Forum Moderators: open
There are often times when I would like to post a question to get feedback from these people that I feel I have got to know and trust, but feel it is going to be off topic and either pulled or moved to another forum that I do not know or visit.
I have enjoyed the sometimes light relief banter that goes on here - and the sometimes flippant comments that get thrown around - re fridges, and mouse tracking etc. Is there any way that WW could almost put a subforum within a forum? ie "adsense off topic forum" or some such thing? Just a thought.:)
I believe that a lot of regular users of the AdSense forum make a substantial part, if not all, of their income from AdSense. Maybe this is why some of us see the AdSense Forum on Webmasterworld as the nearest we have to a work place social life.
If readers of this thread who are not regular visits to the Adsense and Adwords forums care to check them out, they will see that the major contributors to this thread also contribute significantly and positively to the Adsense and/or AdWords forums. We visit Webmasterworld because we value the input of may of the professionals and expert amateurs. But we find our sense of humour hard to repress at times.
I don't believe we want to exclude anyone from joining in with either the technical or humourous aspects of our discussions. We do feel that if some of our postings and asides must be removed in the interests of keeping a thread on topic, then a compromise would be to provide an Adsense Foo where we could chat and exchange in jokes with our colleagues without boring those who have little or no interest in the AdSense way of life.
Sycophant: flatterer, toady.
Well done Pengi - your contributions are always welcome! Will Brett listen to our needs or not? We'll just have to wait and see.
OK, I was going to post this Friday night but my computer died, so now as a friend and as an old-timer here, this would be my suggestion.
Philosophically speaking, one person's need doesn't constitute another person's responsibity, whether on an individual or a group level. Some members may have a "social" need but the responsibility of the forum's honchos is not to meet that need, but rather to look after the health and needs of the community as a whole.
It seems to me that new forums are opened up on that basis, which necessarily meanns that there have to have some criteria. If the forum being requested were deemed necessary according to established criteria, it would/would have been instituted - and no amount of cajoling, extortion, insurrection and whining and begging will change that. Once the suggestion has been made and a case for it made, that's it - let it rest.
So here's how I see it. As Himself (as the Irish would say) said, Foo is for technical topics that don't fit anyplace else. Well still, if you'll notice there has been a Friday gizmo quiz and there's a Friday word game that are not technical, but give an opportity to kick back, have some fun and interact with peers as a fun alternative to heading over to the pub and getting shnockered.
Those do not constitute a need for a separate forum, and IMHO neither does what you guys are proposing. What I suggest, which may or may not be acceptable, is based on an already existing model that there's a precedent for and which has beeen working for a long time.
Instead of a separate forum, how about requesting that there be one thread a week in the Adsense forum that's among specific peers but isn't necessarily on topic. You could just ask for it, something like "Adsenseless Friday Foo Fun" that those not interested can stay away from, but which would keep all the silly stuff in one place for those who are interested.
I've worked in offices all of my working life. Wherever I work, I have found there to be fun people and serious people. Fun people are not suffering from any illness nor are they any worse at their jobs, but they enjoy some banter with their workmates. Some serious people prefer to stay that way and be focussed, I don't consider them to b suffering from personality disorders, nor do I expect them to be any better as professionals or business people - each to their own.
We accept that we should not disrupt the more serious threads, but don't see a problem with the occasional off-topic quip - some threads cry out for it.
We could of course set up our own chat group. But it seems a shame to force a separation between serious work stuff and fun. I visit WW for business reasons, but I bring all of me - that includes my sense of humour.
I think there is room for support in the AdSense forum not only with a bit of humor here and there but in threads dealing with AdSense addiction, whether one can make a living on AdSense, and other things full time AdSensors have to deal with. I've read threads along these lines in the past but can't remember if they were in AdSense or not.
As the AdSense forum is so big and so busy maybe there is room for an second AdSense forum to cover some of the things I mentioned above and have the present one be strictly technical.
Just tossing out ideas.
Marcia
Much as a I respect your opinion, it is clear that you do not share our views.
You have no idea how much patience I have. :) Besides, this is one of the quietest little subforums on WebmasterWorld. I'm delighted that you decided to be zany over here for a while.
