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General Chit-Chat and Personal Diaries and Announcements: next round of discussions

General Chit-Chat and Personal Diaries and Announcements: next round of discussions

Old 09-11-2009, 11:19 AM
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It looks like the PDA section isn't working out as intended.

When we first introduced the PDA section, the biggest concern of some people was the fact that not many others would see their posts down there.

And now, plenty of members post in PDA the kind of content that could (and should) be posted in Main, Pictures or GCC.

To tell you the truth, this really puzzles me.

In any case, I'm considering moving back to the old GCC and simplifying the guidelines, with a few changes.

We won't be deleting threads aside from what really goes over the line.

Threads that get out of hand are going to be locked, and we'll include a notice explaining the reasons.

That way, if you bookmarked some page and it got locked (as opposed to getting deleted), you'll still be able to find out what's happening instead of seeing a "topic doesn't exist" message.

Right now, I'm thinking we should allow everything in GCC except for politics, religion, dirty jokes and personal negative posts.

I can already see that we are going to have a problem with some content.

I think it would even be OK for people to vent in GCC occasionally, but I already know it will get out of hand. As it did in the past.

I would like to hear your thoughts on how to handle the posts that don't fit the GCC guidelines. We'll have such posts no matter what set of guidelines we use. So we might as well discuss how to deal with them.

What do you, as members of this community, believe would be the appropriate action if, say, we get a flood of prayer requests or negative posts or jokes getting out of hand?

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Old 09-11-2009, 12:17 PM
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Originally Posted by Admin
It looks like the PDA section isn't working out as intended.
And now, plenty of members post in PDA the kind of content that could (and should) be posted in Main, Pictures or GCC.

I would like to hear your thoughts on how to handle the posts that don't fit the GCC guidelines. We'll have such posts no matter what set of guidelines we use. So we might as well discuss how to deal with them.
I started using the PDA section recently and only bemoan the fact that I don't have enough time to communicate with everyone. (This is such a nice group!)

Do you have an example of what you think should be in the GCC rather than in the PDA? I think letting the member know that the topic would also be appreciated in the CCC might be a good start. Once we "understand" what is expected, I think no adjustment is needed.

Do you expect that the existing membership will violate the new rules, or do you think it is mostly new members who don't read the rules AND are not aware of the kerfluffel we had a while ago?

If you find a member violating a rule, why don't you remind that member to please read the rules and point them to the one that was offended? If I did something wrong, I would not be opposed to getting a pm letting me know. This way, the issue is handled in private (no loss of face) and the member has an opportunity to fix their message. Should the same member offend again, then the position of the administrator needs to step in and do some serious chest beating.

That's my 2 cents worth and I'm sticking to it.
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Old 09-11-2009, 12:50 PM
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Do you expect that the existing membership will violate the new rules, or do you think it is mostly new members who don't read the rules AND are not aware of the kerfluffel we had a while ago?
I expect both to happen.

Do you have an example of what you think should be in the GCC rather than in the PDA?
Well, the idea was for posts like "I'm having a surgery tomorrow, please pray for me" to go into PDA so that people close to that particular user would follow up. And posts like "Check out the pics of my countryside" to go into GCC because many "strangers" would enjoy it too.

But it seems like we have the opposite going on right now.

I think letting the member know that the topic would also be appreciated in the CCC might be a good start.
I tried contacting a few people when I first noticed it. But it's not working. People continue to post the way they post.

And deleting posts in PDA if they are in violation of PDA's guidelines to force them to use GCC is something I would like to avoid.

The idea for PDA was to create a safe and personal place for each user. But it turned into something else. There are people posting pictures of quilts and projects they are working on. Why would they want to "hide it away" from the rest of the board by not posting it in Pictures?

I don't know. But I see that happening.

If I did something wrong, I would not be opposed to getting a pm letting me know.
That's what the moderators do now. PM the authors.

But that's not working.

PMing everyone who posted in a thread to be deleted is going to take a lot of work, so it's not really possible. And PMing only the author of the thread leaves a lot of people wondering what happened.

That's why I'm considering locks instead of deletions.

This way, the issue is handled in private (no loss of face) and the member has an opportunity to fix their message.
That sounds nice in theory. Unfortunately, it works out a little bit differently.

There isn't always a way to "fix" the message. Most of the time, it's completely against the rules.

People just get upset and refuse to understand why their posts were deleted.

And from what I learned today (well confirmed really, not learned) is they then go out and start telling everyone about how unjust were the actions of the moderator.

So I want the community to work out the procedure and then stick to it.
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Old 09-11-2009, 12:57 PM
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The only time I've checked the PDA section is to check up on Morgan's Update by Jamie. Or when someone on Live Chat said something was in their PDA and gave a page number. I don't have the patience or time to wade through everyone's diary, even though there are those with whom I would like to keep in touch.

I usually only check Pictures, Main, and Chit Chat. I like MQ's suggestion of a pm to members who violate the rules, but this might involve too much of your or moderators time. As far as how to handle floods of certain topics or those getting out of hand, no idea. It will happen. And I'm sure however you handle it, there will be some who consider it the wrong way.

