Moderation reports

[Kjelt]

The difference in the URLs is not causing the 502 problem.  Those URLs are handled identically by the server.

I admit that on a pc it normally works but on my ipad it does not since yesterday  .
The first URL works correctly on the ipad the second always returns an 502.

[Galenbo]

the final quote from the Brexit Tread:

Sorry to spoil the fun here, but this topic has just cracked the Top 10 list of topics in the public stats. I don't want that to happen for off-topic stuff, it makes the forum look bad.
So the thread is now locked.

I think it's the right decision: The forum has to be mainly about electronics, less about society/economics/politics.
Even if I felt the need to contribute in that topic.

Witch leads to point number2: If I look into my profile, I see too much of my comments are made in "General Chat"
That's not why I'm here, I don't want to be diverted to those topics.

There exist a fantastic option in a computer related forum: "not-new" users have to personally ask "level-Gen" permission to post in those general/politic treads, and some days after they get that permission.
Administrators can block "level-Gen" permission, for example for technically well contributing persons, but also for persons that only post in those kind of treads.

Please make that possible here.
I even never asked "level-Gen" permission there, even though I sometimes felt the need to post in such a general/politics tread.

[Smokey]

There is a "General Chat" section for a reason... to have a place where non-electronics stuff can happen.  If you never ever wanted to have your sensitive eyes see anything non-electronics related, then don't click on "General Chat".  It's really that simple.  If people start making "Does god exist???" threads in the "Metrology" section THEN you have a problem.  Until then everyone needs to calm down.  No one makes you click every link that exists on the internet.  Why make this a special case?
This whole discussion is silly.  People who have an interest in electronics also have opinions on other things besides electronics and like to discuss that.  That's not interfering with discussions about electronics in any way.

And lets not forget.... Forum posts and page views of ANY KIND get Dave more money..... If an EEVBlog Brexit thread shows up as the #1 google hit for Brexit that would be a HUGE revenue boost.  This isn't just a place for us to waste time, this is a business that needs to feed 4 people now.

[MK14]

There is a "General Chat" section for a reason... to have a place where non-electronics stuff can happen.  If you never ever wanted to have your sensitive eyes see anything non-electronics related, then don't click on "General Chat".  It's really that simple.  If people start making "Does god exist???" threads in the "Metrology" section THEN you have a problem.  Until then everyone needs to calm down.  No one makes you click every link that exists on the internet.  Why make this a special case?
This whole discussion is silly.  People who have an interest in electronics also have opinions on other things besides electronics and like to discuss that.  That's not interfering with discussions about electronics in any way.

And lets not forget.... Forum posts and page views of ANY KIND get Dave more money..... If an EEVBlog Brexit thread shows up as the #1 google hit for Brexit that would be a HUGE revenue boost.  This isn't just a place for us to waste time, this is a business that needs to feed 4 people now.

The problem is that it is well known and understood, what happens, when you have/allow political threads, which are not to be confused with general off-topic threads.

Unfortunately what sometimes happens with political threads, is that big, overheated arguments can take place. Potentially leading to personal attacks and trouble, sooner or later, within the forum.
Also stuff which can be written, can be a big annoyance to some members of society. Where a person expresses views which attacks others because of their life interests, or where they were born, etc etc. Again, this is rather problematic.

Therefore a serous moderation capability would be needed. Both in time coverage and resources. This forum (apparently) does not have anything like that sort of capability, and does not seem to want to go down that route. Which is their decision, and fine if that is what they want.

So I (sadly, because some political threads are fun and educationally interesting) have to fully support Dave's "locking" the Brexit thread, and his view on political threads.

If you especially want political thread able forums, there are a number of them available, and they are usually very large forums, with a sizable admins and moderation team. Potentially giving approximately 24 hour moderation coverage.

[Zero999]

the final quote from the Brexit Tread:

Sorry to spoil the fun here, but this topic has just cracked the Top 10 list of topics in the public stats. I don't want that to happen for off-topic stuff, it makes the forum look bad.
So the thread is now locked.

I think it's the right decision: The forum has to be mainly about electronics, less about society/economics/politics.
Even if I felt the need to contribute in that topic.

Witch leads to point number2: If I look into my profile, I see too much of my comments are made in "General Chat"
That's not why I'm here, I don't want to be diverted to those topics.

Although I can see why Dave closed that thread. I was disappointed. I felt it was generally quite civil and I don't believe it attracted many moderation reports.