As for finding a spot for yourselves, I can pretty much guarantee you that you won't get your own "Adsense Foo." But you can take your fun to Foo any time you'd like ... consider Foo a giant party. And consider a new thread there to be the corner of the room (or the coat closet). If you guys want to keep to yourselves, you can do it by thread - just start a new one. Oh, you might have one or two other party-goers wander over to your corner to see what you guys are talking about ... but once they see that you're drinking the spiked punch, they'll back off and leave you alone and you'll have the thread all to yourselves over there. Just don't break the record player or spill punch on the rug, because the Foo mods hate cleaning stuff up.
we call those thread killers
for those that may have missed this great post by martinibuster on the first page of this thread I will put it here for you
I understand that the AdSense forum is almost it's own sub-community with it's own culture and I try to respect that as much as possible.However I can imagine it may be distressing for a thread initiator, especially for a new member, to see their post sink under the weight of one then three then five off-topic jokes all riffing off the first lighthearted remark. It comes down to respect for the OP and the discussion they initiated.
Naturally, one lighthearted remark isn't going to destroy a thread, and a little levity here and there is welcome. But oftentime that one remark spawns multiple responses and the thread is effectively killed. So one way to think of it is that these kinds of comments can be considered thread killers.
OTOH: In praise of light banter
Humor enhances a sense of community and I appreciate that. My personal opinion is that a post can indeed be on-topic and humorous, as long as respect is shown to the OP and the topic itself.
a very good post by a mod from that forum.
but as he and I have seen the more we allow the more you take. A large majority of threads were being derailed and many OPs being treated with a lack of respect, therefore, we were forced to be stricter about OT posts.
If you need to let off steam, there's foo, as Hawkgirl and Marcia have very adeptly explained.
but I must say this is my favourite post of this thread and cuts to the quick
>> Sounds to me like you guys are waiting to discover IM?
pretty much
It doesn't take long to get the AdSense ads on your site dialed in. After that, the issue becomes one of eliminating the bad ads that continually appear, and being stuck with an inadequately-small ad filter. We've complained about it, Google has heard us, and nothing has changed. After awhile, we can grow tired of hearing the same complaints over and over without any reduction in the number of MFA sites or increase in the capacity of our filters.
Eventually, we lose our minds, and probably do belong in Foo.
During the time I've been a member (and even a lurker) of Webmaster World, I've interacted with some significant internet business talent!
That talent is a cyclical offering from your member base that would be hard to achieve from a compensated staff. Our recent participants: Khensu, trannack, Pengi have provided a consistant level of information sharing with, perhaps, a level of exuberance that was somewhat unexpected.
The underground/subversive 60's approach they chose to inciting the community spirit may have made me cringe a time or two but their passion and professionalism in real forum interaction was always above reproach.
I don't necessarily think you needed to bend to their specific requests... but I do think the manner in which they were treated in this forum today was a sad thing indeed.
What was really accomplished by stepping on this group? If fresh voices and opinions do not flock to Webmaster World... it will become stagnant and meaningless! All you ever really needed to do was to let some personal interaction (viewed by the moderators as: thread killing) exist and possibly flourish.
This became important because YOU created the community and the community created what it perceived to be it's needs! You could handle creation but not it's evolution... sound familiar? Simple arrogance.
Best of luck with all of this now... it'll probably never be the same!
Chapman
Edit: I before e except after c
[edited by: Chapman at 4:05 am (utc) on Oct. 20, 2006]
From my personal vantage point, all I did was disagree (so is that not allowed?) and make an alternate suggestion based on reality rather than wishful thinking. And if anyone wonders why this matters to me, since I'm not an Adsense Forum regular, it's because I'm one of the Adsense Forum people who doesn't live there or have time to spend my life there. On occasion I'll contribute an observation or opinion, but when I'm looking for information or wisdom then that's what I want to find. I dont have time to start reading a relevant thread only to have it go off into lala-land completely off topic. That is NOT fair to the thread starter or anyone else interested in the topic of the thread - including me.
