Not sure what's going on

[pineywoods]

Not real sure what is happening around here lately. Seems some people don't like the rules. Yes, the same rules that were here when they joined.

We value every member that is not a spammer and we are glad you are here. That being said please don't think you are bigger than the forum or can break any rules you choose at any time.

I've been a staff member here for about 15 years and I have never seen that strategy work for anyone or any group.
As staff we are easy to start a PM with and discuss most things in a civil manner with no problems even if we end up not agreeing.

We do not allow members to insult other members and will try nicely to end it. If we send a member a PM saying we deleted a post that they made because it was insulting and breaking the rule against stirring the pot do not send us a PM right back basically telling us "screw you and the staff".

I'm sorry there is another rule about telling staff members that although most of us have pretty thick skin and may very well just send you back a PM saying to stop insulting the member they were insulting. If they then choose to reply with a PM very much like the first reply they sent us then it may not end well.

I actually had that happen recently and I didn't just swing the Ban Hammer I sent one last PM saying do not do it again and at that point if they choose to continue with it I am done with it and them.


There are things that the staff does behind the scenes to try to keep the site running smoothly. Sometimes we explain things if we can and some times things are changed without any of us knowing sometimes that's a slip up and other times I think it is planned for one reason or another.

As I stated it's easy to PM one of us and ask whatever and we will try to answer but please understand we don't have the answer all the time.

 

[Brokenhandle]

As one of the newest moderators... and youngest and the best looking...
I better shut up before I get in trouble lol!
But in all reality, all of the staff started out as a newbie, like all of the rest of the members. To be honest I accepted the invitation for moderator to step up and help. We have lost some great, knowledgeable members and staff... felt I should try and do my part.
As Jerry said... we don't have the answer all the time, and not gonna please everyone all the time. But if issues do arise... contact one of us. Other members don't want to come here after a long days work to see issues and drama.

Learn from each other, teach the new people if we can. And help grow everyone's to do list. Maybe even help spend other's money on things they need lol!

Ryan

 

[SmokinEdge]

Well Jerry I’ll say this, I appreciate all of you admins and mods and the work you do. Not a fun job most days but necessary just the same, so thanks to all of you.

That said, I keep my head out of the sand most days, I talk to many members privately as well. What I see is that while the rules exist, they are not applied the same at the top level. One admin sees things differently than the next and one moderator applies the rules differently than the next. Really no point in rules that are just interpreted differently by each person that enforces them. That in and of itself creates a circus. Order starts at the top and trickles down. The more that is organized, the better the general order. This is just an observation.

 

[pineywoods]

We are all different people so I wouldn't think all of us would react the same. I'm sure every employee you've ever worked with didn't do everything exactly the same I know I never did.
I will say I try to have thick skin and not let people get to me but it is hard at times when they try hard. I will also admit that Dutch and I are the hard cases that are more rule oriented. Jeff and Brian are the nice guys and Adam is somewhere in the middle. Pretty much every Moderator is a nice easy guy.

Sometimes the newer staff aren't exactly sure what to do and will look to an Admin for help and we are not always online most do have my cell number if they need to call but usually they will wait till one of us comes online unless it's real urgent. As I said I have pretty thick skin so do the other Admins but you will probably find all of us will not put up with anybody picking on staff members.

Disagreements are fine as long as they are kept respectful but when a staff member says "stop doing @@@" please stop and then discuss it with that Staff member if you can't agree take it to an Admin or another Admin.
I think we have a good staff some of us have been staff members a long time and others are still getting used to being staff members.

Some things hopefully will get a Staff involved real fast like attacking a member any member.
Arguments should get quick attention civil debates or civil arguments are usually allowed.
Posting commercial link unless answering a question often get taken down quickly. Sometimes if there is a question if it should be allowed it gets moved to a Moderator section to be looked at and discussed and a decision made.
Things that are not family friendly hopefully get taken down quickly. I know we all think of this as our forum and we should all make the rules but in reality TulsaJeff owns this site and makes the rules sometimes he does seek input but sometimes he decides and that is his right. Again in the around 15 years I've been on the staff he has NEVER wavered about this being a family friendly forum and he wants any member to be able to open any post with a child on their lap and not be trying to cover their eyes quickly. If a thread gets reported and it's questionable on being family friendly it gets moved to that Moderator section for discussion.

