OK I have to put on my moderating hat for a moment.

Anyone who has moderated can tell you, when push-button issues come up, particularly the chronic ones, you are usually bombarded with PM's etc from all concerned people. These people usually include the "wind-up" people as well. Well the noise can get deafening, it's really often spam of a very personal nature.

Well this can try the patience of anyone and invariably after guidance, diplomacy and moderating break down.....you get fed up and pull out the "Rule Book" and start applying the rules. Then of course this kind of discussion ensues.

Before people drag out the old "If you can't handle the heat - get out of the kitchen" shtick. Consider that guys like Textrat are volunteers and it is obvious that the put a lot of effort into keeping this a helpful courteous place. I'm pretty damn sure most people realize this even the Trolls.

I moderate two other forums where these unsettling events happen from time and the only thing that keeps me there is the community support + the overall value of the site. There was one place they were not supportive and I simply resigned...... due to "Philosophical Differences" The site has shrunk and good people have left and there is a general wild and unproductive wolf-pack mentality there to this day.
I must say it seems to suit them, but when I pop in every so often, I see there are no new ideas and it comes off as a demeaning, belittling useless site inhabited by opinionated bullies.


Criticism is easy. Solutions are tough.

Thanks Mods.

"one smart cookie" means a clever person. It's not an insult by any means.

And just so we're clear: I have no problem admiring someone for their abilities while at the same time disapproving how they use them. That's objectivity.

I'll 2nd that.

Most here, I'd suggest have never taken on the duties of a Mod, so are happy to spout forth with their opinions about how it should be done.
My suggestions would be, if you think you can do a better job, fill your boots and crack on.

Perhaps the recent direction this forum has taken is merely a reflection of a greater change in the market place?

Nokia markets the N900 in a way it's predecessors weren't. It's been advertised as a smart phone in many ways, touting it's multimedia, multitasking, multi-connectivity capabilities.

A whole new market segment has taken up ownership. No longer is the tablet a device for business people, developers and tinkerers, it's entered the realm of "consumer devices" and with it come end users who, already disenchanted with their previous phones (which also require effort and can't wipe their arses for them) come to "community forums" to piss and moan about all the ways in which THEIR choice of product has let them down.

Give a while bunch of kids a whole lot of money and a flash ('scuse the pun) new device and they're gonna go out and buy it regardless of if it fits their needs, and then when they find it doesn't, want to blame someone, or blame the device itself.

It's fair to assume this forum is going to be the 2nd stop (after forum.nokia) for people to vent about their Nokia devices, after all, who else ships hardware running maemo?

I'm all for a healthy dose of (constructive) ranting about REAL and VALID issues, however I'm also for closing threads that actually don't add value (maybe without the mod's pov though, although I can understand why that might occur too)

Maybe you should run, you have so many good ideas, I am sure you would get plenty of votes

Seriously, I am not sure why you felt you need to make such a comment

Couldn't agree more. My contributions here have been minimal but what I've gotten in support from this community has been immeasurable. I still struggle with the simple things in dealing with my N900 so I appreciate every bit of relevant info I find to resolve my issues,

However, even in the short time I've been here the tone has changed. Although there are still lots of great ladies and gentlemen willing to go the extra metres to assist, there have been too many who vent without thinking of the impact of their venom and negativity on the rest of the community. Seriously, are some of these people really like that in the real world or just feel safe to release their inner demons online?

Anyway, enough rambling. To finish, the really sad thing is I've been looking at reasons to not visit this site too often lest I have to trawl through endless and mindless immature rants about the bleeding obvious before I get to something of value.

It's a long weekend in Sydney, I'm hitting the sunshine on this beautiful Sunday morning, Go the Socceroos!

I think the criticism on the moderation team is a bit displaced. If members self-moderated themselves, then no mod would have to close so many similar threads.

So many of those threads are so similar. "Nokia owes us..." "Nokia sucks..." "Maemo is dead..." "Y'all are suckas..." "Maemo needs to die..." blah blah. I get it. I'm upset with Nokia something fierce on many things that I think they could almost instantly make it better - and yes, I'm quite aware that TMO, formerly iTT is not the place to air out your grievances thinking that Nokia will respond; however this place is Nokia affiliated via the OS.

With that said... the negativity threads will one day die down. People that yell eventually get tired. Push those threads into the one area that doesn't update the right-hand feed on TMO - but I still see them (I think) on iTT's front page - and just let it go.

