Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b83b14cd4142fe10848741bb2a14c66b.jpg

Cloudynights forum advice ??

beamish

By beamish
in The Astro Lounge

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 57
  • Created
  • Last Reply
George Jones

George Jones

Posted
Posted
Are they upgrading their draconian and quite mindblowingly stupid admin policies then as well?

Other than posting there a few times, I have no connection to Cloudy Nights, but I am a moderator at other forums (fora?), and I am thus curious about what you mean. Unfortunately, sometimes draconian policies are necessary.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Talyn

Talyn

Posted
Posted
Other than posting there a few times, I have no connection to Cloudy Nights, but I am a moderator at other forums (fora?), and I am thus curious about what you mean. Unfortunately, sometimes draconian policies are necessary.

I am a massive fan of CN, but I agree with the other poster that some of the moderation there is incredibly heavy handed, even for the most innocuous things.

Also, it seems that those of - shall we say - a religious disposition are allowed to litter postings with references to the Bible and Jesus, etc, but say you are atheist and you get modded. It happened to me once; there was a thread about how people feel when viewing the night sky and someone went on at length about the 'glory of God' yet my reply, which was along the lines of 'Despite not having any religious beliefs myself...' - or words to that effect - was modded to remove the '...not having any religious beliefs' reference. I was not trying to start an argument, just stating my feelings in response to the original question. Now you either moderate ALL religious references or you leave it; if a row develops then step in and calm things down. You aren't allowed to discuss religion or politics (for obvious reasons) so why are the religious allowed to litter posts with statements proclaiming God?

I know it's necessary to have a high level of moderation, as things can quickly get out of hand, especially when you have hundreds of people - and many strong personalities among them - posting each day, but surely some common sense should prevail.

Sorry, it's turned into a rant, but it really annoys me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
GazOC

GazOC

Posted
Posted

I agree with Talyn, I've never got to the level where I've had dealings with the Admin but I've been moderated several times over absolutely nothing and then you'll see another thread with people calling each other all sorts of names over the most trivial of technical details and that gets ignored.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
GazOC

GazOC

Posted
Posted
Despite the fact that Denkmeir now sell a modded PST, and S&S have done for years, any mention of it gets jumped on.. that's my problem

They really 'nanny' over that PST thing don't they? I can't see them being held responsible of any eye problems incurred by modders on their forum though?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
adamsp123

adamsp123

Posted
Posted
Are they upgrading their draconian and quite mindblowingly stupid admin policies then as well?

Oh you noticed as well, had a ticking off over a pic I posted of a product shown on sale on the internet, people there can be well.....erm interesting? in their views. I do love the "if it ain't made in USA" or "chinese rubbish" posts, or the big bun fights.

And the fact you can only post pics of virtually zero size is good.

Maybe upgrade will fix the above, or maybe not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Talyn

Talyn

Posted
Posted

Over on CN it currently says:

Cloudy Nights is currently down for maintenance...

We are making some database changes and the operations are taking much longer than anticipated.

We do not currently have an absolute time-frame as to when the we will be operational.

We appreciate your patience.

Clear Skies!

The Cloudy Nights Team

Hopefully the upgrade will stop the incredibly slow loading of pages the site has been experiencing for some time now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
johninderby

johninderby

Posted
Posted

Cloudynights does have many good points, but can also be home to some truly "unique" characters whose grasp on the real world is tenuous to say the least. I too find the moderation to be totaly inconsistant and heavy handed sometimes when it's simply not called for.

I've found that you will get on just fine on Cloudynights if you follow these :D "rules"

  1. The only good telescopes are those made in America.
  2. America invented everything. :D

Another thought.....How many Americans even know that the Herschel Space Telescope exists, let alone that it's mirror is nearly twice the diameter of their puny Hubble.

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Talyn

Talyn

Posted
Posted
Cloudynights does have many good points, but can also be home to some truly "unique" characters whose grasp on the real world is tenuous to say the least. I too find the moderation to be totaly inconsistant and heavy handed sometimes when it's simply not called for.

I've found that you will get on just fine on Cloudynights if you follow these :) "rules"

  1. The only good telescopes are those made in America.
  2. America invented everything. :D

Another thought.....How many Americans even know that the Herschel Space Telescope exists, let alone that it's mirror is nearly twice the diameter of their puny Hubble.

John

Or don't mention atheism, or describe someone's unpleasant neighbour, who deliberately floods the garden with high wattage security lights, as 'ignorant' or 'stupid'! :D

However...as much as the CN moderation policies are heavy handed and totally over the top, let's not get into the realms of America-bashing, even gentle America-bashing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Helen

Helen

Posted
Posted

I pop into CN for advice from the specialist boards in particular (eg the celestron CPC/Nexstar GPS thread has loads of really knowledgeable people who are very willing to help). I think these type of boards have a bit more of a community feel than other parts. It is more difficult to build that community spirit on CN though as I've seen moderators deal harshly with any reference which is tangential to the main point of the post (eg in the observatory building board someone once commented on the dog in the picture and was asked to keep on topic!!). That said, getting the moderation balance right is sometimes tricky.

But CN is really useful - not least because it was a link from a signiture from a British member that got me here! and as they say....the rest is history :D

Helen

PS I'm sure some of our transatlantic members raise a few eyebrows at our British ways (and sense of humour) sometimes too :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
michaelmorris

michaelmorris

Posted
Posted

I used to post a lot on CN - until SGL got bigger (and better). Now I hardly ever post on CN.

I agree that the moderators can sometimes seem a bit harsh or prudish when viewed through to our more liberal european eyes, but it's just a small cultural difference. The US seems a more inward looking country than most European countries. Perhaps it's because it's so big! I still think CN is a great forum.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.