Constructive suggestions

[Jan]

New members should be asked to keep there noses out of arguments. If I remember correctly a lot of harsh words were written by fairly new members who does not understand the relationships and their underlying nuances between some of the "older" forum members. There is nothing wrong with a well debated argument but then you get these newbies who pick a side and start slanting the other side. The following is purely a personal sentiment but if I see a new member that tells someone "if you want to be like that why don't you leave" (or anything in that tone) I want to B!tch slap them.

It is great and wonderful to have new members and more than that new vapers ie another soldier in the war against smoking but like any other club, institution or even your work place you have to show some respect and earn your own.

 

[rogue zombie]

My suggestion would be to stop alienating any particular forumites by enforcing rules that only protect retailers. I respect the admin and mods, you all know I do, which is why I have kept quite through all this. And I do realize that it is a balancing act keeping both forumites and retailers happy. But I would take my time and think carefully before imposing rules in a seemingly heavy-handed way.

The sig thing - I reckon there's more politics to the issues here than I know of. But in regards to that issue, 'the powers that be'
decided to protect retailers who may have been offended by me sporting a branded sig. However that brand was a supporting, paying advertiser... so why exactly can I not show my support? Unfair advantage? Please....

What does that have to do with me? Yet you are in a way censoring me, whether you care to admit it on not.

The way I see it, there should be no offensive sigs or avatars to anyone's race, relegion or sex... and not much else. And I have also seen on many forums, no advertising for a brand that is not a customer of the forum. This is fair - why should a retailer who doesn't pay to be here get any advertising. BUT, again, Skyblue were advertisers and a large part of the forum. Me sporting a Skyblue sig is no different than me sporting a LIONS sig. I'm not advertising for the LIONS, I'm showing my support. And ironically, I would better understand if the mods told me I couldn't have a LIONS sig (because they dont advertise here).

Frankly I think it was short-sighted and trivial to be so heavy-handed with this. If it were my forum, and a paying customer told me to enforce such a rule, I would simply explain that this is not North Korea.

And in enforcing this rule, in one swift blow, not only did you alienate one of the most important retailers to the DIY community, but also many a respected member packed up and left. Many very impotant DIY folk (to the DIY community) saw this move as the forum becoming more a business than a community. I can see why these people reacted the way they do. I say this as an bystander, honestly. I didn't leave because I have befriended folks here who I would like to remain in contact with. But again I say, I can understand why they left.

And what do you think rest of us DIY folk are going to do - we're going to follow these valuable folk. I'm not saying I would personally pick a side now and only visit that forum. But this rift was created, and I do now have friends and the other side... and quite frankly I do not want to see them censored in any way, as I don't want to see this community censored in any way.

Any way, these are my views on the saga. Use it don't use it. I have no ill feelings to anyone on any organsation... except my
incompetent goverment. But that's for another discussion so... peace!

 

[Silver]

Hi @r0gue z0mbie

Thanks for your well thought out post
I respect you for who you are and we have had several private chats over the months.

The way I read your post, it is mainly explaining why you don't like the way the signature issue was handled. While I agree that is important, it doesn't go into too much detail on the constructive suggestion part. It's more focused on the criticism part.

What has happened has happened.

This thread is about constructive suggestions.

Perhaps could you flesh out your constructive suggestion regarding this matter? That would be most valuable.

 

[rogue zombie]

Hi @r0gue z0mbie

Thanks for your well thought out post
I respect you for who you are and we have had several private chats over the months.

The way I read your post, it is mainly explaining why you don't like the way the signature issue was handled. While I agree that is important, it doesn't go into too much detail on the constructive suggestion part. It's more focused on the criticism part.

What has happened has happened.

This thread is about constructive suggestions.

Perhaps could you flesh out your constructive suggestion regarding this matter? That would be most valuable.

Well all I really had to "suggest" was:

My suggestion would be to stop alienating any particular forumites by enforcing rules that only protect retailers. I respect the admin and mods, you all know I do, which is why I have kept quite through all this. And I do realize that it is a balancing act keeping both forumites and retailers happy. But I would take my time and think carefully before imposing rules in a seemingly heavy-handed way.​

I thoroughly explained what I perceived as being the cause of the situation. And my suggestion would be to avoid this in future. To collectively think together, as the powers that be, to not replicate the issues that resulted in this situation.

