Improvements?

[Allan]

I note that registration has been made compulsory which is a sad state of affairs, however the header still offers the Guest option which is obviously misleading.
It seems that we have a proliferation of moderators, each with their own ideas on what their job entails.
Is there a list somewhere, also an explanation of their terms of reference if any?
What other "improvements" can we expect?
Allan

[Mr Potato Head]

Obviously, I'm always trying to improve the forum, mainly by encouraging debate free from offensive posts. (Provocative I'll have to learn to ignore, but offensive I won't tolerate.)

For your information:

We have three moderators.
They are Chantal, Tigger and Sandersj89 - who were all appointed at the same time, and work for the monthly salary of a free copy of KG. (If you want to ask me about the selection procedure, feel free to PM me Allan.)

As well as them, we have two administrators;
Mr Potato head and KGAdmin.

The moderators job (which they have been sticking to pretty religiously) is to remove spam postings, and alert me to topics that may have drifted off-topic, or are blatantly offensive or commercial.

There is usually a good deal of debate before altering / removing any topic (apart from obvious spam), and it is only KGadmin or myself that does it.

So far (as of today), out of 11568 postings, I have only had to close 2 or 3 topics (usually because they'd just degenerated into tit-for-tat sniping)

I only ever split topics because I think that the flow of conversation would be better served by, well, splitting the topic! It's not designed to censor anyone, it is in fact designed to encourage focussed debate!

Just for the record, I'm completely behind our moderators, who I feel do an excellent job, particularly behind the scenes, answering technical queries, and removing the unremitting tides of spam post. As far as I know they have never deleted a posting which wasn't obviously spam, and have rarely moved anything without a great deal of deliberation.

If any user has a specific issue, that they feel unable - for any reason - to run past the moderators, they can always PM me, or email me via the site.

Finally, the enforced registration is merely to try and avoid some of the spam registrations, and will only run until we can find another way around it. As with many other online fora, there are no obvious answers to this, but we are still looking for one.

[Allan]

Thank you for all that. I am glad that the compulsary signing-on is under review as I like to think that the door is kept open for the non-committed beginner not only in the sphere of vegetable growing but also in coping with the technology which to many seems daunting. I have noted with great concern the drop of messages from real beginners since the New Forum was started and while it can be very boring starting people with the same 'any help welcome' type requests there must be as significant number who were handled with tact and now swell our number of members. I have joined a number of organisations in my time and found too many deteriorate to an inner circle of members, a cult that resents any attempt to change its ways,I would hate to see the forum go that way.
Regarding 'spam' registrations, as principal moderator of the Yahoo e-list polytunnels-chat, we do get a few nasties occasionally but there is adequate facility of barring any further mailings when it happens and none of the offenders has yet had a second go.
Allan

[peter]

Thank you for all that. ...... I have noted with great concern the drop of messages from real beginners since the New Forum was started and while it can be very boring starting people with the same 'any help welcome' type requests there must be as significant number who were handled with tact and now swell our number of members. I have joined a number of organisations in my time and found too many deteriorate to an inner circle of members, a cult that resents any attempt to change its ways,I would hate to see the forum go that way.
Allan

An idea struck me, if one goes to http://www.kitchengarden.co.uk/ then one Yellow Word "Forum" is a little low key perhaps for those not in the know?

[Chantal]

Allan, regarding the spam postings; KG are barring the IP addresses of these guys but the numbers are still increasing. A few weeks ago we had maybe one or two in a week but I deleted FOUR pornographic postings on Friday morning alone. A couple of days before that I took out SIX postings, despite KG's best efforts to stop them. It's only a matter of time before these have photos too; not an appealing prospect!

[pigletwillie]

Allan, its also interesting that as now there are no anonymous "guest" postings a lot of the contentious sniping has stopped. I feel very sure that most of it was from members hiding behind the guest label.

Generally you can pick up who it is from by their style of writing. For me, keep it members only.

[Johnboy]

Hi Piglet,
I am in complete agreement with your last sentence and feel that most of the trouble that we get on this forum is caused by gutless people who are intent on causing trouble.
'Pragmatic' (last week) who is particularly gutless because he has posted many under different guises and then bores the arse off you using his proper name has played the system for far too long.
I feel that if a person has such a burning question they will very easily sign on in order to get a response to a problem.
See you at the weekend.

[Allan]

Who goes around calling other people pompous farts. There is only one person that would do such a thing, then claim to be without sin.

[pigletwillie]

Allan, it was "pompous arse" if I recall and was posted under my screen name and not as a guest. I do not profess to be "without sin" as you put it, just open and visible with my postings.People can take them as they will but they will always know it was me. Can you say the same?

I will always engage in debate, even heated debate but will always be civil with it. Another member and I went for it over the English language thread and it got quite heated. We both however were civil with each other, neither of us posted a nasty comment as a guest and we talked via PM afterwards to ensure that things were ok. We both enjoyed it and aired our different views without lowering ourselves to anonymous postings.

Maybe Spud Head will be able to let these differences carry on as more people enjoy them than the sterile environment you would get without them.

The forum is its members, if its just bare facts people want its far easier to "google" than search on this forum. Its the personalities, the personal experiences and the insight that members have and share that make this forum the enjoyable place that it is.

[peat]

Another forum I am on US based had the problem a few months ago of a lot of spam and porn being posted. A lot of the posters said that they were finishing posting as it wasn't worth looking at the posts. This forum had only been running about twelve months. It changed to registration only and the posters came back. It does still get a few spam and porn sites put up but they are soon deleted.
I agree the forum needs more publicity in the mag.
Pete

[peter]

Paraphrasing

its interesting that as there are no "guest" postings a lot of the sniping has stopped. I feel sure that most of it was from members hiding "guest".

AND

I will always engage in debate, even heated debate but will always be civil with it. Another member and I went for it over the English language thread and it got quite heated. We both however were civil with each other, neither of us posted a nasty comment as a guest and we talked via PM afterwards to ensure that things were ok. We both enjoyed it and aired our different views without lowering ourselves to anonymous postings.

AND especially

Maybe Spud Head will be able to let these differences carry on as more people enjoy them than the sterile environment you would get without them.

The forum is its members, if its just bare facts people want its far easier to "google" than search on this forum. Its the personalities, the personal experiences and the insight that members have and share that make this forum the enjoyable place that it it.

Find myself totally in agreement with all of the above sentiments.

If everyone did things the same way it would be a very boring world and there would be no need for either magazine or forum as we would have the same knowledge, opinions and abilities, vive la difference, lets compare and discuss, always backing up our arguments with facts rather than hearsay, and finally to mis-quote Monty Python "Is this the right forum for an argument?"