It's great to see you here more regularly of late. You add a certain quality to the place.
I'm not quite sure if you are scolding me or testing my sense of humour but I've seen enough of what you write to know that your opinion is worthwhile listening to. I also think you are very competent at technological pursuits and I'm hoping that you can see your way clear to continue giving assistance to people who are needing help getting started.
I'd actually be interested in your opinion of what would be the best course of action to take in order to help someone where the plea for help is not in the "best" place. In this case, the request was at the end of Bruce's discussion thread which he set up specifically for people to comment on his report. I thought it was a golden opportunity to see what "moving a message" actually entailed, never having done it before.
If you really do think that moving the message to a more visible place and then trying to give an answer was inappropriate, can you explain to me how you would have handled it? The one thing I got out of the exercise was the knowledge of how the "move a post" function actually works. I'm not planning to use it but it is good to know what it does :).
I applaud your effort. Moving the post makes sense to me, if you're planning to delete this thread if/when Robert catches up with the original.
You already know that I'm grateful for your dedication to decorum, and so while I have your attention, I'd like to respectfully ask that you look into a matter concerning greasing a squeaky wheel. I think the young lass has more pride than I did, when I was that age. Also you may have noticed that Es99 has been showing me how some words (characterizations) can be offensive, or carry stronger negative connotations than what was intended, and so I was hoping that you might reconsider use of the t-word, but since you may be privy to details unbeknown to me, I respect your decision in the matter.
Our own Bruce Allen makes an impressive point, from a recent IEEE feature story:
Quote:
Not only are the volunteer computers handling 20 times as much data as LIGO can for itself, but BOINC also is saving LIGO big bucks. "The average PC draws 100 to 150 watts, so 45000 computers are burning about 6 megawatts," Allen estimates. "At Wisconsin electric power rates, that's saving the LIGO project US $7000 a day. Plus people are keeping an eye on their machines, saving LIGO the cost of maintenance."
Thanks for listening, Gary, and keep up the good work!
It's great to see you here more regularly of late. You add a certain quality to the place.
A certain quality? Not quite sure what you are getting at there ;-)
Quote:
{I'm not quite sure if you are scolding me or testing my sense of humour but I've seen enough of what you write to know that your opinion is worthwhile listening to.
Gary, I was teasing you a little. I know how seriously you take your moderator responsibilities and I just can't help poking a bit of fun at you.
Quote:
I also think you are very competent at technological pursuits and I'm hoping that you can see your way clear to continue giving assistance to people who are needing help getting started.
I am only adequately competent in technological pursuits. I doubt I can be of much help here. But if you want any advice on how to speak British, I'm your gal.
Quote:
I'd actually be interested in your opinion of what would be the best course of action to take in order to help someone where the plea for help is not in the "best" place. In this case, the request was at the end of Bruce's discussion thread which he set up specifically for people to comment on his report. I thought it was a golden opportunity to see what "moving a message" actually entailed, never having done it before.
If you really do think that moving the message to a more visible place and then trying to give an answer was inappropriate, can you explain to me how you would have handled it? The one thing I got out of the exercise was the knowledge of how the "move a post" function actually works. I'm not planning to use it but it is good to know what it does :).
Actually, i thought it was a very tactful way to do it. And you even left him a note! I'm not the best person to advise you on your moderator duties. I did once moderate a government forum, but it was a shambles (not all my fault) so I know how hard it can be.
If you do really want my advice, then I say Chipper is right about the squeaky wheel. Mrs Anon is not a troll, she just has a very 'special' sense of humour that can be misunderstood. I think you really hurt her feelings. It would be nice if you could try to make peace with her. :-)
But keep up with the good work. You'll get used to it and hopefully with you on the job there won't be as many real trolls over here as there have been at Seti. And at least your mistakes won't end up plastered all over the media. ;-)
Sorry for the belated reply but I've had some other commitments that have limited my time to post here. I tend to have a quick look each day to see what's happening and usually reply if possible but this time I've had some deadlines to meet so I put this reply on hold for a little while :).
Thanks for your thoughts and kind words. Yes, my intention was to delete this thread once the intended recipient found his question over in "Getting started". I should have put that comment in the initial post so as to discourage others from posting here! Bit late now :). Unfortunately, the original recipient seems to have disappeared for the moment. I'll probably leave things for a couple more days and then delete this thread so as not to clutter the Science board.
I joined this project the day before Bruce threw the doors open. I'd put in a request for an account some time earlier and the request was finally granted just ahead of the rush. This was my first experience with BOINC and I attached just one computer for a while to try things out. I can remember asking some pretty dumb questions. The thing that really impressed me the most was the way that Bruce and Bernd (and others) spent a huge amount of time for many weeks answering many of the same dumb questions over and over without ever uttering a harsh or offending word. Their very visible presence was in sharp contrast with what I had seen at Seti classic in its early days.
