Flawed NEW MEMBER system.

And I suppose we could get the moderators to set a clean up of members. I.E if you not logged in for a period of time your account gets closed?

 

I must admit when i joined a couple of weeks ago when i found this sight i was blown away...as Brad said your so excited you just wanna get on with it and forget the formalities..after i joined i read that someone was asked to introduce themselves and i thought eeeeeish cos i forgot..but truth be told i have not felt pressured by any of the regulars already on the forum..i think for what its worth that everyone that i have seen on here is pretty awesome and all give their opinions and help freely..if anyone does come on to advertise and not take the brilliant help its their LOSS..this is my escape i look forward to come on just to see whats new , whats happening and who is giving who stick and its classic..anyway thanx for you bunch of nuts cos without all the quips and quirks this would be so clinical you would have even less people on here...shot

 

Whenever you have 2 personalities interacting... you will land up with a difference of opinion. When you have an entire forum of different personalities... then it can get interesting...

Now throw me into the picture...

 

Wait wait... I think they call it a FORUM. Man I am a genius

 

lol @ vis...i enjoy your spunk buddy..to be honest,i think its fine the way it is,once you introduce or askd to introduce yourself then theres no problem..

 

i agree with zoom on the cleaning up of old members that arent "active"..

 

I do aggree with cleaning up unactive members, But would suggest that moderators contact them first. Maybe their tank is standing in the garage! Or internet connection is off.

 

well,you have to give your phone number when you register,if their internet is off then they won't be able to check their email,maybe a mod or an admin can just give em a call.

 

I'm talking about being offline for 6 monts +. I think that if someone doesn't log in after 6 months they have either
1) forgotten about us
2) forgotten their username and password in any case.

 

i was offline for 1 year once on MYBB,that forum is still overcrowded with ghost accounts,i think there should be a section where ppl don't have to register to post,most people only register to get 1 awnser and after that they leave.

 

0 posters and "1 post wonders" are pretty normal for all forums. Some guys may have 0 posts but they are on here reading every day. Some sign up, read a bit and move on. An email is automatically sent out every 3 months or so reminding them that they have an account and giving them the link to the lost password page.

Some people register and only visit once but I'd rather not just delete their account because when/if they do try and come back they won't be so happy about having to go through the registration process again.

One thing we can maybe do is use "Facebook connect". This lets anyone with a facebook account (ie. pretty much everyone) log in using their facebook account.

 

Hi All

Could we not have a "WELCOME TO TASA- PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR INTRO"

The intro should include for example:

1. There are rules on this forum please give them a read. (LINK)
2. A number of fish and plants are black listed please check this list (LINK)
3. There is a search section that will allow you to find quick answers to any questions, please try this before posting a new post.
4. When you post on an existing thread the thread will be placed on top of new threads so it will be seen and responded to.

or something like this. It will help newbies get the gist of thinks right from the start.

Cheers

Vince

 

I saw one forum, much like this that pop up a window warning you about the
sale section. Surely this one can do a pop up for new members like vince said.

 

Hi Guys,

I have been watching this thread for a while, and I have reached the point where I think that I must voice my opinion.

As you all know, I contribute very considerably to this forum, but I have had a number of situations on this forum in recent weeks, which make me think that there is either something wrong with how we introduce members to this forum or there is actually something drastically wrong with the younger internet generation in general. It has reached such serious proportions on this forum, that I have asked myself a number of times whether it is time for me to leave this forum because I have wondered whether there is something wrong with me or whether there is something wrong with some of the members of this forum.

Perhaps I should explain a little more. I have experienced it a number of times that via normal messages or PMs I have been confronted by members who seem to have no idea about what normal good manners are. Some members have sent messages or PMs that are utterly without any resprect. I do not expect any special treatment here because of who I am, but it seems to me that the electronic medium very often allows persons to loose all social norms with regard to manners and how to address persons. I find this particularly worrying, and I think this poses a very real danger to this forum.

