That would creep me out no end.
But I wouldn't like to approach ZooChatters, lol. I'm kinda shy.
Big Brother?
- Thread starter Gigit
- Start date
That would creep me out no end.
But I wouldn't like to approach ZooChatters, lol. I'm kinda shy.
Well, nobody will recognise me as there are no pictures of me on here. I think there's... three people I might recognise, but wouldnt say hey. For one, what if it wasnt who I thought it was. Two, and if it is, just going 'Hey I'm HuxleyPig, Hey I'm BlahBlah' 'Yeah.... soooo.......
Social humilation ftl.
Social humilation ftl.
Dawn B
Well-Known Member
Well thats your opinion and I respect it, but from the postings I have read, its the majority not minority that are children.
A third example of what has happened then.
Other forums I visit have "junior member" under their avatar, it serves as a reminder and guide for others on the site.
MARK
Well-Known Member
All this is theoretical, as I don't subscribe to the view that there are "unsavoury characters" lurking everywhere, but couldn't this be counter productive as it provides a short-cut to easily identify junior members for those who may want to do so.
Personally I like to assume the almost all adults are decent and that most children are sensible unless information leads to the contrary -it's part of our culture, "innocent until proven guilty".
On this basis I don't see any problems with the current set-up, it's great to have the (sometimes over-)enthusiasm the younger members often bring and the experience and knowledge the older members bring. Forgive my simplification I know older members can be enthusiastic and younger members can be knowledgeable -basically it's great to exchange information, ideas and opinions with other members regardless of age.
Ironically this discussion moving slightly off-thread has provided a great example of how "Big Brother" gets power -scare people with fear of over-exaggerated threats and problems in an attempt to justify bringing in unneeded over-the-top controls to deal with them!
MARK
Well-Known Member
These are your facts??,
As I have stated MANY of our adult members do "not bother" with age polls, so how can you say the majority of members are childen from just a few names you have stated above ??,
We have 2339 members and you have given 16 names - that is NOT a Majority
As I have stated MANY of our adult members do "not bother" with age polls, so how can you say the majority of members are childen from just a few names you have stated above ??,
We have 2339 members and you have given 16 names - that is NOT a Majority
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I am in my late fifties but have been a Zoo Enthusiast from an early age . I am very envious of the availability of zoo news available on the Internet via Zoochat and other internet sources these days , there was virtually nothing in the way of Zoo News other the television programmes when I was young .
I think we should encourage the enthusiasm - within sensible limits - of our younger posters . I have read many excellent posts from the names listed above , though others have made me cringe . If I was in my mid-teens and described as a child I would be mightily offended . Many of the regular posters on the UK threads are certainly not under 18 .
I think we should encourage the enthusiasm - within sensible limits - of our younger posters . I have read many excellent posts from the names listed above , though others have made me cringe . If I was in my mid-teens and described as a child I would be mightily offended . Many of the regular posters on the UK threads are certainly not under 18 .
ZYBen
Well-Known Member
I feel this forum is not for me. So if I may, Id ask you to delete my account please.
Thanks to the friends I have made here.
It is always sad to lose a member on this, a public forum, where everyone no matter what their age, race, gender, religeon, whatever (!) can voice their opinion or views on a subject.
I believe this is something you disagree with, you have constantly pushed your view as fact, and attempted to 'shut down' any member that disagrees (see Me and Kahmal photo). I honestly don't believe you agree with the term Forum.
I joined this forum as a younger member, at the tender young age of 16 (may of been 15, who knows!) When it was much smaller, and a few of those members are still around. I am now 19, so would still consider myself a Younger member. I do work in a zoo, and have dealt with Zoo's and Wildlife parks for the duration of my time on the forum (the story of how I ended up dealing with zoo's is a long one, involves Fat Tailed Dunnarts and lots of Gliders
) varying from volunteer positions to trading species, and my eventual employment.If there were more members who shared your views on treating and speaking to young people in such a demeaning manner, I may not be where I am today and I thank the members who have supported me through my growth for it, they know who they are.
I have met up with Members from the forum, and after seeing the information they post and chatting with them for them for a long time, you can get a fairly accuratte judge of they way they behave. Although I will say this is not fool proof, but I have experienced no ill effects. I travelled 2000kms from home and stayed with a forum member (MARK, who graciously put me up), who I had never even talked to on the phone, and had a blast! We travelled much of South East QLD visiting Zoo's and parks, and I'm sure he enjoyed it as much as me!
