How Are We [As Moderators] Doing?

[Davidvaini]

A few things should be fixed in my opinion:

1. I have seen several posts by quite a few members who make new members feel "put off" several of which who no longer post after seeing some replies. Some of these responses are things like, "cool story bro", "okay so whats your point!?", etc.. just the general attitude towards new members who are not educated yet. New members will post things like "I seen my father back in the day make a spud gun that he lighted with a lighter and shot potatoes out of it. where can i find plans for making something like this"... now obviously the person is a noob, not educated, and didn't look at the wiki yet. but perhaps they don't know that there is a wiki, perhaps they didn't really read up yet because they don't even know where to start. Most new people dont know that a spray and pray would be considered a combustion cannon. There are these things that we assume are common knowledge or common sense when in reality to a total noob they are not. People will reply with things like "we dont spoon feed here".. now I agree we should not spoon feed, but if you are going to mention not spoon feeding, perhaps still help out a little bit by linking to the wiki explaing a few basics, and some general knowledge (DWV, Glueing Techniques, etc) You dont have to give them plans, but a gentle push in the right direction would be better than making them feel "put off" and stupid. So some moderation on this would be good, I have seen several people post things like this without any sort of warning. Perhaps the warning is behind the scenes, but if all moderation is done behind the scenes, the new members may not even see that anything is being done about it, nor would any of the other members, so they assume its okay...

Number 2: I realize with the current chat room it is hard to moderate. Perhaps some other sort of chatroom system like Tinychat, or Chat tango where moderators could be added. There have been huge issues with trolls, d-bags, and even some forum members who have been abusing the chat system.

Number 3: Not a problem with the moderation as much as the general site. It seems like it has been years since a new version of spudfiles has been promised. The current version doesn't bother me too much other than the search. New forum searches are 1000's of times better than our current version. Not only that but over a year ago, I mentioned that it would atleast help that the default search behavior would search results based on content, or default sort order of date.. sort the results by topic, subject, something, just not date.. but it has yet to be changed. It is still Sort by Post Time.

Number 4
Also other things like the main page, It is rare that they get updated, It would be nice to see new things added. and this has been mentioned before with votes all confirming that most of the viewers would like the feature. Cater to your audiences. Keeping the main page, up to date and fresh will also make sure that new people come in, and keep the current people interested. Perhaps showing a "project of the week" where a moderator thinks a current project is cool and throws it up there.

I know that currently it is not done, every time this has been mentioned I and everyone else has gotten the response "with the current system, we are not able to do that".. well my reply is.. well do something about that then!" I know its not as easy, but I think it should be do-able. And I know, I know, we could wait for the new version of spudfiles, but havent we been waiting long enough?

I appreciate everything the moderators and PCGUY has done, I love spudfiles and It is one of my favorite forums. But it has a huge room for improvement and I wish my opinions don't fall on deaf ears. I know I am being sort of "stern" with my post here, but considering my previous posts have had little impact, I feel the need to do so.

[daniel0663]

I totally support what Davidvaini has mentioned.

The idea to have frequent updates on the home page would be brilliant.
How long has it been since the last update. Even having the "project of the week" would draw peoples attention and exictments to look forward to, maybe even inspiring some to build bigger and beter.

I believe the moderators are doing a exellent job, each and one of them.
I appreciate the fast responce i get, and the answers i recieve.
This is my favourite forum, if not the best forum i have visited.
Keep up the awesome work.

[MrCrowley]

David, is #1 talking about moderators or members in general? Your argument and opinion is still valid, I was just wondering who it was addressed to

#2 - I don't really frequent the chat at the moment since I have exams and I know the other mods haven't been on much lately. In the mean time, report any offenses or such you see happening in the chat to a moderator via PM or in the 'Chatroom Request' thread, though I'd rather PM. Make sure you get time stamps and copy the messages as I'm aware it is possible to fake your username in the chat but perhaps there is an IP log for it.

#4 - PCGUY asked if there were any moderators interested in updating the home page. I was a bit apprehensive myself as I understand there are certain sponsorship contracts and they may contain (I have no idea myself) clauses about having product advertised on the home page. If that's the case, I wouldn't want to mess with the home page. If not, once a week or month I wouldn't mind showcasing a new cannon or such on the home page.

Hopefully PCGUY will check out this thread and address your other queries.

[13lamborghini13]

In the small time that I have been here with Spudfiles I have been emailed once about the rules from an admin. To say the least he was polite, straightforward and got to the point, He did it in such manner which was not insulting or derogatory in any way. Good Job.

[dart guy]

i think the moderators are great but i havent been here to long so i am not sure what could be best i belive that the moderators kepp things clean and are helping me keep an intrest in the topic of spud guns