Aquaint yourself with the rules

[Sae]

As one of the long time members here, I remember what things were like back at HTLAL- when the site routinely went down with no explanation given- for long stretches of time; when people were conned into paying for "pro" membership just to get an icon next to their user name; when said pro membership got you "enhanced" searching.

Rick emailed me, along with some of the other members about how he had created a new forum site for us to go talk about languages and language-learning. He and emk developed, paid for. and kept the site running- without ads; without fund-raising. They also keep the forum as a generally nice place to be.

Nobody flames here. Politics is generally not allowed- I have my own political opinions that I can express on any number of social media sites without making my fellow language learners thinking ill of me if I express them here.

So, I can understand Rick's frustration. I've deleted posts I've posted when, upon reflection, I probably shouldn't have posted... but not after they've gotten votes. So, given all that Rick and emk have done for us, I think they've earned some latitude in regard to their rules. Anybody who wants can start their own forum if they don't want to follow the rules. It doesn't take that much money to run a forum- it does take goodwill, effort, moderation, and caring to run a successful forum.

Let's cut the man some slack.

I appreciate that he has done that and this is a good community and I think great job on that front. It sounds like it was coming from a bad place and that he made something good come out of it.

I run a community off of my own back, but not language related, but a hobby of mine (RP) and a lot of my own money and time goes into it, and there are stresses and times where it feels thankless. But if people disagree with me on something and maybe not understand the full reasoning behind my decision, what was tried and the history behind it, I am happy to discuss it with them and listen to their concerns, it may still result in my decision sticking (as has happened before), and if there are suggestions intended to also make my life easier, I'd not dismiss them. The last thing in the world I'd want are yesmen.

Not that I wish to tell him how to do his job either, but I've generally taken the view criticism & feedback is good(which should be constructive) and it doesn't necessarily mean it has to be employed. But I also don't want to upset anybody or make them feel unappreciated.

[tastyonions]

Does phpbb allow disabling of editing by non-mods after a certain number of hours? That would eliminate most of the problem, I’d think.

[Sae]

Does phpbb allow disabling of editing by non-mods after a certain number of hours? That would eliminate most of the problem, I’d think.

I guess the problem would be, like in the example of language resource lists, it'd lock people out who're managing them, else it means mods would be doing the leg work for those keeping them updated and I think the idea was to share the load with the people responsible for those threads.

[Carmody]

We are all grateful to rdearman and emk for their time and efforts; truly grateful.

Periodically the issue of finances and overwork by rdearman arises. In the past rdearman has said that because of tax laws he is reluctant to accept money, however, maybe a new chat with a tax consultant at this time could gives us some new ideas. Also a sharing of the work load could be considered.

Having the burden of finances and an endless hard work load fall on the shoulders of one man would seem to me to be a receipt for eventual collapse. Everyone has their limits.

Gratefully.

[Le Baron]

Could we have a collection to buy a cattle prod? I'll reluctantly assume the onerous duty of operating the device.

I missed this discussion, but I have to say deleting posts through the system software is clearly provided for in the 'edit / delete / report / quote-reply' tools.

I see where the problem might be. With ordinary posts where an author in a contentious thread has had second thoughts after having posted a frustrated or angry reply, it might be thought that using the official delete mechanism doesn't immediately obliterate the post and that it will possibly be 'reviewed' by a mod and that there night be consequences.

Reassure and inform people that having (wise) second thoughts and removing a potentially friction-causing post through the proper procedure will be the end of the matter and I suspect that problem will go away.

As for those deleting multiple resource threads, get out the ban hammer and bring it down HARD!

[PeterMollenburg]

Wiki wiki, blah blah blah. Nobody ever looks at the wiki let alone updates it. So why not stop giving me grief and update the wiki?

Or better yet, I will give you all a dump of the database and you can run the site yourselves. Save me time, hassle and arguments.

And YES we REALLY would delete the REDACTED post, we have before. I don't like the implications that we have some underhandled agenda. This site it a money sink and a pain in the ass. I have had enough. I am going to take a break. Goodbye.

Now you're just breaking your own rules and behaving badly. Clearly the frustrationhas boiled over and you've left your diplomacy at the door, because in spite of the efforts to discuss this constructively, you're behaving like an asshole.

I've been reflecting on this thread a bit, and in particilar this post. I feel I was a bit cocky here and while calling out/ labelling rdearman's behaviour as less than ideal, was doing the same thing myself a line or two later. Talk about hypocritical. I may as well be yelling 'stop yelling' or swearing at him while telling him to stop swearing.... or even telling him to stop ageing while struggling to put my hands on the elixir of youth myself.

I'd like to apologise (in particular to rdearman) for my less than ideal reaction and words,. I remain hopeful, that post some reflection, an agreement will be reached on the matter, but whether it is or isn't, ultimately the final decision rests with rdearman and I hope he comes back feeling de-stressed and supported by the rest of us.

Fry on!

[rdearman]

I've been reflecting on this thread a bit, and in particilar this post. I feel I was a bit cocky here and while calling out/ labelling rdearman's behaviour as less than ideal, was doing the same thing myself a line or two later. Talk about hypocritical. I may as well be yelling 'stop yelling' or swearing at him while telling him to stop swearing.... or even telling him to stop ageing while struggling to put my hands on the elixir of youth myself.

I'd like to apologise (in particular to rdearman) for my less than ideal reaction and words,. I remain hopeful, that post some reflection, an agreement will be reached on the matter, but whether it is or isn't, ultimately the final decision rests with rdearman and I hope he comes back feeling de-stressed and supported by the rest of us.

No, Peter, you were right to call me out on the rules. I was having a bad day and over-reacted. I apologise for my behaviour. Both yourself, aokoye, and others made some constructive criticisms which I shall take on-board.