Like it or not, a lot about brexit is relevant here: it affects funding in science and engineering in the UK and the way other countries do business with the UK.

[xrunner]

I used to have several SMF forums, and I'm pretty sure there is a setting that will prevent the topics in selected boards from appearing in the statistics totals such as what we are talking about, but it's been several years since I had access to those types of settings.

[Galenbo]

... If an EEVBlog Brexit thread shows up as the #1 google hit for Brexit that would be a HUGE revenue boost.  This isn't just a place for us to waste time, this is a business that needs to feed 4 people now.

Only complete sellouts would like to see their specialised technical website suddenly get immensely popular for a complete other reason, like politcs, SM bondage, cats with a Hitler moustache, A new TV series, or a Japanese flower contest.

I genuinely believe is was only closed because percentwise it became too havy.

[Macbeth]

Although I can see why Dave closed that thread. I was disappointed. I felt it was generally quite civil and I don't believe it attracted many moderation reports.

Nah. It had run its course and the convo was turning into a circle jerk of how great Sweden is and how they do everything right, etc...

Like it or not, a lot about brexit is relevant here: it affects funding in science and engineering in the UK and the way other countries do business with the UK.

You can always start another thread on brexit perhaps if you find it actually does affect you personally or in your business and not in some notional way like global currency markets throwing a tantrum because they backed the dead cert favourite and got it wrong. You can do this if it's good or bad, but hopefully related to electronics and not partisan politics.

I would think the rule for General Chat should be much like the chats we have at work or perhaps at the pub. Brexit was an issue at the time - worthy of discussion - but we have moved on. If people keep carrying on with that stuff in the office then they are in the "nutter" category. 

[Kjelt]

The problem is that it is well known and understood, what happens, when you have/allow political threads, which are not to be confused with general off-topic threads.
.....
Therefore a serous moderation capability would be needed. Both in time coverage and resources. This forum (apparently) does not have anything like that sort of capability, and does not seem to want to go down that route. Which is their decision, and fine if that is what they want.

I agree, if you run an international forum you need to consider differences in culture, religion, politics and perhaps even sports.
All those topics are known to be able to oscillate and escalate a topic when two sides have different backgrounds and opinions.
Better keep away from those four topics to have a quiet forum, and people that do feel the need to talk about these topics or vent their opinion, there are enough alternative forums specialized in these topics to go to. 

[Zero999]

Although I can see why Dave closed that thread. I was disappointed. I felt it was generally quite civil and I don't believe it attracted many moderation reports.

Nah. It had run its course and the convo was turning into a circle jerk of how great Sweden is and how they do everything right, etc...

Like it or not, a lot about brexit is relevant here: it affects funding in science and engineering in the UK and the way other countries do business with the UK.

You can always start another thread on brexit perhaps if you find it actually does affect you personally or in your business and not in some notional way like global currency markets throwing a tantrum because they backed the dead cert favourite and got it wrong. You can do this if it's good or bad, but hopefully related to electronics and not partisan politics.

I would think the rule for General Chat should be much like the chats we have at work or perhaps at the pub. Brexit was an issue at the time - worthy of discussion - but we have moved on. If people keep carrying on with that stuff in the office then they are in the "nutter" category. 

The Brexit thing is ongoing and continuously changing, so no, it's nowhere near run its course.

I work at a company which does testing, mostly for defence but also commercial sectors and it does get public funding. The UK's decision to leave the EU will affect us. Not immediately but some time in the future. At the moment the political instability in Turkey is more of an issue for us as some of our customers are Turkish.

I would prefer not to start a thread to discuss this, as I prefer to keep my presence here anonymous and don't want to reveal too much about where I work.

[MK14]

The Brexit thing is ongoing and continuously changing, so no, it's nowhere near run its course.

I work at a company which does testing, mostly for defence but also commercial sectors and it does get public funding. The UK's decision to leave the EU will affect us. Not immediately but some time in the future. At the moment the political instability in Turkey is more of an issue for us as some of our customers are Turkish.

I would prefer not to start a thread to discuss this, as I prefer to keep my presence here anonymous and don't want to reveal too much about where I work.

There is a big difference between saying (hypothetically), the special ultra high frequency, very low noise transistors, which are vital to our product line, and manufactured in Turkey, may become unavailable. Help me please ?
Which is probably fine by Dave's guidelines.

But discussing the possible "troubles/instability" in Turkey, would just be another political thread, with the dangers, as mention by myself and others, of going out of control and might need significant moderation efforts.

