- 15,041
I've reported this post for not agreeing with me. I expected more from you!
Keep it up and you're going to find yourself on double secret probation.
Cleaning Up the FE Forum
- Thread starter Sam
- Start date
I've reported this post for not agreeing with me. I expected more from you!
Keep it up and you're going to find yourself on double secret probation.
- 8,707
VolAgent said:I've reported this post for not agreeing with me. I expected more from you!
Keep it up and you're going to find yourself on double secret probation.
Keep responding I need to recover about 1k+ in posts lost in the religion and politics thread.
Topgunproducers has a very limited participation as well but very high quality posts.
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You are making progress with this thread.
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I might be, but I'm definately not having a sales problem...I'm up 4 on you so far...good luck catching up.
- 11,280
I might be, but I'm definately not having a sales problem...I'm up 4 on you so far...good luck catching up.
I need no luck, just need to go to work. I will have you by the end of the week.
- 15,319
- 11,280
What can I say? He's a gold digger....
- 118
Good decision to clean up the forum...sometimes we tend to take posts so seriously. this is supposed to be fun and getting good opinions and advice...we all have one goal and that is to have a good career in the insurance business...what might work for some might not work for others but still we need to be respectful of everyone's opinions. nuff said!
- Thread starter
- Staff
- #120
- 1,599
Seems like a good time for an update 
I have received a few private messages today and last week from both people who like and people who dislike some of my recent decisions and actions, and I thought I would clear a few things up.
1. I am not nor have I ever been compensated by Senior Life, Lincoln Heritage, Efes, Securus etc... We are very open about who our advertisers and sponsors are, but there are no "hidden" sponsorships where we promote certain FE FMO's. Since I have been accused of promoting each of those for cash, I am mentioning them by name
2. We have not removed comments about any specific company, mentioned above or not, that weren't also personal attacks. The forum allows for honest discussion and disagreement. If there is a question about any particular company, in FE or otherwise, you are allowed to posts your opinions, and you can disagree with others, just don't make it personal.
No one needs to stand by when they see a post that seems wrong or incorrect, they just need to find a way to make their point without making it personal. I don't see it that way, I disagree, that's not been my experience etc... there are plenty of things that can be said rather than calling people liars or worse.
3. When there is a post that you do not like, you need to report it and then wait for the post to be dealt with. The forum does not have a community manager that watches every post in real time and determines if it should stay. If I had a nickel for every time someone reported a post and by the time I got to a computer to deal with it, there was a response from the person who reported it, that was as bad or worse than the original post, then I would have enough money to buy a fully gassed and waxed Yugo.
This is important. When someone posts an attack and it goes unanswered, it becomes easy for us to deal with the attacker, either warn them if they haven't been before, or start banning, short or long term. However, when there is an equally nasty response that follows, it makes it much more difficult to deal with the instigator properly. Additionally, to the passer by, who doesn't know the poster, they are equally as harmful to their perceptions of the community.
Therefore, the rules are simple...no personal attacks, and responses to someone else's attack will be treated the same as if you initiated it.
4. We don't get everything perfect. We never will, and sometimes it will seem like we are being unfair. There is a ton of ambiguity in moderating a forum and the only people who have real clarity are those whose posts are dealt with. Anyone else who tries to view it can sometimes get things wrong. I feel like the moderation team and I do our best, but I acknowledge that we will never get everything perfect, and recognize that some people won't be able to get over it when that happens.
5. This forum is my business. It is a website held and operated by Melnet Media, which is 100% owned by me (holding company for my other websites as well) I try to run a decent business, where agents have access to information that helps them feed their families. Even some current and former posters who hate me personally, have agreed that what they have learned here has helped them earn a respectable living.
My job is to grow the forum, to bring more people here, surface the content, to thus create more posters, and to work with game theory and the many motivations of our members, to encourage the creation of quality content.
I spend a lot of time and money bringing people here, and I plan on taking an increasingly stronger interest in making sure that people don't chase them away with personal attacks.
The forum has 39,000 members, but do you have any idea how many of them actually post? About 12,000. Only 2,800 have more than ten posts. Only 840 or so have more than 50 posts. However, the forum received 97,000 unique visitors in January. Most people who read what you write do not know you, your personality, your temperament, what company you are with, of any of your history. That is reserved for a much smaller community.
My job is to help create the situation that the most amount of those 97,000 people feel comfortable joining the forum and posting here. Doing away with personal attacks is part of accomplishing that goal. No individual member, no matter who they are or how valuable they are can be allowed to wantonly and willfully attack people. Some formerly long time members with many posts could attest to that, if they were still here.
