So it has be brought to my attention by a very, shall we say VOCAL?, member here that there is a possibility that we may, or may not be, a community here at PSC.

There has always been some serious ranting and namecalling and arrogant justification of being mean-spirited here since I started. Usually over voting policies and site tweak bitching.

But what has come to my attention that I'm not we all understand that PSC IS a form of community.
From Dictionary.com: "A group of people having common interests", or a group "Sharing, participation, and fellowship", also "the people who live in a particular place or region and usually are linked by some common interests"

This site is our LOCATION, or REGION. The common interest is CHOPPING. The chat and forums are where we share and have fellowship. The contests are where we play and participate.

By defininition PSC is definitely an ONLINE COMMUNITY. Of course, I'm sure we'll hear some discussion about that very supposition, so be it. But I'll go forward from that idea being so...

As a community, how do we handle the malcontents? The ones who insist on staying yet are aggressively 'anti-community'? (in other words they just seem to stay so they can bitch about things, or create a ruckus for their own attention). To be clear here - this is not the members who cause a fuss but ALSO CONTRIBUTE to PSC. There is always a balance in contributing... and it is usually quite obvious when a member is giving something back to PSC, even in their rantings. But there are times when a member is just as obviously being self-serving and basically giving the rest of the community the finger, feeling smug in the fact that "the community" can in no way do anything about their bad behaviour. (this is not specifically about any particular member now, but includes many incidences of "anti-community" behaviour from others in the past)

So - what I'd like to discuss here is HOW DOES A COMMUNITY BASED ON PROMOTING FUN AND LEARNING IN BITMAP MANIPULATION "govern" THIS SITE IN A WAY THAT MAINTAINS A GOOD COMMUNITY ATMOSPHERE for the MAJORITY OF ITS MEMBERS?

The mic is open....

My philosophy re: participation on this site is almost too simple and too much of a cliche to post. However, in most cases, it appears to work to facilitate peaceful community interaction and positive social exchanges. Its the "Golden Rule". I do my best to do unto others as I hope that they would do unto me. And although I don't always live up to the standard, I attempt to be as kind and considerate to the friends I encounter on the internet as I would to the people I meet in the "real" world. I believe that everyone is gifted with an innate sense of goodness, and that that goodness is most easily expressed when it connects with other elements of goodness, wherever they are found. This kind of goodness is one of the few things in the world that is totally free because it emerges from the inner resources of our personality and sometimes the deepest recesses of our spirit.
The added benefit of such an approach is that the more we call on these inner gifts of kindness etc.,the more abundant they become and the easier it is to give them away. It is one of those areas in life where giving away what we have really increases our supply of what it is we are giving away. Utopian, maybe, but,in my view, a vision definitely worth pursuing.

I think this site is set up in a really clearcut way, and that includes the avenues for socializing. There's the chat, which flies by quickly and disappears; there are comments in posts, which are open for three days; and there's the forum, where comments stand pretty much in perpetuity. That makes it easy to draw certain lines.

In the chat, you chat. Think of it as yacking with your friends, it's totally freeform. By the same token, expect the fur to fly and a lot of blowing off steam. If you're touchy, stay out of the chatroom.

In contests posts, you're talking directly to an artist about his or her work. If it's somebody you know, form your comments accordingly. If you don't know them, be polite.

On the forums, assume that most PSC users will drop in and read your post sooner or later. Be prepared for your words to be taken out of context, and for people to be unable to tell whether you are joking. This, I feel, is where the presence of the moderators needs to be felt most strongly. Flames should be deleted, and flamers punished appropriately. (I recommend short-term bans from posting in the contests and on the forums.)

I think there is room for every kind of comment, from supportive to sarcastic. It's just a matter of finding the right context.

[/obviousland]

I agree. IMO, it's up to the designated moderators of the site to decide whether something on the forum is offensive enough or outside the boundaries of acceptability to the point where it should be removed, and whether or not the violation is so severe, persistent, etc, as to warrant banning a member.

The rest of us members of PSC need do no other "policing" apart from exercising restraint and self-control over our own comments and responses to others.
(Although that is often the toughest of all for any of us, as it demands humility, respect for others and a sense of perspective - qualities that require effort to develop and maintain.)

HEY!

..oh... and reminding us all when we need to optimise our images, of course!

well said cynn

Hey hey, whats up guys, and guyettes, I have read this topic with interest, and can see many valid points being thrown up. I would just like to add, I have experienced many many super friendly PM's because of my super long, random, sometimes insane, but always meant to be ammusing but truthful comments.


I like to comment on everything I look at, if I open someones pic I will vote or at least comment, and I wont just hit the vote button and leave my vote cast line blank... that doesnt help anyone, I may throw a little marco madness into my comments.... but I always say the positives, or the points that need to maybe be addressed. I am aware that not everyone has time to type a long comment, but surely there is always time for a little remark?..... and like I said, I have been near enough welcomed here by a vast majority of choppers, it is an awsome place to be, and make friends, and just share ideas.... with the acception of a couple of members I have encountered.


Eeveryone seem really top bananna..... but on the point of unfriendly members, in the cases I talk about, i can honestly say, it has been a randome out of the blue comment from the members in question that have caused offense to myself, in my opinion these people should go to another site... like a bitchy teen one perhaps, or maybe a specialised one for crap shaking mutha fudders that just live to take the p*ss and f**k people right off .......


Anyway in conclusion.... i have been here since april 5th 2005, i joined advantage on june 17th 2005, and it was the people who made me do that, i have made a good few friends in that time, and i am glad that a site like this exists.....so basically, the problems are minor, the people are near enough all great... the community will grow, it will get stronger and we shall destroy true evil together.... like christopher walken... the FOX network,..... that north korean guy... hing po wop jin waa the 5th or somethin...... and not forgetting david hasselhoff......ok people i think i have talked like a person who was starved of the pleasures of making noise come out of their mouth for 6 decades.....


i will leave u in peace... group hug catch ya'll later, have fun and ignore mentalists

crackhead

You leave poor (crazy) Christopher Walken alone and we will get along fine.

nah i lobe christopher walken... great actor, but you have to agree.....he is evil...and o it was written... and so it always shall be remembered

See, I tried doing something involving the community, but only Marco here was kind enough to reply. I thought it would be a great idea to get to know some people, or at least get some new, cuel stuff...(If you don't know what the hell Im talking about, check out my most recent forum topic)

Mason - the key thing that I think slowed down your New Thread was this part of your concept: I thought it would be a great idea to get to know some people, or at least get some new, cuel stuff

It kinda looked to me that you just wanted something for yourself and it wasn't all about sharing. I'm sure you didn't mean it that way, but that is how it felt to me.

ALSO, I'm not sure what the heck you actually wanted in the first place!

BOTTOM LINE: if very few people reply, the truth is you didn't inspire them to participate. Nagging at them (as it has been my experience) rarely works to get them involved. You gotta TRY IT a DIFFERENT WAY and see if you can raise up the peeps to participate!

I've got to agree with the Reinster on that - anyone will see from browsing the forum that we're all pretty willing to express our opinions on creative ideas, images, PS related websites, etc, etc. And we like to mess around with jokey or game-based threads too.

But if you're starting a forum thread, you've got to fire up the imagination and the inspiration of people - kick off with a few ideas/suggestions of your own when you start it, for example.

we should probably make some custom behaviors for Reinman.....anyone know javascript?