ForumGarden

Same here profiles seem to be messed up I sure it will be resolved not to worry.. !!

I couldn't log on either.

Hi Everyone!

A strange day indeed...and some pretty serious FG problems as well. I just got the profiles fixed. Thanks for alerting me to that.

It *appears that FG's backup process somehow allowed some of the files to get corrupted. Never seen anything like that. Investigating now.

Working on the server loads as we speak. It'll take a another few hours to get things settled down.

Thanks for your patience! It's a head scratcher when everything goes blank! :-0

Cool thanks boss Happy New Year..!!

Happy New Year, TS!

Thank you to both of you! Happy New Year as well!

Did the FG dude mess things up and call in the big boys?

Ahso!;1349062 wrote: Did the FG dude mess things up and call in the big boys?


Not at all!

Tombstone;1349067 wrote: Not at all!


That's a relief then.

A happy New Year to us all. Welcome 2011.

Happy New Year FG !!

Tombstone;1349067 wrote: Not at all!I thought I noticed a small speck to the left of the "F" in Forum Garden, so I took a high powered magnifying glass to it, and low and behold, it actually now says: "Spot's Forum Garden". That's what you get for giving up the keys.

Ahso!;1349093 wrote: I thought I noticed a small speck to the left of the "F" in Forum Garden, so I took a high powered magnifying glass to it, and low and behold, it actually now says: "Spot's Forum Garden". That's what you get for giving up the keys.


I'm the hired help and nobody thinks otherwise, least of all me.

spot;1349094 wrote: I'm the hired help and nobody thinks otherwise, least of all me.:wah:

OMG, I just played the FG theme song backwards and it says "TS is dead". This is no way to begin a new year. Take up arms, FG members, we've been commandeered.

My sense of humor is notoriously non-existent, you know.

spot;1349104 wrote: My sense of humor is notoriously non-existent, you know.Sorry, then. This is what happens to me when I'm awakened at midnight by fireworks.

For those who I may have influenced, I was joking.

I don't know what all the chatter is about. I've never seen a reported post on FG in my life.

spot;1349018 wrote: No. Moderators speak and act on behalf of the site and as such whatever they say or do is authorized. That responsibility is itself sufficient to mute their otherwise acerbic tongue and lashing wit. Anything posted by a moderator which appears to contravene the Terms and Conditions does so only in the mind of the reader, it's a misreading. Moderators are not human beings with human being failings, they are a Priesthood set aside by God for the continuance of good order and civility on the board. Civility, by the way, probably falls under "Do not post inappropriate language".

There is actually another way to look at this. The moderators are perfectly normal posters who also, because they're trusted with controls and private information by the owner, carry a mop and bucket with them. Exercising their janitorial duties annoys some posters. One measure of the site's protection for the moderators is to isolate them from the warnings and infractions system, in exchange for which they're at least nominally on their best behaviour at all times. Some posters see the posts of some moderators as posts which, if made by a non-moderator, would warrant a warning or infraction. The problem lies in their own interpretation. A cry of "hey, not fair" might get an apology, but nothing's going to get a moderator warned or infracted - for one thing the controls don't allow it, as you well know from having been there.

"Offences", in this context, is a sad word. We're not talking legally criminal. If we think anyone's legally criminal in any way on FG we immediately call in the police.

Three days is quite long enough to decide whether to escalate a moderator-imposed suspension into an owner-imposed site ban, which is always there as a final resort and always will be though it's not, you'll notice, any longer a moderator-imposed site ban. Three days is also long enough to bring most rational posters to their senses and induce enough remorse and contrition in their breasts that they change their behaviour. A month is cruel and unusual.


I never mentioned anything about a month's suspension, and there was a choice of 1 week, 2 weeks, and even 6 months !

So what you are saying is that moderators are, in fact, 'above the law', just like they have always been !! I believe this is one reason why some members get very disgruntled, when they read a moderator's 'acerbic tongue and lashing wit' and find that moderator goes unpunished and certainly never verbally taken to task. I have been there, and I have been surprised that I have not been taken to task at certain times. I have also been disgusted that some moderators 'get away with' being nasty, sarcastic, downright rude and belittling to another moderator, causing the poor 'victim' of the abuse to be much upset. This being particularly so when it is known that there will be no 'punishment' or even a verbal 'ticking off' for such uncivilised behaviour.

I really believe that this aspect of the moderation 'team' should be adjusted to incorporate a suitable 'punishment'. After all the moderators are humans, and are subject to human behaviour, which can involve 'loosing their temper or patience' with another. For example, a thread was started in the mod forum with the title :- ''WTF .....,(then the name of the recipient moderator) .....Kiss my arse ! and the thread contained many insults, rudeness and nastiness towards the recipient moderator. This sort of behaviour should not be allowed. Nobody sided with the recipient moderator, and none of them took the author to task for such behaviour, so the recipient moderator was fighting their own battle with no support, and consequently loosing, and the attacking moderator 'getting away with' appalling behaviour !

If this is a time to change various things and make Forum Garden more 'user friendly', then I believe it is the time to change the moderators' package to incorporate a form of 'punishment' in order to guarrantee a standard of behaviour not just amongst the 'membership' but also amongst the moderators. I agree that mostly the moderators themselves keep a rein on their behaviour within the moderator forum, but it does sometimes happen that a moderator, perhaps not having a good day, reacts adversly to a comment made during a discussion, and this can bring out a bad tempered and malicious retort . Whereas, if there was a possible 'punishment' in the background, the bad tempered and malicious retort would no doubt be resisted by the potential perpetrator.

Also the fact that moderators are 'above the law' at the moment, just encourages some moderators to abuse their 'power', as has been seen.

It would be interesting to hear what the membershuip think of this suggestion. Also if they have any comments about what I have had to say in this post. To any new members who do not know me, I will inform you that I used to be a moderator, but resigned a short while ago, because of various reasons.

I'm getting the impression moderators become severely traumatized. It could be I've got it backwards and should say, traumatized people volunteer to become moderators.

Maybe the New Year will take care of it all, eh.

I would think a mod violating the TOS would be reported as any other member. It would be a discussable subject by the populace, according to admiral FG.

G#Gill;1349147 wrote: I never mentioned anything about a month's suspensionYour text to which I was replying actually said "What was wrong with just re-instating the old punishments?". I can't remember the last suspension which wasn't set at a month, it must have been several years ago. Except, of course, for the moderator-imposed permanent bans, which now no longer exist.

This entire concept of punishment which you seem to find so essential, in contrast to behaviour modification, is utterly obsolete, it's been completely dispensed with and not before time. Warnings and infractions aren't punishments, they're a mechanism for directing posters away from extreme behaviours. I'd much prefer it if simple peer pressure had the appropriate result. Punishment isn't a meaningful concept in an online society such as this, nobody is either equipped or authorized or morally competent to impose it.

The changes discussed in this thread have now been implemented.

Good Job, Spot, and thanks for all the hard work you put into these changes. Hopefully, we'll all be rewarded with a better and more active forum.

Ahso!;1349179 wrote: Good Job, Spot, and thanks for all the hard work you put into these changes. Hopefully, we'll all be rewarded with a better and more active forum.


All I got out of it was a lousy two infraction points during the tests!

Bloody moderators.

Looks good Spot your hard works has paid off.

spot;1349180 wrote: All I got out of it was a lousy two infraction points during the tests!

Bloody moderators.:wah: Oh I missed the fun watching the parade!