Charter Change Part Deux! The Poll!

Calina

Okay.

I have been rather busy all day long with work so I couldn't reply to this. I'm going to respond to a couple of users and then make a few comments at the end about this. And then I am going to lock this thread.

shepthedog wrote: »

This has dragged on so long I had assumed this had all been resolved and I had possibly missed the thread..

So my understanding is that it was referred to the "higher ups" and they have now referred it back to be decided by the photo mods...

Do we have an overall decision? Has it changed or stayed the same?

As things stand right now, the charter in force is the one that's posted in the charter thread; ie, the changes have not been reversed. Given the outcome of the poll, and given the fact that the moderators are in favour of the changes also, I would be surprised to see it reversed in the future. However, a few details are still under discussion and I have to confess that people were waiting for some feedback from me, feedback which I felt merited more than five minutes of my time. Unfortunately I have been very busy lately on all fronts.

However, the question, because it may affect other fora, and because commercial interaction has been the subject of discussion anyway, people outside the forum still have an interest in the subject. It's been handled in various different ways in other fora. As previously pointed out, we sent equipment for sale posts over to adverts, and I think services offered are handled in a similar way in other fora. That being said I will admit that it's not the sole approach taken - I think one or two other fora have stickies for example.

Despite that, taking the poll results into consideration and the reasons for which this was brought up, I think it's fair to say that although there may be some, how do I put this, details changed, for the most part, I see no reason to change things as they are right now. There is greater support for the change.

Dodgykeeper wrote: »

It appears to me that we were fobbed off with the whole referred to higher power business, and the mods were hoping that it would just go away,

How things are and how they appear to you are actually not one and the same right now. I have expended quite a lot of time and energy on this, and I know that people outside this forum's moderation team have also. It has caused quite a lot of discussion. It is extremely poor form on your part to accuse me and others of just fobbing you off with a hope that you'd go away.

Frankly I think we've been more than accommodating of your views here, we've entertained them, we've discussed them locally and we even went to the trouble of getting advice from outside.

As things stand, your poll is in our favour, our views are obviously well known and it is unlikely that things are going to return to exactly the way they were before the charter was updated. However, there may well be modifications to the changes resulting from this discussion.

Dodgykeeper wrote: »

Also interesting was Devore saying that the forum was autonomous yet Calina insisting that the OOF thread was his/her idea and must stay stickied!

This is slightly off topic but since it has been brought up again...I think quite a few people might not be aware of this discussion seeing as it has tended to happen via PM lately.

The OOF thread was DeV's idea - here is the post where it was suggested. That being said, he is not leaning over my shoulder preventing me from unsticking it. I like it, I like the way it's sort of developing in fits and starts and it will be staying there for the foreseeable future anyway. I think the other two moderators would agree with me on this.
I have made this view clear to you on several occasions.

______________

One of the things that we have learned from this experience is that although it has never previously been necessary to consult the users about small variations to the charter, it might be desirable to do so. I assume that few people would argue with a modification to the charter allowing for some discussion with the user base in advance for future updates to said charter? I think it could be useful just to see if people spot things we or any subsequent moderators have not seen.

I'm more than willing to implement this and I would be surprised if the other two moderators were against it.

Lastly I really wish to reiterate that the moderators of this forum have the interests of the forum to the fore in their considerations and not the interests of any individual users. Unfortunately, there are times that the interests of the forum as a whole clash with the interests of individual users. I think in fairness, we try, as far as possible to accommodate as many viewpoints as possible but sometimes, it just can't gel.

I will lock this thread in 30 minutes.

Calina

Thread locked until I have further feedback on the subject.