Thank you Bruno. Most explicit and to the point in a way that can't be easily refuted. As a person that didn't always fit in the middle of what or when ever I suffered through, as Shakespeare put it, "the slings and arrows" but not of fortunes but words. I applaud the clarity of your writing. By the way, as an aside. There was a fairly recent study done on foul language and older people. It seems, that in general, as we age we tend to relax more in our use of swear words. Not that it is done consciously but the mental prohibition seems to lessen with age. I find that to be somewhat true in that I have found myself using bad language more frequently in everyday conversation and have to self-censor milli-seconds before I utter it.
Very, thoughtful Bruno, and I can honestly say I completely agree. With regards to the first part, yes the language is broad, but knowing when and how to use it to express yourself articulately without being offensive seems to be a dying art. With regards to the second part, as a man (and a father) I feel under more scrutiny around kids that women are. Not that I really mind, I would far rather that than not, and maybe that feeling is just self imposed, and maybe women feel the same way, maybe its just a product of today's society. Too many maybes, but thanks Bruno, I enjoy reading stuff you have written, it is well thought out and considered.
if honing is the art ,then it should include more than just razors.after all, you lay them on their spines witch takes most of the work out of honing .just an opinion. respectfully chris
Got to do what ya got to do.
There is no real option for deactivating an account. I can only delete it or ban it. Both are insatisfactory. Technically it is possible to create a new group which is like a banned account, but without displaying it as such. But then I have to wonder: why would I go through that effort, just to please someone who has already decided not to come back. They can already stop posting by stopping to post. I only have so much time every day to spend on SRP, and I'd rather spend it on people who are actually interested in being here.
Wouldn't closing i.e. deactivating an account work - like closing a thread - in case people would really want to have some sort of 'forum abandonment closure'?
Maybe this is something to be handled via pm? Michael
Interesting that you should say this, but then again, you have been on this side of the thin blue line On average, I post more in the administrative forums than in the public forum. Make no mistake, I like doing what I do here. However, I would enjoy it if we had less 'work' to deal with so that I could spend more time in the workshop forum, or in my actual workshop.
It is an unfortunate fact of life on internet forums that people who are meant to moderate and facilitate forum discussion always end up on the policing end of that spectrum due to the disproportionate amount of time needed to deal with a small yet highly annoying proportion of the membership. So rather than being free to distribute the years of knowledge and wisdom they have collected throughout the threads, facilitate interesting and stimulating discussion within the threads, and help members with genuine issues, they end up drawing attention as "keepers of rules" which in my mind is such a disappointing and misrepresentational view of such an important and repsect-worthy group of individuals. To make matters worse, in the interests of the forum most of the time the actual intercourse between said minority and moderators is cleaned up or deleted, and so people (as they do) form their own interpretation of why member x or member y is no longer with us. That interpretation usually involves police states, heavy handedness, breaches of human rights, unconstitutional behaviours. Mods get a bad rap, but they are the hardest working people around here. James.
I just reconsidered my new title as Moderator of the Ladies Corner. j/k Happy to be a part of this fine group of Mods! SRP is a great forum with very friendly members, happy to be here. Thanks for the post Bruno
It was a general remark, indicating that the classifieds do cause a lot of headaches and private discussions. The classifieds are not going away.
I do hope the comment about deleting the classifieds was a joke and doesn't happen. As strange as it may seem I actually trust people around here, rather than at that place where you 'win' things, although I did 'win' my first razor and it was excellent. I've bought three razors here (one in the classifieds and the others were offered via PMs) and have been really happy with the whole process. If anyone were to ask me where to buy their first straight razor, I'd say (and I have said) here, simply based on my positive experience and the fact that you guys know what you're talking about. I don't offer see statements like 'I found it in an estate and I haven't tested it so don't know if it shaves well, but it looks good'. :-)
Y'know one thing to take into consideration is that we, the mods, are volunteers. People who haven't walked a mile in our shoes have no idea how much time is consumed handling these issues that come up. If someone reports a post, a PM, a classified ad, we have to discuss it. Once action, or no action is decided upon we have to PM the person who generated the 'problem'. Then we wait for a response and discuss that. Just a routine "please remove your sig", or "no appraisals are allowed" ...... things that are plainly stated in the rules that all agree to when they register, can take 20 or 30 minutes for a mod to deal with from start to finish. Not a big deal you say .... well if you've worked your 10 hour shift and are in front of your PC , relaxing and perusing the forum, now you have to deal with this that and the other. Alright, we volunteered for the job and it comes with the territory. Fair enough and we deal with it. OTOH, it is not inexplicable that some of us get frustrated when we are disrespected by people that we are providing a service for. As for making an offer for a classified item ..... I've put them up and asked for a given price and had people make offers. It is not an unheard of practice. For me, or any other mod to make an offer is perfectly fine AFAIC ..... as long as the offer doesn't include a promise of favoritism or a threat of disciplinary action if it isn't accepted. The individual in the blog post responded to all of the mods with innuendo that many, if not all of us, considered insulting. Try to do a guy a favor and what happens ...... Cast not your pearls before swine.
