Hello John
It isn't my intention to sound preachy or in any way high handed, but this is a very important issue in my mind.
I think everyone who participates in a friendly or professional fashion contributes to this thread. Pro play or anti, regardless.
This thread or any thread, will only remain useful and enjoyable if everyone feels free to comment without fear of derision or cheap shots.
Once that starts, threads degenerate into camps, one side sniping at the other, and many of the less patient or more professional contributors generally depart. You need only look at the Bre-x thread, or in my personal experience, at the Winspear thread to see the sniping, and how the loss of different perspectives ultimately has harmed them and/or their enjoyment.
I have said it before and a number of posters like Ed have repeated it, if we all pitch in and make everyone welcome we are all better off in the long run.
No one wins these tit for tat sniping contests, and you really don't feel any better for having wounded the other party. They rarely clutch their broken hearts. They just retaliate, and it never seems to end.
I'll admit it, I have sucumbed to the cheap shots and retaliated in the past but guess what, the other guy never got the point, he just shot some remark back. Nobody wins!
In my experience, its best to just ignore their posts and skip on by. Eventually they will either get the message as most posters and lurkers see them for what they are.
When you consider how the level of participation in this thread has grown since last winter, even since late summer, its amazing and a tribute to everyone. Just look at how well we have all got along and maintained the professionalism of our posting and treatment of one-another.
I think everyone here should be proud of what we have accomplished! I am sure we are all aware of how fragile the system is yet how important it is that we maintain it.
I am constantly impressed with the people on this thread and consider it the finest group and thread on SI, at least that I am aware of.
If I have any concern with the thread it is with the increadible volume of postings as you allude to. You had thirty to go but I have over a hundred and it has grown even since I started this post. I often find I miss responding to people due to limited time and wish to read all for fear of missing some obscure fact or tid bit of information.
I don't have a solution as when someone starts a "Just The Facts" parallel thread and leaves the general chit chat on the original, you just end up having to look in two places and its confusing.
Maybe someone could suggest a simple solution?
Would it make sense to preface general chit chat posts with two capital C's "CC"? I don't know, but I invite everyone to think about it. If we can all agree on some really simple system or code, it would make keeping abreast of the really important issues much easier.
Any ideas out there? Maybe someone, Ed perhaps, if you have the time, could consolidate a list of any or all proposed ideas, and we could all vote.
I'm off to watch a hockey game but will try to come back this evening and go through the backlog.
I really think we are going to lose some valuable contributors if we don't come up with a simple system to allow quick scans for important posts, like Ed's volume observations or Terry's geology or Feline's analytical questioning, or Mr. Metals rumours, etc.
I don't know about you, but I really don't want to read why J.J., or someone else, is this or that, when there are a hundred posts to go through.
What do you think gang?
Regards |