Here, people seemed to treat each other in a civil and largely helpful manner and as I added machines and learned more of the inner workings, I decided to "pay it forward" so to speak. I don't claim to be particularly skilled at that but if I felt I knew the problem, I started trying to post answers which contained a bit of detail. There is probably too much detail in many cases - I'm still very much a novice in writing non-threatening, non-self-promoting but factual answers that actually help rather than confuse or belittle a user.
I had reached the stage of accumulating around 400 - 500 posts, most of which were attempting to give help to people having difficulty. I must have been making some sense because Bruce asked me to act as a "Moderator". I asked him what that involved. He said, "Nothing special, just keep doing what you are currently doing by answering questions". I said, "OK". So here I am.
I'm an ordinary user like everyone else but I can do a couple of things that others can't:-
* I can edit my own posts without a time limit.
* I can make a thread sticky.
* I can move a post to a different place.
* I can delete a post or a thread, provided I supply a reason.
That's it. My intentions are to:-
* continue to try to help new users get started.
* move (very occasionally) a particular type of post to "Getting started" if that is obviously where it belongs.
* delete posts only if they are doubleups or if requested by the owner.
* encourage the civil treatment and welcoming of new users.
* encourage a "pay it forward" attitude amongst regulars.
I intend to have no role in censorship matters as that is entirely the responsibility of the owners of the website. If someone is being offensive towards someone else and if that someone else appears to be a new user, I might ask the person concerned to please stop being offensive. After that, all I would do is report the matter to the owners of the website. If heated posts or threads start being deleted, it wont be me doing it. If someone is directly offensive towards me I will simply ignore it and offer help elsewhere. I do not intend to get into a slanging match with anyone.
I know I haven't really answered some of the points that you raised in perhaps quite the way you may have wished me to answer them. However you were both kind enough to give me feedback so I've tried to answer as much as I feel I'm able to. Oh, and Es99,
Quote:
A certain quality? Not quite sure what you are getting at there ;-)
I was teasing you a little. I know how seriously you take your "Britishness" and seeing as you Poms were lucky enough to "steal" the Ashes back, I had to find some ploy to put you on the back foot without bowling a bouncer ... :) ;).
One that "sticks" to the top of the list of threads and doesn't descend like ordinary threads as they get older. Hopefully to be used sparingly for important information designed to inform or help a wide range of users. :).
Robert Carter - Check the Getting Started forum
)
Gosh Gary, you're really quite strict aren't you. ;-)
Physics is for gurls!
RE: Gosh Gary, you're
)
Es99,
It's great to see you here more regularly of late. You add a certain quality to the place.
I'm not quite sure if you are scolding me or testing my sense of humour but I've seen enough of what you write to know that your opinion is worthwhile listening to. I also think you are very competent at technological pursuits and I'm hoping that you can see your way clear to continue giving assistance to people who are needing help getting started.
I'd actually be interested in your opinion of what would be the best course of action to take in order to help someone where the plea for help is not in the "best" place. In this case, the request was at the end of Bruce's discussion thread which he set up specifically for people to comment on his report. I thought it was a golden opportunity to see what "moving a message" actually entailed, never having done it before.
If you really do think that moving the message to a more visible place and then trying to give an answer was inappropriate, can you explain to me how you would have handled it? The one thing I got out of the exercise was the knowledge of how the "move a post" function actually works. I'm not planning to use it but it is good to know what it does :).
Cheers,
Gary.
Hi, Gary - I applaud your
)
Hi, Gary -
I applaud your effort. Moving the post makes sense to me, if you're planning to delete this thread if/when Robert catches up with the original.
You already know that I'm grateful for your dedication to decorum, and so while I have your attention, I'd like to respectfully ask that you look into a matter concerning greasing a squeaky wheel. I think the young lass has more pride than I did, when I was that age. Also you may have noticed that Es99 has been showing me how some words (characterizations) can be offensive, or carry stronger negative connotations than what was intended, and so I was hoping that you might reconsider use of the t-word, but since you may be privy to details unbeknown to me, I respect your decision in the matter.
Our own Bruce Allen makes an impressive point, from a recent IEEE feature story:
Thanks for listening, Gary, and keep up the good work!
RE: Es99, It's great to
)
A certain quality? Not quite sure what you are getting at there ;-)
Gary, I was teasing you a little. I know how seriously you take your moderator responsibilities and I just can't help poking a bit of fun at you.
