Announcement !!

[mike dunagan]

I understand that the job is difficult. I am not disrespecting you. I am saying you are attempting to fix the problem the wrong way

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124463&highlight=Search+feature

was a small debate about this topic. I am in favor of using the search feature, but as being a teacher I always play the devils advocate. There are rules in place for the site. Why each forum would then have their own set is confusing for new members. Why join a site which is confusing and different in each section?

The fact that you may need help is a problem that you will want to discuss with other mods to see if another needs to be added. A lot of sections of the site have unactive mods.

I do visit this site a lot. I am on it hours a day and since it is now summer break I will be on it ever so much more. I do not post in a section if I do not have something to add. I have posted in this forum before. I understand the need to keep this area functioning, but over react to the situation and traffic will slow.

Yes people do take things as personal attacks often, but often people who are "experts" are in fact not and their ideas are not the absolute rule in keeping pets. Someone may have their own experience with keeping. I see to far often people acting in the best interest of the animal, but are wrong.

 

[varanio]

I understand that the job is difficult. I am not disrespecting you. I am saying you are attempting to fix the problem the wrong way

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=124463&highlight=Search+feature

was a small debate about this topic. I am in favor of using the search feature, but as being a teacher I always play the devils advocate. There are rules in place for the site. Why each forum would then have their own set is confusing for new members. Why join a site which is confusing and different in each section?

The fact that you may need help is a problem that you will want to discuss with other mods to see if another needs to be added. A lot of sections of the site have unactive mods.

I do visit this site a lot. I am on it hours a day and since it is now summer break I will be on it ever so much more. I do not post in a section if I do not have something to add. I have posted in this forum before. I understand the need to keep this area functioning, but over react to the situation and traffic will slow.

Yes people do take things as personal attacks often, but often people who are "experts" are in fact not and their ideas are not the absolute rule in keeping pets. Someone may have their own experience with keeping. I see to far often people acting in the best interest of the animal, but are wrong.

I can appreciate you playing devil's advocate Mike its good for conversation, but Im not running a concentration camp here either. The rules are no different than anywhere else. I am simply saying that flaming, bad language, and insults will not be tolerated, whether you were the original thread starter or a participator if someone gives you advice its up to you how you take it, if youre animal dies and you did nothing other than take the advice with a grain of salt then that person really needs to rethink their methods. Maybe it was worded a bit intensley, but the I hope this terse paragraph will steer this in the direction I intended it to go.

 

[mike dunagan]

Your original post did make it seem like a hickup would result in infraction. I am in better understand of your intentions.

I would hope that you and other push members to use the search feature, but remember without further sharing or adding to previous information by new members we will not gain any new knowledge. So please be sure that the questions be allowed to be asked as well.

 

[varanio]

Your original post did make it seem like a hickup would result in infraction. I am in better understand of your intentions.

I would hope that you and other push members to use the search feature, but remember without further sharing or adding to previous information by new members we will not gain any new knowledge. So please be sure that the questions be allowed to be asked as well.

The questions can and will be asked, we cant censor that.... but they will and should be urged to use the search tools and stickies, researching what youre getting yourself into is only half the battle, keeping them alive and thriving is the other half.

 

[Dan F]

First of all I would like to say that this sub-forum is actually one of the more good-natured and polite ones on MFK.

I am very much in favor of a ban on flaming, my mother had this saying about what to do when you have nothing nice to say...

However, cracking down on people asking repetitive questions seems counterproductive for a number of reasons.

First of all, a forum is a constantly evolving organism. People come and go. People learn new things. The answers you get to a question today are not necessarily the same answers you will get if you look at a two year old thread.

Second, the search tool is not a very good one, in my opinion. It sometimes misses posts and it doesn't have advanced search options.

Also, revisiting a topic may help new members to the forum who don't know where to start asking questions.

Varanio, thanks for what you do, and thanks for caring!