Other that, sorry, I don't have any more suggestions.

 

[n0ugh7_zw]

I think having a gated area in the forum for this kinda thing to take place is a good idea. Say something along the lines of anyone under 250 or 500 posts can't get into to keep any potential flamers out. I dunno if that's possible?

Another area of the forum could even have locked threads with transcripts of matters discussed once they've drawn to a close?

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

 

[Silver]

Thanks @r0gue z0mbie - muchly appreciated
Point taken and noted

 

[rogue zombie]

Thanks @r0gue z0mbie - muchly appreciated
Point taken and noted

Lol, sorry man, maybe I should of kept the "constructive criticism" part out of it.

But I believe, in life in general, if there's an issue, going forward one must acknowledge what the issue is, if you want to go forward. So I was illustrating why I thought this was an issue that led to where we are. And therefore explaining why I made the suggestion I did, if that makes sense.

 

[SHiBBY]

I have always been a great supporter of forums and what they stand for, and the benefits they provide to a community regardless of the forum subject. For every hobby I've had in the past, I have joined the primary local forum: StreetRacing straight out of school, Tropical Aquariums SA when I got into tanks, SA Reptiles when I bought my boa, Paintball Africa when I got into paintball and years later when I moved to Cape Town, I started my own scuba diving forum seeing as there was no similar local unaffiliated forum. I am currently the only moderator on there as it's still fairly small and manageable, but there are countless spam accounts attempted per month and those need to be dealt with following the proper procedures.

In all of these cases, there were key factors that kept the peace and kept things going smoothly, and as soon as one of them failed, we would face the very same problems we're seeing now.

a) Humility & Respect: You may know more or less than the person you're interacting with, but regardless of what you "think" you know, always treat others with respect and be humble - even if you are a moderator or forum owner for that matter.
b) Active moderation: There will always be individuals who troll and spam, and letting these threads carry on forever and ever cause more harm than good. If someone can't behave themselves, they should be sent a private message which, while maintaining the same humility discussed before, explain that their post(s) were out of line and refer to the applicable forum rules that they have transgressed with their actions. When further transgressions occur, they accounts should be temporarily suspended with warning of a permanent ban should it happen again. Furthermore, there should ALWAYS be at least one moderator online during business hours in order to nip problems in the bud
c) Context: There is a fine line between actual concern, opinions and just plain sore-arsery. I agree that when concerns are raised, just deleting them instantly without feedback/reason creates the "if you don't like it, gtfo" perspective. Personal gripes should be taken offline and discussed by the parties involved. We don't want to read all about how Frikkie called you a noob and what not. If it's a concern affeting the forum as a whole, it should be able to be discussed like adults in an open discussion WITHOUT finger pointing.

Let's keep this civil and maintain the respect and humility we all deserve. If you have a personal issue with anyone, sort it out via PM. This isn't the Kardashians.

 

[Silver]

Thank you very much for your post @SHiBBY - much appreciated

 

[Silver]

@Zodd - with the greatest respect to you sir - I have deleted your post
I understand you have frustrations - and believe me, so do I

But this thread is not the place for voicing them.

Would love to hear your constructive suggestions

 

[Willyza]

@BigB

So True, So True....

 

[DarkSide]

This came as quite of s shock reading this, been to Joburg, got back home on Tuesday with some lovely bronchitis, must admit, cleared up in almost 4 days thanks to anti-biotics and vape juice, vaped not drank.
Back to the issue at hand, I am not interested in politics and trolls with asinine comments, either through lack of knowledge or just wishing to "poison the well we drink out of". The well in question is the wealth of knowledge that can be found here, to the respected @Andre and @Silver and @Alex and @Rob Fisher and @free3dom and @Yiannaki, I admire your stance taken on our forum, where I am still drinking from this well and will continue to do so. PROUD TO BE A NOOB and Recruiter of Noobs and I will continue in seeking said advice, both for myself and my "convertees"!
This forum is special to me and @Andre who was the first to reply to my silly questions and provide me with a shopping list for my new gear. I still tell the recruits and family to come to "my forum" where you can learn and chat to fellow vapers.
So my apologies for not giving constructive feedback, merely in this case, a Thank You to all who make this forum possible.
Regards

 

[LogerMoore]

Posting anonymously for fear of being banned.