I am only adequately competent in technological pursuits. I doubt I can be of much help here. But if you want any advice on how to speak British, I'm your gal.
Actually, i thought it was a very tactful way to do it. And you even left him a note! I'm not the best person to advise you on your moderator duties. I did once moderate a government forum, but it was a shambles (not all my fault) so I know how hard it can be.
If you do really want my advice, then I say Chipper is right about the squeaky wheel. Mrs Anon is not a troll, she just has a very 'special' sense of humour that can be misunderstood. I think you really hurt her feelings. It would be nice if you could try to make peace with her. :-)
But keep up with the good work. You'll get used to it and hopefully with you on the job there won't be as many real trolls over here as there have been at Seti. And at least your mistakes won't end up plastered all over the media. ;-)
Physics is for gurls!
Hi Chipper Q and
)
Hi Chipper Q and Es99,
Sorry for the belated reply but I've had some other commitments that have limited my time to post here. I tend to have a quick look each day to see what's happening and usually reply if possible but this time I've had some deadlines to meet so I put this reply on hold for a little while :).
Thanks for your thoughts and kind words. Yes, my intention was to delete this thread once the intended recipient found his question over in "Getting started". I should have put that comment in the initial post so as to discourage others from posting here! Bit late now :). Unfortunately, the original recipient seems to have disappeared for the moment. I'll probably leave things for a couple more days and then delete this thread so as not to clutter the Science board.
I joined this project the day before Bruce threw the doors open. I'd put in a request for an account some time earlier and the request was finally granted just ahead of the rush. This was my first experience with BOINC and I attached just one computer for a while to try things out. I can remember asking some pretty dumb questions. The thing that really impressed me the most was the way that Bruce and Bernd (and others) spent a huge amount of time for many weeks answering many of the same dumb questions over and over without ever uttering a harsh or offending word. Their very visible presence was in sharp contrast with what I had seen at Seti classic in its early days.
Here, people seemed to treat each other in a civil and largely helpful manner and as I added machines and learned more of the inner workings, I decided to "pay it forward" so to speak. I don't claim to be particularly skilled at that but if I felt I knew the problem, I started trying to post answers which contained a bit of detail. There is probably too much detail in many cases - I'm still very much a novice in writing non-threatening, non-self-promoting but factual answers that actually help rather than confuse or belittle a user.
I had reached the stage of accumulating around 400 - 500 posts, most of which were attempting to give help to people having difficulty. I must have been making some sense because Bruce asked me to act as a "Moderator". I asked him what that involved. He said, "Nothing special, just keep doing what you are currently doing by answering questions". I said, "OK". So here I am.
I'm an ordinary user like everyone else but I can do a couple of things that others can't:-
* I can make a thread sticky.
* I can move a post to a different place.
* I can delete a post or a thread, provided I supply a reason.
That's it. My intentions are to:-
* move (very occasionally) a particular type of post to "Getting started" if that is obviously where it belongs.
* delete posts only if they are doubleups or if requested by the owner.
* encourage the civil treatment and welcoming of new users.
* encourage a "pay it forward" attitude amongst regulars.
I intend to have no role in censorship matters as that is entirely the responsibility of the owners of the website. If someone is being offensive towards someone else and if that someone else appears to be a new user, I might ask the person concerned to please stop being offensive. After that, all I would do is report the matter to the owners of the website. If heated posts or threads start being deleted, it wont be me doing it. If someone is directly offensive towards me I will simply ignore it and offer help elsewhere. I do not intend to get into a slanging match with anyone.
I know I haven't really answered some of the points that you raised in perhaps quite the way you may have wished me to answer them. However you were both kind enough to give me feedback so I've tried to answer as much as I feel I'm able to. Oh, and Es99,
I was teasing you a little. I know how seriously you take your "Britishness" and seeing as you Poms were lucky enough to "steal" the Ashes back, I had to find some ploy to put you on the back foot without bowling a bouncer ... :) ;).
Cheers,
Gary.
RE: A certain quality? Not
)
I would have thought Gary was on about that expression on Fat Freddy's cat's face, if not the intellect...
Gary, thanks again. Bruce is fortunate to have you on his team!
A dumb question....what is a
)
A dumb question....what is a sticky thread?? Great job Gary....Cheers, Rog.
One that "sticks" to the top
)
One that "sticks" to the top of the list of threads and doesn't descend like ordinary threads as they get older. Hopefully to be used sparingly for important information designed to inform or help a wide range of users. :).
Cheers,
Gary.
RE: One that "sticks" to
)
Hi Gary, thanks for the prompt answer.....learn something every day:)),Rog.