Posts by Moderator8

1) Message boards : Number crunching : Closed to all, but those with stinky feet (Message 28881) Posted 4 Oct 2006 by Moderator8 Post: Worst he probably is one of those mayonnaise rockers that use ( Oh the inhumanity of this all) Mayonnaise ( bleech) on his fries instead of malt vinegar. sadly that happens this side of the pond as well m8
2) Message boards : Number crunching : Closed to all, but those with stinky feet (Message 28880) Posted 4 Oct 2006 by Moderator8 Post: Where is a Mod when one needs one? ;)
3) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Suggestions for moderator handles (Message 28336) Posted 24 Sep 2006 by Moderator8 Post: mod.er8.er8
4) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Hello, Norway calling (Message 9951) Posted 26 Jan 2006 by Moderator8 Post: Brynjar, I`ll ask Trondos our Norwegian team member to come and help you out, alternately you can post here in Norwegian and I`m sure he will get back to you. Bryjar, you are also very welcome to post here in Norwegian; and Trondos, is welcome to reply to your question in Norwegian, and so is anyone else who knows how. This is an international project and nobody should feel that they can't get peer support because of language difficulties. The project team is English speaking, so obviously postings in other languages will be relying on peer support -- but in my experience on several projects is that the peer support is better than the project support... ;-) m8
5) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Moderator contact thread archive (Message 9950) Posted 26 Jan 2006 by Moderator8 Post: I'd add that I support m9's actions here. My suggestion of the best way to deal with this kind of situation in future is a three stage process, based on what actually happened here. Thanks also to carl.h for his re-post which implied his graceful acceptance of the moderation. 1. the mod to edit out the offending words in a reply, but leave the whole of the quoted text shown as quoted, and mention who made the original posting. This avoids the understandable implication that the mod is posting on their own behalf - I wonder how many others thought as FH did that m9 was plugging his own team?. Explanation of the deletion to go by email as happened here. 2. Then the original contributor can 'reply' to the mod's posting, taking out the quotes (double quotes by now) and making any other non-offensive changes they feel appropriate. 3. Once any mod sees 2 has been done (and if they are now happy with the new posting!) they delete the mod posting. This leaves no permanent trace of the fact that moderation was needed. It seems to me that this process allows mods to do our job, allows the original contributor the chance to make their own version of cleaning up an unwise posting, and once it is all sorted the posting stands in the name of is true author. If the original contributor doesn't bother to do 2, then the message in 1 would stand, of course. An even better solution, not immediately possible, would be if the original contributor could still see their deleted post and edit it. A mod could then undelete it. Parts of that process already exist but parts would need new coding from BOINC m8
6) Message boards : Number crunching : Forum Section Ideas (Message 9734) Posted 24 Jan 2006 by Moderator8 Post: I consider the separate Q&A section to be the best feature of these forums. For non-techie people starting on the project, it is extremely convenient to have all "newbie" questions collected in one place, and it is a very useful direct source of reference during ones first weeks on the project. The straight question-answer format is simple, and the language and terminolgy commonly used is easily understood by non-techies. It saves newbies unfamiliar with the board layout searching through bigger forums and longer discussion-type threads to get a clear concise answer to either frequently-asked questions, or to their own specific problem. It surely saves no end of repetitive posting. ... I agree with these points, but also agree with the motivation behind the Einstein change. So for me the question is how to combine the advantages of both approaches. My solution would be to have the Q&P boards listed on the main list of forums, as they are on Einstein - ie not just a separate link to the Q&P boards. That page would therefore look very like it does on Einstein. However, the Q&P boards would retain their current internal format - the "I also have this question" button, etc, that I found so helpful when I was starting on BOINC. Finally, from the front page there could still be a link to an alternate listing that only showed the Q&P boards. That way all those who find the boards on the Einstein method would find them, but so would all those who find them on the traditional method. The pattern would probably be that newbies would use the links from the front page, and oldtimers use the links from the main boards - but who cares? There is no excess charge for giving people more than one route to the help. There could be an excess benefit. m8
7) Message boards : Number crunching : Removal of posts containing offensive language (Message 9733) Posted 24 Jan 2006 by Moderator8 Post: On a more general note, and even harder to draw the lines around, I think that by the time the insults start it is actually too late. A discussion (whether on the net or face to face) is spoilt when the participants start attacking each other as people (or as groups) rather than attacking the arguments and opinions of the others. To say, for example, "you are entitled to say that even tho only an idiot would believe it" does not contain any offensive language, but is already offensive in another way - and might be exactly the kind of post that was removed along with the expletive-laden follow up. But then, how far can mods step in and ask people to re-phrase something before we get labelled as thought police? I was criticised in another thread merely for suggesting that people moved a certain debate out of the thread it was in... I'd appreciate participants' thoughts on this one please. M9 is thinking about school children seeing bad language - in my opinion it is at least as important to try to avoid setting them an example of debate by personal attack as to try to avoid certain words. m8
