Flawed NEW MEMBER system.

Hi butcherman

I am merely pointing out how ridiculous the SMS style looks when posting. Are you telling me you had no trouble trying to decypher what I wrote? If so, good on you. But some of us struggle with that. And acronyms existed long before cellphones. There is no relation whatsoever. In each field there are a number of accepted acronyms which are all considered standard language for that field. Nobody in fashion design will know what HOB means, right? But we can use that acronym freely as we all understand what that means. Or if you are an architect it may refer to the common stove in your drawing...

Regards
Lauré

 

We are all arguing a very very petty thing here. Maybe we should all reread the thread and then discuss it again. The thread is a request to set a standard as to New member awareness, proper language use and not sms style writing. No one has thrown toys or had a heart attack. No one argues the use of English as the Official Forum language, yet a standard to writing gets argued to death! I have NO problem with spelling mistakes as not everyone here speaks English. There is a chasm of difference between spelling errors and sms typing! I then say - Go ahead! Type any way you want! This is threatening to alienate this forums greatest asset, but why care? We move forward. . . Regards, Marco

 

Hi all

There is a simple solution to this guys... (the way I see it)

Most of the members agree that we want to keep the forum based on respect. I don't think this is too much to ask?

And if showing respect means that you are asked to use good English, then what's the problem? As far as I can see, there is only a handful of members here who are fighting against this... and the rest of the members just sit quietly in the background because the handful are so being so bold and loud.

I don't see why 95% of the members should copy and paste a post into a special link to find out what the person is saying, when the other 5% are asked to use decent English. We are not un-realistic, and understand that if English is not your first language, we appreciate the effort you go through to try.

And with regards to Laure's request, I personally do not have a problem if you decide to ask a question in Afrikaan. However being an English site, it is sometimes better to use English. Having said that, I have taken a few Afrikaan posts, used Google Translate, and had a look to see what was asked. I don't think our international members will have a huge problem with this either, as the Afrikaans posts are few and far between.

I am going ramble on a few names:
Slagter, Solex 69, Rudi, Laure, Guido, Dolphin... to name a few.
The new members will not know all these names. But some of the older members will remember them? These are what I consider our expert members. These are the guys who introduced a lot of us to sound, practical, and excellent fishkeeping practices. They have all moved on. Why? Well I think this exact thread will give you an exact example of the ramblings that occur that we don't want.

Professor Dirk is now looking at moving on. If you were to approach the Queen, you would approach her with a certain level of respect. This is 1) because of who she is, and 2) because she has earned that respect. I don't care who you think you are, or how important you think you are- Professor Dirk is a leading Professor in our educational system, and in my opinion, he has PROVEN himself. Just by the fact of what he does, the time and effort that he gives to TASA, I think he DESERVES the respect he is requesting. So when sending Professor a PM, or an "ask the professor" thread, please be so kind as to use the English that he has requested. I do not think this is too hard to ask.

And now I am going to put out a challange publically to the moderators.
Gert, Big-G and Zebra Plec: We have seen some of the gripes and complaints. Let's take this to heart, and moderate accordingly. Can we come to a consensus that sms style posts will be removed. SMS style DOES NOT include common abbreviations used in the hobby (LPS, HOB etc).
Rory: Can you look at implementing that welcome letter for the new members. Include in there different links to 1) Forum rules. 2) Forum ettiquette 3) how to post a thread. etc etc

To all members: We had a certain member recently who was the cause of a lot of headaches for some members. This person would phone out sponsors at all hours of the evening requesting help. He would post numerous questions on the forum, and in particular, asking Professor Dirk for professional advice. I know I personally spent countless hours typing up PM's for him to help him along his way. To date, absolutely nothing that was advised to him, requested of him was implemented in his tanks. When illness broke out, he always knew best... even after getting advice from all over the place. This member publically challenged the Professor numerous times with regards to the Professor's advice. At one time he even commented that what he did worked, and that he did not have to follow any of the advice given on the forum. This type of attitude is not accepted on this forum. This member has been banned permanently. We are all here to give advice freely. I will gladly give anyone advice and help if I know that the advice I give is going to be seriously considered. I think this is the common feeling of all members.

Regards
Ashley

 

Marco can you please post us some forum examples were users regularly speak like this? Not asking anyone to name and shame just examples, because like I stated earlier the level of English langue being used on this forum is high. And I for the life of me cant remember a thread that started off like that.

Regards, Stephan Prinsloo

 

Stephan,
The member that use to post like that has been banned.

 

Hi Stephan, Ashley and others

Let me also point out the following: I think the term "SMS style" is also used to describe posts of the following nature:

"hi i have algae problem in tank 12 tiger barbs lots of plants and 2 lights what must i do"

And then somebody replies like this:

"Hi. Can you please explain in detail your setup, including ferts and lights, and also tell us about your water parameters. Perhaps a photo of the algae will help us identify your problem."

And then the forthcoming reply:

"hi seachem ferts 2 x 24w lights sorry what water parameters dont have camera"

A patient forum member then replies:

"Hi. Can you perhaps try and take a picture with your cellphone? And when we asked for more detail, we meant tank size, type of plants, photo period and bulb type. Water parameters would be your ammonia levels, nitrate levels and so on. Can you purchase a test kit to measure these?"

Original poster then coments:

"hi took pic with phone how upload"

And then I read this thread followed by :bigsmile:

Regards
Lauré

P.S. Ashley...I'm still here fighting on

 

To Rory:

Would it be possible to use a similar "help form" like they have on MASA?
I think this could help a great deal when people need help with their tanks. That way we'll have more control over the one liner help threads.

I'm not sure if it's a paid for application though.

Regards
Lindy

 

Stephan, hi. Part and parcel to the problem, which you will not have experienced as you are new, is Private messages. Prof. Dirk clearly outlined that in his post. Imagine your phone ringing and when you answer you get asked, without knowing who's calling, without the person greeting you, "Why are my fish dying?" This has happened to be as well which then result in tiresome exchanges to get the info before the question can be answered. Now furthermore those PM's get sent in SMS language which then make it even more difficult. Sure that explains why this is an issue. Regards, Marco

 

The MXit forum has this new 'Live Help' tab. It's basically a chat screen. This could be useful. Not sure if you can only do it in phpBB though

Regards

TM

 

Thanks for the speedy reply Ashley, I would just like to point out something which might not hold as much weight because I am only now posting and not a regular poster like all the others members. But I have found that if you treat someone with respect no matter what he does for a living you will get that respect back twice fold, but forcing respect on someone will cause them to be more disrespectful of that person. Respect is gained and earned by treating someone the way you like to be treated you will get the respect of many people.

Another thing I would like to touch on is the fact that many people like myself are afraid to post on this forum for fear of breaking some unwritten law and getting banned for it or voicing an opinion that is not the same as that of the well established members. I like to think that an opinion is just that an opinion and should not be a substitute for your own independent thoughts and ideas. And that those old the same amount of weight as any other persons and should not just be discounted.

Regards, Stephan Prinsloo

 

Ok this thread has gone on long enough now so going to be closing it.

A post like that will earn you a ban right away.
Acronyms used in the hobby can obviously be used but perhaps when responding to a new member don't go and say "Run a HOB and use a CLS through your RF UGF to keep your NO3 <1ppm".

butcherman you can use commonly known internet acronyms like LOL but I would rather you didn't. There's no need for sms language on here as we don't have a 140 character limit.

If you're going to save time by tpng lyk dis you are wasting the time of the people who are trying to read it.

I'm pretty sure afrikaans, zulu, xhosa and chinese all have punctuation...