• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

General Website Queries: 2018 Onward

definitelymaybe said:
What's the point of posting if it is simply embedded into another post???
Click to expand...

The point is that the thread to which your post has been moved is where the conversation about Rendlesham Forest is currently taking place and where all previous discussion of the case has been located.

Members interested in the case are 'subscribed to/watching' that thread and quite likely had no awareness of your new posts until the main thread became active again with the addition of your new thoughts.

Your post was moved there to maximise readership and help garner responses to your new input. The forum is, relatively speaking, huge, and an isolated discussion of half a dozen posts is likely to be buried and lost within a few days or weeks; the much longer and more involved thread covering the many different aspects of the case, will not be; in fact, every time new information is added to that thread from others' new input, the chance of your words and thoughts being re-read and re-considered increases.

I do appreciate that this style of curation is not the norm on other, more transient sites, but we have 'been here' for twenty years now and have to balance short-, medium- and long-term considerations. Please take a few minutes to acclimatise yourself and you might see the benefits of this approach.
 
definitelymaybe said:
It is a fresh piece of evidence and a new revelation and should be separate, if it was just a random rendlesham comment i wanted to make I would have posted it in this thread. So now when people read the forum they wont see it and wont bother reading an old long running rant post...
Click to expand...

This can be very frustrating I appreciate. It has happened to me a few times and it's annoying. Feels a bit like "moderation by numbers" sometimes...not particularly intelligent..."Oh that says Rendlesham, I will merge it into the Rendlesham thread", when there may well have been every reason for you to feel it deserving of it's own thread - you may have have an intention. It is frustrating...and feels like you're being treated like a kid...a particularly thick one not qualified to know where there thread or post is best placed. I always think that these decisions reduce the dynamism of forums, although sure - sometimes they are warranted. But sometimes waiting a little bit of time, before things are moved it not a bad thing. There's no great danger...within a day or so the thread might have developed into something that indeed does warrant it's own thread...but maybe not, so then merge it. Where is the danger in that? Maybe a little consultation between mods? Maybe a little consultation between the poster? There is no time bomb ticking. Better decisions get made and posters feel less aggrieved when they're treated like adults.


BUT. It is what it is Definitelymaybe. You've signed up to the rules. They will run things how they want. If you can tolerate this then great, if you cannot then this board is not for you friend. Don't beat yourself or get upset about it - that will achieve nothing. It is what it is.
 
Last edited:
Frideswide said:
Also: please note that the use of gay as an attempted slur is frowned upon.
Click to expand...

In fairness I'm not sure this was an intentional slur.

I, for one, have only just noted that our friend's username Enola Gaia was a pun on the famous Enola Gay. I always believed his username to be Enola Gay.
 
A detailed post, that merits a detailed response.
Coastaljames said:
This can be very frustrating I appreciate. It has happened to me a few times and it's annoying. Feels a bit like "moderation by numbers" sometimes...not particularly intelligent..."Oh that says Rendlesham, I will merge it into the Rendlesham thread", ..
Click to expand...
Right. "..not particularly intelligent"? Merging, moving, splitting are all done with care and attention. The way you imply we conduct thread management is like some badly-programmed AI rather than very experienced, knowledgeable people who make dozens of these judgement calls every day. We read every thread, understand the gist and vector of every one, and when it is sensible to do so we merge, move etc. We don't just do it for no reason.
Coastaljames said:
..It is frustrating...and feels like you're being treated like a kid...a particularly thick one not qualified to know where there thread or post is best placed...
Click to expand...
If you take things quite extraordinarily personally, or believe your message to be far more important than anyone else's and thus meriting its own thread then maybe. If, however, you have a degree of relative balance and are familiar with how this place works, then you'll probably accept it has been done for a good reason, ie to incorporate it within an ongoing discussion or to restart a dormant one.
Coastaljames said:
...I always think that these decisions reduce the dynamism of forums, although sure - sometimes they are warranted.
Click to expand...
For sometimes read "usually", or even "invariably".
Coastaljames said:
But sometimes waiting a little bit of time, before things are moved it not a bad thing. There's no great danger...within a day or so the thread might have developed into something that indeed does warrant it's own thread...but maybe not, so then merge it.
Click to expand...
I'll bear that in mind. For a day or two.
Coastaljames said:
Maybe a little consultation between mods? Maybe a little consultation between the poster? There is no time bomb ticking. Better decisions get made and posters feel less aggrieved when they're treated like adults.
Click to expand...
a) Mods do consult when there is a need to do so. In fact we frequently discuss whether or not to merge or split threads, and ALWAYS when closure is an option. You have no idea how much or little we discuss stuff.
b) We do sometimes consult the poster, but that's usually about the content (eg revealing too much personal information, bordering on flaming, advising when a post has been deleted (this last being relatively rare in itself, and again usually because it adds absolutely nothing to the discussion in a mainstream thread. )
c) the implication that we patronise or otherwise discredit the maturity of posters is.. interesting. I disagree.
Coastaljames said:
BUT. It is what it is Definitelymaybe. You've signed up to the rules.
Click to expand...
Yes.
Coastaljames said:
They will run things how they want.
Click to expand...
Yes.
Coastaljames said:
If you can tolerate this then great, if you cannot then this board is not for you friend. Don't beat yourself or get upset about it - that will achieve nothing. It is what it is.
Click to expand...
And once again, yes.

