General Chat

Sylvia is quite right to be apprehensive if the scenario she portrays of low paid, un-associated moderators being employed by highly profitable commercial moderator providing companies who themselves are employed by a website to moderate its message boards. Quite right that is providing that the scenario she portrays is accurate, truthful and based upon her personal experience of being a member of just such a moderated site. Personally I have my doubts that all those criteria have been met but knowing Sylvia well I know that if I am wrong she will correct me.

I have no way of knowing whether or not Genes Reunited will ever appoint moderators to oversee the content posted on its message boards. Similarly I would suggest, neither have those who currently state that GR will never employ moderators. It is important to remember that nothing here is inscribed in stone.

I recall recently reading a post which said that there would shortly be some changes at GR. Let us hope that if there are then the changes will be positive changes for site improvement rather than for purely cosmetic purposes. Maybe, just maybe, one of those changes might be how the message boards are policed. Who knows?

Should any GR staff or management member be following this thread here is a tip. Take a look at Rootschat, a site not dissimilar to GR. Note how their message boards are moderated by volunteers from their own membership who they describe thus:

Our RootsChat moderators are very special people, they have shown outstanding qualities and have gone the extra mile for a few of you. We would be lost without them and they try their best to look after all your posts to give them the best opportunity for an answer. All the moderators are volunteers.

GR will not employ moderators ....................


if they give in to your demands for "moderators" 24/7 ............... they will contract out to a company that then hires housewives, students, anyone with a computer who wishes to earn a little money by "moderating" sites.

I'm not kidding .................. this is what happens.

There are several, if not many, companies doing just this ........... raking in the money, while paying peanuts to people wanting to earn a little money while sitting at their computer.

The RR'd post will be sent from here to the company, who will then farm it out to whoever on their list is working at that specific moment in time.

It could be a student in the US or France

It could be a 70 year old woman in South America


They do apparently have some sort of "standardisation" of unacceptable postings for each site that they are moderating


But I would dare to say that the result would be even more erratic results than we get now!

Love it SC. :-D :-D :-D

Add this one as well:

YOUR STORY HAS TOUCHED MY HEART NOW GO AWAY AND ANNOY SOMEONE ELSE.

Well said Rose,

If I have RR in the past , I will say so on the same thread, to this day I have never been challenged for doing so, I have also had many a post RR and have been told by the same person publicly that they have done so and normally with good reason, I have always thanked them for their honestly, I may not be happy about it at the time but it does save the finger pointing and the mob desending. However so people may not be as forward as I or many others, so telling people who the RR is to me isnt a good idea. Anyway a RR post can keep many people on GR entertained for days on end. :-\

*sticks hand up*

I will volunteer to be an unpaid moderator if I get special buttons :

'SHUT UP'

'YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT'

'WHY NOT TRY READING THE PREVIOUS POSTS ON THIS THREAD'

'USING *s IN WORDS IS STILL SWEARING'

'GO BOIL YOUR HEAD'

'IT'S WELL PAST YOUR BEDTIME'

'I DIDN'T KNOW YOU HAD INTERNET ACCESS IN A SECURE UNIT?'

Do I get the job? :-D :-D :-D :-D

Quite possible Jonesey. I don't object to the ads myself, it is a business and needs whatever income it can generate from whatever source in these difficult economic times, ( I imagine, I don't know of course).

I sometimes feel and think that when something or someone is RR'd forever whatever reason then it is carried on by certain posters......This is my personal opinion, I do have common sense yet do not feel that my or other certain peoples opinions are not read or even thought of because of the way it is posted.......

RRing will never disappear neither will an RRer so why carry it on and repeat oneself over and over again??

yes I could have kept all my opinions on the matter on one post ( hoorah) but was also endeavouring to express some of the opinions mentioned to me by others too wary of disagreeing on here, simply because they have no desire to be got at or accused of being humourless or getting "het up"!

Just a thought Rose.

Perhaps members of GR who moan about adverts on the site do so because they pay a membership fee and do not see any benefit of adverts appearing on the site.

Second thoughts:

I cannot recall ever seeing a Rootschat member complaining about adverts on the site. Mind you perhaps a moderator had stepped in and removed the complaint before I viewed. :-D

Jonesey, re advertising to pay for moderators...great, but I hope everyone is well prepared to respond to all the people who also moan about adverts on the site .

