alandenisefields
02-23-2004, 11:06 PM
Hi folks. We wanted to post a brief comment about our moderators for this forum, as it seems some folks are confused about their role here.
First a bit of history: when we started these boards, we wanted to create a place for parents to discuss baby products, swap bargains and so on. As it grew, some users asked us to create a general “lounge” area for discussions of other parenting issues.
The popularity of the lounge and our other boards took us by surprise and quickly surpassed the time we had to moderate the discussions. So, we asked two board users (Beth and Rachel) to volunteer as board moderators. We want to stress that Beth and Rachel are volunteers; they don’t get paid for the hours of time they put into making this community work.
The moderators have two jobs:
1. First, make sure there is no spam or commercial pitches on the boards.
2. Second, and most importantly, make sure the discussion stays civil and that folks don’t flame one and other.
We should point out that we when we picked these volunteer moderators, we told them they could continue to post to the boards as users. Yes, we realize that on other boards that are moderated, those moderators do not contribute or post except to state the rules. While that’s fine, we felt we couldn’t asked our moderators to put in all this time on the boards, yet never join the conversation.
Some folks have objected to this, saying that the moderators shouldn’t be allowed post their opinions or declare their political leanings. Can a moderator jump into a heated thread and state their opinion while keeping everything civil? Sure, why not.
So, we want to make that clear: the moderators are allowed to post and join any conversation.
We support Beth and Rachel 100% in their efforts to make these boards a better community. We have asked them to not censor threads; only to lock those discussions that are degenerating into shouting matches.
Could we hire moderators and do away wit h this current system? Yes, but we might have to take pop-up ads on this site or charge a subscription fee to pay for those added costs. Both of those steps would NOT be what we want to do. Nor do we think most members want to see ads on this site.
We also do not want to act as censors on these boards. As you probably know, we let the discussion go in whatever direction users want. That said, we just want to reiterate some ground rules:
1. Please debate the ISSUE, not the poster. Name-calling, flaming and other personal attacks are not allowed. We realize some topics can get heated; let’s all just get along.
2. If you are easily offended by threads dealing with politics or religion, please don’t read them. There are plenty of other conversations going on. We don’t censor the topics here, so folks are free to discuss the issues of the day—even if those involve controversial subjects.
3. And we want to hear from you. If you don’t like something about these boards or have a suggestion, our email box is always open. Please click on the contact us button above to send us an email. Yes, we read them all!
Thanks again for using our boards! We hope you enjoy this community.
--
Alan & Denise Fields, authors
BABY BARGAINS * BABY 411 * TODDLER BARGAINS * BRIDAL BARGAINS * CYBERBRIDE * YOUR NEW HOUSE
Web: www.windsorpeak.com.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 303-442-8792
Address: Windsor Peak Press, 436 Pine Street, Boulder, CO 80302
--
The readers speak! Check out our new message boards for our books at:
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.php
--
We have a brand new book for parents! It's called Baby 411---think of it as the ultimate FAQ for new moms and dads! Check it out here: http://www.Baby411.com
First a bit of history: when we started these boards, we wanted to create a place for parents to discuss baby products, swap bargains and so on. As it grew, some users asked us to create a general “lounge” area for discussions of other parenting issues.
The popularity of the lounge and our other boards took us by surprise and quickly surpassed the time we had to moderate the discussions. So, we asked two board users (Beth and Rachel) to volunteer as board moderators. We want to stress that Beth and Rachel are volunteers; they don’t get paid for the hours of time they put into making this community work.
The moderators have two jobs:
1. First, make sure there is no spam or commercial pitches on the boards.
2. Second, and most importantly, make sure the discussion stays civil and that folks don’t flame one and other.
We should point out that we when we picked these volunteer moderators, we told them they could continue to post to the boards as users. Yes, we realize that on other boards that are moderated, those moderators do not contribute or post except to state the rules. While that’s fine, we felt we couldn’t asked our moderators to put in all this time on the boards, yet never join the conversation.
Some folks have objected to this, saying that the moderators shouldn’t be allowed post their opinions or declare their political leanings. Can a moderator jump into a heated thread and state their opinion while keeping everything civil? Sure, why not.
So, we want to make that clear: the moderators are allowed to post and join any conversation.
We support Beth and Rachel 100% in their efforts to make these boards a better community. We have asked them to not censor threads; only to lock those discussions that are degenerating into shouting matches.
Could we hire moderators and do away wit h this current system? Yes, but we might have to take pop-up ads on this site or charge a subscription fee to pay for those added costs. Both of those steps would NOT be what we want to do. Nor do we think most members want to see ads on this site.
We also do not want to act as censors on these boards. As you probably know, we let the discussion go in whatever direction users want. That said, we just want to reiterate some ground rules:
1. Please debate the ISSUE, not the poster. Name-calling, flaming and other personal attacks are not allowed. We realize some topics can get heated; let’s all just get along.
2. If you are easily offended by threads dealing with politics or religion, please don’t read them. There are plenty of other conversations going on. We don’t censor the topics here, so folks are free to discuss the issues of the day—even if those involve controversial subjects.
3. And we want to hear from you. If you don’t like something about these boards or have a suggestion, our email box is always open. Please click on the contact us button above to send us an email. Yes, we read them all!
Thanks again for using our boards! We hope you enjoy this community.
--
Alan & Denise Fields, authors
BABY BARGAINS * BABY 411 * TODDLER BARGAINS * BRIDAL BARGAINS * CYBERBRIDE * YOUR NEW HOUSE
Web: www.windsorpeak.com.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 303-442-8792
Address: Windsor Peak Press, 436 Pine Street, Boulder, CO 80302
--
The readers speak! Check out our new message boards for our books at:
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.php
--
We have a brand new book for parents! It's called Baby 411---think of it as the ultimate FAQ for new moms and dads! Check it out here: http://www.Baby411.com