[mira4bai4]

Well Rab, I hope that you have a chance to read kaushiks and ddevadatta's posts as there was quality as much as quantity.

Many people come to this forum from many different cultures, countries, languages and literacy skills, articulation may not always be a strong point, frustration with language, especially English has its moments when even I cannot think straight. Some posters arrive and apologise for their inability to spell etc and they are made to feel welcome, others just launch in and hope for the best or just jump in and go for it like they are in a street scrap, so we all have different ways of introducing ourselves. Kind of like birthing really.

And as many a mother would have said, now go outside and be friendly with the new people in the neighbourhood, play nice and then you may be able to go out again tomorrow.

[Shiver me Timbers]

Originally Posted by Vasko

And after they say what they have wanted to say, they ask for the moderators to close the thread!

Yeah, gotta admit I was guilty of this in a recent thread, and realised my mistake straight away, didn't give them time for a reply, although it had all been covered in another thread.

I spend a lot of time re-reading older threads, and I think maybe some of the long-time members might say that IM changed a long time ago for them.

I wasn't a member at the time, but was it around this time last year that things got a little out of hand as well? Maybe it IS the seasons.......

[Dino]

I remember reading how Bob Geldof put a sign up outside the studio for all the musicians about to participate in the Band-Aid recording to leave their egos outside.To preserve such a great forum as this maybe a similar warning could flash up before we hit the 'submit reply' button.I know how easy it is to get caught up in trying to bignote one's self on such a great site,and to people from all over the world no less.Is this a new phenonomen though?

[lobo]

Yeah some people just post to much sometimes. It can be two people replying (or arguing) to each other for a page or more.
Also i think sometimes some mods do not act.....as an independent force in some topics and if they personally dont agree with whats been said it gets closed.
In fact i was wondering can any moderator close a thread or do they need permission from mike etc?
Still all said and done i thinks its an excellent site with some fantastic people.

[Karma Queen]

whats with all this criticising the mods? i don't want to appear too hypocritical by disagreeing with you but the point of me starting this thread was not to get at the mods, but rather to remind members to think before they post

[cyberhippie]

Sorry guys but I had to laugh at the header for the Ad above this thread!!

It read Advanced Humanity!

So the Sentence was Has Indiamike Changed? Advanced Humanity

Bad grammer but fun nonetheless!

[torryquine]

It's probably just a phase we're going through, but I have noticed more aggresive posting recently. People getting absurdly wound up on threads with a light hearted subject matter, foul language, jingoism, that sort of thing. And yes, a fair bit of the "I think I know India better than you" kind of rubbish. I think the level of control from the moderators is just fine. After a few PM 'slaps on the the wrist', the less mature (in terms of attitude) members will either get the message, or get bored and go somewhere else for their kicks.

[R.T.]

Originally Posted by Vasko

I think the Off Topic forum is more suitable for all kinds of non-India -related topics where we can chat away all we like. I'm all for people communicating with each other!

Off topic forum? Do you mean the "general stuff" forum?
I haven't noticed any non-India related topics on this forum, I must say.
Or are you saying talking about non-Indian related issues should be encouraged?

[cyberhippie]

Man some of the views on "US" moderators make us sound like the Spanish inquisition.
Of course being a 'NEWBIE' on the team the word US is perhaps over emphasized.
(I still make the tea, run errands and when all else fails sweep up).
Although the view of "US" may be something to be reconsidered, we’re a motley crew in the “back office” all ages, different countries, different political standpoint, different jobs…………
The only thing that makes us "US" is trying to keep IM up and running, advertisement free and as much as possible argument free.
The decisions taken by "US" mods aren’t taken lightly, usually there’s a track record of inflammatory posts though not always!
Otherwise we use good common sense to remove a argumentative post that is going nowhere.
The bulk of mod work is just keeping the spammers out of IMers Line of sight!
The number of banned users and deleted threads is just a tiny blip in the posting/membership of IM.
I don’t have the figures to hand but I would be surprised if deleted threads touch 100 that against a history of what 30,000 threads
And banned members account for what (I have the figure for this ) 57 out of around 5000 members, (most joined only to advertise)
Many of these are members who rejoined after being banned under another handle!
It hardly smacks of “big brother” does it??
We’re human we get it wrong as much as the next guy but mostly IM remains a great, friendly terrace in the Indian sunshine.
That my friends is due to the work done by Alan D, Steven Ber, m2 Shimla, Maree, and Rab.
Lastly when people talk of moderator reviews and reorganization of IM in any way let’s not forget as global a family as we all are, we are, all of "US" indebted to Mike who allows us the time and space. for the postures we all adopt!
The rules were simple and easy to understand when IM first hit cyberspace, as traditionalists, the mods try to uphold a simple dogma of “being nice to each other” nothing more!!
Now that's not to hard to swallow is it??????

[Dr Funkenstein]

Cyberhippie:

Spot on, mate.

[Maz 1979]

Originally Posted by R.T.

Off topic forum? Do you mean the "general stuff" forum?
I haven't noticed any non-India related topics on this forum, I must say.
Or are you saying talking about non-Indian related issues should be encouraged?

The off topic area is available to all members with 50 or more posts.

Edited by steven_ber to add - this was to prevent people joining the website just to get involved in political threads, also to keep some threads off the home page.

[dzibead]

Reading kaushiks' post of earlier today makes me think it's only a matter of time before somebody writes a Ph.D. thesis on internet forum dynamics - if it hasn't actually been done already!

[R.T.]

Originally Posted by Maz 1979

The off topic area is available to all members with 50 or more posts.

Edited by steven_ber to add - this was to prevent people joining the website just to get involved in political threads, also to keep some threads off the home page.

Ah! That explains it.

[lobo]

I think it sometimes gets a bit angry when u get some very forceful personalities on here. Who post a lot and ALWAYS reply and never seem to loose intrest in arguing.
Maybe as the site is more popular we will get some more of these types of people as a %.
I have never had a problem personally with any mods on here but sometimes i think they flex there muscles in arguments

[Paagla Dashu]

Originally Posted by Paagla Dashu

But then, I noticed the profile of OP and I am intrigued. KQ is a member since Sptember 2004 - not too long ago - has the forum changed really in last seven months? I would not know.......................... .......................

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Reminds me of my grandmother and her friends talking about "good old days when this town was not so crowded and you could walk on the streets to the cinema and everyone knew everyone else" after Sunday lunches. Its only natural - "cliques" are the first byproduct of any internet discussion forum. Its a phase in the evolution process of most Internet discussion forums.

..........................I am not sure in which category to put this thread or to what extent it demonstrates the maturity of "IndiaMike.com".

Namaste.

I am still trying to understand the what has changed between September 2004 and May 2005.........