arithma
There has been a surge in closed topics lately.
Are the moderators getting a kick out of closing topics?
I would really wonder how "they" would act if we gave them more control.
I say let's kill rahmu for a change :D
Note all the question marks
Georges
Dear Arithma, you have to go back to the roots... Rahmu is just a parent in this tree.
Joe
I absolutely do not get a kick of closing topics. If I didn't believe that I'm acting for what's best for the forum, I wouldn't be doing what I am today.
The reason for the late closing trend is straightforward, there has been a trend of "illegal" topics. For the record, I have simply closed Ayman's rant, something that has been long considered illegal here, and put a time-bomb on the "Let's make a political party". Don't blame me for closing those, blame the authors for opening them.
I understand the bigger question is "Why do we forbid rants?" on the forum.
The answer is simple: rants attract "forum-noise". They lack any constructiveness, do not encourage interesting discussions, and most importantly, they are simply not suited for the "forum" (online bulletin, call whatever you please) format.
It is important, to me at least, that OPs of closed topics do not take a blame personally. For instance (and I apologize to focusing on this issue alone), I did not mean to give a statement on the quality of participation of Ayman. I hope he knows his posts are widely appreciated. On the other hand, I want to close the topic before it turns into a child play of nagging and provocations. Out of respect for the long block of text he has written, the topic was not moved to the trash, but was kept available for anyone to read. If he wants feedback, the answer is simple: start a blog.
This should not mean that every rant or "illegal" post will get the same treatment. We are human and act on "best judgement" basis. We're not algorithms who look for definite indicators and decide what the proper action should be. I mentioned the presence of question marks as a rule of thumb and no staff member will hesitate a second to over-rule it. In short, it's difficult to define what's "best" for the forum. If we could, I'd have scripted a bot to do it. Until then, I will (do my best to) read every single post happening here and apply a mental filter of where to raise alerts.
Again, why do we need moderation? Go take a stroll on neighboring forums, you'll quickly understand why. Ultimately, remember we're not a democracy. The staff has been appointed by the founder to make Lebgeeks better. We often discuss of what's best and what should be rejected. If we don't see eye to eye on every subject, we have managed to settle on a few guidelines. The Etiquette sums up best (albeit a bit approximately) what we consider best here.
I have half a mind of closing this thread, adopting a "take it or leave it" point of view. I wish complains about the website itself (and the moderator's role in it) would be discussed elsewhere. Stackexchange has done a great job of creating a "meta" section where off-topic post like this one could be discussed. However, to avoid the obvious irony, I'll let this thread open for now, letting members say what they want. Do I really need to give everyone a head's up that this topic might get closed at any moment?
@Georges: I am old enough to make my own decisions thank you very much. I act on behalf of the staff, with the blessing of the staff, but applying my own judgement. Attacking the admin of the website based on my actions is childish at best. And no, adding the picture of a tree doesn't make your comment seem more clever.
WizaRd
I'll try not to go off-topic here but I would like to say one thing that is more or less related to the topic at hand.
I do not blame the moderators for closing the topics or applying some kind of filter to what forum materials should be discussed. In the end, as rahmu said, this is not democracy and it shouldn't be.
Those who know me and my forum contribution in the past can realize I've taken a huge step backwards in term of forum activity as of the last couple years, coinciding with the time this forum started gathering more and more public attention.
While this is better for the community as a whole and certainly having people from all walks of life register and provide their opinion on many topics at hand, it also gave the chance for a lot of new users to sign up and fill the forum with repetitive threads without using the search function, for example. That is annoying to say the least.
One quick look through some recent topics and threads and you could tell exactly what I am talking about. Many replies consist of nothing but meaningless sentences, emoticons and a feeble attempt to tackle the topic at hand, if any.
I do not want to attack the users, and I don't think anyone cares (or should care) about my contribution but I sincerely believe the forum has lost the credibility and the mind-power of its founding users and early participants.
This is nothing against the new members, and I am not generalizing my opinion, but it seems there is this new trend that people want to get what they want without giving anything in return.
To sum this up, I have full trust in the admin and moderators team to keep this community going and I believe it is the best we can have. I am happy they are sticking up and standing to the rules mentioned in the etiquette... it keeps me want to come back and read whats written here, from time to time.
