... to remind everyone to be nice. Rule #1 is literally titled, "Be nice". This applies to the forums as well as private messages and emails to our members or me. If you can't act respectfully or be nice to others, please don't bring your attitude to this website or the members/admin herein. I can assure you; I will stop the conversation and it won't matter why you contacted me at that point.
For those on the receiving end, I would also caution you to be careful. I say this because some people can put on a really nice "face" here in the forums, but when they email me, they can be quite the opposite. I won't name names, but it has happened here quite a few times over the years. People that are well-respected on the frontend side of this website and elsewhere have shown their ugly sides to me privately -- Perhaps this is because of their "fame" and no one would believe me if I told the story? Not sure.
So... just be careful and remember that there are a lot of keyboard jockeys in the world that aren't who they appear to be.
This week's episode starts out as a report of a political post in the forum, which triggered this private message to me (some parts redacted or paraphrased for privacy reasons):
Wendell I just saw a post under "off-Topic chit-chat by ___________; title "___________"
he says "[it's not political]"
I find this post to be very political and think it should be taken down!!
About 29 hours later, a message was received via the contact form:
I tried to send Wendell an email but I guess it failed(?).
It looks like you have suspended Community Rule #5
#5. No politics....... Anything you post that contains a political lean will be removed and your account will be locked, banned or both. (Just so you know the song he posted is a ___________ song).
The post in question is under "off-Topic Chit-Chat" by _____ "__________" I guess you let it go because he says "[it's not political]"
I find this post to be very offensive!
Admittedly, I took longer than usual to respond to the initial message. I have been very busy in both my personal and professional life. I usually try to get back to messages within 24 hours, but I went a little bit long on this one. Anyway, I agree with him, the post definitely had a political lean to it, which is exactly what is prohibited by Rule #5. However, I'll be honest and say that I was a bit irritated by the assumptions that I had "suspended Community Rule #5" and "let it go". Neither of which are true and you know what they say about making assumptions.
Anyway, I removed the offending post and then responded with this:
Thanks for reporting.
Please understand that I do not live on the SurveyorConnect website and sometimes I'm busy with actual paying work to keep the lights on at home. So, I may not be immediately available at all times. If SC paid the bills, that might be a different situation. But it doesn't and the time that I do spend there is 99% unpaid, volunteer work, even with the advertisers and donations. You'll need to exercise a little bit of patience with me at times, because my workload fluctuates.
Quite honestly, I have other things to do that are more important, like putting food on the table, enjoying time with my wife, caring for my elderly Mom living with us, and maybe a couple minutes here and there to do things I enjoy doing outside of the aforementioned stuff.
Which triggered this rude response:
Wendell, I guess you did not read my message too well. _______ __________ said "I tried to send Wendell an email but I guess it failed".
I had NO way of knowing if you got the message. Now with that being said I sure don't need to hear your rant on how tough life is for you.
All I want is to know what you are going to do with this very POLITICAL POST. In your above rant you did not say anything about it.
That didn't set well with me for obvious reasons. It's rude, insulting and demanding. Here's my response:
Had you reviewed the forum before you sent your rude response, you would already know the answer to your question.
Regardless, I don't respond well to rude comments. As far as I'm concerned, this discussion is over.
At this point, he's lucky I didn't ban him. But I'm still floating the idea. His response:
Ok, thanks.
LOL ????ÿ
The point is, I don't care who you are, how old you are, how many posts you have, when you registered, who you know, how high-ranking you might be, how much money you've sent, or anything else. At the end of the day, if you have a suggestion for me, be nice. It's really not that hard. In fact, just be nice to everyone, not just me. It's amazing how much further you'll get with people and how much more you'll get done because you treat each other with respect.
Be nice.
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P.S. If you want to report posts, you can just click the "report" link at the top of the offending post. 🙂
Duly Noted.
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this site rocks!!
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As does Wendell and all parties!
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woohoo!
