WAKE UP KASEY!!!!

[EmmaC]

I am a student of Forensic Science with an interest in fingerprinting. I have really found the last few months listening to the arguments put forward on this site. Would your pre-registration disallow my continuing membership?

I am a member of the FSS and the Fingerprint Society... Does that help?

[David Fairhurst]

Let's not forget what we're talking about here.

The only thing we want to do is stop people posting commercial/pornographic/off-topic material. Anyone who wishes to make relevant comment, whether annonymously or nonymously, constructive or even occasionally inflamatory should be welcomed. I think the idea of having to get references and people to vouch for you is going too far.

Site Admin.... is there a way to moderate posts before they are made public? What if people could register, compose their first post and have it held for moderation? Once you have seen that it's a not spam you can give them the go-ahead for unmoderated posts. No need for people to be vouched for, no danger of accusations of cliquiness or stiffling debate, just an initial safeguard to prevent spammers.

David

[Bohemian Rhapsody]

One of the biggest knocks on LPE's is that they have created an exclusive little club with the luxury of selecting who can disagree with them and who cannot. This is done by claiming anyone w/o direct latent print experience has no right to an opinion regarding fp science. I've also heard that there are cliques who monitor IP addresses on this site, searching out dissenters, and tidying up their own posts with administrative tools after the fact. I hope that it is not very widespread. I also hope that Kasey can figure out how to thwart spam w/o impeding what non-spammers have to say. I think it would add to the credibility of this forum.

[clpexco]

One of the biggest knocks on LPE's is that they have created an exclusive little club with the luxury of selecting who can disagree with them and who cannot. This is done by claiming anyone w/o direct latent print experience has no right to an opinion regarding fp science. I've also heard that there are cliques who monitor IP addresses on this site, searching out dissenters, and tidying up their own posts with administrative tools after the fact. I hope that it is not very widespread. I also hope that Kasey can figure out how to thwart spam w/o impeding what non-spammers have to say. I think it would add to the credibility of this forum.

BR,

I felt it would be appropriate for me, as the creator and administrator of the forum, to address your concerns. Nobody is suggesting that dissenting viewpoints won't be allowed to post. The idea is exactly as you state - to thwart spammers without impeding the current activities. I hope we can achieve that; but if not, we would not propose to limit any activity by those truly interested in latent print related discussions. Otherwise, what is the point in having a forum!

To specifically address your statement about "cliques" who monitor IP addresses, I would have to say that unless you consider Steve and I a "clique", then this is an un-founded statement. I have personally reprimanded individuals (privately by e-mail, and only occasionally on the forum) who go too far with their posts, and in reprimanding them I have searched all posts they have made under different names from the same IP address. I will continue to do this because I believe as the administrator of the forum I owe this to the members. We do not search out dissenters and harass members who post in an appropriate manner. And although I have not personally gone back and re-worded my posts, I have to admit that on occasion any administrator will be contacted by members after a post and asked to edit them. In fact, I believe we have turned on the function for any member to re-edit or delete their own post after they have posted it.

The main goal is to have, as you so well put, a "credible" forum that is free from the spam we all despise. As the administrators, we will continue to strive for this goal with the least amount of disruption to the members.

-Kasey

[Steve Everist]

Nobody is suggesting that dissenting viewpoints won't be allowed to post. The idea is exactly as you state - to thwart spammers without impeding the current activities. I hope we can achieve that; but if not, we would not propose to limit any activity by those truly interested in latent print related discussions. Otherwise, what is the point in having a forum!

This is pretty much how I got involved with helping administrate the board. I kept seeing new registrations that were obviously spam. I think Kasey got sick of me emailing him to point them out... so he set me as admin so I could just go clean them up myself. Regarding the dissenters; this is Kasey's board, so it's up to him regarding what content is allowed. I would guess there are a lot more people thinking his limits are a pretty loose as opposed to being strict. The only time I'd remove anything without leaving it up to Kasey is if I saw a lot of profanity or definite threatening attacks. Other than that, I'm just removing the obvious spam.

And although I have not personally gone back and re-worded my posts, I have to admit that on occasion any administrator will be contacted by members after a post and asked to edit them.

We've recently had a request to remove a thread, but that wasn't for anything relative to what anyone involved in it posted. The original poster was interested in some training information and opportunities but found that they weren't able to commit to the project any more. It was just easier to remove the thread than continue getting email requests and saying that they were unable to be involved in the project.

I've also received some requests from registered members who forgot their passwords. We have the ability to give a temporary password to someone who forgot theirs, so they don't have to re-register and start over.

In fact, I believe we have turned on the function for any member to re-edit or delete their own post after they have posted it.

Back when anyone was allowed to post, including guests, only those that were registered could go back and edit their own posts. Anyone who posted as a guest couldn't modify what they posted later. Once it became required to be registered to post/reply, everyone should have became able to edit their own posts. In order to do this, you must be signed in though. If you want to check; sign in, go to one of your old posts, and see if there is a button in your posts area that allows you to edit the post.

[Bohemian Rhapsody]

"we would not propose to limit any activity by those truly interested in latent print related discussions. Otherwise, what is the point in having a forum!"

Excellent, that is good to hear.

"I would have to say that unless you consider Steve and I a "clique", then this is an un-founded statement."

It's a bit more than that, but unimportant right now as long there is no intention to filter posts based solely on someone's identity. Which is always a concern if we must have our posts screened by the ministry of truth.

Spam bots=bad. Open and frank debate=good.

[clpexco]

Spam bots=bad. Open and frank debate=good.

This is the bottom line, and I think we are all on the same page.
-Kasey