Hi Everyone,
I do not often post, but I do feel the need, every now and then, to make a case in defence of the team that is behind Basenotes and in defence of the thousands of members that regularly use the site in a respectful and courteous fashion.
Grant and I have spent most of our morning discussing an issue that has been created on the boards. We both work about 16 hours a day on this site on a regular basis. You can imagine how much there is to do and up until I recently gave up work to help out, Grant was doing everything. We have an amazing team of freelance writers that we are very privileged to work with and we have a very generous team of moderators who, it is no exaggeration to say, keep these boards open with their volunteer efforts.
Beyond that it's us. Two people working from our kitchen table trying to balance the ever-expanding website with our two under fives. Sound like I am complaining? Absolutely not! My contact with Basenotes has led me to met some fascinating people, undertake incredible challenges and given me an opportunity to be very creative. It is however hard work and very long hours. Basenotes has become like a third child in our house and needs more nurturing and attention than the other two put together. Grant is currently coding the website (always, always coding!) to reflect the change in size and to introduce some new features that we are very, very excited about. He never has less than about 400 emails per day, almost single-handedly maintains the 12,000 entry directory and has approved all 40,000 reviews himself. I am currently writing up my experiences of two fragrance fairs in Europe to open a discussion about the future of niche perfumery, organising three separate BN events, one press conference, co-ordinating at least ten different pieces of editorial, meeting with people in the industry to find new ways in which Basenotes can work together with key players, and responding to my own email mountain. Bored yet? Sorry, I'll get to the point which is this: please try to imagine how it feels to spend 10 hours on a avoidable board issue when we have so many developments and upgrades to try to work on.
We want Basenotes to be informative, evolving and a good solid platform for the most important people in any industry - the consumer - to have a voice. We are not the only people that are passionate in this aim or sympathetic to the cause. Our moderators give their time freely. They are not 'professionals', they all have lives and jobs outside of these boards. It is no exaggeration to say that the moderating team keep these boards open. Without them the boards would need to close. There are some instances in which not everybody would concur that the right moderating stance has been taken - debate is a subjective, organic thing that grows and moves and it is difficult (and the death of creativity) to try to impose one opinion on how things should be discussed.
However we are needing to move towards this style of moderating more and more because of the incidents on the boards that go beyond passion and turn into offensive attacks on other members. It is incomprehensible to me that people should condescend or belittle one whose fragrance knowledge is less than another. Hands up all of those of you who were born with an inherent knowledge of all things olfactory? Hmmmm. Also, to attack the very people who keep the board open is a bizarre concept to me. Of course it is ok to express the opinion that a moderator was wrong in their decision or that another member has caused a problem for you - but not in a public way, not in an aggressive way and not in a way that is deliberately designed to cause offence.
We have a system on the boards for reporting posts. This system is utilised rarely in view of the amount of issues that we have been dealing with. The report post function is the correct way to deal with a post that has caused offence, broken the rules or is generally questionable. Publicly taking your issue to the boards is not. It cannot work in a community of this kind to allow that to happen.
In response to these issues I would welcome anybody's thoughts and opinions. In view of the possible sensitive nature of any responses please feel free to keep it off the boards and email me at danielle.cooper@basenotes.net. When Grant and I have had a look at any responses we will work with the moderating team and yourselves to find a way to tweak things so that the boards are an even more pleasant place to be. In the meantime using the report post system will go a long way to avoiding these issues and if an off-topic, offensive or aggressive post has been posted please do not respond. It will only inflame the situation and create an even bigger issue. Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from many of you on this subject.
Dani
I do not often post, but I do feel the need, every now and then, to make a case in defence of the team that is behind Basenotes and in defence of the thousands of members that regularly use the site in a respectful and courteous fashion.
Grant and I have spent most of our morning discussing an issue that has been created on the boards. We both work about 16 hours a day on this site on a regular basis. You can imagine how much there is to do and up until I recently gave up work to help out, Grant was doing everything. We have an amazing team of freelance writers that we are very privileged to work with and we have a very generous team of moderators who, it is no exaggeration to say, keep these boards open with their volunteer efforts.
Beyond that it's us. Two people working from our kitchen table trying to balance the ever-expanding website with our two under fives. Sound like I am complaining? Absolutely not! My contact with Basenotes has led me to met some fascinating people, undertake incredible challenges and given me an opportunity to be very creative. It is however hard work and very long hours. Basenotes has become like a third child in our house and needs more nurturing and attention than the other two put together. Grant is currently coding the website (always, always coding!) to reflect the change in size and to introduce some new features that we are very, very excited about. He never has less than about 400 emails per day, almost single-handedly maintains the 12,000 entry directory and has approved all 40,000 reviews himself. I am currently writing up my experiences of two fragrance fairs in Europe to open a discussion about the future of niche perfumery, organising three separate BN events, one press conference, co-ordinating at least ten different pieces of editorial, meeting with people in the industry to find new ways in which Basenotes can work together with key players, and responding to my own email mountain. Bored yet? Sorry, I'll get to the point which is this: please try to imagine how it feels to spend 10 hours on a avoidable board issue when we have so many developments and upgrades to try to work on.
We want Basenotes to be informative, evolving and a good solid platform for the most important people in any industry - the consumer - to have a voice. We are not the only people that are passionate in this aim or sympathetic to the cause. Our moderators give their time freely. They are not 'professionals', they all have lives and jobs outside of these boards. It is no exaggeration to say that the moderating team keep these boards open. Without them the boards would need to close. There are some instances in which not everybody would concur that the right moderating stance has been taken - debate is a subjective, organic thing that grows and moves and it is difficult (and the death of creativity) to try to impose one opinion on how things should be discussed.
However we are needing to move towards this style of moderating more and more because of the incidents on the boards that go beyond passion and turn into offensive attacks on other members. It is incomprehensible to me that people should condescend or belittle one whose fragrance knowledge is less than another. Hands up all of those of you who were born with an inherent knowledge of all things olfactory? Hmmmm. Also, to attack the very people who keep the board open is a bizarre concept to me. Of course it is ok to express the opinion that a moderator was wrong in their decision or that another member has caused a problem for you - but not in a public way, not in an aggressive way and not in a way that is deliberately designed to cause offence.
We have a system on the boards for reporting posts. This system is utilised rarely in view of the amount of issues that we have been dealing with. The report post function is the correct way to deal with a post that has caused offence, broken the rules or is generally questionable. Publicly taking your issue to the boards is not. It cannot work in a community of this kind to allow that to happen.
In response to these issues I would welcome anybody's thoughts and opinions. In view of the possible sensitive nature of any responses please feel free to keep it off the boards and email me at danielle.cooper@basenotes.net. When Grant and I have had a look at any responses we will work with the moderating team and yourselves to find a way to tweak things so that the boards are an even more pleasant place to be. In the meantime using the report post system will go a long way to avoiding these issues and if an off-topic, offensive or aggressive post has been posted please do not respond. It will only inflame the situation and create an even bigger issue. Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from many of you on this subject.
Dani
), that hits it on the head for me.
WTH is going on?
I only belittle and chastise members in PM's
It's the nature of the beast when cyberspace opens it's arms to forums and bulletin boards that exchange information, feelings, experiences, and sometimes frustration. There's going to be flaming and mud slinging anywhere you go, especially on the internet, where individuals are anonymous and feel the need to be offensive and get away with it except for being banned. Cybercowards and just plain mean people. I've been a member here only a short time and have observed very, very minimal disruptions in comparison to other forums. Martial Arts and Gun Club bulletin boards are brutal
I really liked bbBD, a very helpful individual and a pretty cool guy.
