General > General Technical Chat
Discussing the usage of the TEA thread
mansaxel:
I find it exceptionally hard to accept that a thread that has been at a reasonably consistent signal to noise ratio over something like 130000 messages suddenly becomes a moderator focus with regards to topic-ness, and when asked why, the moderators respond with "we never tolerated this". I respectfully beg to differ. It is not the thread that has changed, it is the moderator tolerance. Denying that will not stand the test of time.
I further will argue that the mental ordeal of obsessingly collecting test equipment will have to be dealt with in a holistical manner, for it affects the obsessed and their family to a non-trivial extent. That is what we are doing, and that, IMNSHO, needs some considerable freedom of navigation. But that is my opinion, based on having read at least 50% of the thread. It is not a provable fact like what I stated above.
I am afraid that the thread is considerable danger of dying out if the moderation will be at this elevated level of attention forthwith. I don't know and probably should not speculate about the general attitude to the thread in the moderator community. But I like (from a heavily biased POV) to think that the thread, as such, has sparked interest in learning and applying electronics and more so a scientific mind set to life, for some of its fringe participants. It certainly has had this effect on me, and I am very deeply in debt to it and its members. Consequently, I'm also very worried about its future in the light of recent actions. There's an actual lump in my stomach as I type (and retype, several times) this.
It is not my forum, and the moderators headed by Dave have dictatorial powers. We all acknowledge this, for it is the actual state of things. But a forum is nothing without its members and their contributions. I find it hard to believe that the general well-being of the entire EEVblog forum world would benefit from the alienation of some of its most frequent and sometimes (when I'm not counted) competent posters by removing our playground corner.
</soapbox>
Neper:
I couldn't have said it better and I think they're ripping the soul out of TEA.
Pity, really. It used to be fun. :--
wilfred:
--- Quote from: gnif on August 23, 2022, 12:06:08 pm ---
We (the staff here) have agreed that the TEA thread does not need to be strictly test equipment, but it does however need to stay within the forum rules and discussion contained needs to remain electronics related. Many warnings have been given trying to direct the forum back to where it should be, a general electronics related chat/discussion group. However some disagree with limiting the thread to keeping the topics "electronics related" and today we needed to step in and draw a line as people continue to ignore the rules layed down citing prior behaviour in the thread as being "tolerant" to the breakage of forum rules.
While we as moderators do need to allow for some leeway in what is posted, such as "haha" comments in reply to someone else, or some anecdotal reference, simply allowing the thread to continue as an "off-topic discussion thread" is not an option.
--- End quote ---
I always thought the TEA thread was a valuable service to the general forum. It basically sandboxed much of the discussion and off-topic stuff from leaking out too much into the broader forum topics. And since there is a huge amount of discussion there that was "tolerated" it has effectively become a de-facto subset of rules for that particular thread. I say let it continue as it has and let the people who frequent it enjoy themselves. If you do a histogram of post frequency in it you will find the vast majority of posts are made by a very limited number.
But even if clamping down is necessary it would help if when you make posts like this one
--- Quote from: gnif on August 23, 2022, 06:32:54 am ---This is the final warning
All posts MUST be electronics related in some form, stop posting junk here that is non related.
Anyone that continues to ignore this will be given a 7 day timeout from posting!
--- End quote ---
as you did in the TEA thread it also applied to the thread Diversity Equity and Inclusion which is as far as I recall the very sort of thread which led to the word "technical" being added to the General Chat thread. In spite of Dave's comments like this one,
--- Quote from: EEVblog on August 23, 2022, 12:08:32 pm ---
--- Quote from: ebastler on August 23, 2022, 11:59:17 am ---
--- Quote from: EEVblog on August 23, 2022, 11:56:48 am ---We could also all agree that the general poltics side of it is done, and just keep it to engineering industry related matters and/or personal stories and advice going forward maybe?