My suggestion: Mods, please stop with the double standards. This unfairness is what is driving people away.

@Silver has been actively removing posts in this thread that were off-point, ie not "constructive suggestions", but did not remove @DarkSide's (sincere but otherwise off-point) post.

This may seem petty. But it's not. It sets a biased tone for this entire forum.

 

[Silver]

I understand your point @LogerMoore

Go on

EDIT - Am waiting for your constructive suggestion

 

[Silver]

Hi all

Thank you for your constructive comments and suggestions.

Just wanted to let you know that the ECIGSSA team is working hard on changes to make things better.

Hopefully we will be able to announce something great in the short to medium term.

 

[Puff Daddy]

I would be nice to see a mobile app in the future, with features like "meet up for a vape" etc. would be a cool idea in my opinion

 

[SHiBBY]

I would be nice to see a mobile app in the future, with features like "meet up for a vape" etc. would be a cool idea in my opinion

I think the smok app shows vapers in your area, if they have it shared of course

 

[Eequinox]

may i suggest increasing the max allowed characters in a pm as the 420 is way too little and just plain sucks

 

[BumbleBee]

may i suggest increasing the max allowed characters in a pm as the 420 is way too little and just plain sucks

Are you using tapatalk or something similar? There isn't a 420 character limit on a PC or mobile web browser.

 

[Kuhlkatz]

may i suggest increasing the max allowed characters in a pm as the 420 is way too little and just plain sucks

I think you might be referring to a Profile Post. These are visible to all members and differ vastly from a PM (Private Message), which is accessible via the the Inbox>Conversations>Start a new conversation Menu via the web, or Messages via Tapatalk when the appropriate forum is open.
On the Main Forum page via the web, you can see ALL the latest Profile Posts, which also have a header that links to http://www.ecigssa.co.za/find-new/3094275/profile-posts.
It seems that many people mistakenly think that these are 'private'.

 

[Eequinox]

Haha ok think that's where I think I went wrong

 

[M5000]

Hi. The first post said suggestions, so just a couple quick ones not related to other discussions here.

1. I am relatively new, and very unfamiliar with the forum topics and discussions. I often want to talk about something, but I don't know if it has been discussed before. The forum search feature is not always helpful to me, and sometimes if the search word is short it doesn't perform a search. Like NCV is too short, but I want to find reviews about the juices. But reviews are not always in reviews, it could be discussed in another e-liquid discussion which could be buried deep in a thread in the newbie forum where a newbie asked for juice advice.
2. When two words are searched, it will find too many results and most irrelevant. For example, if I search vv3 it won't return and results because it's too short, if I type iTaste vv3 it will return all the iTaste results which would be about other iTaste products. Maybe allowing shorter words to be searched, or a search that will find results only when those two words appear together.
3. For quite some time I have been having trouble logging in, the "log in"button on the home screen keeps rotating as if it's about to load but it stays stuck there.
4. A forum "map" or something similar would help so we can find topics better. Sometimes I search for something and don't find it, but I come across it afterwards. I am hesitant to start a topic and get a "this topic has been discussed elsewhere please do a forum search before posting".
5. Maybe there is one existing, please guide me to it, if not then a thread could be started where members could ask for directions like where to find something or where to post something.

I find so much of information here, and I rely on it, but sometimes I feel like it needs a bit of trimming down, like if the topic is dripper then there shuld only be one place for it. Maybe a way to guide people to post in the correct place would be some table or similar thing where they choose what exactly they want to discuss and find that topic on the table and then the table will say for example "Dripper - C 2.3.1" so that is where he must post.

Sorry for the length, this is not a criticism, this forum is brilliant, I'm just expressing some of the issues I've experienced so in future when you make improvements it can be considered.

Thanks!

 

[Andre_B]

Hi guys

Not sure if this has been suggested or not but when it comes to the classified section, is there a way to have a 'rating' system for each member where you can rate them as a 'seller' and as a 'buyer'. For example, I sell something to someone but they stuff me around when it comes to payments, meet up time or whatever, I can rate them out of 5 stars... So sellers in the future can see what their overall star rating is a buyer. Or, I buy something from someone and they stuff me around, so I rate them as a seller...

