opinions

[Rhonald]

Mike, I have played sports and I have refeered sports, sometimes bad calls are made and either you sulk or suck it up and play on. The team is more important then the individual. The posts I deleted 3 from Maxx & 4 from you was in my opinoin low blows. All I can say if you did not agree with some of my deletions is to say I am sorry.

[Rhonald]

When you throw red cards , I want to know why

It will not be me who decides if a ban - red card is made - I do not have that power. But Mike, do you not think that if enough members start grumbling, action will take place? I hope you see that I am not name calling or talking down. I am not cursing. I do not have the ability to right any wRONgs - eventhough I have been placed into the middle of the wRONg doings. I am just the janitor cleaning up the mess.

[fivetrout]

Time to call it a day boys! Grab a beer...and toast to the Chinese woman!

[David E]

Mike

If you dont let go of this you are going to lose many friends.

Speaking purely for myself, I have had enough of this stuff.

If you want to single-handedly wreck what is left of a noble and worthy venture, you are doing well so far.

For folks looking in , we must present a very pathetic image about now.

Enough is enough

Thank you in anticipation

DavidE

[JohnB]

Yesterday I surfed this site and managed to stumble on a post of maybe 5 years ago. I think it had to do with
the transition from facebook. Anyway, I am unable to find it now! That was a lot of great information. I note there
was some kind of 'point' system established for infractions of sorts that were not relative to the intent of this website.
I think I am correct in saying this. Please advise if I am incorrect. (It is noteworthy that Maxx was the 'Global Mod' then. Long time.)

So, it got me to thinking about the latest incident. Most unfortunate.

To begin, the Mods do a lot of good (should) to keep the site functional ... fun & informative. Since this is not a 'pay-for-membership'
forum, why should a mod be vulnerable to any of the general membership? They don't need that shit. If a member has that kind of
life or death influence of an existing mod, then the resulting instability undermines everything else, actually all other things worthy of mention.

Maxx stated that he culled a few dubious posts. Was this not his duty as a mod? For 5 years this guy performed an admirable but thankless
job, doing what he thought best for all the members. And his ass got poached for this latest debacle? Resulting in his resignation.
Because of one relentless pissy, pissy member. Inexcusable.

The forum needs to refine it's structure. Discipline. Order. Immediate corrective action to counter any instabilities. I mean does
anyone still believe in good forum stewardship? The membership is across the globe. Everyone is different, the only common
element shared, the China woman. Religion & politics can be contentious. What I think, what others think, does not necessarily
correlate common thought. But the one determining factor that is a constant anywhere, is good citizenship. We owe it to ourselves
& others to behave decently.
Maybe it behooves Martin & his merry band of mods, in their self imposed diminished capacity, to recreate another 'point system'
for questionable or outlandish behavior of any member. Like bounce it back & forth with the other mod's. Then if an infraction occurs,
deal with it immediately, first with a warning & the reasons why. The mods decide as one.
At least be decisive instead of condescending.
Maybe this helps.

[David E]

JohnB

Excellent post.....right on the money 

I well remember the merit points system...and was sad when it was disbanded.

Of course, such a reward system has got to be a little difficult to manage and police because there is a lot of subjective judgement involved by the Mods who operate it and the individual perceptions of the people who sponsored such "awards". But nevertheless, we seemed overall to have got it right most of the time and I know for myself I was always very chuffed if and when someone rarely gave me a "Brownie Point " !!!

There is always a lot of merit in a Mod acting decisively and positively to keep the Forum on track, however many noses get out of joint....if we have weak moderation, then we have anarchy...as we have just seen.
I believe that Maxx's departure is a backward step for us, he was truly an Icon in the Grand Scheme of things...we need such Icons !!!!!!!!!!

Maxx would always be relied upon to offer some wisdom in any situation...and his spelling and grammar (which I mostly believe was a trade-mark, not a reality) kept a Maxx post to almost always have some weight. Same as Martin and Ron, who each had their own styles to deal with us all especially when we transgressed.......Martin as the Referee, Ron as the immaculate and logical Wordsmith.

Now we lose all that History and precedent and sail on into uncharted waters.....will we regret the last weeks ??...sure we will. Will we move on to bigger and better things ...dunno !!