Some of the older (forum wise not age) members of the forum would remembered me from the start, and hopefully have seen my views change and mature.
I can remember as a younger member, you hear a tiny bit of information, so you post it, people ask questions, so you give (what you think) is the most logical and appropriate answer, this can be read as fact, as many things on the forum are interpreted. If these answers are proven to be untrue, you feel crushed, and to many forum members this may be their only link to Zoo discussion worldwide. I am lucky I have always put on a tough front and will admit to my mistakes, but really do disapprove when a comment i made form 2-3 years ago comes back, but i do have to accept that being in written form, I am accountable for it, and accept full responsibility for anything I have written, as a Zoo enthused teenager.
The way I conduct myself on the forum has changed, but I applude the members who make the time to read and reply to everyone of the posts, while some of these posts may be a simple "This is great info" or "Thanks heaps" its still a valuable insight into how people of varying demographics percieve the information presented.
I would like to call on the older (age wise this time) members of the forum, to please practice patience with younger forum members, and try and guide them in the right direction. There are several members already demostrating this, and I thank them. In particular MARK and Steve Robinson, if not for their continued support and guidance, I may not of developed into the Young Adult I am today.
Having recently moved 2000kms away from my family for work, I have had to mature futher, and have learnt some valuable life lessons, but I do not claim to know everything, and thats what older members are for.
So I propose a different idea to your 'Junior member' tag, why not a 'Senior member' or 'Wise member' tag, so our younger members know who to look to for guidance
If you do choose to leave, thankyou for you input, it has been valued.
Note: Worst thing about writing long replies, i havent seen whats been written since the time Dawn B has posted the quoted reply, hopefully it all still makes sense.
Dawn B
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the reply however I doesnt change my mind. I am a member of several forums of differing themes, photography, wildlife, hunting, dogs and cats. Ive never been banned, suspended or "warned" at all whatsoever, BUT they have all been very well moderated and regulated with CLEAR labels of "junior" members. This day and age you cannot be too careful and Im afraid I dont want to be part of a community where clear distinctions are not made and the possibility as laid out by other members also, leaves way for possible problems. I like the forum, just not the clearness in which its moderated or the clarity of its members ages. Its no way a dig at anyone at all. I appreciate your reply.
Mark, dont see this as a personal attack or an attack on your forum, I have a little experience through family being involved with law, about the possible implications of children "meeting" others, its dangerous. I have also successfully prosecuted 2 people for illegal use of photographs, so please dont think I dont know what Im talking about. The forum has made me feel uncomfortable for a little while now, and although I love the subjects and enjoy the banter, Id rather have my membership deleted please.
This is NO way a knock at ANY member, its personal feelings alone.
Unfortunately Mark, you really need to look at your membership base and see exactly how many of your members participate in the forum, I think you will be surprised that a huge proportion join and dont post, or at least rarely do, in fact your 20th most popular poster has only posted 1600 posts or so and he has been a member for almost 2yrs!
Mark, dont see this as a personal attack or an attack on your forum, I have a little experience through family being involved with law, about the possible implications of children "meeting" others, its dangerous. I have also successfully prosecuted 2 people for illegal use of photographs, so please dont think I dont know what Im talking about. The forum has made me feel uncomfortable for a little while now, and although I love the subjects and enjoy the banter, Id rather have my membership deleted please.
This is NO way a knock at ANY member, its personal feelings alone.
ZYBen
Well-Known Member
Thanks Dawn, I wasn't trying to convince you to stay, just wanted to reply to this long running discussion, but you are welcome to stay 
I am also a member of a number of forums, and personally like the way the forum (ZooChat) is run and not just because I am part of the forum staff, I am also staff on other ones.
Up until recently it has been fairly self moderated, and still the members that do post regulalry can normally engage in discussion safely.
Its very hard to put, but its run very "Australian", its laid back, most members are easy going.
Up until we recieved a large member base from overseas we didn't even need moderators. I'm not having a dig at and overseas participation, but it's when the humour doesn't transend borders that we get alot of problems.
I am also a member of a number of forums, and personally like the way the forum (ZooChat) is run and not just because I am part of the forum staff, I am also staff on other ones.
Up until recently it has been fairly self moderated, and still the members that do post regulalry can normally engage in discussion safely.
Its very hard to put, but its run very "Australian", its laid back, most members are easy going.
Up until we recieved a large member base from overseas we didn't even need moderators. I'm not having a dig at and overseas participation, but it's when the humour doesn't transend borders that we get alot of problems.