It's really not that hard we consider every member that joins to be part of "our family" and if people treat each other that way there are no problems. Yes sometimes family members don't agree on things but they aren't usually idiots about it and hopefully they can talk things through and all is well. Yes most everybody has a bad day once in awhile try to remember that when dealing with them your bad day may be tomorrow. Remember what my Mama and probably yours said "If you got nothing good to say then say nothing"

I'm sorry for writing another novel if you managed to read my ramblings I hope you gained something from it. If I said something you'd like to discuss more in depth with me feel free to PM me.

 

[chp]

I certainly appreciate the job done. It makes this a forum I enjoy reading, posting my experiences, and asking questions. Thanks!

 

[HalfSmoked]

I have been one of the top officers in some originations and the job is no fun because you will never, please everyone.

Warren

 

[flatbroke]

Not real sure what is happening around here lately. Seems some people don't like the rules. Yes, the same rules that were here when they joined.

We value every member that is not a spammer and we are glad you are here. That being said please don't think you are bigger than the forum or can break any rules you choose at any time.

I've been a staff member here for about 15 years and I have never seen that strategy work for anyone or any group.
As staff we are easy to start a PM with and discuss most things in a civil manner with no problems even if we end up not agreeing.

We do not allow members to insult other members and will try nicely to end it. If we send a member a PM saying we deleted a post that they made because it was insulting and breaking the rule against stirring the pot do not send us a PM right back basically telling us "screw you and the staff".

I'm sorry there is another rule about telling staff members that although most of us have pretty thick skin and may very well just send you back a PM saying to stop insulting the member they were insulting. If they then choose to reply with a PM very much like the first reply they sent us then it may not end well.

I actually had that happen recently and I didn't just swing the Ban Hammer I sent one last PM saying do not do it again and at that point if they choose to continue with it I am done with it and them.


There are things that the staff does behind the scenes to try to keep the site running smoothly. Sometimes we explain things if we can and some times things are changed without any of us knowing sometimes that's a slip up and other times I think it is planned for one reason or another.

As I stated it's easy to PM one of us and ask whatever and we will try to answer but please understand we don't have the answer all the time.

Thank you, well said. You have done a great job.

 

[flatbroke]

As one of the newest moderators... and youngest and the best looking...
I better shut up before I get in trouble lol!
But in all reality, all of the staff started out as a newbie, like all of the rest of the members. To be honest I accepted the invitation for moderator to step up and help. We have lost some great, knowledgeable members and staff... felt I should try and do my part.
As Jerry said... we don't have the answer all the time, and not gonna please everyone all the time. But if issues do arise... contact one of us. Other members don't want to come here after a long days work to see issues and drama.

Learn from each other, teach the new people if we can. And help grow everyone's to do list. Maybe even help spend other's money on things they need lol!

Ryan

Very Kind of you to step up and help. Your cooks posted are an inspiration to many. Now if I could only find some of that sweet corn. Wish at times, my granddad and dad had a farm instead of cattle pasture. My great Grand father passed and second wife sold the wheat farm.

 

[daspyknows]

I moderate a similar type of site for a different hobby and I get it. This needs to be a fun and drama free spot. If it becomes a job of herding idiots then it's not fun and it's the idiots that need to go. Most tone it down when warned but I had one sh1t stirrer who lost posting privileges, tried creating another ID and continued on. Now when he tries it he gets shut down immediately. At first a few complained I was not being fair but most came back and said I did the right thing. Keep doing what you are doing. This is a great spot for this hobby.

 

[Brokenhandle]

Very Kind of you to step up and help. Your cooks posted are an inspiration to many. Now if I could only find some of that sweet corn. Wish at times, my granddad and dad had a farm instead of cattle pasture. My great Grand father passed and second wife sold the wheat farm.

We still have plenty in the freezer! With some luck I might get it planted today!