And tyhe worst bit of all is that I still have no idea what exactly caused this current explosion...and I read all the posts every day.

To say I am confused is an understatement...................

I will just have to open a few dozen coldies while I try to work it all out.....(The Aus Tourist Commission tells me I can no longer throw another shrimp on the Barbie...its not cultured enough )...go figure.

[Robertt S]

JohnB

Excellent post.....right on the money 

I well remember the merit points system...and was sad when it was disbanded.

Of course, such a reward system has got to be a little difficult to manage and police because there is a lot of subjective judgement involved by the Mods who operate it and the individual perceptions of the people who sponsored such "awards". But nevertheless, we seemed overall to have got it right most of the time and I know for myself I was always very chuffed if and when someone rarely gave me a "Brownie Point " !!!

There is always a lot of merit in a Mod acting decisively and positively to keep the Forum on track, however many noses get out of joint....if we have weak moderation, then we have anarchy...as we have just seen.
I believe that Maxx's departure is a backward step for us, he was truly an Icon in the Grand Scheme of things...we need such Icons !!!!!!!!!!

Maxx would always be relied upon to offer some wisdom in any situation...and his spelling and grammar (which I mostly believe was a trade-mark, not a reality) kept a Maxx post to almost always have some weight. Same as Martin and Ron, who each had their own styles to deal with us all especially when we transgressed.......Martin as the Referee, Ron as the immaculate and logical Wordsmith.

Now we lose all that History and precedent and sail on into uncharted waters.....will we regret the last weeks ??...sure we will. Will we move on to bigger and better things ...dunno !!

And tyhe worst bit of all is that I still have no idea what exactly caused this current explosion...and I read all the posts every day.

To say I am confused is an understatement...................

I will just have to open a few dozen coldies while I try to work it all out.....(The Aus Tourist Commission tells me I can no longer throw another shrimp on the Barbie...its not cultured enough )...go figure.

David E

I agree with you very much about liking the " brownie points "

The " Reputation " aka brownie point system is actually a good system that serves 2 purposes when used correctly. First and foremost, it gives newbies (new members ) an idea about the knowledge or experience levels of the poster, which assists them in deciding if the poster's advice or information can be considered valid. Second and also just as important, it gives the poster who donates their time and energy which could have been spent elsewhere some type of reward or token for their contributions. The previous system we had was set up to fail because reputation points are rewards and should NEVER be allowed to be used as penalties or black marks to punish or de-rate a poster's contribution because you do not like them or do not agree with their post. I contribute to other forums that use reputation points and their systems are set up so that reputation points can only be added and never subtracted by other members. This method gives members a small incentive to actually post useful and knowledge rich information and add quality to the site since people will begin posting better quality information or articles trying to boost their reputation points. There should a method so you can set the points to be accumulative only so they can not be deducted as a means to strike out at the poster by members they may have chaffed. The reputation points should also be set so that only members can award points and members can not award points to themselves. The reputation system actually is a very good system for newbies and experienced members because it aids newbies and rewards experienced members for their participation here in the forums. Hopefully our forum will recover and move on into the future. I firmly believe that once the global recession is over people will again need our knowledge when they begin their journey beyond " The Great Wall "

Regards, Robertt

[ChinaBound]

So, it got me to thinking about the latest incident. Most unfortunate

To begin, the Mods do a lot of good (should) to keep the site functional ... fun & informative. Since this is not a 'pay-for-membership'
forum, why should a mod be vulnerable to any of the general membership? They don't need that shit. If a member has that kind of
life or death influence of an existing mod, then the resulting instability undermines everything else, actually all other things worthy of mention.

Maxx stated that he culled a few dubious posts. Was this not his duty as a mod? For 5 years this guy performed an admirable but thankless
job, doing what he thought best for all the members. And his ass got poached for this latest debacle? Resulting in his resignation.
Because of one relentless pissy, pissy member. Inexcusable.


JohnB,

Well said as I think Maxx should be reinstated back into  the Mod ranks. Any others think that he should be reinstated?

