Moderators / Xhris dispute

[PhilM]

Hi everyone,

I'm very happy to say that I, for one, greatly appreciate the selfless contributions of all the TalkGraphics moderators over the years. As Gary said, the effort that Steve, Egg, Bill, Gary himself, and others put in is truly awe-inspiring.

Thank you!

And I'd like to say many thanks to Xhris for his highly technical and positive contributions.

I'm sure TalkGraphics will come through this upset and be just as rich and lively as ever. I'm proud to be part of this unique community! (And I hope you are too!)

Phil

[slavelle]

Is it really worth it to lose Bill, Egg, Steve, Gary and possibly more over one person with only about 1700 posts?

I don't recall seeing anything about Gary (Priester) or Steve (Sledger) leaving.

If the 1700 posts is in reference to Xhris, I hope I am not judged on my postcount alone. But in the case of Xhris, it goes well beyond that - did you not see the video tutorial that he just posted? Do you know how much work something like that is? Not only to come up with what will be in it, but recording it, producing/rendering it, uploading and testing it, etc.

I would rather not see any of these folks leave. The Xara/TG community is one of many reasons why the product has value in the market. Fast, down-to-earth, no attitude longstanding members are what help to attract people to the product and thus help keep it alive for all of us to enjoy (or profit from!).

Hopefully when the dust settles, all involved will still at least want to contribute to the "normal" community, even if not moderate.

[angelize]

Ok I admit that I'm guessing about Steve and Gary, but haven't you noticed that Steve is strangely absent? The moderators put up with a lot, I've seen them abused and in one case even been attack by a hateful e-mail campaign. Yet they continued on. So if they feel this strongly about this that not one but two have said goodbye then I feel we should support them. Until this has been resolved I am going to hold off on anymore contributions in support of our mods.

I still do not believe that all of Xhris's contributions are worth losing at least two mods.

[zaphodeist]

Well put Frances. I want to hear from Steve and Gary about whether they are staying. I think people ought to realise the difference between allowing posters to speak their minds and allowing posters to be insulting etc to other members. Mods also have to be able to moderate and not be undermined by Magix/Xara getting free [albeit good] video tutorial resources! There, I've said it. Nothing personal Xhris, you're not the only issue it seems ... I suspect this has been going on for a while ... but Frances is right imho. Steve's everyday input has helped bring recent Xara products alive.

[angelize]

Thanks John, The rest of us members who regularly contribute need to stand together and support our Mods!!

[zaphodeist]

Quickly adapted from an emoticon I did a while back ...

[Regular]

Oh dear!

[Karateed]

I've only been on TG for about 1 year. I've learned a ton of stuff from the moderators and others that so willingly share their valuable personal time to help others improve.

I can tell you I sit here with tears in my eyes that this should happen. There are bound to be personality differences, but that should be a blessing, not a curse. Effectively the moderators have been silenced and whether or not the rules seemed fair to some, they've all done a splendid job.

In my opinion, Xhris's tutorials are valuable....the suspension was deemed necessary for one month....ONE MONTH....is that worth losing 2 or 3 cracker jack mods over?

I can't speak for Xhris but I'm betting he would rather sit out a month than lose 3 moderators. And I don't mean that you ncessarily deserve the ban Xhris, I simply don't know. I'm not privvy to everything that went on obviously. I do understand that I would always try to abide by what the moderators say as that's really the only way to order on a forum. I certainly appreciate and love what you bring to the table...at whatever time that might be. Your skills and sharing of those skills is invaluable.

Those good folks (moderators) have no pay, have sometimes been attacked, and their reward.....pleasure in seeing someone improve their workflow in the program they love.

I have never been banned but have been chastised for how I've said things....sometimes just because I felt a sense of injustice...sorry to make your moderating jobs harder for you when it's hard enough guys.

I truly hope you all are able to come back and hope you are able to moderate as you should be allowed to....if not, I will not only not be on this site any longer but will also vote with my wallet as I've only got the trial version of XDP6....that's how much I feel it.

So Xara, before others decide to do what I'm seriously thinking of doing, you might want to consider your decision to push some very good people away from this site.

[angelize]

Like you Ed I am still using the trial version of XDP6 and If we don't see our moderators supported by Xara I won't be upgrading either. I recall Bill (soquili) posted an explanation of Xhris's suspension and if my recollections are correct the moderators were very generous in only suspending him for 1 month. That thread has been removed I think it should be reposted because even though this happened in the private moderators forum this now is affecting us ALL

[pauland]

I'm really rather horiffied by the polarisation that seems to equate moderators to angels and users to being valued on the basis of the number of posts they make. Our moderators generally do a great job but sometimes (very rarely) they do get it wrong and use a heavy hand. I don't really know the real situation, but I suspect it's not black and white.

We are fortunate to have a great moderation team, but lets remember they are people and don't always do or say the right things - just like the rest of us. Fortunately they do get it right most of the time.

I won't be joining a "back the moderators" campaign, but I'd propose a return to common sense and fair play that doesn't involve one party gaining at the expense of another. I suspect that neither party is totally right here and it would be arrogant of us to assume all moderators think the same way too.

Xhris, I'm glad to see you back and hope you don't attract the attention of the moderation team again. I'm sorry to see two moderators walk - partly because they made such a great contribution and partly because they failed to find a common ground to work with Xara and Xhris. Nobody gains from that failure.