 

[varanio]

First of all I would like to say that this sub-forum is actually one of the more good-natured and polite ones on MFK.

I am very much in favor of a ban on flaming, my mother had this saying about what to do when you have nothing nice to say...

However, cracking down on people asking repetitive questions seems counterproductive for a number of reasons.

First of all, a forum is a constantly evolving organism. People come and go. People learn new things. The answers you get to a question today are not necessarily the same answers you will get if you look at a two year old thread.

Second, the search tool is not a very good one, in my opinion. It sometimes misses posts and it doesn't have advanced search options.

Also, revisiting a topic may help new members to the forum who don't know where to start asking questions.

Varanio, thanks for what you do, and thanks for caring!

Thanks Dan, but my intentions were to not ban people with repetitive posts, they were to limit them I thought I made that clear. I agree re visiting topics is a great thing, because fresh ideas come from that, however most of those topics never morph into a full frontal dialogue, rather they go south and people begin to flame and what not because of repetitiveness. Im trying to avoid that here. I want to encourage people to not just use our stickies but also our search engine. You can search by topic name or thread name, person etc etc etc... in a perfect world everything would work, but even google has trouble with their search engine, and theyre a multi billion dollar company. What itches me is some people just dont think outside of the box and dont search for the answers that may be right in front of them, a simple 30 second search can get you an answer for easy to answer questions, after some search has been done and there is no answers then I welcome insightful questions on husbandry everyday behaviors and things like that... I guess thats what happens when youre so old school. Dan youre a guy who teaches, you want your students to think outside the box and research their book reports, presentations etc etc etc, why cant we encourage that here?

 

[Ophiuchus]

Dan has a point.....as much as I absolutely hate repetitive FAQ (how to take care of a bearded dragon or what to feed a cornsnake, etc etc), the search options are limited and a lot of things get missed. And like he said, information is always changing.

My suggestion is to make stickied topics for some of these things....however, my only reservation for that proposal is that we have like a million stickied threads already (okay, I exaggerated...its only like, 12...but still!). I personally think some of these can be consolidated into each other while others can be done away with. If this is a route that Varanio might consider, I'll be happy to elaborate what my precise suggestions are.

 

[varanio]

Dan has a point.....as much as I absolutely hate repetitive FAQ (how to take care of a bearded dragon or what to feed a cornsnake, etc etc), the search options are limited and a lot of things get missed. And like he said, information is always changing.

My suggestion is to make stickied topics for some of these things....however, my only reservation for that proposal is that we have like a million stickied threads already (okay, I exaggerated...its only like, 12...but still!). I personally think some of these can be consolidated into each other while others can be done away with. If this is a route that Varanio might consider, I'll be happy to elaborate what my precise suggestions are.

I was thinking the same thing ophi! I was actually planning on spending a few hrs this weekend actually dedicating it to the esthetics of the sticky section rather than the usual partoling. If you have any suggestions have at it. This is what the topic was made for.... open dialogue, this is everyones forum, and we should all have a say.

 

[Miguel]

First of all I would like to say that this sub-forum is actually one of the more good-natured and polite ones on MFK.

I am very much in favor of a ban on flaming, my mother had this saying about what to do when you have nothing nice to say...

However, cracking down on people asking repetitive questions seems counterproductive for a number of reasons.

First of all, a forum is a constantly evolving organism. People come and go. People learn new things. The answers you get to a question today are not necessarily the same answers you will get if you look at a two year old thread.

Second, the search tool is not a very good one, in my opinion. It sometimes misses posts and it doesn't have advanced search options.

Also, revisiting a topic may help new members to the forum who don't know where to start asking questions.

Varanio, thanks for what you do, and thanks for caring!

Tottally agree, on all counts.

Alex, I also strongly support and commend the effort you ( and other mod's ) put in cleaning this up. Keep up the good work!

 

[duke33]

Can we not get more moderators to help with the load?