A BIG Thanks to the Mods

[dank7oo]

I'm sure you all (mods) never get tired of hearing this, so thanks for making this site the great place it is. When I first got here I had a very good idea of what I was talking about, but I have only benifited from reading posts here and talking to members outside the forums. I have also been privilaged enough to make many firends on this site which I talk to on a daily basis.

Thanks again for all your hard work (and a special thanks to Hilde).

Jason

[BoidKeeper]

Well first let say thank you. Second let me say that sometimes it feels like one heck of an up hill battle.

Here's what Greg Maxwell author of The Complete Chondro has to say on the subject of forums and mods,

"As the number of forums grew, and teh popularity of the most active forums increased, moderation became a problem. Self-styled "experts" with little to no experience or results jockeyed for attention and juveniles with no apparent education about grammar or punctuation used the boards for daily playgrounds. As many people know, the biggest problem with the Internet is that anybody can say literally anything. If knowledgeable and experienced people don't correct errors and keep things on track, then bad information spreads rapidly and confusion abounds. If these people do stand up and speak, those corrected can become openly hostile, and if forum moderators don't control this then good forums can be quickly ruined. At one point the, the strife became so bad that KS shut down all of its forums for a brief period. More than one forum was left closed, but those that remained open continued to allow a "free for all" atmosphere. Those who were intent on having intelligent discussions grew more and more frustrated with the situation, and most serious users got fed up and left. Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, this situation is doomed to be repeated anywhere mature and qualified moderators are not actively involved with Internet forms."

I have to aggree with Greg 100%! In short the key to a great site is for the kids and the self-styled experts need to be corrected when wrong by people who actually do know what they are talking about and the mods need to make sure that those doing the correcting are doing it appropriately and that those corrected are not being hostile about being corrected.

Right now I think we are see to much of this,
Self-styled "experts" with little to no experience or results jockeyed for attention and juveniles with no apparent education about grammar or punctuation used the boards for daily playgrounds.

And not enough of this,
If knowledgeable and experienced people don't correct errors and keep things on track, then bad information spreads rapidly and confusion abounds.

As a result too much of this is occuring,
Those who were intent on having intelligent discussions grew more and more frustrated with the situation, and most serious users got fed up and left.
Cheers,
Trevor

[marisa]

You get newbies posting wrong info, which people complain about.

You get experienced people actually not liking newbies (without newbies the hobby will drop dead)

And you get people who actually LEAVE an internet forum because they don't like certain things being typed on a keyboard? LOL

The world is not perfect....this website is doing SO SO SO much better than any reptile site like it, I still cannot understand anyones complaints. It's sad really. No one is ever happy. But I am glad someone is saying thank you to the mods, because without them watching over stuff then this site would not be as good as it is.

If experienced people get fed up with newbies, or the wrong info, then instead of complaining they should spend time correcting it. Leaving a forum does NOTHING for anyone. And any TRUE reptile lovers have NO PROBLEM spending large amounts of free time helping out others, clearing up someone elses mistakes, or making sure the right info gets out there. Because if experienced people get "fed up" with newbies, then we have no one teaching newbies

My point? Enjoy this site for what it is, one of the best reptiles sites out there. We have less fighting, mud slinging, and name calling than any other reptile website. And remember, everything cannot be exactly the way you want it all the time...i see lots of people saying "cant we stop attacking" and "be nice" but sometimes if you just let it drop....that works out even better.......Good job Mods, and we have a GREAT site....PERIOD.

Marisa

[dank7oo]

this website is doing SO SO SO much better than any reptile site like it, I still cannot understand anyones complaints

I couldnt have said it better myself :)

Jason

[CDN-Cresties]

Excellent post Marisa!

[CamHanna]

Thank You Mods!