When you think of CR4, what do you think of? I perceive it as a place for engineers,
scientists, and technically-minded people to connect. It's a place where you can discuss topics you
enjoy with people who think like you do.
Sounds pretty good in theory, right? The Admin team has been receiving a lot of
complaints about some of the attitudes of CR4 members. Some are about spam (we know there is a
problem and we're working on that). Others,
more frequently, object to the number of replies that are negative, sarcastic,
and not helpful.
If you went into a bar (no, this blog entry is not one of those
jokes) and people starting yelling across the room asking why are you there,
you don't look capable of drinking a beer, you don't speak perfect Spanish, you're
just a nerdy engineer - would you stay?
Some might. But others, who had
gone into that building to have a good time and talk with people who might
become friends, would just leave and go somewhere else. That's fine if the group wants to be closed and
discriminate against people it doesn't want to be members. But
that place is not CR4. CR4 is open to
anyone who wants to discuss relevant topics and abide by the site
policies. It's a place where anyone can
come for help or just to talk.
The site rules, which
were last updated in March 2010, clearly show what is allowed and what is not
tolerated on CR4:
CR4 is an English-speaking community. As such, all content must be
posted in the English language so that it is accessible to this audience and
can be reviewed properly. At the same
time, it is important to note that for many users of this site, English is a
second language. Therefore, there is no reason to report, highlight, or
denigrate grammatical errors, typos, etc. It is also against this site's
policy to denigrate a user because of his or her location, race, gender, or
creed.
- Sometimes a poster is a non-native English
speaker. This can cause not only
language barriers but also cultural confusion.
The part of the rule that appears in bold, above, clearly explains how to handle these situations. There's no reason to belittle someone because
the English isn't perfect.
Please stay on topic. Posts and comments should be of a technical
nature and involve some aspect of engineering, science or technology. If you
delve into other topical areas (business, entertainment, sports, etc.), please
do your best to tie them back to one of CR4's main focal points. Posts focusing
on politics or religion will probably be removed. There are plenty of places on
the Web to talk about politics or religion. CR4 isn't one of them. Likewise,
strong political and religious sentiments should be kept out of profiles,
signatures and other content.
- If the question is about wiring, the first
response should not tell the inquirer to search on Google or get a degree. If that's all you can add, why bother
posting? It's a waste of everyone's time. (It's understandable that in some situations,
there are safety concerns, and those can be brought up in a non-accusatory
way.)
- Bad attitudes and unwillingness to help drive
people away by creating a poor first impression. If you visited a new community and the first
response to every post was essentially calling the poster lazy or stupid, what
would you think about that place? I know
I would be out of there in a heartbeat - and I wouldn't go back.
When you link to an external website, it is your responsibility to
make sure that the content on the linked site is appropriate for our community
and does not violate our guidelines. This includes mentioning or referencing to
a website, even if you do not provide a hyperlink.
- If you post a link make sure its content
supports and contributes to the discussion.
Also, don't forget to describe your link. A comment that is simply a link to a
Wikipedia page or a YouTube video isn't necessarily useful on its own - people
are more likely to click if they know why you think it's important.
CR4 is a professional, moderated site. If you do not feel you can
abide by the rules, we invite you to visit some of the millions of other sites
on the Web.
- Nobody's forcing you to stay if you don't like
our rules. Maybe if you don't agree with
"if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" (of course, you
don't have to be nice 100% of the time, but you get the idea) you can find
another site to frequent. We don't like
to, but if we have to we'll limit or ban people. We can also start removing comments that
sarcastically point people to Google, question intelligence, or provide a link
with no explanation. It's our job to
make sure that the community runs smoothly.
(And even if you post anonymously, we know who you are!)
- If something someone else has written really
bothers you, you can always hit the report button. That way you are complaining to those of us
working behind the scenes and we can deal with the issue if necessary. If you just comment that something is spam,
we might not see that right away, and you are just adding more garbage to the
pile.
The CR4 team has been working hard to increase the amount of
quality content on the site. We would
love to bring you more stuff, too. But
the time we have to spend reminding people to be polite and follow the rules,
plus following up with reported items, really eats into the time we could spend
doing better things. Nobody who works on
CR4 does this full time - we all have other jobs at GlobalSpec.
In closing, we ask you to think before you post. Does what you're about to say add value to
the conversation? Of course, some
discussions wander a bit off topic, and that's okay to a point. If the majority of what you say is negative
and accusatory, maybe you should just keep reading and save your post for a
thread where
you can help.
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