[jitter]

Agreed, this is a technical forum, not a political forum. Surely there are political forums (or should that be "fora"?) around that those that feel the need to discuss political subjects can turn to?
The EEVblog just isn't one of them...

[Simon]

The thread had indeed run its course and was unbelievably civil considering the topic but ultimately it had stopped being very useful. For all the people not wanting to have seen it at all I do have to point out that the FTDI gate thread was not much more useful as little of it concentrated on electronics it was about the morals of a company who happened to be making electronics and was not about their products or how to use them. But the FTDI gate thread was allowed to go on and on and I received far more reports on it per page count than I did on the brexit topic. But ultimately the topic had to be locked as it was becoming superfluous and severely deviating from its original topic. I think we had to have the topic because otherwise it would just be something that would have broken into other threads if it had been suppressed immediately. We've all had our say, now we can carry on with electronics. As has been said above the situation is hardly over as there is a lot of turmoil in this country at the moment and heaven knows how our various industries are going to be affected.

Again for all of those who hated it and didn't want to see it well don't look at it. If we all got our say about which thread we don't want to see and therefore should be removed there would be no forum left even fully electronic stuff.

[PlainName]

Surely there are political forums (or should that be "fora"?) around that those that feel the need to discuss

Sure there are, but the people involved in the discussion here aren't going to up sticks and go over there (registering an account, etc) just to post a pithy two-liner. Just as a bunch of blokes down the pub aren't going to walk over to the council building to bang on about council stuff, and then take as stroll along the river to whine about shopping trollies being tipped in the canal, etc.

Like it or not, this is a community and people tend to discuss all sorts of things with they acquaintances. It is actually like a busy cafe or pub in the science museum. Everyone is there for technical reasons, but they have a diverse range of views on everything.

What you're suggesting is that this place turns into a library - any noise not strictly necessary for the main purpose is forbidden. So instead of people looking forward to coming here to interact with like minded techies and geeks, they will drift to other places where they can have such things and enjoy themselves.

The problems with allowing that isn't that the place gets diluted or that non-techies roll up to discuss mumsnet rubbish, but that the discussions get heated and people fall out, hold grudges, etc. Seems Simon and Dave have a handle on that, so why should there be a problem. As people keep saying, no-one is forcing you to read the stuff (I haven't, and it affects me).

[jitter]

Surely there are political forums (or should that be "fora"?) around that those that feel the need to discuss

Sure there are, but the people involved in the discussion here aren't going to up sticks and go over there (registering an account, etc) just to post a pithy two-liner. Just as a bunch of blokes down the pub aren't going to walk over to the council building to bang on about council stuff, and then take as stroll along the river to whine about shopping trollies being tipped in the canal, etc.

Hah, good point.

Like it or not, this is a community and people tend to discuss all sorts of things with they acquaintances. It is actually like a busy cafe or pub in the science museum. Everyone is there for technical reasons, but they have a diverse range of views on everything.

What you're suggesting is that this place turns into a library - any noise not strictly necessary for the main purpose is forbidden. So instead of people looking forward to coming here to interact with like minded techies and geeks, they will drift to other places where they can have such things and enjoy themselves.

You're reading more into my remark than I meant to say. I'm not suggesting anything other than that those that feel the need to discuss political topics in depth may look elsewhere. I'm not saying that the odd remark about this or that political should be banned on this forum, but lengthy political threads IMHO don't suit a forum like this.

The problems with allowing that isn't that the place gets diluted or that non-techies roll up to discuss mumsnet rubbish, but that the discussions get heated and people fall out, hold grudges, etc. Seems Simon and Dave have a handle on that, so why should there be a problem. As people keep saying, no-one is forcing you to read the stuff (I haven't, and it affects me).

Oh, I have had my say in the Brexit thread, and then I walked away from it weeks ago. But it is no surprise to me that the moderators decided to put a lid on it, and I fully support their decision.

[MK14]

There might be some ways a political sub-forum could be created.

Something like the "sponsors only" part of the forum.

Only allow people to enter the political forum, if they have at least 50 or 100 posts, which will minimize multi-accounting.
Maybe even make it 'request to get allowed to use it' in the first place. So that people who want to just ignore it, can.

If they cause trouble, they get banned just from the political sub-forum board. There might be some people who could volunteer to be mods, again just for the political sub-forum.

But overall, I still think it is best to not have it. It seems to potentially bring out the worst in people, sooner or later.