I do believe in freedom of speech. But I don't believe that freedom of speech allows you to constantly be a jerk.

That goes both ways.

Maybe I am putting too much faith in the moderators in some people's eyes but I don't see why "smart cookies" that are genuinely distracting and only add chaos should not be banned out-right (yes like the person in question). I still maintain that anyone expecting "democracy" or "freedom of speech" in an internet forum is deluded.

In short, I think it is time there has been more enforcement of rules and good behaviour. Even though I have not been here long I have noticed a very, very apparent slide in to chaos since then.

P.s. while I disagree with him, that was not directed to gerbick; he posted while I was typing this out.

Well now that you have opened the book, lets have a look. Shall we?...

Where have you been dude?

Once the change from itT had occurred and the color change tumult had finally died down, someone did take the reins and began to organize this place in preparation of what he knew was coming. No one liked it but then again no one likes change. Most people accepted it because this member was a well respected member of our community as you were also then.

You however began to proficiently post about your displeasure with the direction that the organization of the forum was going.

The basis of your arguments had merit and you wanted more acknowledgment for members who used alternative OS's that you had invested a lot of time previously supporting. You trotted out post cards from Spain and whatnot,and whipped up popular opinion in your favor. I'm thinkin that because of the "Us vs. them" theme in most of your posts then this organizing member I spoke of earlier, appeared to throw up his hands in disgust and say. "Fine, let the community decide by popular vote or suttin'."
It was also clear that this member had a limited amount of time to accomplish this organization and you, based on the vast number of threads that you opened that were really just variations of the same topic, had all the time in the world.

In the end, whole forums and sub-forums were opened to your exact specifications but then you went away and although useful, these forums and sub-forums were actually hardly used.

But that "Us vs. them" theme hung around like the haze in the old smoking lounge at Heathrow.

{End of chapter one. Chapter working title: "The way we were."]

***

(I'm going to jump ahead here because I'm anxious to get out into the real world and barroom test a widget on my N900 that a working member recently provided. )

It is funny that you apparently are referencing my loosing the recent Council election. The reason I eventualy decided to run was because the two members I admired most and who I thought best represented my point of view decided not to run. One, after fighting the good fight for two terms was now tired. The other, who ran on the "Us vs. them" ticket hadn't been heard from since he won a seat 6 months earlier. I waited almost two weeks for you to enter before I decided to pull the trigger.

I have been a Member/Mod/SuperMod (then back to Mod at my request because of time constraints) on the granddaddy of all cell phone/device forums for over 7 years. These "ideas" you speak of are based on experienced fact as that forum rapidly grew to over 800,000 members with more than 10 million posts and has on average 6,000 unique visitors per day. This is one of the few times I have mentioned this in my years on this forum. I only do so now to add perspective and to substantiate some of these "ideas" and not to get into a pissing contest. (Although I have metaphorically received quite a few "postcards" from Spain as a result of this experience )

I didn't expect to run and when I did decide I didn't expect to get even the number of votes I did get. What I did expect to do was use the time to voice my opinions about the "strong medicine" I thought. and still think this forum was/is going to need.

Incidentally, the "idea" of separating the council from forum administration that I was promoting would have meant that if I was elected, I wouldn't be the doctor delivering this medicine.

I was looking toward the next council election when the "Us vs. them" party could possibly use the fact that because a good candidate was also a mod it somehow meant he was one of "them" and had an unfair advantage.

I of course don't think so, I'm just tired of seeing the chicken shyt threads that this kind of thinking produces.

The actual fact may be that because as a Mod a candidate had to prompt or make necessary but unpopular decisions, it could be an unfair disadvantage.


80% of anything in life can be achieved by just showing up.



H,mm... Morgan and Coke please.

YoDude I will admit that I do wrestle with the moderator+council-member issue. Originally I intended to act as moderator as part of my self-assigned council duties... reason being that I wanted some hard, clearly-defined purpose here in the wake of MeeGo. Also I wanted to quit complaining about "troll takeover" and actually contribute toward a solution.

But I can certainly see why that combination would bother people. All frustrating aspects aside, if I did back down from moderator duties it would be because of a) time constraints and b) I had found an alternative means of contributing. In fact if a few more folks came aboard as moderators, I would likely step aside anyway.

Why step aside tex? even though you and i dont see eye to eye sometimes i still rate you as the best moderator this forum has.
Your capabilities to give and take are rare qualities that i seldom see on any forum and i have to say the day we lose you as a mod will be the beggining of the end of this forum.