So each member would have a seller rating and a buyer rating.

I think bid or buy have a similar rating system... It just gives you peace of mind to know you are buying or selling from/to someone who has been highly rated by another member and would help identify those that you should rather steer clear of.

 

[Silver]

Hi. The first post said suggestions, so just a couple quick ones not related to other discussions here.

1. I am relatively new, and very unfamiliar with the forum topics and discussions. I often want to talk about something, but I don't know if it has been discussed before. The forum search feature is not always helpful to me, and sometimes if the search word is short it doesn't perform a search. Like NCV is too short, but I want to find reviews about the juices. But reviews are not always in reviews, it could be discussed in another e-liquid discussion which could be buried deep in a thread in the newbie forum where a newbie asked for juice advice.
2. When two words are searched, it will find too many results and most irrelevant. For example, if I search vv3 it won't return and results because it's too short, if I type iTaste vv3 it will return all the iTaste results which would be about other iTaste products. Maybe allowing shorter words to be searched, or a search that will find results only when those two words appear together.
3. For quite some time I have been having trouble logging in, the "log in"button on the home screen keeps rotating as if it's about to load but it stays stuck there.
4. A forum "map" or something similar would help so we can find topics better. Sometimes I search for something and don't find it, but I come across it afterwards. I am hesitant to start a topic and get a "this topic has been discussed elsewhere please do a forum search before posting".
5. Maybe there is one existing, please guide me to it, if not then a thread could be started where members could ask for directions like where to find something or where to post something.

I find so much of information here, and I rely on it, but sometimes I feel like it needs a bit of trimming down, like if the topic is dripper then there shuld only be one place for it. Maybe a way to guide people to post in the correct place would be some table or similar thing where they choose what exactly they want to discuss and find that topic on the table and then the table will say for example "Dripper - C 2.3.1" so that is where he must post.

Sorry for the length, this is not a criticism, this forum is brilliant, I'm just expressing some of the issues I've experienced so in future when you make improvements it can be considered.

Thanks!

Hi @M5000
Your points are all valid regarding the search functionality and the layout of the content. Thanks for taking the time to explain. We as longer term users of the forum know our way around and often cannot see the perspective of a new member, so thanks. We will discuss these issues and see what can be done.

Just on your points, I'd like to comment

On the search
- i agree, it is limited. Sometimes i get better results when I search for titles of threads or if i include the member i remember that posted something.

On the content layout
- we do have a "map" of sorts on the home page with the major sections and the sub forums. We obviously would like members to look for threads before making new ones, but sometimes that is not possible. Dont worry about making a new thread if you cant find an existing one. The Admin and Mod team will usually move the thread if necessary. But the nature of our content is mostly dynamic and "in the moment". I think most of the content that is referenced on a regular basis is fairly well sorted. Feel free to PM and of the Admins or Mods or myself if you get stuck, we can try help you.

We will be doing some "content optimisation" in the new year. Not a major overhaul but some streamlining to make it easier for newer users.

 

[Silver]

Hi guys

Not sure if this has been suggested or not but when it comes to the classified section, is there a way to have a 'rating' system for each member where you can rate them as a 'seller' and as a 'buyer'. For example, I sell something to someone but they stuff me around when it comes to payments, meet up time or whatever, I can rate them out of 5 stars... So sellers in the future can see what their overall star rating is a buyer. Or, I buy something from someone and they stuff me around, so I rate them as a seller...

So each member would have a seller rating and a buyer rating.

I think bid or buy have a similar rating system... It just gives you peace of mind to know you are buying or selling from/to someone who has been highly rated by another member and would help identify those that you should rather steer clear of.

Hi @Andre_B

Valid points there, thanks. We have discussed this issue (of ratings for classifieds users) on a few occasions. We are going to be working on improving the Classifieds in the new year and will certainly consider a ranking system as you suggest.

For now, my advice to you is to use the Classifieds with caution. Especially when dealing with newer members that have low post counts. When in doubt feel free to ask one of the Admins/Mods or one of the longer standing members about the potential buyer/seller.