Re the point "it doesn't need to be 24 hour " moderation Island..Isn't the alternative actually what is in place now? the staff moderate what is reported to them...

NOWHERE have I said no one can have an alternative view to me, I have responded respectfully and read every opinion and replied ( as to Jonesey) when adressed specifically, with I hope some degree of impartiality and literacy.

alright Island have it your way, No I don't know that "no company" is going to pay for moderators 24/7 but I DO know that GR won't because they have said so.

I am not remotely "het up" but I wonder why, when I have not directed ANY comments to you or for you, YOU have accused me of being "imaginative" in my comments which were perfectly reasonable observations... and now comment "Surely even you" as much as to say that I must be unaware that posts are reported maliciously at times ...of course I am aware of that, I have been on the receiving end of it, have you?

I don't believe the reporter of Mr Magoos post did so maliciously. that's all...

Just returning to Moderators for a moment.

www.rootschat.com is a completely free website whose members do not pay a fee to be a member of. The site generates its income to cover its running costs via advertising. Its site has moderators, here is what it says about them:

"Our RootsChat moderators are very special people, they have shown outstanding qualities and have gone the extra mile for a few of you. We would be lost without them and they try their best to look after all your posts to give them the best opportunity for an answer. All the moderators are volunteers.

Above all we believe that everyone is equal. What we all have to share is our own special talents, be it local knowledge of our home town, or running one-name study groups to perhaps being great with a digital camera - everyone can help!

RootsChat owns its own energy efficient servers which consume 50% less energy than the previous generation of servers. We support a local company by popping them in a datacentre Manchester. The datacentre is also very energy efficient. Our servers are powered by renewable energy.

The site is (and always has been) completely free of charge. It is sustainable, and self sufficient by raising funds by good old fashioned advertising - in the same way as your local free newspaper does. This keeps all the kit running and up to date, so that everything runs as it should do.

Sarah and Trystan started the site in 2003, and are still keeping the cogs oiled. They are a husband and wife team, and are still speaking to each other."


If Rootschat basically a husband and wife team can manage to do that why not Genes Reunited?

:-D :-D ;-) @ Island (last sentence only)

Jonesey - can you correct spelling in header purleease - getting really irritating. I know it is a copy of original, but why do we have to be annoyed by two helpings of YORKSIRE :-0 :-0 :-( :-(

Rose, if you don't like it why don't you leave it alone?

Sorry love but you seem to be getting very het up over something you don't want others to post about.

Have some respect for others having a different view to yours.
You simply don't know that 'NO company is going to waste time moderating a chat board'. It does not need to be a 24 hour attendance.

John. There is a word for that.
For what it's worth, I don't know why your post was reported and removed. It was pure panto villain.

Trouble is John, not everyone shares the same humour as yourself...I saw it and thought no more of it.

Why anyone would take offence I do not know....same as some of my comments that have been rr'd and removed in the past.....It could be someone who just wants to get you into trouble...which I believe happened in my case..

Agrees with Rose :-) :-) ;-)

"Surely even you"??? implying what Island?

Budgie, my point was not re posts on either site , offensive or ultra offensive or not at all ...it was pointing out the purely financial aspect..ie that NO company is going to waste money moderating a chat board 24/7 if it doesn't have to

And some posts are written out of sheer petulance or maliciousness?

My post on this thread has not been restored. I suggested that terrible punishment should be meted out on the person who reported Jonesey's opening post. It was not an actual threat, and in any case, have not resorted to tarring and feathering an irritating adversary since my teens. And I think (despite a healthy difference of opinion) the general tone is that many believe the reporter of OP to have been a most irritating adversary.

I have been told off - so not only has the reporter had a humanity bypass, so have.... (fill in the missing word or words).

I reckon that the next time a thread /post is deleted that we should all C&P our posts from here, because it would be the same as the last thread and the one before that......post away Island......I was hoping to see something new! perhaps someone could make the thread less like any of the others....all arguments on each side.....and also me butting in.....have been noted along with the nastiness, and I am sure GR have noted them too........a dead Fred maybe ?....