[Rhonald]

Maxx stated that he culled a few dubious posts. Was this not his duty as a mod? For 5 years this guy performed an admirable but thankless
job, doing what he thought best for all the members. And his ass got poached for this latest debacle? Resulting in his resignation.
Because of one relentless pissy, pissy member. Inexcusable.

....TWEET.....

I posted here to Mike that this was not a court of Law, but now I see that I need to also defend some of his actions.

I pm messaged Maxx before that although I supported him, I also have to be impartial.

Yes I felt that Mike held on too long to a grudge, but the one recent post of his here, referring to a previous action by Maxx last year, that I had deleted, has a justifiable concern. So please all gents here, do not start name calling.

What has happened here now, has had a very similar occurrence years ago with Chong, Maxx, and China Shark, that resulted in, I believe, China Sharks first banning. Some men, when establishing a comradeship show their rapport  by trash talking to each other. Chong & Maxx had many hilarious jabs with each other in this regard. China Shark started talking to the two in the same manner, wanting to be one of the boys before ever being accepted by the two as a comrade. China Shark misunderstood the dynamics and one of many of his firestorms with the group ensued.

When in the army, this trash talking was common for us enlisted men between friends. I mistakenly once thought, this new guy to our unit had the same mentality, and after a few weeks I started trash talking to him. He became offended and wanted to fight me. I misunderstood the dynamics as there had yet been no bond established between us to be able to relate to each others in this manner.

What happened to Mike last year was a post got altered, that because of a mistaken Dynamic, one party thought was a - Just playing with ya mate - the other was deeply hurt.

I think, as a Mod, we have to be very...very carefull when we are deviating from modding to being buddies. What happened in the past can not be undone. Please, all don't start by making it look like we are drawing sides -  as I have said before, there is no right or wrong. It is the choice of WHAT KIND OF MOVIE AM I THE STAR IN (as in your life) Do you wish to play the role of the Hero, the person who learns and grows from his earlier downfall/mistake (Think Lethal Weapon), or do you live your life as the constant victim, left to the devices of any two bit director on your demise? My choice is to be the HERO, after all, you get a sandwich named after you.

[JohnB]

For what I see now, at least we have some sort of direction erection. I am sympathetic to the mods. I am not sympathetic of offensive
members (they remain nameless). Just fill in the blank(s). LOL
As one of this site's 'passive' members, I realize a few co- members are somewhat self elevated, self inflated, egotistical, bearers
of hidden agendas, or some other nefarious shit...pretty much to the consternation of others. Usually not a big deal. But now?
This time shit sticks. 
My take on this. Many of you watched Saturday Night Live. A bunch of years ago, there was their weekly skit of the Whiner Family.
Go figure the hilarity of it. It made you want to throw your shoe at the TV. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USafh7Onivo
That was funny. This is not.

I was looking for the 'China word' in 'search' that best described the whining Chinese princess's way of manipulation.
I keyed 'whining' and failed my intended, but in failure up popped an old post titled “Newbies Corner / RE: mods
explanation about china-love”.    http://www.chnromance.com/index.php/topic,1868.0.html

Wow. 1st time I see this, “the 'China Shark' moment of retrospect”. The gnashing of teeth. Well, it was pretty much the same back
then as it is now. The incident got out of hand. Words were written. A crisis began. It should not have gone that far.
A few of today's members were parties of sort, so I am sure they remember well.

There will always be some conflict, subtle or not. I think we are adults in how we navigate our life. No big fuss unless some member is
genetically blessed 'thin skinned' & chooses not to dis- engage, or some loud lout with a hidden agenda makes his mark.
The general membership base should not be the arena to handle conflict. It creates an unhealthy departure from the reality of what
this website intent is all about.

Just my own personal take on things.

[Martin]

Everyone has been posting some really great suggestions.  Because of my hectic work schedule, as well as other factors, there is going to be a change coming in the very very near future.  I am hopeful that this change will offer new insights, new ideas, and hopefully put to rest some of the infighting of late.

[Happy]

Hello Mike, Shaun, and Ted,

   I hope your all happy with your beautiful Chinese ladies! Life for my wife and I is awesome! We keep things simple and disagreements happen less...it's understanding each other!

    Jim

[shaun]

Jim,

I missed your post in May.  All is well.   Glad to hear from you.