What I also have found is that the contributions of some younger members is completely inadequate with regard to being able to write in simple normal English. SMS English is just not good enough, if you want to explain a complex concept, if you want me to answer with a scientific argument, the very least that you can do, is to write your question in normal grammatical English.

Well, this gets me to the point. I have recently subscribed to a German discus website. After subscription, I received an email from the ALL OF THE moderators of the forum welcoming me and then they outlined how they wanted me or anyone else to contribute to the forum. The first thing that was stated was that there would be situations in which people would differ in opinion, and in this case that you could mention this to the moderators, this was with a direct link. The moderators of the forum, emphasize that they want a friendly tone on the forum in general and do not want aggression. They lay down the law from the start, this is how they want it!

Then they say that you have a personal area in which you should introduce yourself with your true name. I wonder how many times I have wondered on this forum about the absolutely crazy fantasy names of some persons. When they send you a PM, this continues, I mean, do people have no identity, or are they too ashamed to be identified? I still do not know who shakester, who has now been banned, is in real life? I actually do not think that this is acceptable because it allows people to go crazy, they do not behave according to any social norms and insult anyone as they feel fit, an entirely unacceptable situation.

Then the website informed me that I should start any mail with "Hallo whoever" and end off with my name. How many one-liners are there on this forum?

Finally, the mail from this forum (the German discus forum) states that if you have any questions about functionality of the forum you can always as the moderators if things are not clear to you.

I know that such messages are easily set up as automatic replies to new subscriptions, but I really ask myself if many of the serious problems that have occurring on this forum could not have been pre-empted with such a general message from the mods. I must be very honest if I say to you that the level of disrespect because of people hiding behind an anonymous name has got to the point where I have asked myself if I am not wasting my time on this forum and whether I should not just unsubscribe, and I am very serious if I say this.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

I tend to agree with what you said Prof. I know there has been arguments about "stupid" and repeated questions
and more experienced members get annoyed.
There will always be the beginner and stupid questions which I a moderately experienced guy love to answer.
If I in turn have a question I look to the more experienced guys.

One thing that is however a no go is the manners like you said. It should be clear that you
can ask any question but if you misbehave you are out of here, no warning or discussion about it.
If you start a thread to provoke argument or any thing negative you also go.

 

Hi Vis,

I do not mind answering the questions of persons that are inexperienced and I have answered many on this forum, as my mails would show. At times I find that I have to be careful in not being insensitive (sharp and critical) in how I answer because I get the feeling that I have given the answer before, but I still try to be civil.

However, the level of lack of just plain normal manners has been very worrying to me.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

If i remember correctly Slojo once posted a thread on proper forum etiquette somewhere on here, and that might be a good idea to polish and revise and have that pop up for new members and also I think with the current relapse and constant raising of this issue it should probably pop up for all us old members as well.

I think I know what Prof refers to, and I know I've most probably also been guilty of it, those PM's you send to a person that starts with
"hey listen, quickly just tell me ....."
etc in the case where you are sending a PM to someone you've never even contacted before, rather than writing a PM like you would write an email e.g.
"Hi, my name is Willem, I would like to enquire whether..."

Its simple etiquette that smooths out the rough edges and abruptness of the electronic medium we use to communicate with. Not just with PM's but where someone new starts off posting requests in topics before we even have a clue who they are, it does feel abrupt, like having a conversation with people you know in a coffee shop, and suddenly the waiter sits down, chips in and goes, hey there listen do any of you know of any better job offers out there, I think I want to quit here...

Also, it is very easy to get snippy and sarcastic with other members which leads to a flame war or an open debate, and in the end, mods need to come in and remove 50 of the 60 posts the thread consisted of just to get the mess sorted. Debate is one thing, its good and should be encouraged, IF you know your facts and you can back it up. If you dont know your facts, you're on the internet, check it up, google it first then you can argue its correctness. But many members bicker over small nonsense issues and in the end it turns out one was clearly wront to start off. Other situations I've seen appear is ASSUMPTIONS guiding arguements, people read something and assume the meaning was X, then start slagging off the poster with other members joining in the mud flinging, only to find out after several sarcastic replies later when said poster is back online, that X was in fact Y, something completely different and the whole thread then needs to be scrubbed because of useless assumption wars.

