The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Here is my view of my role as an administrator for the LBC website. I’d be grateful if other administrators would contribute to this discussion to see if there is a rough consensus regarding our modus operandum.

When I agreed to the request to be an administrator I was asked by the Webmaster Andrew Chick to monitor the content of contributions as he couldn’t oversee everything that was pouring in. I was asked to edit or delete abusive and other inappropriate content. In the time that I have been an administrator I have binned items containing personal and racial abuse, some which have been libellous and edited or removed items with street language. Anyone who knows me will be aware that I’m not prudish or narrow-minded and may swear as much as the next man but I try not to be deliberately (or accidentally) offensive and I try to apply commonly held standards of decency to this site. However, some decisions are easier than others. Readers of the site will not know whether administrators are doing a good job or not as inappropriate material will be moved before the majority view it. Then the author will kick up a fuss about humourless admin etc demanding to know why their sensitively written piece was binned.

Let’s be specific. I’m not picking on birddog but his latest is fresh in the mind. Roger’s recent rant was deleted. Not by me, although I thought about it. It was a quasi-fascist piece of nonsense that was probably intended as humour but which could easily offend some readers – especially at this time of the year! So an administrator scrapped it. Roger then demands that his voice be heard, that censorship be stopped, freedom of speech etc. As the author he would say that, wouldn’t he! And of course, without publishing the offending item for all to see who, apart from the admin will know the truth? So the administrators are between a rock and a hard place. All we can do is view a submission to this site and make a judgement about the propriety of its content or in which section it should properly be placed. Sometimes we may get it wrong but I am taking this role seriously as this website is read far beyond the borders of our county and it is one of the best and I want it to maintain those standards.

Standing on the terraces hurling abuse is easy. When you’re in the middle with the whistle it can seem like a different game.

I’d welcome a sensible debate about this matter.

John

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Lincolnshire Birds https://www.flickr.com/photos/120340949 ... 8078912016
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Contact: recorder_north@lincsbirdclub.co.uk

As a fellow administrator I am in full agreement with John and feel that he has set out what we try to achieve very well.

We do not take pleasure in moving or deleting posts and when possible I will edit a post, removing any offensive items, but leaving the subject of the post intact.

As stated some items need to be moved into other sections. People will soon get frustrated by looking in the "bird reports" section and finding mainly items which should be in the "chat" section, this is why this section was added.

Our aim is to keep the bird club forum as one of the best in the country and to all enjoy our wonderful hobby.

We welcome any constructive comments.

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Regards,

Andy.

Hi John/Andy,

Anyone doing your job is never going to please all of the contributors all of the time. Every decision you make will be praised by some and criticized by others. I personally think you do a difficult job very well, and I am grateful that you devote your time and energies into making the website run smoothly.

Cheers

Steve

PS Having spent some time in the field with various administrators I can assure anyone reading this that they are far from humourless, even though John's infamous joke about the wreath in the cemetery isn't for the faint-hearted.

I totally agree with the comments that John and Andy have made.

A few members are too ready to criticise others when a dispute concerning bird id bursts upon us. Constructive argument is the way forward and not the yah boo behaviour we sometimes see now. It's sad to find that some county birders so often snipe at the people who run LBC and really try to move things forward. A number of these volunteers spend a huge amount of time working on behalf of LBC and The Forum members all for no reward save for the satisfaction of knowing that somebody appreciates that hard work.

On several occasions we have edited inappropriate language from posts but this does not mean that we are prudes. We feel that a public forum, like ours, deserves better.

The Forum currently has members with a wide range of birding ability, from ornithologists through outright twitchers and keen week-end birders to garden bird watchers. They all have a point of view and should be able to bring that to The Forum without fear of ridicule or censure.

Regards,

Colin

I fully endorse Steve's remarks and consider the Administrators do a first class job. Andrew has set up a comprehensive website which caters for the whole spectrum of birding and beyond. There are separate Forums covering virtually everything which gives all contributors the opportunity to say their piece. If it is in the "wrong" place then it is moved to the "right" section by the Administrators. The only time it is removed completely from open view is when the content is abusive, libellous, obscene or similarly unsuitable. I am delighted to be a regular contributor and congratulate all the Administrators in ensuring that this is probably the best Forum of its' kind to be used by all birders whether experts or not.