It's also a personal thing because like most of whom I've seen of the Adsense-a-holics, I once suffered from the same kind of tunnel vision, which was all SEO & Google search all the time, with the same kind of blinders on.
I had to back off and re-think and reprioritize to get back in balance, and when I did that is when I first put Adsense (which I learned about here) up on a couple of suitable sites and began to diversify my efforts, which has proven to be very lucrative and satisfying. No eggs in one basket, several avenues including affiliate marketing, which I also first learned about here.
Maybe if some of those with tunnel vision expanded their horizons they wouldn't get so bent out of shape when smartpricing hit. It's very dangerous in life to be 100% dependent on what we can't control.
Foo is for fun, and business is business. No one says business can't also be fun, but try goofing off on the job during "business hours" instead of confining to break time, and see how far it'll get you. To be honest those of us who have interest in the Adsense forum for business reasons do NOT want to surf into a playground, we don't have the time and it's not the place.
I don't see where anyone was stepped on, none here are babies who need to be coddled. And as adults and as regular members, we all have the right and privilege of expressing our views - which is exactly what we've all done.
Is 'prefered' between 'full' and 'senior'? I'd rather be 'preferred'. It sounds a lot more special than plain old 'senior'. That just makes me sound old.:(
The same feeling here, annej
Why everybody keep reminding me that I'm "senior" (:(
I might signup under reseller-2 and enjoy life again as "prefered". At least for sometime. And this time I would not post much.. so I can stay "prefered" as long as possible :-)
Marcia, how very arrogant a response. Especially as it was you that stated that "everyone is entitled to an opionion"..bit contradictory if you ask me.
We have, through-out this thread, on numerous occasions, written that everyone is entitled to his/her own opinions, and we have respectably replied to their comments - whether they are in agreement with us or not. We have actively invited other opinions and listened to those that have been expressed.
Regarding the "killing of threads" with pointless humour. This is precisely what we are trying to avoid, although reiterating a previous comment here, quite often the thread has been replied to and has reached ists natural conclusion before any "asides" have been put on.
Chapman makes a great point - in that most of the guys who have partaken of this thread also post useful, indepth and meaningful replies to a vast number of threads posted - both by newbies and veterans alike.
The foo has existed for I don't know how long, but there has always been a lack of the adsense visitors going there - there is obviously a reason for this, as this thread has demonstrated.
"No I don't, and I happen to be right. I usually am. ;) "
Marcia, how very arrogant a response. Especially as it was you that stated that "everyone is entitled to an opionion"..bit contradictory if you ask me.
trannack, I think you missed the humour in Marcia's reply. " ;) "
Oh, and yes, she's always correct. ;)
The foo has existed for I don't know how long, but there has always been a lack of the adsense visitors going there - there is obviously a reason for this, as this thread has demonstrated.
Then, this is your opportunity to change it. :)
Adsenseless Friday Foo Fun
I like that. :)
trannack, I think you missed the humour in Marcia's reply.
funny... i seem to have missed the humour too...
And so the ice queen slapped us with a chastity belt,
Thinking the passion of adsensers would be quelled,
She sayeth "Stop all this insanity
From infecting our sacred community",
There is NO place in the world of a webmaster
For mindless chatter and fun filled banter,
Like serps of google, MSN and yahoo,
We must be serious and never Foo...
Anything less than profit optimization,
Would make our world a blasphemation!
So I suppose Chapman was right - it will never be the same,
Don't be a Foo... that's the name of the game...
Now don't miss the smiley ;)... it means humour
Well Chapman, it's unfortunate that you feel that way, but after a 12 page thread with over 340 posts I hardly think anyone was, as you put it, stepped on. Everyone spoke their mind from their own perspective, which is as free and open as communication can get.
Khensu - do you have anything to say on this matter?
Khensu? You seem to have become a nonperson!
If you post at the same time as someone else, and the sentence becomes weird then STOP, and then
whoever posted second has to edit their post.
If you end a sentence then you have to start a new one.
You can't post twice in a row - you have to wait till someone else posts!
Two words per turn only.
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Moderators struggled
[edited by: Pengi at 2:25 pm (utc) on Oct. 20, 2006]
or should that be humor without the u ;)?
