[preamble] Top posting is intentional. No trimming is intentional. This is because I am trying to beat the proverbial dead horse (quoting P.S. referring to this thread). [/preamble]
I strongly feel that each CentOS forum moderator should have an e-mail address that can be used for "official" CentOS business. I am not repeating why because it is well explained in the conversation below, which I posted over 4 months ago.
This subject came back recently in the moderators' thread because we want to post our contact info in a visible place (Readme First - forum guidelines) so that forum users can easily find the way to reach us. We thought about using the PM. But it is not only a suboptimal method but is now totally broken and unusable.
It is our sincere hope that the CentOS core admins give this request a serious consideration.
Thanks,
Akemi
On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 1:21 AM, Akemi Yagi amyagi@gmail.com wrote:
On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 12:13 AM, Akemi Yagi amyagi@gmail.com wrote:
Before the KB's message was posted to this mailing list, there was a conversation among the people who participated in the chat. I am now trying to paste the content of what we discussed in that conversation for everyone to see.
That was the first part of the conversation. Here's the second (and the last) part.
Akemi
======================== On Thu, Dec 10, 2009 at 11:41:36AM +0000, Ned Slider wrote:
Karanbir,
One issue I'd like to raise (again) that I forgot to raise yesterday during the call is use of "company" email. I raised this before and I think it was misunderstood (given the public belittling I received), maybe because CentOS currently associates @centos.org email addresses with other roles.
But there are times when forum moderators will be required to communicate with members by email, and it is only professional and right to provide a tool to do that job. It is unfair (and unprofessional) to expect moderators to correspond with their own email addresses when conducting business on behalf of the CentOS forums, and I know Phil S has also raised the issue before, understandably not wanting to use his nasa.gov address for such activities.
If an @centos.org implies something more privileged then I would suggest an alternative domain or subdomain such as @centosforums.org or @forums.centos.org, something that can be more clearly associated with the role in question. In my not so humble experience, when you don't give people the right tools to do the job they very quickly get fed up doing said job and move on. Of course there is an implicit understanding that such email addresses are only used when appropriate, but IMHO it's a tool that needs to be made available to forum moderators.
================== Scott Robbins wrote:
One issue I'd like to raise (again) that I forgot to raise yesterday during the call is use of "company" email. I raised this before and I think it was misunderstood (given the public belittling I received), maybe because CentOS currently associates @centos.org email addresses with other roles.
Not having seen that conversation, I'm a bit shocked that something so obvious would be belittled. Do mods have to communicate with members using their own email addresses? If I were an unruly member, and received an email from say, Ned, at his own email address, I'd be more likely to send back a nasty answer, saying, in part, how do I know you're from CentOS and not someone else with a similar username?
That one goes without saying. As Ned suggests, if there's special criteria for a centos.org address, then create a centosforums.org or something similar.
I'm sorry that I'm seeming so negative about all these things, but again, it comes from experience doing it the other way.
to provide a tool to do that job. It is unfair (and unprofessional) to expect moderators to correspond with their own email addresses when conducting business on behalf of the CentOS forums, and I know Phil S has also raised the issue before, understandably not wanting to use his nasa.gov address for such activities.
As I always say, (stolen from Cracked.com, but so often applicable to technology), "What could possibly go wrong with that?"
And the answer certainly should not be, tell him to get a gmail address to use. That's saying, We don't appreciate your work. You want to help, it's up to you to get the tools.
If an @centos.org implies something more privileged then I would suggest an alternative domain or subdomain such as @centosforums.org or @forums.centos.org, something that can be more clearly associated with the role in question. In my not so humble experience, when you don't give people the right tools to do the job they very quickly get fed up doing said job and move on.
See my earlier email. Extremely valid point. People are doing this out of their own goodness.
Of course there is an implicit understanding
that such email addresses are only used when appropriate, but IMHO it's a tool that needs to be made available to forum moderators.
One other possibility, and what we use in the Fedora forums, is the Private Message option. When a member commits an infringement, they're given a private message from staff which is usually also shown to other staff in the staff lounge. The member's response is also printed.
That's not quite essential, in most cases, general summations are acceptable save when the member gives an unacceptable response, such as the one who accusesd us of being in the pay of RedHat. (Which was more amusing than aggravating, causing a lot of wasted posts about, "Where's my cut?" And someone else answering, "You didn't get it? Ooops, never mind."
While members have the option of turning off PMs, it is expected that will leave the default of accepting PMs from staff.
================= Ned Slider wrote:
I'm talking specifically about situations where members may not have access to the forums so email is the only form of communicating - such as notifying a member he's received a temp ban for some infringement of rules, or confirming a members identity who's lost access to their registered email account and forgotten their password - surprising how often that happens!
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