Stricter Guildelines Enforcement Now In Effect

[Ken Lee]

Members who violate the Forum's Usage Guidelines will be banned for several days.

If they return and continue to violate forum guidelines, they will be banned permanently.

The following guidelines should be noted with particular attention:

"Name calling, personal attacks, character assassination, coarse or inappropriate language, or enticing/baiting others to violate forum guidelines will not be tolerated here."

"Topics and discussions of politics and religion are not allowed, here [the Lounge] or elsewhere on the forum, and the forum's general behavioral standards apply here, too."

"Readers of "For Sale" posts should refrain from intruding on the thread by making negative comments about the item or the price being requested. Doing so is rude, and thus in violation of general forum guidelines."

[Darin Boville]

Ken, what crisis requires all of this? Two threads mildly critical of the moderators? Perhaps the principle behind banning a member--giving them a chance to cool off a bit--might be taken up by the mods themselves?

--Darin

[Ken Lee]

It's very simple: moderators have limited time, and no longer want to spend it policing a small number of high-maintenance forum members.

There's no crisis, it's more a matter of patience having finally run out. There is a consensus among the moderators.

[Nathan Potter]

In a nutshell, this is a photography forum for the exchange ideas, experiences, comments, data and whatever else related to LF photography. No more - no less.

A private message can be used as a medium of encounter for extraneous discourse and an outlet for excess male hormones.

I think the Moderators are on the right track even tho I miss the wisdom of some who have been banned.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Sal Santamaura]

It's very simple: moderators have limited time, and no longer want to spend it policing a small number of high-maintenance forum members.

There's no crisis, it's more a matter of patience having finally run out. There is a consensus among the moderators.

Congratulations. I applaud the decision.

[Lachlan 717]

Congratulations. I applaud the decision.

+1

[mikebarger]

I agree

+1

[Darin Boville]

It's very simple: moderators have limited time, and no longer want to spend it policing a small number of high-maintenance forum members.

There's no crisis, it's more a matter of patience having finally run out. There is a consensus among the moderators.

Ken, as another post here pointed out, the LFF has more active members than ever before. Yet I believe there are the same number of moderators as when I first joined in 2004. Is it possible the root cause of all this stress is not so much bad behavior on the part of members as over-work on the part of the mods? After all, if the *rate* of posts needing moderating stays the same, as the forum grows you will nevertheless eventually be overwhelmed with more and more work. Maybe you need one or two more mods?

--Darin

[Ken Lee]

Ken, as another post here pointed out, the LFF has more active members than ever before. Yet I believe there are the same number of moderators as when I first joined in 2004. Is it possible the root cause of all this stress is not so much bad behavior on the part of members as over-work on the part of the mods? After all, if the *rate* of posts needing moderating stays the same, as the forum grows you will nevertheless eventually be overwhelmed with more and more work. Maybe you need one or two more mods?

You're a mind-reader

Another moderator may be in the wings - but the moderators here are Large Format photographers, not psychiatric nurses.

Most members can tell the difference. Not all, but most.



Those few members with social and cognitive impairment will either learn how to follow the forum's simple guidelines, or find themselves banned - no matter how many moderators we have.

[Darin Boville]

You're a mind-reader

Another moderator may be in the wings - but the moderators here are Large Format photographers, not psychiatric nurses.

Most members can tell the difference. Not all, but most.

If members get a vote I'd suggest that you need more variety in the world view in the mods. All good people but I'd like to see someone who when you say "Large Format Photographer" *doesn't* immediately think of Ansel Adams. I'd love to see someone who doesn't shoot landscapes etc at all, in fact!

--Darin