YES I also agree with all the comments made, at the end of the day the forum is for sightings, and not for having a go at one another ,always makes me laugh about forums - slating etc, why not send an e-mail to each other or meet up at the local park with gloves of course and sort it out like Men, job done :lol:

The forum is viewed from all over the Country - World, and in my opinion the best forum in the Country, as I will always state.

But yes people will always have there opinion of course, all I ever say is show me one better. Upto date sightings - from some great birders etc
Great Bird wildlife photos

And also remember a forum is for using, wether it be sightings from your Garden etc, if no info goes on a forum then no one will look !!!

All the best to all :wink:

ps Lets think what we put on the forum as hundreds do view it and long may this be :P

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Regards
Dean Eades



Take nothing but photos - Leave nothing but footprints - Waste nothing but time

My website: http://www.birdmad.com
https://www.facebook.com/dean.eades1
http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdmad/
http://www.lcegroup.co.uk
http://www.Canon.co.uk

I wasn't annoyed before I started a reply to everyone, but I am at present, because I was doing a lengthy reply I got timed-out and LOST it all, thanks.

May try again tomorrow.

Max

I would like to thank John for his posting, which I totally agree with all points.

When I first created the LBC Website and eGroup, many years ago, I attempted to be the sole administrator, but as the website has grown I have found this impossible. I would therefore like to publically thank all the volunteer administrators who over the last few years have made the job of running the LBC Forum so much easier.

The team of LBC Forum administrators are ALL members of the bird club and are all well known birders in Lincolnshire. Obviously, there will be a difference of opinion between individual administrators, but generally I feel that the team have over the past few years managed to guide the forum along an acceptable path.

Recent postings have suggested that the administrators have been too harsh or have acted inappropriately. I would like to state, categorically that the team of administrator have my full support and without them there would be NO LBC Forum.

Regards

Andrew

(PS I am in the process of moving jobs and presently struggling to keep up with reading the Forum, let alone administrating the Forum. Hopefully, in the New Year I should have a whole lot more time!)

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Andrew Chick
Website: http://www.forktail.co.uk/

And Finally…….

Some interesting terminology for Internet Forums and Forum users can be found at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29 (see the section Trolling in the 1990’s) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamebait

This is a ‘light’ hearted look at Forum and made me smile anyway……………

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Andrew Chick
Website: http://www.forktail.co.uk/

I have quite a few questions to ask, for now I'll just ask one.

What are the names of all the administration team? During the time of my membership I've been in contact with about seven.

Kind regards

Max

Max,
To save Andrew another job, if you look at the left hand column on Forum entries with the name of the contributor, they are identified by the word "Administrator" below their name.

Admin Folk

Andrew Chick
John Clarkson
Andy Sims
The Jennings
John Badley
Graham Hopwood
Dean Eades

I am probably one of the people whom with my sense of humour have perhaps abused the system.
I personally would like to thank you all for the efforts and time given freely being in a no win position and trying to please everybody which is an impossible task.
All participants whom feel they can do better, then step forward and collect the very often unwarrented earfuls.
As for me, my school report says can do better ( see me ). I will try to improve but sadly it already has been a lifetimes work with no serious progress made so if it is ok with you guys i will carry on and do my best
Ta much for all the hard work yours respectfully,

Terry Whalin

Terry,

One doesn't have to be a member of the admin team to get unwarrented earfuls! In the last five years I've had plenty of ear bashings etc and so have a few friends of mine. I suppose it comes with speaking one's mind, rather than keeping quiet, like the majority do.

Regards


Stuart,

I didn't expect Andrew to reply, he is far too busy. But did expect one of the admin team to reply. No need now Russ has done it.

I always thought you was a member of the admin team?

Regards

Max
absolutely agree with you and fully understand. I think a lot can be read into peoples attitudes in life by the way they phrase their postings and people often mistake the wish to hit back when considered personally offended. ( walking on eggshells here max ) Mutual respect here is something that comes to mind Max.
I was not in any way pointing a finger at you and some people mistake the wish to air your views passionatly. I just think this is a trait of someone that cares in life.
Might dip my toes into the MSQ area shortly and if i see you, a shared pint comes to mind, take care !!, chin up !! , non illegitemi carborundum !!( PROBABLY MISSPELT THAT ).

Terry Whalin