Okay Now Turn Your Head and Cough........

[DQ Darwin]

After a full week and a bit what do we the users think of the new forums. (the title is a spoof on a medical examiner)

This may seem long but really isn’t.

The idea here is to place people’s comments under a single thread, sort of our report card on the forums to date. But the difference here is to use the titles of the “Community Participation Guidelines” http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official Discussion_guidelines  as the format.

The posts people make here are their own opinions and may produce a pattern of general agreement on certain topics. When one posts here their post is not intended to be open for others to discuss or ridicule or slander. If one adamantly disagrees with a particular comment feel free of course to start a thread separate to discuss it, please do not do it here.

Not everyone has the opportunity, time or capability to attend the “Community Tools User Group”   http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Community_Tools_User_Group and if they did in the hour allotted all that would be achieved is for everyone to say hello and times up.

*edited for link that contained vulgarity and singling out names*

Your choice post or pass. Thank you

Format

Vulgarity, Profanity, and Sexually Explicit Content: No name calling, expletives, or any language that is offensive, pornographic, or sexually explicit. Profanity, hate speech, or threats of violence are not permissible.

My Answer: Name calling and offensive language which is veiled in its presentation still exists. When AR it has been acted upon to the best of my knowledge, it is a work in progress.

Personal Information: Sharing someone else’s personal information—of any kind—is not allowed. Disclosing another Resident’s real-world identity, contact information, or the text of interpersonal communications (chat, email, IM) is not allowed.

My Answer: I have not seen any to date.

Nudity or Mature Content: Keep the content of your postings “General” as provided in our Maturity Guidelines. Postings that do not comply with the “General” rating may be removed.

My Answer: Is enforced.

Spamming, Solicitation and Advertising: Spamming is not allowed. This includes aggressive self-promotion. No advertising or promotion of specific Second Life merchants, Marketplace listings, products, or services, unless the forum area is specifically for the buying or selling of Second Life products or services, for example, a “for sale” or “wanted” forum. Do not reference other websites offering any product or service.

Note: It is OK to have a signature line with a link to your Second Life profile or information about your Second Life business.

My Answer: Being enforced as best as can be. We are all aware of the Spam.

Interpersonal Disputes or Personal Negative Commentary: If you have a personal disagreement, do not post about it on the Second Life community pages. Residents who have personal differences have other channels of communication available to them — private messaging in the forums, IM within Second Life, or chatting within Second Life.

My Answer: This is a difficult one as the moderators don’t know the history behind the posters. It to me is one of the holdovers from the old forums. It requires a lot of work on the moderator’s part to interrupt the digs that fly towards certain posters in an attempt to stifle or ridicule them. They are easy to spot if the history is known and usually start with a snarky remark that in turn seems to bring out the followers to continue the discord. Lot of work there.

No Flaming: "Flames" are hostile or disruptive posts, or messages intended to incite an angry response. Spirited discussion and constructive disagreement are welcome, but name-calling and airing of grievances are not appropriate in our discussion areas. We will also not tolerate any post that encourages others to violate any policy of Linden Lab

My answer: Same as above. This is going to be a battle. The only tools provided to users are the RIC or PM. As a result the mods must be inundated with these making it difficult to get anything else done.

Off Topic Content: Please keep your commentary relevant to the discussion and within the format that the forum, board or question and answer area require. (For example, in the Answers section, please follow the Q&A format of the discussion.) Content that is blatantly off topic is not permitted. You may also not post regarding subjects that do not relate to Second Life.

My Answer: Off Topic of new doesn’t equal General Discussion of old. In many ways I am happy of that. We got OT through popular request. It may not have all the colour of the old GD but it doesn’t have all the hate, instigators and vicious name-calling. I accept the trade off and let’s face it LL wasn’t doing the posting we were.

