Aggressiveness in the forum ...

[vertigopix]

Just a quick note to say I'm sad to see that some people become aggressive in the forum ...

I think the Magic Lantern adventure is great and there is no place for this kind of behavior ...
I hope it will not be negative for future developments as Magic Lantern is a wonderful tool!

Greetings to everyone from Switzerland and keep rockin'!

[Marsu42]

Just a quick note to say I'm sad to see that some people become aggressive in the forum ...

Not, that's rather unspecific, isn't it (and not observed by me, at least not by my standards). I suggest you report the relevant posts to the mod and only complain about it if he/she/they don't react, or is it something moody you see in all posts and not only in a few specific ones?

[vertigopix]

It is true that it is not "general" but sometimes that lack of courtesy ...

[N/A]

Keep in mind though, that some users don't speak English natively, so some things may get lost in translation.

But we have great mods here for a rapidly growing community, so just report any suspected mis-behaviors.

[jerrykil]

I've had the opposite experience so far. Some great ppl on these forums

[Marsu42]

Keep in mind though, that some users don't speak English natively, so some things may get lost in translation.

Good point there, being a non-native speaker I know what I thought I said isn't the necessarily the same thing that a native speaker hears... plus not every post about something is fine-tuned and pondered upon a long time which is ok for tech discussion threads. Looking at other tech forums, the general tone is very nice around here, or I would leave in an instant.

Actually the best way to deal with this before reporting it to a mod is to write a pm stating that you feel offended or you think the post comes across as aggressive, really a lot of people don't realize and are greateful to hear some constructive feedback as were all here to help out or use ml in some way or another.

[SDX]

Actually the best way to deal with this before reporting it to a mod is to write a pm stating that you feel offended or you think the post comes across as aggressive, really a lot of people don't realize and are greateful to hear some constructive feedback as were all here to help out or use ml in some way or another.

Let me just say that we off course also check the context in which the post is, before issuing warnings.
Many reports are due to on a misunderstanding, and we can see that as well.

The best thing to do is to report posts to us - there is almost always one of us online who will take care. Also, most of us do get notifications, so it is usually only be at matter of minutes. We then take action in form of evaluating, writing pms, editing the post, and in the worse cases deleting posts and issuing warnings.
Also, you'll stay anonymous!

[engardeknave]

sometimes that lack of courtesy

My heavens! Vulgarity does unsettle me so.

[Audionut]

some people become aggressive in the forum ...

Some people are aggressive in all forms of life, not just forums.  If you have a problem with a post, use the report option.  This also allows a short summary of the issue you have with the post.

Let me just say that we off course also check the context in which the post is, before issuing warnings.
Many reports are due to on a misunderstanding, and we can see that as well.

The best thing to do is to report posts to us - there is almost always one of us online who will take care. Also, most of us do get notifications, so it is usually only be at matter of minutes. We then take action in form of evaluating, writing pms, editing the post, and in the worse cases deleting posts and issuing warnings.
Also, you'll stay anonymous!

This. 

I've been to forums where only the reported post is considered when dealing with the issue.  I personally like to spend the time to read the thread (with reported post) to ensure I'm dealing with any problems in the thread, rather then simply a single post.

[ItsMeLenny]

This post is in the wrong section

my bad, I actually was, woops

[Datadogie]

What seems easy to some is complicated for the next. For me I do not translate written tutorials well and would like to see more tutorials with examples of how to do this or that, rather than someone posting RTFM. Where a lot of the misunderstanding comes from. Also people should have a list of equipment, maybe even country as some say it could be a language thing, listed (below) to help answer questions when asked.

[Marsu42]

Also people should have a list of equipment, maybe even country as some say it could be a language thing, listed (below) to help answer questions when asked.

In international English-spoken forums, I generally give anyone the benefit of the doubt that it's a second language - imho native speakers need reminding sometimes that not everyone lives in the US or pays in $, but I'm not sure a "Excuse me, I'm German" tagline would be the solution... I admit sometimes I'd rather find "Excuse me, I'm a native speaker" would be appropriate since it's the foreigners who take the hassle to converse in a foreign language for the benefit of an international community. No need for a flame war :-), just sayin'.

As for equipment - a very long gear line is also controversial since can often be mistaken as "I'm richer than you and know everything" which makes people with can make feel people with Rebel + 50/1.8 inferior. Admittedly ML is not a tech geek site, but On Canon Rumors, the trend has been not to list one's $15000 equipment anymore, or only a small part of it, over here I'm listing my camera bodies since that's what's important to ml.

[Andy600]

I'm all for users displaying where they're from. Maybe a flag like on other forums? It would probably save some misunderstandings on here. I don't care so much if someone has (or lists) their $$$$ of gear. I can't afford it personally and anyway, it's what you do with what you have that matters. I'm far more impressed when someone shoots something amazing on a 550D than a 5D MkIII.

[Marsu42]

I'm all for users displaying where they're from. Maybe a flag like on other forums?

I'm not too convinced that would help - there are prejudice around, so I don't think a country flag should be forced. Also some people might not identify too much with their countries :-) and a country flag is not just a geographical origin, but also symbolizes politics ... personally, I usually put "Berlin" in the location field in forums, so if someone wants to know where I'm from he/she just has to click the profile.

[Africashot]

I've got a German passport, grew up in Spain, live in Kenya but spent most of the last decade almost exclusively speaking English...
With that out of the way I must say that I do not have the impression that most people who come across as aggressive are being misunderstood because of their poor language skills. Yes, maybe not everyone shares the same sensitivity for NSFW language as it is fostered especially in the US but, most people who rant about stuff are doing just that; feeling empowered by the anonymity supplied through the internet they loose any blockades society imposes on tactful behavior and set their rage free, often acting as a valve for other frustrations in their lives.
That said I actually haven't had the feeling that this is often the case in this forum, in fact to date this is the most tolerant and so to speak 'cleanest' forum I am aware of, if it was to turn into a problem you could force people to display their real names as it is done in other forums (Phillip Bloom's forum f.e.), but then who knows, maybe one day Canon will decide that what we are doing here is against the rules and come after us...

[darkstarr]

Ml forums are some of the cleanest forums ive ever seen.

[ItsMeLenny]

Ml forums are some of the cleanest forums ive ever seen.

Not hard to fix


I think peoples camera body/bodies should be listed. (To the left <--. Not in the signature.)
And also possibly what version of ML they are using.

[Marsu42]

Ml forums are some of the cleanest forums ive ever seen.

If you are referring to members being helpful, I agree, if you refer to clean threads I disagree because I feel the forum is too clean as in over-moderated, threads are "cleaned up" with a very narrow understanding of context and warnings are issued for what would be no problem at all in other forums. Of course ymmv and no one sees what gets deleted for what reasons, but I would suspect over-moderation might lead to the mood felt by the op. Still, as long as the majority of the community and mod team keeps up the fun aspect of participating I'll try to ignore the select few :-)

[Audionut]

The majority of moderation revolves around editing titles in the request section, deleting dupe posts and approving posts from new members.
Most people are happy with the level of moderation, but occasionally the splitting of threads upsets one particular user, and they assume a level of over moderation rather then considering other reasonable reasons.

For the most part, the moderation duties here are very light.  The community is built on quite a few long term members who all consider the goal of ML, and have a genuine respect for each other.  The fun aspect gets removed when individuals consider a general moderation duty as an attack on themselves, and want to make a big deal over nothing!