There's a delicate balance in the Universe, it's constantly shifting; just read Twitter sometime...
There's plenty of people there, more than willing to tell you where to go and how to get there; where ever that may be, and they think they're being nice.
I used to like reading P&R here, as well as the POB site. I felt I was getting solid information, from both sides of the isle; I learned to read between the lines. There were some very smart people contributing; I felt like I was getting the straight cut.
With that out of the way, though, this site is much more pleasant; I can read P&R other places. Mostly the participants there, are a lot less bright; I can feel a little smarter.
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Thanks again @wendell, for all that you and Angel do! (give her a BIG hug)
I'm sorry to see nonsense like that headed your way Wendell as you certainly don't deserve it or need it.?ÿ Once again, thanks so much for all of your efforts keeping this site glued together for all of us.
Licensed Land Surveyor
Finger Lakes Region, Upstate New York
WOW!
Wendell, thank you for all you do.?ÿ While I try to refrain from anything that might be construed as political I may occasionally stray over the line.?ÿ What bothers me about the whole thing is that you (the universal you, not personal) can ignore any post you want.?ÿ You DON'T have to respond.
Andy
What bothers me about the whole thing is that you (the universal you, not personal) can ignore any post you want.?ÿ You DON'T have to respond.
Andy
This is exactly why I tried so hard to keep P&R here for so long. I probably gave it more time than I should have, but I found it hard to understand why folks couldn't just move on from something if they didn't agree. Or if they did post, why couldn't it remain civil? But I digress...
I am SOOOOOOOOOOO glad I did not post the pic I took the other day.?ÿ My traveling buddy and I both roared when we saw the sign in someone's front yard.?ÿ We thought it was hilarious.?ÿ That does not mean everyone viewing this site would have seen the humor in it.?ÿ In fact, I was certain some would be offended.?ÿ Thus, it did not appear.
Wendell, my Dad is 100 and still fond of giving me advice. This isn't so much advice as an observation he likes to repeat frequently.
It is what it is! I wouldn't worry about it.
Of course, my Dad doesn't take his own advice and being 100 with only a few chores around the house to keep him busy, he constantly worries whether there's a reason or not.
I know I can be a crusty old curmudgeon, but not always. This site is what it is because of you and Angel. Thanks from an old guy who appreciates a place to share and chat with friends and professional colleagues.
nice
I am SOOOOOOOOOOO glad I did not post the pic I took the other day.?ÿ My traveling buddy and I both roared when we saw the sign in someone's front yard.?ÿ We thought it was hilarious.?ÿ That does not mean everyone viewing this site would have seen the humor in it.?ÿ In fact, I was certain some would be offended.?ÿ Thus, it did not appear.
The trouble is that this can apply so often that nearly everything will upset somebody. Before leaping to the keyboard everyone should take a moment to think if what was posted was really (intentionally) offensive, and if so to whom - if just you then ignore it. Some years ago on this site I referred to a place name in UK (printed on all the official maps) and was promptly "potty mouthed" by the software. Anybody in the UK or Holland wouldn't have thought twice about the name but software embedded somewhere in the deepest south of USA took great exception.
Way back in the Sixth Grade I had a strong disagreement with a male classmate.?ÿ I called him an SOB with emphasis on each word.?ÿ He became furious and began hitting me because I had called his mother a b****.?ÿ I knew his mother.?ÿ She was a very nice person.?ÿ I had never connected the phrase, SOB, to somehow being disrespectful of someone's mother.?ÿ He did a good job of driving the point home.
It was many years later before I discovered that his surname was the same as his mother's maiden name.?ÿ Both he and his older brother had no idea who their birth father(s) were.?ÿ Thus, he was staunchly defending his mother against name calling.
A couple of iterations back in what is now SurveyorConnect, I used a phrase that I thought meant one thing but, embarrassingly, discovered too late had a very different usage in a large area of the US.?ÿ One learns from their mistakes, if provided a chance to learn from them.
