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censorship - strict v liberal


Patf
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I know that I've nailed my colours to the mast in favour of less

restriction on freedom of speech/print but having just been on the

other forum and seen Miki/MEK posting as if butter wouldn't melt in his

mouth, wonder if the stricter style of moderation there is perhaps

enabling rather than constricting? I know that that forum is sort of

family run and they have to mind their backs, so jump in quick when

there are infringements. I suppose it's good to have both types. Any

views? Pat.

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Having been jumped on by the moderators on "the other place" for what was quite an innocuous (and I thought humourous) comment, I now only post with practical questions/comments. Very useful but not nearly as much fun as on here.

By the way, what do you think that Miki/Mek should be doing: wearing sackcloth and ashes?

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About miki - that wasn't what I meant. I meant that he writes in a

completely different style on that forum because it's strictly

monitored. I don't care what miki is wearing now could be a bikini for

all I care. I wasn't being personal, only commenting on the "

censorship" style which your other comment bears out. Pat.

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[quote user="Dick Smith"]I made a post here, but it has disappeared. What is going on?[/quote]

Nothing ass far as I can see, perhaps you wrote in another thread. I have checked the logs and there is no deleted posy. If somebody else deleted your post the absolute minimum you should get is a eamil saying your post was deleted but no content. Unless you deleted it yourself of course or accidently posted it in a different part of the forum. The last thing we would want id for us moderators to be accused of something we didn't do would we.

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[quote user="KathyC"]

Having been jumped on by the moderators on "the other place" for what was quite an innocuous (and I thought humourous) comment, I now only post with practical questions/comments. Very useful but not nearly as much fun as on here.

By the way, what do you think that Miki/Mek should be doing: wearing sackcloth and ashes?

[/quote]

Oh so that’s what all this stuff about Miki is then 'Fun', all a bit of a joke. I don't see anything funny at in fact it’s all rather sad. What 'fun' place will you go to if this forum closes down?

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Funny you should mention that - since becoming an ordinary member myself I have noticed something similar. I post, look, the post isn't there, so go back, re-post and bingo - it's there twice. Definitely something a little strange. Otherwise I can only confirm what Quillan says, that if somebody else deletes your post you get an e-mail to say it has been deleted. And all deleted posts go into an archive part of the forum, so they never completely disappear.

Getting back to the original topic, I don't personally like the idea of censorship, particularly in a forum like this which is for sensible adults with a non-contentious subject. But I accept that sometimes it is necessary, though not to the degree that it is practised at other similar forums. The circumstances when it might be necessary to remove or modify a posting are that if to leave it there would cause problems - mainly commercial harm to the forum's owners, hence the emphasis on unauthorised advertising and potential defamation - or if it has caused genuine distress to another user. I have to say that the majority of complaints about other users which I dealt with as a moderator were, if not exactly frivolous in nature, more making the point that a discussion had got perhaps a little too robust. These could be dealt with off the forum, by having a quiet word with the person complained about and the complainer. There are probably other minor breaches of the rules that could be dealt with in the same way.

I'm not saying that a liberal approach like that would have avoided any particular current difficulties, but it generally seemed to keep things ticking over quite nicely.

 

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Let me make this clear. The forum is about Moving to and Living in France, I (as manager of the Archant France business websites) can tolerate some posts that are not about France (try and keep them in the lighter side). I understand that this is a meeting place for expats and people who are thinking of or in the process of moving to France who may want to keep in contact with one another, not just ask and answer questions.

When I joined Archant two years ago there was a meeting about the future of the forum and whether it should be shut down. At the time it was a resource which although helpful for readers, took up more and more time and resource to keep going. It was at this point that I argued with higher management and fought to keep it. It was going to go. Community moderators were sought and helpful members volunteered to keep it alive. The moderators and members have kept the forum running up to now and the code of conduct was implemented so that members knew what they can and can't post about.. I've fought over the years to have software that was not Archant wide because it was better suited to what our members expected and fought to keep it un-moderated, so that messages appeared instantly instead of overnight.

If the forum dilutes into a chat room about personal disputes, who did what etc then I will seriously look into it's future. It is up to the members to remember that this is a forum about France not friends reunited.

It saddens me to think that new members are joining and not posting because of the current state of the posts. We have all worked hard to keep this forum going and I'm not about to (and I'm sure members will agree) let it become an online pub (although members are allowed a few drinks[;-)]).

Some may think the code of conduct is strict, some may not, but it is there for a crucial reason. We have always tried to keep the flow going and not step in and delete posts willy-nilly, but sometimes it is going to happen. It might be that because of a business point of view, ie advertising (which effects advertising in our publications), it might be that I (or the moderators) feel the post was personal or inappropriate. As online publishers of this forum (Archant) we need to be careful. If we are seen to do nothing and the matter is taken further then it will be us as well as the perpetrator that gets into trouble. Some people seem to complain about censorship...of course there is censorship on this forum...it is treated legally as one of our publications (just an online one). There is no swearing (this forum can be seen by people of all ages). So please bear this in mind when you post. There isn’t any reason to worry about it closing as long as we all work together to keep it the best forum on France*

*Noted that TF does rather well also.[:)]

 

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Glad to hear that the Forum will probably continue. I only started this

thread because I just realised that the moderation here is quite

laissez-faire compared with other forums so we shouldn't really

complain. Also well done to remove those threads as they were

interminable and incomprehensible to newcomers. From now on will try to

keep to topics about France. Pat.

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As a recent visitor to this forum to get some information (which I got) I'm amazed that other posters don't  realise that there is always friction between posters and moderators on forums. I use a Delphi forum and it is no different. As a long time subscriber to Living France and a visitor to France, I am here to discuss France.

PS I am responsible for the 90 in Belfort on the map at the beginning of the Propery For Sale section of the magazine. It was missing until I e-mailed. It was missing from the previous artsy-fartsy map as well

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I have checked the deleted pos section and it has not been removed Kathy, it's happened to me as well, I think its a technical hitch.

There are another couple of little glitches like that which are annoying and I suspect that when the current issues are resolved Admin will look into them.

That is in no way a dig, but the running of this forum is only part of his job.

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