We run this place really, really well. We have done for two decades, outlasting all of the others, with a very strong core of members, and it has been noted on a number of occasions by a number of posters that we do so with an unusual amount of respect and cooperation. We have held the same basic moderation line for all of that time - I know, I have been here doing just that. Do we get it right 100% of the time? No. If we make mistakes do we admit it? Yes. Did we make any mistakes in this particular case? No, we did not.

Again, if there are issues with mods address them to me. Posting Barnum, pass-agg tracts helps nobody.
 
It's all good, of course. I did not intend it as an attack on anyone. It was obviously taken as one. Which is a shame. You might notice I used quite a lot of phrases that expresssed how such actions can make one feel - this is subjective. Not a judgement on said actions at all. Just an expression of empathy towards Definitely concerning how they can make you feel. I then suggested that he should not feel like that because it's pointless. The board is run how it's run and you have to tolerate it if you want to stay. That was my point. Lost I suppose. Maybe I don't write well.

I have absolutely no idea what a "Barnum, pass-agg tract is".
 
Last edited:
Coastaljames said:
I have absolutely no idea what a "Barnum, pass-agg tract is".
Click to expand...
An entirely general point about.. erm..sweeping generalisations, and the sort-of "I'm deeply hurt by your actions but I know you think you do it for the greater good" post we occasionally get.
 
The old aphorism rings true that "You can please some of the people, all of the time..." etc.

If I can just add my own observation that this place is very well run and moderated indeed.
There are a number of accepted conventions about posting here that are laid out in detail, or advised upon if needed, which are quite clear and sensible.
Some threads go off at a tangent for no particular reason and need re-routing as appropriate.
Sometimes several threads relating to a similar topic naturally converge and require merging.
There is a very well functioning avenue through which enquiries, complaints, or request for direction can be sought.
There is also a respected method of kindly keeping order when required (The 'nailed to a tree' thread).

I myself have received a ticking off on a couple of occasions which I accepted with good grace and understanding.
It isn't always intentional, and sometimes people can be 'triggered' by a certain something, unexpectedly.
 
The merging of threads can sometimes be a bit confusing if you were following one and it is merged and you can’t remember the key words to find it after, say a month. Many of the threads were started years ago and when I find a subject that interests me, I do try to start from the beginning of the thread to get all viewpoints and theories etc about the subject.

I am often amazed that the mods can keep up up with the myriad number of posts and subject matter and keep things fairly coherent for members.
 
Just a quick one, i though guests couldn't view members profiles

Screenshot_20210424-004641 (2).png
 
Souleater said:
Just a quick one, i though guests couldn't view members profiles
View attachment 38471
Click to expand...

They can't ... They can try (which will result in the current activity entry you see above), but they are blocked. Clicking on a member profile link and actually having the profile displayed in response are two different things.

When we mods see the current activity listing entries such as the one illustrated here include flags indicating the guest is being presented an error message. All such entries for guests are flagged this way.
 
EnolaGaia said:
They can't ... They can try (which will result in the current activity entry you see above), but they are blocked. Clicking on a member profile link and actually having the profile displayed in response are two different things.

When we mods see the current activity listing entries such as the one illustrated here include flags indicating the guest is being presented an error message. All such entries for guests are flagged this way.
Click to expand...
I take it the same goes for robots?

Screenshot_20210424-015402.png
 
Has the Blues thread been subsumed into the general Music thread?
 
hunck said:
Has the Blues thread been subsumed into the general Music thread?
Click to expand...
Yes. The entire set of posts from the "Old Timey Blues" thread were moved into (what's now) The Music Thread in August 2020.
 
Happens on every forum I look at. A tiny proportion of members get apoplectic about content- "mods should do this, you're doing it all wrong blah blah." Hilarious. This is a very interesting, very very fascinating forum, the very best entertainment, but like others, it's just a forum with well defined rules, nothing more. The fact that people get so enraged defeats me.
 
EnolaGaia said:
Yes. The entire set of posts from the "Old Timey Blues" thread were moved into (what's now) The Music Thread in August 2020.
Click to expand...

And when I get a moment, the Black Metal Thread will join it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top