Ryan

 

[indaswamp]

I'll also add, there are no excuses for drunk posting. We are all adults here. If you mouth off to an Admin after imbibing an adult beverage, well...that is on you.

 

[flatbroke]

We still have plenty in the freezer! With some luck I might get it planted today!

Ryan

What’s the favorite variety? Kate or Serendipty make the top of list?

 

[TulsaJeff]

Thank you, Jerry.. well said!

Like Jerry said, suspect threads or posts are usually moved to the moderator or admin forum behind the scenes if there are major issues and, more often than not, the decisions are unanimous.

None of us are perfect but we try to be as fair as possible. For the record, staff members are hand picked because of their good character, Level head and other useful traits.

 

[bmudd14474]

Jerry said it well in his statements.

But to add on to that we are all here because we love smoking meats and all the other things associated with it. We have also become a Family that can be dysfunctional at times. Because of this we try to operate with an understanding mentality but that gets taken advantage of at times and then you have one that start something and others that respond then its a crap show.

This is the nature of having different views and backgrounds. Sometimes we just have bad days like the rest and even thought we try our best to not let it affect our judgements it is bound to happen.

As a reminder for everyone of some of the rules you can see all of them HERE

A few to highlight

-Be friendly and courteous to all SMF members.
-Try your best to be respectful to the moderating team and their disciplinary actions, as they are only trying to make the forum as pleasant for everyone as possible.

I highlight both of these because they go hand in hand. At the end of the day moderators/admins are members of this forum as well and deserve to be treated as such and this is in public and private messages.

When you respond to a member of staff with a tirade of stuff we try to understand your frustration but when you make it a personal attack we will not tolerate it and is grounds for removal from the forum.

Another rule to know is

The admin and moderating team will use their sole discretion to pre-screen, refuse or remove any users or content from SMF.

The reason I highlight this one is to know that when something is removed if you feel it was done so wrongly and you PM and have a discussion with staff about it that we can put it back if its determined that its actually ok to post. We don't permanently delete things.

Also the reason it is at the sole discretion of the staff is to get things quickly removed off the site instead of having to go thru a approval process per say. Again, if its determined that it shouldn't have been removed we can and have reversed course on these thing.

We have an infraction system that we are trying to use more now that when we warn someone it will give them points. These points drop off after 30 days so they don't stick with a user for long periods of time. If you get to different point levels it will lead to what on the backside we call house arrest. It means you aren't allowed to post for a certain time depending on your point levels. If you have a high enough point level it will lead to permanent banning from the forum.

All in all we all want to be here to have fun but there has to be some order to things.

We are human and we will error. We ask for grace in those times and we will do our best to make things right when we can.

Lastly, Please thank all of the volunteer work our mods and admins do on this site. They do it because they love this place and want to make it better. Please don't lose sight of that fact.

To all of the Admins and moderators I think you for keeping this one of the best Smoking Meat sites on the web.

Now lets let the thin blue smoke roll and let the drinks pour out cold.

 

[civilsmoker]

I just want to say thanks for all the efforts to keep the sight open and "office friendly"! I view the site at work and there are very few web sites or forums that I can view at work or on a work computer.

I have no understanding of the past discussions that prompted the above, however, for perspective of the whole, it's just not worth the risk of losing my job over something that is questionable, ie certain content (memes, jokes, statements, or images) are grounds for immediate termination and many of the firms in my profession have "sniffers" of all computer/web content and images for this kind of content.

So I will say thanks again and please be "Civil"......yes pun intended....

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Not real sure what is happening around here lately.

I've perused this whole thread a couple of times and I'm not sure, either. Regardless, I know that you guys have a tough responsibility and at times, I imagine that it's like herding cats...

 

[Coach JoeQB]

Ok, while I am a newb here, I do have experience on many different boards. I have seen a long time absolutely implode because of petty squabbles. My time here has been great because there has been no BS. Moderators, you must be doing an amazing job because there has been BS to my eyes.

One of the things that has drawn me here is the fact that everyone has been willing to share. Please let's keep it that way.

Stepping off my Soap Box

Joe