8) Message boards : Number crunching : Removal of posts containing offensive language (Message 9731) Posted 24 Jan 2006 by Moderator8 Post: Given the international flavor of all BOINC projects including Rosetta, you may want to be very explicit in your definition of offensive language. For example, you might use phrasing such as "...profanity and/or obscenity as defined using American English will be removed..." ... As your guest moderator from the UK, I'd hope that the response would be more general. Language offensive to any group of participants should be removed, even if the intention was not to offend and even if the perceived offence arises from cultural difference. At the same time, removal of such posts should not be regarded as a punishment but as a learning experience. In an international project, each of us can usefully learn what kind of language offends other groups, and then word future postings around it. edit: in this regard it would be good, in the longer term, to have mods from as many other countries as possible. m8
9) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Join 'Democratic Party' Team (Message 9290) Posted 18 Jan 2006 by Moderator8 Post: Thank you Paul. And to clarify: I take Andrew's invitation to have a debate "in another room" as including starting another thread on these boards. That would be fine. Individual threads can be partisan but the boards as a whole are not and should not be. I have no intention to stop people expressing views, including political views. I do intend, as a moderator, to continue to advise people about where the appropriate places are to express those views. A team thread is not the appropriate place to contradict the ethos that unifies that team. m8
10) Message boards : Number crunching : Maximum CPU time exceeded (Message 9221) Posted 17 Jan 2006 by Moderator8 Post: hi Marky, thanks for your feedback. I'm moving your post to this thread as it makes it easier for the guys to track all the various failed WU if they can be kept together. Your message is now here in that thread. m8
11) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Join 'Democratic Party' Team (Message 9153) Posted 16 Jan 2006 by Moderator8 Post: Please don't use a team thread to attack the basis of that team's existence. They had it coming in my opinion. Its one thing to join a project and start a team. Its another to join a project and sprout off lies and half-truths with no regard for those who disagree with them. They opened the door with their initial post. This is a cafe. Think about that as a metaphor. So you go into a real cafe and there is a group of Dems sat round a table drinking coffee, talking amongst themselves and you hear them say a load of stuff you personally don't agree with, perhaps stuff about your party. Do you really go over and sit down at their table and tell them you think they are a load of liars? I don't think so. Even though a cafe is in some ways a public space, you also (I hope) respect the groups of people within that cafe. And if you don't respect the rights of other groups in the cafe the management ask you to leave. If they said the same kind of thing in a public meeting then heckling is fair play. Do you understand the difference I am drawing here?
12) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Join 'Democratic Party' Team (Message 9138) Posted 16 Jan 2006 by Moderator8 Post: My biggist problem .... You are totally entitled to give your opinion, but in the appropriate place please. If you feel you need to take this any further please start your own thread, and please feel free to add a link from this thread to your new thread. But to continue saying this here, in this thread, is the online equivalent of gatecrashing a Dem private dinner to spoil their night out. If you did that, freedom of speech would not prevent their bouncers assisting you to leave. Please don't use a team thread to attack the basis of that team's existence. m8
13) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Join 'Democratic Party' Team (Message 9099) Posted 15 Jan 2006 by Moderator8 Post: I'd like to add to what Ethan says. Debate is an important part of politics, and debate within the cafe in general should be allowed. We have already had one overtly political thread, and there is nothing (in my view) to stop someone starting a 'Republicans vs Democrats' thread, or 'Labour vs Tories' or whatever and providing both sides can debate their differences in a civilised way that is fine. Those who do not want to read that debate will simply avoid clicking on that thread - no problem. However, a team recruiting thread - one that is dedicated to a particular team - is not the place to do this. A team recruiting thread should, in my opinion, be left to be a place where people of that persuasion can build on their unity - whether it be a political stance, a sense of humour, a language, a nationality, or whatever that binds them together. Friendly teasing, maybe - but it has to be obvious it's intended in a good natured way. Natural opponents maybe will want to tease when they overtake each other in the stats - fine. Serious disagreement however should be referred to a separate thread. In this case, I would have been happier if the reply had been posted elsewhere, and at most a brief post in this thread saying "not everyone sees it that way - for the alternative view see link". That would have shown respect for the team's space while equally showing that there is room for difference on the story told. It is about showing respect while simultaneously highlighting a difference of opinion. m8
14) Message boards : Number crunching : Report stuck & aborted WU here please (Message 8741) Posted 10 Jan 2006 by Moderator8 Post: This thread replaces the previous stuck wu and please abort threads which were getting a little long and unwieldy. Existing postings have been left in the original threads and direct replies to those postings can be made there please. Thanks to everyone for the continued reports of bugs and suspicious events.
15) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Where is my posting ??? :-( (Message 8735) Posted 10 Jan 2006 by Moderator8 Post: Or if the boinc forum supprt it, and automatic redirect should be left in the original place. be nice wouldn't it? Sadly I don't think the boinc forum is that advanced