A MacWorld Article that made Lisa and I SMILE

*Andrea J.* · 10-30-2009, 04:21 PM

Lisa and i read this article by Christopher Breen and thought it was pretty good.
None of these things of course apply to our forum.

But, thought it might be of interest as it is from a guy that moderates a forum and his take on things.

I think we here at the ATA forum are a little less intense.

I added a few comments in some categories in red.

Eight steps to Internet unpopularity

by Christopher Breen, Macworld.com
After a particularly trying weekend moderating the Macworld forums, it occurred to me that there are a handful of ways to become an Internet pariah in a very short period of time. In the hope that you might not fall into some of these traps, allow me to enumerate those ways.

1. Troll Let’s start with the most obvious. Take up an unreasonably opposing point of view simply to get a rise out of people. This is most effective when you visit a site devoted to Subject A and then state that just about everything related to that subject stinks. For example, visit a Nikon forum and slam its cameras in favor of Canon. Trail over to the Huffington Post and gush over Sarah Palin’s first literary effort. Drop by our sister publication PC World’s site and let them know just how much you love Snow Leopard and despise Windows. Whether your comments are based in fact or not, they’re unlikely to be welcomed. we are lucky RARELY happens here.

2. Passionate cluelessness Okay, we get it that you have very strong political/religious/hygienic views. Derailing a discussion of the benefits of a new computer graphics chip to present those views in inglorious detail may not be the best way to make friends and influence people. hey i have done that!

3. Dispassionate cluelessness Several years ago a little something called “Google” rained down from the sky. This Google provides the means for finding answers to many, many questions. I’m routinely amazed at how helpful people can be when others need assistance, but it’s unwise to abuse their patience by clamoring for increasing amounts of help when the answer you seek is a simple Google search away. if we referred folks to google all of the time that would be no fun at all.

4. Nitpick Nothing repels a crowd like the self-appointed grammarian. These are the people who sideline discussions to correct the spelling and grammar of other people in pursuit of “quality”—forgetting that the Web has no borders and it’s possible that English is not the first language spoken across the globe. Or that, perhaps, ideas are more important than the exact verbs, nouns, and adjectives used to express them.
Nitpick an article or blog post? Absolutely fair game. Correct the grammar of your fellow forum friends? Nuh-uh. we have many folks here on our forum where ENGLISH is not their first language. we play fair here.

5. Insult I can’t recall the last time I saw a positive exchange of ideas result from one person calling another a moron, idiot, or worse. The difficulty is that most true morons, idiots, and worse fail to recognize the truth of these words and react by replying in kind. RARELY happens and when it does we try to be kind and nurturing in our way to say"CUT IT OUT"

6. The “Nazi” thing Godwin’s Law. Become familiar with it. Compare anything but Hitler to Hitler and you lose. which reminds me of the spammer that sent nazi videos to a number of us a few weeks ago. bad form indeed.

7. Promote your stuff. Endlessly. Want to lose Twitter followers in a hurry? Have your signature scraped by forum administrators? Just keep offering up those links for your contests/site/book/iPhone app/job/pharmaceuticals/deals without a smidgen of additional worthwhile content.we ban those folks as soon as we find the posts

8. Hold a grudge Remember that guy who called you a tool on AOL a decade ago? Don’t you wonder what he’s doing now? Wouldn’t it be sweet to track him down on Flickr or Facebook or Twitter or any number of Internet forums and rip away at the old wounds?
No. No, it wouldn’t. Get over it. It’s creepy. never......well sometimes

__________________

Edronenburg · 10-30-2009, 08:14 PM

Andrea:

I am one of your most loyal fans. Your posts...both Lisa's and your's...are well thought out and expressed in terms that all should understand. Yes, of course, on rare occasions, you may err, but in both your cases, it is always followed by an admission and correction.

Again, I do thank you moderators for all the time; effort, and, endless hours of dedication to the site which makes it interesting with accurate facts.

Ed

*Andrea J.* · 10-30-2009, 08:30 PM

ed i am one of your most loyal fans!

i did find the mac article pretty neat.
mostly it made me smile and be grateful for THIS forum.

*Arubalisa* · 10-30-2009, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edronenburg

Andrea:

I am one of your most loyal fans. Your posts...both Lisa's and your's...are well thought out and expressed in terms that all should understand. Yes, of course, on rare occasions, you may err, but in both your cases, it is always followed by an admission and correction.

Again, I do thank you moderators for all the time; effort, and, endless hours of dedication to the site which makes it interesting with accurate facts.

Ed

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrea J.

ed i am one of your most loyal fans!