Abuse of Moderation or Moderators: Please honor our moderation process and the decisions that come out of it; they are being made in order to provide you with a productive environment for conversations about Second Life. We prohibit abuse of our moderation process, including the following:

posts that discuss or re-post material that has been removed or locked by a moderator

posts questioning a moderator’s decision

posts that discuss the status of any Resident account (e.g., on hold, suspended, etc.)

frivolous or malicious use of the abuse report feature

My answer: I do know as mentioned before this is a task I wouldn’t want. It is horrendous in nature. I accept that the mods are setting a standard to be used in the new forums and it will not be in the same light as the old forums were, good.

I do question how they will determine what is deemed “frivolous” or “malicious” use of the abuse report feature. I imagine a record or abuse reports or Reports of Inappropriate Content “RIC” by posters will be held for review. For the next few months this process will seem abused between those posting in the style of the old forums to the RIC’s of those wishing to report to enforce the new style (rules).  It must look like a heck of a lot of whining going on.

Report Inappropriate Content for Moderator Review

Moderating a discussion site is a daunting task; our forums alone see in excess of 10,000 posts per week. You can help by reporting abuse when you spot it. If you see a post you feel violates the Community Participation Guidelines, or our Terms of Service, then please click the Report Inappropriate Content link that appears in each post, and let us know why you feel the post is inappropriate.

My Answer: The use of RIC is encouraged here to aid in getting the tempo of the forums to the intended direction of the owners. Can’t argue there.

We Moderate at our Discretion

We evaluate posts on a case-by-case basis and take into account the severity of the conduct and any history of past violations. Although we will make reasonable efforts to take into consideration the context and general sentiment of the blog or forum discussions, the actions taken (or not taken) by Linden Lab and our moderators are at our sole discretion, and we may act without warning or explanation. We provide the discussion areas of our sites as a service to Residents, and we will take the actions we deem appropriate to keep our sites a productive and enjoyable environment for all Residents.

My Answer: This speaks for itself.

In my mind I do welcome the change and cleanup of the forums as it was much needed compared to what we had. It is going to be a long and drawn out process to achieve the aim. We will lose some posters that were prolific in the old forums, some I will miss some I won’t.

This is the new tool for us and not all are happy but that’s life.  LL provides its tool and we use it or not under there guidelines. That’s pretty simple. By reading the transcribe of the Community Tool User Group it is apparent they are listening and willing to make changes.

My kudos to the forum team for this new platform. I am interested in how it will evolve.

I welcome what your thoughts are on the specific topics, just remember mine are only mine.:) 

 

 

 

[Venus Petrov]

Re: Personal Negative Commentary:  Personal insults are rude in any language.  One cannot assert that it is common in their native tongue to insult another and get away with posting harassing or vulgar language here.

I found it enlightening how one might say (in the old GD) that they never AR'ed anyone and accuse others (not by name, by innuendo) of being 'ARtards', and how now they have a list of over 20 posts where 'nothing has been done about it' and then that they will forward 100 such examples.  I would not know how they might define 'nothing' as they are not privy to PMs from mods.

But, I am a PICard.  What would I know.

 

[Cato Badger]

@Dee: Whether you like it or not, your post has confirmed you at the very vanguard of the PIC ard movement. But you must have blinked and missed the moderation of posts which breached the Disclosure regulations with regard to alts, however others might wish to split hais about how and why the ToS is being applied in that area. Beware anyone else who might wish to make accusations of altdom, since whether you are right or wrong, or whether you have actual evidence (*extremely* unlikely) or are just demonstrating your psychic powers, you are going to be disciplined.

[DQ Darwin]

@Cato In regards to PIC it is likened to my position on women's rights, I may speak the same language but I haven't joined the movement.

[DQ Darwin]

The object here was to use the same titles as I have and place ones thoughts. My intent was not to discuss my comments but to offer yours to the Community Tool Group.

It seems so far to have failed that aim.

If that process was used it would be possible to present a common theme.

Well so much for intent.

[Cato Badger]

@DQ said "My intent was not to discuss my comments but to offer yours to the Community Tool Group." So you haven't joined the movement but you are quite happy to be its spokesperson? Hmmm!

[DQ Darwin]

@Cato not my word (spokesperson). One tends to assign labels to others from their own perspective it doesn't necessarily validate them when seen or heard.

And now back to our regular program. ttfn