I'm sorry, but you are completely mistaken about this.
For vBulletin software (which is the software that I use to run this site and is one of the most popular for running forums), the default setting is that all new members who have posted less than 30 posts are called "Junior Members".
Once they reach 30 posts they are called "Members" and when they reach 100 posts they are called "Senior Members".
This is exactly what gets displayed under the avatar on every forum site which has never modified these defaults.
I do modify them on my sites because of exactly the mistake you've made - I don't want people mistaking "junior" to mean "young".
For what it's worth, I am not comfortable about having members under the age of 13 on this site - and I will probably implement the COPPA system (which is an American system for membership sites which asks people under the age of 13 to provide parental consent before their membership is approved).
I also think it is inappropriate for any minor to solicit a meeting via the site (and conversely, for anyone to solicit a meeting with a minor via the site).
That being said, I do not believe that the majority of the members are minors - they are possibly some of the more vocal members recently, but the core membership has always been people at least 16 years old, and the majority I believe is much older than this.
Just to clarify - I have considered listing the ages of our members on user profiles, but dismissed the idea since it would be an invasion of privacy for me to do so. If someone chooses to let people know how old they are - that is their choice.
It is a catch-22, I think our members deserve to know if they are talking to someone who is still in school, but at the same time everyone deserves a right to privacy (in fact it is the law here in Australia as I'm sure it is elsewhere), so it is not something I will be implementing - and I don't think it is right for publicly accessible sites to clearly identify people by age.
It is a catch-22, I think our members deserve to know if they are talking to someone who is still in school, but at the same time everyone deserves a right to privacy (in fact it is the law here in Australia as I'm sure it is elsewhere), so it is not something I will be implementing - and I don't think it is right for publicly accessible sites to clearly identify people by age.
Just to add my two-cents worth to this debate (although I have the feeling the ship has sailed on this one...)
I joined this site a little over two years ago when I was 16 and I'd like to think that even back then I used this forum in a responsible manner and responded to other members in a mature manner. In 2007, I get the impression (no statistics to back me up on this however!) that I was one of a considerable minority of "younger members" but of the younger members that I knew (I will refrain from posting names, but I imagine some of the more experienced members will know to who i am referring), we all seemed to have a similar level of quality in our postings (I will gladly concede if someone can find evidence against me to the contrary!
)
In the 2 years since I joined, I have been a fairly frequent poster and it's only been recently where my usage of the site has decreased (due to other more pressing concerns) but I now get the impression that the younger members now seem to have become a more "vocal minority" (for lack of a better phrase) than they were when I first joined up. Dawn B has a point in this regard, although possibly a little misguided when she says that they (or we, if you still classify me as young! ) are in the majority of this site. Now, as I see it, a problem arises when these younger members become a little over-enthusiastic with their reaction (and that could be expected of them in all fairness, since that is possibly how they would react in the "real world"). The only real solution I can envisage at this moment (and may have already been implemented) is for the younger members themselves to use a little bit of maturity before posting something and thinking before typing something. There is nothing really that Zoochat can do without "discriminating (again, for lack of a better word) against the younger members who do post with a mature mindset.
I joined this site a little over two years ago when I was 16 and I'd like to think that even back then I used this forum in a responsible manner and responded to other members in a mature manner. In 2007, I get the impression (no statistics to back me up on this however!) that I was one of a considerable minority of "younger members" but of the younger members that I knew (I will refrain from posting names, but I imagine some of the more experienced members will know to who i am referring), we all seemed to have a similar level of quality in our postings (I will gladly concede if someone can find evidence against me to the contrary!
)In the 2 years since I joined, I have been a fairly frequent poster and it's only been recently where my usage of the site has decreased (due to other more pressing concerns) but I now get the impression that the younger members now seem to have become a more "vocal minority" (for lack of a better phrase) than they were when I first joined up. Dawn B has a point in this regard, although possibly a little misguided when she says that they (or we, if you still classify me as young!
) are in the majority of this site. Now, as I see it, a problem arises when these younger members become a little over-enthusiastic with their reaction (and that could be expected of them in all fairness, since that is possibly how they would react in the "real world"). The only real solution I can envisage at this moment (and may have already been implemented) is for the younger members themselves to use a little bit of maturity before posting something and thinking before typing something. There is nothing really that Zoochat can do without "discriminating (again, for lack of a better word) against the younger members who do post with a mature mindset.