The simple matter in regards to manners and attacks on new and old members is that people on here should be courteous of one another and try to add information when they have confirmed it as correct (If its some technical matter in topic). Also, mods I think should be a little more lenient with deleting OT posts, when I first joined, we were more self regulating, if the thread got a little derailed the topic owner or someone else would mention the fact, we had a laugh about it and got back to business, now, everything just vanishes unceremoniously, rather than just nudging things back into motion. In a normal conversation with someone we might be discussing planted tanks, specifically fertilization, then veer off a bit stating that this or that brand didn't really catch my fancy then get back to how we plan on setting up the fertilization regime. Its not natural for topics to always be spot on on topic with NO exception and no of topic mentioning, I dont know anyone who discusses any topic that clinically. If we want to be a COMMUNITY forum, we should have a little leniency in that respect, if we wanted to be a SCIENTIFIC forum with spot on posts and no chatter then the whole ideal of wanting to be a community is flawed. You wont be able to build a friendly community on such a clinical to the point forum. I believe that is why so many have posted that they are afraid to post anything for fear of being deleted or being wrong. Sometimes it takes some talking to get something said...

Anyway, that is my view on the situation and whats going on here. I've been a forum gremlin for quite a few years now, on many different sites discussing different matters wide and varying, this is just how I've experienced the forum world

 

Hi Guys,

The Professor has touched on some serious points there, and I am hoping those following this thread will re-read his post, and take it to memory. Professor you touched on some very sensitive issues there, and I can only echo your advice.

Modern society has moved so much from personal interaction to hi-tech interaction, that the common courtesy that is generally given in a face-to-face environment is not conveyed into tech-relationships. It's so easy to sit behind your PC and/or cell phone, 9/10 times behind a screen name, and loose all elements of common human courtesy, and respect.

Another local forum, which most of you actually belong to, asks you to please sign off all posts by using your real name. This was a little of a shock to me, because I have NEVER seen this on any online forum. And I think to be fair, I am personally going to start this here on TASA.

I think if we bring in a certain amount of personal touches to the forum, people will not hide behind their name. I have made a concerted effort that if any of you receive a PM from me, I will address you 1stly by your real name, (If I know it), and I will NOT sign off "Zoom". I will always sign off a PM with my real name.

Can you imagine going into your office environment and you signes all communication in the office with a fake name?

Another forum I once popped into had very simple rules. Granted the forum is in it's early stages, and the rules will get tailored as the forum goes on... but the rules were simple.

"Be nice and show respect."

I think thoase 5 words will encompass everything that you were taught as a child on how to relate to human beings. I'd like to see this more on this forum.

The moderators have eased up on the cleaning up of "OT" posts in threads. You will notice that this particular thread was discussing a flaw in the new members section, and has slightly deviated. But the general movement of the thread has leaned itself towards this, (which mosts threads do), and if it stays clean, we leave it.

If we feel that it is completely off topic, and would justify having it's own thread, we won't delete it, but rather move it and open it up as another thread.

So here's the start to something new...

Regards
Ashley

 

Thank you for the feedback and cheers to that Ashley. I think the veering off topic for this thread is still on topic actually, it relates to why a problem started with the new member system. If we all take this to heart, the problem might clear up...

Regards
Will

 

Thank you very much Prof. Dirk (and other members) for your valued posts and contributions.
I do agree with Prof. Dirk, that everyone should use their real names or at the very least, have their real names in their profile.
It is shameful, that certain people deem it nescesary to hide behind a silly tech name or avatar.
You will also notice that the older members, use their real names.
I, for one, am not scared to use my real name (and avatar photo) and have the same cell no, since the beginning of cellphones.

I appeal to everyone to update your profile to show your location and full name.
Please try to improve your grammar and spelling, refrain from sms text and show respect to fellow members, as you yourself, will expect.
Thank you everyone, for making this forum a better place...
Gert Combrink.