6. There is a lot more to running the forum than just dealing with this. Val can attest that we were busy all week fighting off Egyptian hackers, who are some pretty nasty people. We get more than 100 spammers per day, mostly from Russia, who try to join of forum. It is also my job to make sure that they don't get through.
7. When there is spam that gets through, our moderation team is extremely quick to deal with it. We are very appreciative for those who report posts that are spam, as it helps the speed to deletion greatly.
8. The forum's success is ultimately based on the members, the community. We value and appreciate the contributions that our members make, and we hope that in turn you receive some benefit from your participation as well.
In closing, I do take advice from people, and while I prefer to receive it in private, I have certainly learned from public advice as well as criticism too. So if you have thoughts on this, please feel free to be in touch with me.
Sam
I have received a few private messages today and last week from both people who like and people who dislike some of my recent decisions and actions, and I thought I would clear a few things up.1. I am not nor have I ever been compensated by Senior Life, Lincoln Heritage, Efes, Securus etc... We are very open about who our advertisers and sponsors are, but there are no "hidden" sponsorships where we promote certain FE FMO's. Since I have been accused of promoting each of those for cash, I am mentioning them by name
2. We have not removed comments about any specific company, mentioned above or not, that weren't also personal attacks. The forum allows for honest discussion and disagreement. If there is a question about any particular company, in FE or otherwise, you are allowed to posts your opinions, and you can disagree with others, just don't make it personal.
No one needs to stand by when they see a post that seems wrong or incorrect, they just need to find a way to make their point without making it personal. I don't see it that way, I disagree, that's not been my experience etc... there are plenty of things that can be said rather than calling people liars or worse.
3. When there is a post that you do not like, you need to report it and then wait for the post to be dealt with. The forum does not have a community manager that watches every post in real time and determines if it should stay. If I had a nickel for every time someone reported a post and by the time I got to a computer to deal with it, there was a response from the person who reported it, that was as bad or worse than the original post, then I would have enough money to buy a fully gassed and waxed Yugo.
This is important. When someone posts an attack and it goes unanswered, it becomes easy for us to deal with the attacker, either warn them if they haven't been before, or start banning, short or long term. However, when there is an equally nasty response that follows, it makes it much more difficult to deal with the instigator properly. Additionally, to the passer by, who doesn't know the poster, they are equally as harmful to their perceptions of the community.
Therefore, the rules are simple...no personal attacks, and responses to someone else's attack will be treated the same as if you initiated it.
4. We don't get everything perfect. We never will, and sometimes it will seem like we are being unfair. There is a ton of ambiguity in moderating a forum and the only people who have real clarity are those whose posts are dealt with. Anyone else who tries to view it can sometimes get things wrong. I feel like the moderation team and I do our best, but I acknowledge that we will never get everything perfect, and recognize that some people won't be able to get over it when that happens.
5. This forum is my business. It is a website held and operated by Melnet Media, which is 100% owned by me (holding company for my other websites as well) I try to run a decent business, where agents have access to information that helps them feed their families. Even some current and former posters who hate me personally, have agreed that what they have learned here has helped them earn a respectable living.
My job is to grow the forum, to bring more people here, surface the content, to thus create more posters, and to work with game theory and the many motivations of our members, to encourage the creation of quality content.
I spend a lot of time and money bringing people here, and I plan on taking an increasingly stronger interest in making sure that people don't chase them away with personal attacks.
The forum has 39,000 members, but do you have any idea how many of them actually post? About 12,000. Only 2,800 have more than ten posts. Only 840 or so have more than 50 posts. However, the forum received 97,000 unique visitors in January. Most people who read what you write do not know you, your personality, your temperament, what company you are with, of any of your history. That is reserved for a much smaller community.
My job is to help create the situation that the most amount of those 97,000 people feel comfortable joining the forum and posting here. Doing away with personal attacks is part of accomplishing that goal. No individual member, no matter who they are or how valuable they are can be allowed to wantonly and willfully attack people. Some formerly long time members with many posts could attest to that, if they were still here.
6. There is a lot more to running the forum than just dealing with this. Val can attest that we were busy all week fighting off Egyptian hackers, who are some pretty nasty people. We get more than 100 spammers per day, mostly from Russia, who try to join of forum. It is also my job to make sure that they don't get through.
7. When there is spam that gets through, our moderation team is extremely quick to deal with it. We are very appreciative for those who report posts that are spam, as it helps the speed to deletion greatly.
8. The forum's success is ultimately based on the members, the community. We value and appreciate the contributions that our members make, and we hope that in turn you receive some benefit from your participation as well.
In closing, I do take advice from people, and while I prefer to receive it in private, I have certainly learned from public advice as well as criticism too. So if you have thoughts on this, please feel free to be in touch with me.
Sam