Ayman
@Rahmu, yes indeed my post was more of a rant but I was just trying to see if some other people do agree with that opinion too. The content is indeed much more suitable to be a blog post. But thought that maybe we could engage in such topics collectively and hear the opinions of others starting from my point of view. I think I somehow failed to convey the post in that way.
Anyways I just wanted to write what I was thinking down somewhere people can see it, because sometimes you get really pissed off about something you have to talk it out.
I really appreciate your dedication and work on the forum to keep everything organized and clean, keep up the great work.
Kassem
rahmu wroteOn the other hand, I want to close the topic before it turns into a child play of nagging and provocations.
Assuming that the members of LebGeeks are not mature enough to discuss some non-tech related issue is disrespectful to the members to say the least. Ayman's post was far more interesting than many of the threads that are being discussed over and over again. Haven't you got bored with people asking about what ISP is the best? Or what phone is better than the other? Or what super computer they want to buy?
Ayman's post might have looked like a "rant", but an interesting discussion could have kicked off if you haven't closed the thread. What should prevent us from discussing politics, religion, social values... etc? I believe there are many well educated members that are capable of discussing those issues like mature people. If there are any kids that are going to take the discussion into a flame war, the solution is quiet simple: delete their posts and ban them. I do not think anyone appreciates the presence of immature members around, so the forum's far better banning unwanted members rather than closing intellectual threads.
rtp
Its sad AymanFarhat post got closed... lets have some fun rahmu ^_^...
it wasn't like a vent that his girl friend left him or something... it was a vent about society and i don't think it was offensive to anybody... the guy was clearly pointing out the lose of morality and the rise of the superficial world...
xterm
None of the staff moderate for the kicks of it. We do it because we want LebGeeks to stay LebGeeks, that is, for the better of the community.
If members do not trust our judgment on the matter, they may very well elevate the issue with the admin and the moderator himself, all parties will be more than glad to discuss matters privately.
samer
Dear Arithma, you have to go back to the roots... Rahmu is just a parent in this tree.
George, If you have a problem with the way any of the forum staff members (especially myself) are running the board, feel free to message me so that we can settle it. Your passive aggressiveness is downright childish and will not lead anywhere.
As Joe pointed out, we certainly do not get a kick of closing topics. We try to apply our (acquired) good judgement combined with a set of guidelines that we have agreed upon with our core members. This often leads to a spree of toping closing and warnings, but we really think this is effective on the long run.
Here's a real-life case study:
When we put the SMS-style language ban into effect, there was an outcry by members who thought it was overkill. During the first year, almost every new member (and quite a few active members) had to be contacted to shed light on the rule. However, during the past few months, I have been finding myself having to send way less of these messages. It seems that the habit of writing proper English is sinking into our collective consciousness, and into the LebGeeks culture.
Remember, you, the members, are the prime asset of this forum. It takes time and discipline to create a culture. Let's all work towards making this a better place.
arithma
I am humorously expressing my opinion that some rules may need change.
We don't need draconian rules that prohibit talking about various important subjects.
Members are not assets to this forum. The forum is a channel of communication for its members.
rtp
I do understand and agree that topics related to politics and religion should be closed... since they create problems without solving anything...
but maybe other subject should be a little more flexible and give it a chance to go on before it get closed...
I have to thank Samer and all the moderator for making all this possible... and they making time to come and check if everything is going fine... one of course cannot expect moderator to always make the right choice on a ban or closing a topic...
I for one got a lot of warning to write properly since i use write sms style... I got over like 5 warnings maybe, and still i wasn't ban...
all am saying is that a topic should be given chance before being closed...
Metalloy
well I think that the admin and moderators are doing is working perfectly, lebgeeks is a community that we are all prouf to be part off, and that is the direct result of the the admim and moderators hard work and for the ' formula' that they have created and keep working on it.
Beej
To all of us:
I think the Lebanese people are different in alot of things than the rest of the world even. We are proud of being a mixture of alot of religions, politics, and thoughts. Yes politicians are pressing on all of us, you maybe cheering for one and not the other, but the one your cheering is pressing you in almost every way. Let it be economically, socially, and even religiously.
Remember back in the thread that arithma made? When we openly talked about our thoughts? When we even changed the admins' mind about closing the thread? Wasnt that the single best accomplishment done bu US on lebgeeks in the year 2011?
