Mountaincraft

[SteveColes]

Please watch this guys posts for awhile. He came across a bit abrasive and negative in the chat room. But I don't know if that was my mood or not

 

[SteveColes]

Actually, I jusr read all his posts (7) and they certaily seem fine. Must be me

 

[DaveO]

Yea, I think that he has a lot to offer. Seems very experienced. Could use a little softening on the edges, but harmless in my opinion.
Dave

 

[Steve D]

will do, people see to adapt to the friendly tone here but I'll keep an eye out.

 

[D L Ames]

I'll be watching also. Like you Steve, I read one of his posts and picked up on a touch of abrasiveness. Nothing too drastic though and as pointed out it might just be his style.

D L

 

[JohnsonMBrandon]

We'll keep an eye on things

 

[Steve D]

Okay, I think I'm getting a sense for the tone picked up in the chat room. Take a look at his reply to Insomniac's question about lighting his shop, to me it comes off in an abrasive way. Thoughts?

 

[DaveO]

It could have been stated in a better way, but Insom. does have only 4 lights for his whole shop. Plus some high celings....he does seriously need more light.
Dave

 

[clowman]

I'm watching as well. Just could be a different sense of humor. I didn't get a bad vibe from his post to insom's question, much as I did from his woodguy question and trust fund. But.. as I said.. sense of humor.

 

[D L Ames]

I think it is just his style. Has any of the other members voiced any concern to any of the Mods? I haven't heard anything yet from anyone. We may want to see what sort of responses he gets back from some of his replies that we are questioning above. i.e. comments to WG and Insom.

D L

 

[Steve D]

I agree it's probably just style but Steve's instincts suggesting we watch him seem warranted. Maybe Steve could get a read offline from Insom and Woodguy and see how they reacted.

 

[clowman]

Good Point Steve. Also, as DL stated, it could just be his style.

 

[SteveColes]

I'm deciding what I want to do, if anything right now. But this discussion gives me a chance to make a point or two.

The issue right now is not whether or not he is an abrasive SOB. Actually, I doubt it. I think he wants to genuinely be helpful. I agree it's probably style. But style is important to a community such as this. We could/should let it as just being style. But a new member might read his posts and feel that his style was OK. Sooner or later, this grows as membership increases and once a real nasty back and forth, something will be lost here and I really don't want that to happen.

An example was his reply to insom on lighting. Imagine if he used exactly the same words but put a smiley at the end. I doubt we would be discussing this. It still would be his style, but there would be no confusion as to how he meant it.

FYI, I won't contact WG or insom about this, because I don't want to give them or any other person the feeling that we are dissecting the wording of every post.

 

[cskipper]

I understand where you are coming from and agree that there is a risk of posts that don't "fit" in our site which will grow as the membership grows, but how will you address it? Yes, I know if you knew when you wrote your last post you'd have told us.

 

[SteveColes]

This is how I addressed it. I sent the following PM

I want you know that I really appreciate the knowledge and participation you have already brought to this website.

You strike me as a straightforward and to the point, type of person and those are great attributes. However, on a discussion site like this those same attributes when put down in writing, without the benefit of body language or facial expression can make the reader feel as though you meant something different than you did.

For instance from one of your posts.

"My God, man. Get 5 more shop lights, at least. Maybe try full spectrum bulbs for color."

Depending on the reader, that could be taken as "Hey stupid, get some shoplights" which, of course, might be valid, but is disrespectful to another member, which is something I want to discourage on this site
or as I interpreted it.
"Don't wait, you need at least 5 more shoplights"

The way you expressed it, is your style and I am not here to suggest that you change it. But at the same time I want to make sure a misunderstanding doesn't create a problem.

So a just a hint to help you avoid any misunderstandings with other members. Here is your original wording with just the addition of a single smiley

"My God, man. Get 5 more shoplights:lol: , at least. Maybe try full spectrum bulbs for color."

That makes it pretty clear that no disrespect was intended, but the wording is still yours.

BTW, there was no misunderstanding that was reported to me. But when I read the post, I saw the potential and just wanted to head off any issues.

His response to this will tell me a lot.

BTW, feel free to criticize what I wrote to hime.

 

[DaveO]

Steve, I think what you wrote to him took a very touchy subject and stated it very openly and fairly without criticizing:eusa_clap Well done. I will be interested in his response. I truly believe that it is his style, and he may not be versed in "forum speak", but I also agree that a statement made face to face with a smile, can be wrongly read when seen in print.
Dave

 

[D L Ames]

Steve, as Dave points out..........great job on voicing your concerns to him while offering him some tips on how to get his message across more effectively.:icon_thum I couldn't have said it any better. I will be interested in reading his response which like you say will tell us a lot about him.

As I was reading your PM to him a thought occurred to me that we may need to check with him on. And that is.....Does he have the smilies available to him when he posts replies or new threads? I know this sounds odd, but as mshel and I found out one night when I was trying to help him locate the ieSpell button, if you are using the wrong settings on the UCP then neither the smilies or ieSpeel features will show up. It was driving Mike and I nuts until we got on the phone and went line by line how each of us had our UCP set up. We found one menu option that was different and when Mike changed it the smilies and ieSpell features showed up once he refreshed his screen.

Please let us know what Mountaincraft sends back to you.

D L

 

[cskipper]

I think your response was great:icon_thum . Please let us know how he responds.

 

[Steve D]

Ditto the other comments. I know I've posted things intending to be humorous that could be taken the wrong way and make sure to include smilies for that very reason. He may not be familiar with forum speak or he may be used to other sites that are nothing but flames. You raise a good point about not making people feel dissected. I hadn't thought of it from that perspective.

You've built a great community here and I agree that it could be very easy to lose control of that feeling. He souldn't take offense to your PM, so let's see what happens.

 

[SteveColes]

This is his response.

Thanks for the clue

That's the only response that he could have given that could possibly leave me with no idea how he took it:rolf:

I guess we'll watch a bit more.

About not seeing the smilies, he knows they should be there. If they are missing, he say something