The post was reinstated due to a surprising number of member requests both via the Forum, Emails and PM's to me, asking to know what it consisted of, and because it helped to make sense of the posts that followed it.
Unfortunately, the reinstatement of the post has resulted in a very, very valued member, Lew Stringer, leaving the forums. And I am truly gutted that this has happened. The man is a font of all comic knowledge, a major contributor to these Forums and a damned good artist as well. I blame myself for his leaving because I made the decision to re-post the banned missive. With hindsight, I definitely should have removed the accusations against Lew (and maybe a couple of other points as well), because it did contravene the new rules and I sincerely apologise for that.
I believed that the remainder of the post was okay to stay, and it was up to the people that read it to draw their own conclusions about the rest of its content.
If you like, Phase 1 of trying to resolve recent forum activity was the introduction of the new succinct set of rules which has generally been very well respected and adhered to and we really do thank you for that. This was a new experience for all of us and we’re still learning (myself, obviously, included). Phase 2 is the attempt to address where we go from here. I am posting this problem out in the OPEN so that we can all have a say on how to resolve this very delicate subject, with the hope that whatever comes at the end of it is adhered to.
Since 2001 and up until 5 months ago the Forum was a very comfortable place to visit and it made for many pleasurable browse and brew moments. There were a few disagreements between members but nothing untoward, and everything got resolved by the members themselves, who simply agreed to disagree and moved on.
But then it all seemed to change. During the past 5 months I have received more PM's and Emails complaining about certain posts then I have ever received since the sites inception back in 2001. So what was the cause of all the furore.
SwirlyThingy joined the boards back in March 2011 and certainly upset the status quo of what had gone on previously, by his very detailed and very opinionated posts. These upset and annoyed many members from within the industry as well as many of the site members. These annoyed members promptly responded with excellently constructed replies and very well written posts that attempted to explain why fellow members were irritated by his posts. Swirly did then calm down the tone of his posts and they became a lot more acceptable. Read his NOTW post here (
http://comicsuk.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.p ... w&start=15). However, some of them do still provoke antagonism amongst the members to the point that people are leaving or simply not visiting the Forums anymore. This is most definitely not what we want, especially with the first part of the new site close to going live (that’s a subject for another post).
As I mentioned, this problem is out in the open (warts and all), which means we have to call a spade a spade (without flaming), which is why I have mentioned the fact that the upheaval started back in March 2011.
So let’s get the ball rolling with suggestions. Some people have already expressed opinions, resolutions and suggestions within other topics, but it will simply take too long to track them all down.
The first suggestion I can offer is:
Refrain from submitting posts that have a Chest-prodding feel exuding from them. Please imagine if you were on the receiving end of your own posts. If you call someone else’s work a failure, bad-decision, poor or remarks of that ilk, it is not very nice and prompts the attacks that you will undoubtedly receive. There are more courteous ways of expressing your dislike for something that will not come across as too disdainful. Or better still, do not include these parts in the posts at all.
A second suggestion:
If you are going to make remarks that are going to upset or annoy people, do not be surprised or complain when people rebuke your views or opinions.
We seriously do not want to have a whole list of rules that we all have to adhere to and monitor. Less is more in our book. Most of the content should be plain ol’ common sense and respect for the industry and Forum members. Basic qualities that seem to get ignored all to frequently in this fast-paced world that we now live in.
Over to you guys.
Al