In that aspect, i think, the TOS of this thread, which is almost the same in most threads should not be applied 100%. Rules without exception can never last eternally. Now you cant blame the mods for doing what they suppose t, even if they do it alittle bit early. But mind you, even among lebgeeks, there are still people who are fanatics toward one thing that they will bash you and trash the entire thread without listening. And there is also the fear about the new people joining this forum and are not friendly or familiar with other members here.
And so i propose this, like other forums which i am active on, the mods will close the thread (no lets be more harsh here) delete the thread, if things get out of hand. And also members should report others if they are stepping out of line. Remember the report button is an important thing for the members aside from mods. You also have the power, but it must be a fair report.
Bottom line: We already changed the minds of the people in power here, as referred. We have the report button to help them since they are doing a great job.
Se we also have the power :D.
Sincerely BeeJ
scorz
I just want to say that this project is kinda 'Special': Lebanese dudes chilling around without any fight.
That's something rare theses days.
I visit tons of Lebanese && || arabs forums per week and that's the only one where I can find peace! (and the only one I am registered to)
I hope it will stay like that!
Good luck and Godspeed!
mr-anderson
you geeks are turning to "neswen l feren", i see a lot of bla bla bla
@moderators and administrators: it is not the NASA that you are administrating here, it is simply a forum, please remember that
P.S: i am aware that this post may be harsh and i urge moderators to take some action :P
I am calling for a revolution!
V
shant
well, i actually support locking nonsense topics, political topics would just ruin things, the other topics usually educate people or help them at least if not educate them, but political ones will get us nowhere, it may even get us stupider :P hope no one is offended by my opinion
arithma
Another post closed:
http://www.lebgeeks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=12757
It really doesn't make much sense to cut a discussion in the middle when people are starting to make sense.
AvoK95
I agree, moderators should immediately close the topics until the person who opened the thread is finished with his/her discussion. You can't just cut a discussion like that, it's impolite and unfair.
For example, rahmu asked a question and closed the thread. How do you expect the user to answer it ? (And don't say via PM) You can always ask or notify the user that "The topic has been already discussed" and after they confirm that the already discussed topic helped them and give you a confirmation that you can close the thread. Only then the moderator should close the thread. Closing the threads out of no-where (Even though it's against the rules) it's not polite. It should be discussed why it's being closed.
Joe
Well guess what? Posts get closed. Especially moronic posts like this one.
For example, rahmu asked a question and closed the thread. How do you expect the user to answer it ?
My question was highly rethorical. The thread had no point. I won't let a thread running when its only purpose is to let members "discuss" whether J4D's robots are toys or not!
What I interrupted was not a discussion. It was kids' bickering. A criticism is supposed to be constructive. A user even wrote:
"No wonder why none liked you in this forum.". WTF?
This is not the kind of community I want to build or be a part of. We're not here to judge each other, or pass stupid comments like this. This is beyond idiotic and will not be tolerated. As long as I (along with the current staff team) am in charge, you'll keep your childish disputes outside of LG. After all, our job is to maintain a certain level of quality here and in no way did this post meet it.
arithma
On rules
Sometimes rules need to be changed to cater for the community. Nothing is God send.
Well guess what? Posts get closed. Especially moronic posts like this one.
This is highly subjective. I don't think the thread even broke any of the forum rules to begin with.
Do reread the thread and check how the forum was self healing. People were making sense. And then you decided to use super powers to call everyone a bickering child. People are trying to block out each other. You don't solve the issue by blocking out everyone.
My question was highly rethorical. The thread had no point. I won't let a thread running when its only purpose is to let members "discuss" whether J4D's robots are toys or not!
Why? Are we that arrogant that we can't discuss such things?
Snippets of the discussion:
I'm gonna be with 'someone' on this subject.
Instead of attacking each other, learn from the critics people
Kim have his own point of view, so instead of attacking him..talk to him, see why he perceived your work as a 'toy' maybe you could work together and do some genius project..
Why do I feel that your posts aren't providing any contribution to the discussion either? Besides you seem to be fixated on 'someone' and I completely disagree with the way you pretend that no one liked him in this forum.
I don't know either of you but seriously... WTF?
Let's stop going OT and wait for some nice informative posts here and everyone would be better if they lower down the tone and stop taking it personally.
Perhaps we need more opinions on the subject.
All I am suggesting is that the community be given its chance to mature, to stop abortion operations, and to make this place a livable place to discuss everything, even when it hurts someone's feelings.
@
someone for God's sake petition to change your username.