Deleting the classifieds would make life so much easier around here....
"There was 1 vintage (restored, non-perfect) razor that the owner did not have an accurate price for. He based his proposed price on the sale of a mint one that itself was overpriced. So I explained that the price I would expect that blade to fetch was along the line of xyz dollars." What is meant by "accurate?" I don't understand this to mean that he goofed and made a typo. You're saying he wanted too much for the razor, yes? If I was in his position at that moment, I would take it that you're either (a) offering some free advice about how to sell a particular razor; or (b) attempting to horse trade with him. Given that you'd already inquired about prices and noted that they were too high, I lean towards thinking that he assumed you were trying to move his price down. The free advice option doesn't seem the likely one given those facts. If he thought you were trying to horse trade with him, I can see that conversation being complicated for him if a moderator is the other party. Considering the reluctance of people to valuate anything on this forum, it would be a little odd to have a moderator, in a position of power, tell me what I would consider my business regarding the amount at which I price my items. I'm just saying that, based on those facts, it could be interpreted as a power play in spite of your good intentions. I'm not trying to apologize for anyone, just trying to increase our collective understanding. I think you've done well to get it on the record and into the open.
I find it sad and reprehensible how some members act. Things only seem to get worse if there is money involved. I have had nothing but positive interactions with the members and mods on this forum and find that the moderators who so generously DONATE THEIR TIME are above reproach. Please don't let a few bad apples ruin the bunch. (Any time you argue with an idiot you are bound to lose. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience...) As for the prices, it is a law of supply and demand. If you quit buying at inflated prices, the market will adjust.
The prices in the classifieds are determined entirely by the buyers and the seller, SRP does not get involved at all either way. Of course, if you want to lower the prices you can always increase the supply by selling your own razors at the low prices you wish to see Back on topic here's another example of how some (currently former) members like to contact us. Short background - that member's ad was removed for violating the rules and here's his response to the notification he got (the bleep edits are mine): Are you *bleep* kidding me? Do you know how *bleep* long it took me to put that add together? Apparently he thought we weren't working hard enough for him, so he immediately sent a second PM to clarify what we ought to do: Put it back now It turned out that same member had a number of other bannable forum violations as well, like multiple accounts, deceiving members, etc., so it was an easy decision how to handle his case
There is at least one in every crowd, and sadly, the larger the group becomes the more of this type exists. It's a law of averages. NO matter how hard you try, there is always going to be the one that maintains they were treated unfairly. Trying to 'police' (and I use that word lightly) a generic classified section to ensure adherence to a set of rules is not an easy task, it takes time and effort that largely goes unnoticed and unheralded. I have noticed that what was once a price range of 25-50$ has been replaced by 150-350$ postings. I believe the classifieds are becoming a deterent rather than a blessing. Once upon a time, folks would refer newbies to the classifieds to get a sharpened, less expensive razor to get started with, this has practically ceased to exist. One can now purchase a brand new Dovo or Boker for less than the advertised price on 90% of the classifieds. Tough Job for Bruno!! My 2 cents. M
ill be honest and say ive went to all kinds of fourm from trapping to knifemaking to maple syrup making and i havent joined any other ones for the simple fact people dont behave like mature people on those fourms they think its fun to try and start an argument and on here i find its alot more mellow and 99% of us behave maturly and agree to disagree on certain things
bruno i agree with ya, you guys do put up with alot of stuff, i remember a member bashing all mods and big guns for discurgaging people from doing things themselfs and instead tryign to get them to buy and pay other people to hone restore ect ect. Well all know thats not tru and neather is this accusation about blocking the classifieds from people that wont sell to you at ur price. ZYour a great mod and im happy to be able to intereact with people like you on a daily basis
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