I would like to say thank you for having a place to come and communicate with other people who like to quilt. Good luck.
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Old 09-11-2009, 01:20 PM
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As far as how to handle floods of certain topics or those getting out of hand, no idea. It will happen.
Yep. Let's say we allow everything back into GCC.
Tomorrow, 10 people will post about their personal problems. OK, that's fine.

But the more people read it the more would like to share some of their problems too. That's only natural. So it would consume the whole section pretty quickly.

We would have to put a stop to it at some point.

What do we do? Lock topics? Delete topics? Send PMs saying "sorry that we have to delete your post, but there is already too much negative stuff on the board at the moment. please try again later"?

I can't imagine too many people would be happy about that.

And if we don't do anything, then plenty of other people would be unhappy with the board. There are many people who come here to get away from stress in their lives and to take a break. And seeing plenty of negative content is not something that would help them.

Completely prohibiting it won't work either. I understand that people make friends here and they become closer. So they want to share personal stuff with each other.

That's what the PDA was meant for. But it's not being used that way.

So we are back to trying to figure out how to make GCC work without the complexity of additional rules.

I don't have the patience or time to wade through everyone's diary, even though there are those with whom I would like to keep in touch.
That's because there is way too much non-PDA content in PDA.

It was meant as a way to announce what's happening in your life. Unfortunately, people don't seem to want to use it this way.

Let's say I try to enforce the "spirit" of the rules of PDA. What do I do? Delete someones posts with pictures of their house and ask them to repost in GCC? Or do the same thing with pictures of their quilts?

I doubt they would like that very much.
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Old 09-11-2009, 01:27 PM
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Sounds like you just can't win. Or at least you can't win them all.

I noticed a recent locked thread and once I read the content it was clear why it got locked. (Negative vibes expressed.)

If someone feels the need to violate the rules [they are not THAT difficult to understand] and then feels the need to vent or complain about the administrators after they were called on their violation is acting pretty immaturely imo.

It would be interesting to hear back from the PDA users why they only post the quilt pics or general pics in the PDA and not in the GCC.
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Old 09-11-2009, 02:03 PM
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It would be interesting to hear back from the PDA users why they only post the quilt pics or general pics in the PDA and not in the GCC.
Yes. I would like to know too.
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Old 09-11-2009, 02:11 PM
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I usually check
'Jamie's' to see how Morgan is doing, 'recent','GCC', 'pictures' and the weekly news you send. I started looking at PDAs, but they quickly got too long.

I rely on the checked box 'notify when a reply is posted' to hear about a subject that interests me, and I uncheck it if I don't want to hear more.

I rarely see things that 'go beyond the pale' - but when I do, I hope the moderator steps in - as happened recently when someone got a little carried away. We CAN all be friendly and usually are - but sometimes we need reminders! I hope this poll will serve as one of those reminders. Perhaps you should post it every 5 or 6 months!
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Old 09-11-2009, 02:47 PM
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Quite frankly, thiscyber-ducki doesn't know what GCC and Pwhatever really is, but IMHO, it makes sense to just use the PM method for contacting friends about personal matters.

I don't recall the incident this past week, but there was a lock put on a thread -- and that was understandable.

Occasionally there is some back-biting and unkind sarcasm happening. This past week there was something and I just had to respond about it being an unkind gesture. Perhaps I misunderstood, but I thought it was uncalled for.

We must all remember that the prime reason for our being here is our love for quilting. Many of us are just learning and many are very developed in their skills. We all need to be more patient with each other. Many, many thanks to those who monitor and do whatever it is they do to keep it going well.

Oh, is my face red!! :oops: I see it now. GCC -- general chit-chat;
PDR -- personal diaries and announcements. I apologize.
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Old 09-11-2009, 02:53 PM
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Originally Posted by MadQuilter
Sounds like you just can't win. Or at least you can't win them all.

I noticed a recent locked thread and once I read the content it was clear why it got locked. (Negative vibes expressed.)

If someone feels the need to violate the rules [they are not THAT difficult to understand] and then feels the need to vent or complain about the administrators after they were called on their violation is acting pretty immaturely imo.

It would be interesting to hear back from the PDA users why they only post the quilt pics or general pics in the PDA and not in the GCC.
I enjoy my personal thread or PDA very much. I have posted pics that my friends would be interested in and if I think everyone else would be interested then I have posted on the main part.
The thing I like the most about the PDA is that I know I am not taking too much space and talking too much in someone else's thread. In my own I can talk as much as I want and know I am not stepping on anyone's toes.
I also like being able to go to friend's pages and joke around without offending anyone. I would hate to lose the PDA.
I guess I don't feel that it is taking away from the main part of the board as most of what I see in the PDA is chitchat that was frowned on before on the main part.
The PDA is a neighborhood where we enjoy talking over the back fence so to speak. That would take up too much room on the GCC.
Just my thoughts and opinion.




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