NateO
Legend
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2002
- Messages
- 9,700
Hello,
This is more for the sake of newer members, and not directed at any particular individual, so it's understood as to what the purpose of this forum is, where it's been in the past and what it is today. I saw this alluded to in another thread the other month, so I thought I would speak to it.
Way back in 2002, we decided to open an off-Excel topic forum for our members for, well, a place to chat. Jokes, hardware questions, whatever. The goal was to enhance the community with a more social outlet. It was never intended to serve as soapbox or a debate forum, etc...
You might notice that this forum is pretty heavily moderated in terms of what the moderation staff considers acceptable, and for good reason. This forum used to not be moderated very heavily and the results were a disaster, by 2004 you couldn't enter this forum without cringing, it was a complete debacle.
So, at the time, instead of moderating this forum and individuals, which was totally out of control, we decided that shutting it down was a far simpler and effective solution. But over time we determined that this was not the best solution in terms of having a great community. It was, however, the right decision at the time.
Fast forward. You might notice that this forum is Lounge v.2.0, a name chosen to keep in mind the history of the Lounge and how this forum is going to operate, going forward. We ultimately decided we did want a Lounge, but we also wanted an off-topic area that is troll, spam and flame-free, so we also decided to draft new rules and heavily moderate this area.
Moderation is fairly subjective and the goal isn't censorship, per se, it's more to create an environment where everyone is comfortable participating in. The results have been pretty solid, for the most part, I can now enter the Lounge and feel comfortable with most of the posts that I read.
Why is this important? We have a very diverse membership here, ranging from a variety of regions around the world. MrExcel.com has become an extremely large and popular group of user forums, even Microsoft recommends them:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/aa905420.aspx
So, we have quite a reputation to maintain at this point; consequently, we'll continue to heavily moderate these forums.
And while it may be unfortunate if a questionable post has to be removed, I'd like to ask that we hold off on the debate, we're well past that point in time (that was four years ago), we used to entertain the debate, it was (and still is) counterproductive. If it's questionable, it's going to be removed and no amount of debate is going to change that, it's a conclusion we came to many years ago, and that's not going to change.
You might ask, what makes a post questionable? It's pretty simple, if our moderation staff thinks it's questionable, it's questionable. This group of individuals are a pretty reasonable group who have put forth an outstanding effort in helping to enhance our community, I trust their judgement and they have my full support. Mistakes might be made, but 99% of the time, the decisions are pretty good and I think the results of what we have today support that conclusion.
Hopefully that helps put in perspective as to what we're trying to accomplish with this forum and why it functions as it does. Otherwise, enjoy the Lounge (v.2.0)!
This is more for the sake of newer members, and not directed at any particular individual, so it's understood as to what the purpose of this forum is, where it's been in the past and what it is today. I saw this alluded to in another thread the other month, so I thought I would speak to it.
Way back in 2002, we decided to open an off-Excel topic forum for our members for, well, a place to chat. Jokes, hardware questions, whatever. The goal was to enhance the community with a more social outlet. It was never intended to serve as soapbox or a debate forum, etc...
You might notice that this forum is pretty heavily moderated in terms of what the moderation staff considers acceptable, and for good reason. This forum used to not be moderated very heavily and the results were a disaster, by 2004 you couldn't enter this forum without cringing, it was a complete debacle.
So, at the time, instead of moderating this forum and individuals, which was totally out of control, we decided that shutting it down was a far simpler and effective solution. But over time we determined that this was not the best solution in terms of having a great community. It was, however, the right decision at the time.
Fast forward. You might notice that this forum is Lounge v.2.0, a name chosen to keep in mind the history of the Lounge and how this forum is going to operate, going forward. We ultimately decided we did want a Lounge, but we also wanted an off-topic area that is troll, spam and flame-free, so we also decided to draft new rules and heavily moderate this area.
Moderation is fairly subjective and the goal isn't censorship, per se, it's more to create an environment where everyone is comfortable participating in. The results have been pretty solid, for the most part, I can now enter the Lounge and feel comfortable with most of the posts that I read.
Why is this important? We have a very diverse membership here, ranging from a variety of regions around the world. MrExcel.com has become an extremely large and popular group of user forums, even Microsoft recommends them:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/aa905420.aspx
So, we have quite a reputation to maintain at this point; consequently, we'll continue to heavily moderate these forums.
And while it may be unfortunate if a questionable post has to be removed, I'd like to ask that we hold off on the debate, we're well past that point in time (that was four years ago), we used to entertain the debate, it was (and still is) counterproductive. If it's questionable, it's going to be removed and no amount of debate is going to change that, it's a conclusion we came to many years ago, and that's not going to change.
You might ask, what makes a post questionable? It's pretty simple, if our moderation staff thinks it's questionable, it's questionable. This group of individuals are a pretty reasonable group who have put forth an outstanding effort in helping to enhance our community, I trust their judgement and they have my full support. Mistakes might be made, but 99% of the time, the decisions are pretty good and I think the results of what we have today support that conclusion.
Hopefully that helps put in perspective as to what we're trying to accomplish with this forum and why it functions as it does. Otherwise, enjoy the Lounge (v.2.0)!
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