--- End quote ---
Good luck getting those worms back into the can... ;)
--- End quote ---
The other option is calling it done and locking the thread. I don't want to have to do that, as many posts are very insightful and helpful for the OP and many others. #
As always it only takes one or two people to ruin it though and get into a tiff that goes on for pages.
--- End quote ---
That thread is sending very mixed messages about what is to be tolerated on the forum and that is at the root of the current problem.
gnif:
--- Quote from: mansaxel on August 23, 2022, 01:03:10 pm ---I find it exceptionally hard to accept that a thread that has been at a reasonably consistent signal to noise ratio over something like 130000 messages suddenly becomes a moderator focus with regards to topic-ness, and when asked why, the moderators respond with "we never tolerated this". I respectfully beg to differ. It is not the thread that has changed, it is the moderator tolerance. Denying that will not stand the test of time.
--- End quote ---
Funny you should say this, I have had many people PM me who wish to remain anonymous state that they left or do not bother with the TEA thread because of the SNR which has gradually gotten worse over time.
To "tolerate" something you need to know it's going on in the first place to decide if you want to tolerate it or not. We rely heavily on moderation reports to let us know where our attention is needed, there is simply too much activity here to monitor every single post ever made. Just because we missed the fact that the thread had been going off on a tangent from time to time does not mean it was allowed.
--- Quote from: mansaxel on August 23, 2022, 01:03:10 pm ---I further will argue that the mental ordeal of obsessingly collecting test equipment will have to be dealt with in a holistical manner, for it affects the obsessed and their family to a non-trivial extent. That is what we are doing, and that, IMNSHO, needs some considerable freedom of navigation. But that is my opinion, based on having read at least 50% of the thread. It is not a provable fact like what I stated above.
--- End quote ---
Sure, in which case the discussion is still in relation to electronics, you have this leeway in that thread. This however is not where things ended up, quite a few times we have had to clean up posts that were completely left-field and should never have been posted to the thread in the first place.
--- Quote from: mansaxel on August 23, 2022, 01:03:10 pm ---I am afraid that the thread is considerable danger of dying out if the moderation will be at this elevated level of attention forthwith. I don't know and probably should not speculate about the general attitude to the thread in the moderator community. But I like (from a heavily biased POV) to think that the thread, as such, has sparked interest in learning and applying electronics and more so a scientific mind set to life, for some of its fringe participants. It certainly has had this effect on me, and I am very deeply in debt to it and its members. Consequently, I'm also very worried about its future in the light of recent actions. There's an actual lump in my stomach as I type (and retype, several times) this.
--- End quote ---
We have no desire to lock/stop this thread, we wish it to continue, keeping within the rules of this community and the leeway that has been granted for the thread as written in the OP above.
--- Quote from: mansaxel on August 23, 2022, 01:03:10 pm ---It is not my forum, and the moderators headed by Dave have dictatorial powers. We all acknowledge this, for it is the actual state of things. But a forum is nothing without its members and their contributions. I find it hard to believe that the general well-being of the entire EEVblog forum world would benefit from the alienation of some of its most frequent and sometimes (when I'm not counted) competent posters by removing our playground corner.
</soapbox>
--- End quote ---
We have no desire to alienate people either, but we do have to set boundaries to prevent things devolving into a chaotic mess. Some posts that were recently removed from the TEA thread were on the topic of guns, explosives and bomb making... not sure how any of this could ever be justified anywhere on the forums.
david77:
--- Quote from: gnif on August 23, 2022, 12:35:47 pm ---
--- Quote from: Squarewave on August 23, 2022, 12:22:15 pm ---I imagine it's a mix between those who want to contribute but can't follow the thread because of 10 pages of someone talking about their piles and blood pressure tablets and the others contribute and then their TE gets lost in 10 pages of people talking about their dining table polishing and pace maker battery being replaced by the doctor in a few days.
--- End quote ---
That's pretty much it. Since we initially stepped in we have been getting a lot of messages from members thanking us for trying to clean up the thread so that it can be properly used again.
--- End quote ---
Can you quantify a "lot"? Complainers as well as thankers?
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