Moderator approval of first five posts

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by 25Kingman49

My previous post to this thread appears to be awaiting "Moderator' approval before posting. This post will also likely fall into that same black hole category wasting my time and that of other members

Hi Kingman,
While I’m sure you are at least half-way patient in real life, this didn’t exactly come through in the above post. Posting a second time seems odd if you didn’t expect anyone to see it but I guess you must have had your reasons, just as we at TOCH have ours for moderating every member’s first five posts. It’s to make sure they’re not a spammer (around half a dozen of those sign up every day) and keep the site from being buried in garbage.

A tragedy that you feel that your time is being wasted but I and John (my fellow moderator) also have lives to lead beyond this forum and we check in here - on a purely voluntary basis, because the site owner asked us to - when we can.

[25Kingman49]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

Hi Kingman,
While I’m sure you are at least half-way patient in real life, this didn’t exactly come through in the above post. Posting a second time seems odd if you didn’t expect anyone to see it but I guess you must have had your reasons, just as we at TOCH have ours for moderating every member’s first five posts. It’s to make sure they’re not a spammer (around half a dozen of those sign up every day) and keep the site from being buried in garbage.

A tragedy that you feel that your time is being wasted but I and John (my fellow moderator) also have lives to lead beyond this forum and we check in here - on a purely voluntary basis, because the site owner asked us to - when we can.

I attempted several times via the "contact us" form and email address seeking a reason for this posting delay and or probation for this apparent new member protocol. No response was ever received until now with your welcoming post above.

I would have preferred to resolve this misunderstanding off forum but obviously you see this differently. Feel free to edit my post above as I do not seem to have that ability/privilege as yet, nor the ability to contact anyone via private message to not discuss issues like this in open forum.

Respectfully,
Scott M

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by 25Kingman49

I attempted several times via the "contact us" form and email address seeking a reason for this posting delay and or probation for this apparent new member protocol. No response was ever received until now with your welcoming post above.

I would have preferred to resolve this misunderstanding off forum but obviously you see this differently. Feel free to edit my post above as I do not seem to have that ability/privilege as yet, nor the ability to contact anyone via private message to not discuss issues like this in open forum.

Respectfully,
Scott M

Sorry, I don’t have any control of the technical aspects and “contact us” messages don’t come to me. Ruy Horta, whose site this is, is no more able to devote his entire life to it than John and I. Membership is free, nobody’s getting a salary but a lot of people seem to derive some value from it all, nevertheless.

AFAIK private messages become available after you pass the five approved posts threshold. In the past we had a lot of complaints from members getting junk mail from a spammer who had just signed but never posted, hence the preventative measures.

[Alex Smart]

Hello ScottM,
Read that you had problem posting.
I found similar problem yesterday/last night-early morning today.
I thought it may have been due to the weather or nearby military communications perhaps causing the interference which I described as "freezing" .
Hope that you soon become a sought for member that others will look to for help as I have done over years for which I will always be greatfull.
Welcome to the forum.
Alex

[25Kingman49]

Thank you, Nick.

This is all likely way off topic for this particular thread and I apologize to the original poster for this inconvenience posted to this thread. However this seems my only path for contact with moderators and or administrators of this forum/board.

May I please point out that my only desire in becoming a member of this forum was to become a worthwhile contributing member. I believe my posts thus far confirm I am not a spammer, or other bad actor. This protocol of 5 post probation is not covered anywhere else including FAQ. I was therefore confounded after a few of my initial posts were posted to the board, and I thought mistakenly that I was then a "trusted" member.

Sadly this was not the case. This came to light in this thread when Alex Smart's post (who is a friend), posted before mine (before moderator intervention and my post insertion into the thread) and yes I admittedly became frustrated and impatient posting a second time with more links on topic and sadly my disparaging comment about my probation black hole, still ignorant to the 5 post protocol.

I would prefer that this post not be published to the board in this thread as it is merely unneeded clutter but perhaps it may serve as an educational tool/purpose for new members ignorant as I was to this 5 post protocol before sanctions are lifted to post freely without moderation to this TOCH forum/board. I would suggest this be added to FAQs and the initial member sign up registration response so new members are not left twisting in the wind as to why their posts are being reviewed by moderators initially indicating the 5 post review. Proper and thorough communication makes all the difference as new members struggle to understand this new environment; I was a casualty.

There remains one further post I have made to this thread http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=50006 which still seems to have not passed moderator approval for posting to that thread. Maybe this puts me over this 5 post threshold once published. Or perhaps my conduct here disqualifies me as a valued contributing member.

Frankly Nick, I perfectly understand your frustrations as a forum moderator. For a year prior to the 2015 crash I was a full moderator assigned by Scott Burris (involuntarily drafted) over the AAF Forum. Hopefully this will not be held against me. There is no glamour in being a forum moderator it is simply a janitorial/custodian position to keep the chaos to a minimum but there in the AAF Forum because of content there was a lot more member post movement to the proper sub forum than seems to exist here. So from a moderator standpoint things could always be worse beyond dealing with malcontent new members which I seem to have become here. I promise you this was NOT my initial intent.

One last note. I have always contributed my historical and veteran research efforts pro bono "without pay". For me the thought to charge for these efforts boarders on criminal activity but there are many it seems who make a living doing just that. This is only noted because of your previous statement "Membership is free, nobody’s getting a salary" and so it should be, as we are all volunteers. Otherwise we would all have our own "for profit" web sites praying on the progeny of veterans. Sorry, not my cup of tea.

Respectfully.

[25Kingman49]

Thank you, Alex.

This was not the auspicious start to my membership here that I had hoped for but it seems my ignorance stood in my path.

Perhaps now I am past that original unknown 5 post new member threshold and we collectively can move forward to the recovery of WW II history and those who served.