On the other hand, in the current climate, there are a significant number of major changes, potentially coming up in Western life.
Such as Turkeys troubles, possible Trump getting into power, and messing things up, and an apparently ever increasing risk of terrorism in the West, especially in Europe at the moment and of course Brexit and maybe other EU countries who decide to leave.

[Simon]

I wouldn't object to a separate forum with entry restrictions. but it's not my forum. It should also not be google indexed though.

[Zero999]

The Brexit thing is ongoing and continuously changing, so no, it's nowhere near run its course.

I work at a company which does testing, mostly for defence but also commercial sectors and it does get public funding. The UK's decision to leave the EU will affect us. Not immediately but some time in the future. At the moment the political instability in Turkey is more of an issue for us as some of our customers are Turkish.

I would prefer not to start a thread to discuss this, as I prefer to keep my presence here anonymous and don't want to reveal too much about where I work.

There is a big difference between saying (hypothetically), the special ultra high frequency, very low noise transistors, which are vital to our product line, and manufactured in Turkey, may become unavailable. Help me please ?
Which is probably fine by Dave's guidelines.

But discussing the possible "troubles/instability" in Turkey, would just be another political thread, with the dangers, as mention by myself and others, of going out of control and might need significant moderation efforts.

In the case the trouble in Turkey effects us because some of our customers might not be able to visit the UK to carry out the test or could even be in prison or dead as a result of the trouble there.

I wouldn't object to a separate forum with entry restrictions. but it's not my forum. It should also not be google indexed though.

Well I did suggest moving it to the Supporters' lounge but Dave was concerned that some of those who have posted in it will no longer be able to respond to any criticism aimed at them.

[Simon]

Well I did suggest moving it to the Supporters' lounge but Dave was concerned that some of those who have posted in it will no longer be able to respond to any criticism aimed at them.

It's something that would need to start over there, yes if it's "transplanted" later it will just cause more problems. If we were to have a section it would have to be dedicated and with access limits and any topic started outside of it that belongs in it will be deleted or moved and people will know from the rules that they would loose a right to reply if they start it outside the correct section if they don't have access to it.

[MK14]

I wouldn't object to a separate forum with entry restrictions. but it's not my forum. It should also not be google indexed though.

That's exactly what I meant, as well. That by entry restricting it, it would not be google indexed. Although a robots.txt file, should help as well, by instructing search engines to ignore that sub-forum.

In the case the trouble in Turkey effects us because some of our customers might not be able to visit the UK to carry out the test or could even be in prison or dead as a result of the trouble there.

The thing is that is a good example of something which is both a bonafide electronics and political type of thread. So if political threads end up continuing to be discouraged, then I guess you can't discuss it.

If there are no political threads, then stuff like that will not be on this forum. I guess. Unless it is considered specific enough, to be mildly political enough to be acceptable ?

[Smokey]

... If an EEVBlog Brexit thread shows up as the #1 google hit for Brexit that would be a HUGE revenue boost.  This isn't just a place for us to waste time, this is a business that needs to feed 4 people now.

Only complete sellouts would like to see their specialised technical website suddenly get immensely popular for a complete other reason, like politcs, SM bondage, cats with a Hitler moustache, A new TV series, or a Japanese flower contest.

I genuinely believe is was only closed because percentwise it became too havy.

You missed the part where my point was that thread was in "General Chat" and was in no way diluting the specialized technical website discussions...

::EDIT::
ps... http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/03/31/article-1371854-0B6ABB3400000578-707_634x898.jpg

[Mr.B]

Good afternoon Mods...

Spammer alert: User sama2
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/profile/?area=showposts;u=122439

Spamming video promotions or some such.
Registered nine minutes ago.

Thank you.

[PA0PBZ]

EDAC Electronics spamming the forum, posting the same msg in 7 different categories.
Trying to report this I get "The last topic report from your IP was less than 240 seconds ago. Please try again later."
Yeah right, I'm NOT going to wait 7 *4 minutes to report all msgs... 

[Macbeth]

EDAC Electronics spamming the forum, posting the same msg in 7 different categories.
Trying to report this I get "The last topic report from your IP was less than 240 seconds ago. Please try again later."
Yeah right, I'm NOT going to wait 7 *4 minutes to report all msgs... 

I believe you are under no obligation to either. 

[Kilrah]

And it makes no sense to either, just report one, the mod will of course check that poster's other messages, see it's all spam and delete everything in one go.