I as well.

Quote:

i did find the mac article pretty neat.
mostly it made me smile and be grateful for THIS forum.

cindyo · 10-31-2009, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edronenburg

andrea:
Again, i do thank you moderators for all the time; effort, and, endless hours of dedication to the site which makes it interesting with accurate facts.

Ed

ditto

10-30-2009, 04:21 PM	#1 (permalink)
Andrea J. Aruba since 1979 Moderator Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 4,411 Images: 45	A MacWorld Article that made Lisa and I SMILE Lisa and i read this article by Christopher Breen and thought it was pretty good. None of these things of course apply to our forum. But, thought it might be of interest as it is from a guy that moderates a forum and his take on things. I think we here at the ATA forum are a little less intense. I added a few comments in some categories in red. Eight steps to Internet unpopularity by Christopher Breen, Macworld.com After a particularly trying weekend moderating the Macworld forums, it occurred to me that there are a handful of ways to become an Internet pariah in a very short period of time. In the hope that you might not fall into some of these traps, allow me to enumerate those ways. 1. Troll Let’s start with the most obvious. Take up an unreasonably opposing point of view simply to get a rise out of people. This is most effective when you visit a site devoted to Subject A and then state that just about everything related to that subject stinks. For example, visit a Nikon forum and slam its cameras in favor of Canon. Trail over to the Huffington Post and gush over Sarah Palin’s first literary effort. Drop by our sister publication PC World’s site and let them know just how much you love Snow Leopard and despise Windows. Whether your comments are based in fact or not, they’re unlikely to be welcomed. we are lucky RARELY happens here. 2. Passionate cluelessness Okay, we get it that you have very strong political/religious/hygienic views. Derailing a discussion of the benefits of a new computer graphics chip to present those views in inglorious detail may not be the best way to make friends and influence people. hey i have done that! 3. Dispassionate cluelessness Several years ago a little something called “Google” rained down from the sky. This Google provides the means for finding answers to many, many questions. I’m routinely amazed at how helpful people can be when others need assistance, but it’s unwise to abuse their patience by clamoring for increasing amounts of help when the answer you seek is a simple Google search away. if we referred folks to google all of the time that would be no fun at all. 4. Nitpick Nothing repels a crowd like the self-appointed grammarian. These are the people who sideline discussions to correct the spelling and grammar of other people in pursuit of “quality”—forgetting that the Web has no borders and it’s possible that English is not the first language spoken across the globe. Or that, perhaps, ideas are more important than the exact verbs, nouns, and adjectives used to express them. Nitpick an article or blog post? Absolutely fair game. Correct the grammar of your fellow forum friends? Nuh-uh. we have many folks here on our forum where ENGLISH is not their first language. we play fair here. 5. Insult I can’t recall the last time I saw a positive exchange of ideas result from one person calling another a moron, idiot, or worse. The difficulty is that most true morons, idiots, and worse fail to recognize the truth of these words and react by replying in kind. RARELY happens and when it does we try to be kind and nurturing in our way to say"CUT IT OUT" 6. The “Nazi” thing Godwin’s Law. Become familiar with it. Compare anything but Hitler to Hitler and you lose. which reminds me of the spammer that sent nazi videos to a number of us a few weeks ago. bad form indeed. 7. Promote your stuff. Endlessly. Want to lose Twitter followers in a hurry? Have your signature scraped by forum administrators? Just keep offering up those links for your contests/site/book/iPhone app/job/pharmaceuticals/deals without a smidgen of additional worthwhile content.we ban those folks as soon as we find the posts 8. Hold a grudge Remember that guy who called you a tool on AOL a decade ago? Don’t you wonder what he’s doing now? Wouldn’t it be sweet to track him down on Flickr or Facebook or Twitter or any number of Internet forums and rip away at the old wounds? No. No, it wouldn’t. Get over it. It’s creepy. never......well sometimes __________________

10-30-2009, 08:14 PM	#2 (permalink)
Edronenburg Senior Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Mariott Posts: 243	Andrea: I am one of your most loyal fans. Your posts...both Lisa's and your's...are well thought out and expressed in terms that all should understand. Yes, of course, on rare occasions, you may err, but in both your cases, it is always followed by an admission and correction. Again, I do thank you moderators for all the time; effort, and, endless hours of dedication to the site which makes it interesting with accurate facts. Ed

10-30-2009, 08:30 PM	#3 (permalink)
Andrea J. Aruba since 1979 Moderator Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 4,411 Images: 45	ed i am one of your most loyal fans! i did find the mac article pretty neat. mostly it made me smile and be grateful for THIS forum.