they will offer you the opportunity to correct them. And don't be offended if someone else doesn't agree with you, we're not all the same, just share a common interest, and we're all friendly contributing individuals.


JHN

now this is the type of input I was hoping for.this should go into our rules of forum.
Dont know about you guys but im learning alot from this thread.please remember,I dont have such a long FORUM backround.I do have alot of internet experience(ebay and other ) but not with forums.so, maybe there are more like me on here? or just need a different perspective on forums and how their fine machinations work.
please keep up the input,or maybe we should have a forum round table thread stickied??(just a thought )or have someone everyone feels they can pm with forum problems without any bias? or felling like they are bothering them??
thanks again!!