Moderators?

[danq]

Thus on these forums, to apply that principle, anyone with any affiliation to a business, or in any way sells products should not be a mod. Because the fact that they produce/associated with products means they are inherently biased towards those products. And thus they are not impartial, and not good to be mods.

Actually there are many such that would be impartial - but what's important in those cases is that the appearance of impartiality is compromised, creating the potential for someone to doubt it.

[edit] BUT - some of the most trustworthy folks here are selling something! I would not want to rule out for example DrLava just because he has drivers for sale. I would trust cOldShadow to decide who should/not be a moderator.

 

[Murudai]

You should never have the 'appearance' of impartiality, that is no substitute for true impartiality.

A proper mod should NEVER give any impression other than a completely objective view. If they seem biased, they should be removed immediately.

I mean, if you're going to have such lazy standards for hiring moderators, you shouldn't be surprised when they turn bad :

 

[happytomato]

I would trust cOldShadow to decide who should/not be a moderator.

I second that, he has good judgement. He's been running this forum for long enough

 

[danq]

You should never have the 'appearance' of impartiality, that is no substitute for true impartiality.

right. what I was trying to say is that even if someone is acting impartially, if others think there's an appearance of partiality then that presents potential problems. So one must be impartial [highlight]and [/highlight]have the appearance of impartiality.

[sup]sorry if I twisted that up in my prev post... or if I screwed it up worse in this one [/sup] [sub]:-?[/sub]

 

[Murudai]

Ah, okay.

Well, of course you have to act impartial I really don't think there is a big difference between acting impartial and being impartial.

(Impartial is just a great word isn't it? )

 

[cbrian4]

I say mods all the way! I think "Things" or "Styro" would make great mods, they are helpful and all around good members. I know im not the only one getting sick of all the profanity and immature posts. And the one thing i can't stand is multiple postings. In the last few months there were a couple instances where the same question was asked in ten different threads as well as in multiple sections. I feel we could benefit greatly from moderators.

 

[Things]

Well drlava basically makes his own drivers, so he isnt really "baised" to a company, but knowing lava he's not gonna go around banning people for no reason

 

[styropyro]

cbrian4- Thanks for the support

About users that sell things: There is a difference between selling parts and tools that help out the community as opposed to selling completed lasers as a business. In example Jayrob sells heatsinks that greatly help out our community, but nobody looks at him and thinks of him as a company. He even sells a few completed lasers, but nobody thinks of him as a business. Now there are a few laser company representatives that post on here and they are biased towards there products, which they have every right to be, but like everybody has said it would not be fair to let them help run the forum. The whole reason why this forum was started was to create an unbiased community that members could freely discuss lasers without a strong bias towards a company.

 

[roSSco]

Timelord has enlightened me about some stuff about the forum and I hereby retract my comments about him.

I will never retract my comments about him.

 

[happytomato]

He was under a lot of stress at the time. I don't think he is a bully

 

[styropyro]

He was under a lot of stress at the time. I don't think he is a bully

Sorry, but even under stress, taking it out on other people was not the right thing to do.

 

[c0ldshadow]

Using moderators introduces certain potential legal complications for this website, even though the forum is an LLC. There could be vulnerabilities for both the website and the individual moderators. I will be consulting with an attorney to review this further.

 

[thejunkmonger]

Using moderators introduces certain potential legal complications for this website, even though the forum is an LLC.  There could be vulnerabilities for both the website and the individual moderators.  I will be consulting with an attorney to review this further.

Haven't really stuck my nose into this thread but I just don't understand all the problems with public forums, I have a friend that has a huge site for mothers and it is the most consulted site and even recognized by the government in Italy and she constantly has these kinds of problems sometimes she just wants to say screw it and close it down, I mean she did the site to help people and makes no money off of it and everytime there is some hothead in the forum that starts stuff it ends up that the cops come to her for transcripts and stuff unreal.
The way I see it I start a forum about things i'm interested in the public is free to join, but if I don't like what they have to say I kick them out no questions asked. Nobody ever said a forum had to be a democracy or even fair for that matter. If it's mine I do with it what I like. Hope this doesn't start some kind of forum war or something this is the only comment i'll make on the subject so you can flame me by PM if you like. No offence if I don't answer though I really do have better things to do with my time.. Like enjoying LASERS for example.

 

[Murudai]

Using moderators introduces certain potential legal complications for this website, even though the forum is an LLC.  There could be vulnerabilities for both the website and the individual moderators.  I will be consulting with an attorney to review this further.

What 'legal complications'? This is a public, non-profit website. It has no obligations to its users, so what legal matters could arise?

All I can think of is if a moderator was trashing a for-profit company, and if that company went to sue this site for damages. But a good moderator should NEVER act in such a manner.

 

[Petrovski]

I have to see the first legal case against a non-profit forum moderator by a company claiming some sort of financial damage because of trashing. At least in the Netherlands. I'm not sure how real this risk in other countries like the USA (where LPF is hosted) is.

 

[Razako]

Did stuff like this have anything to do with it? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1193605314/0#0