Forum rules discussion

cueman

cueman

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I have been thinking about some guidlines for this forum.
Here is a rough draft of what I came up with. What I am suggesting is that we work on the wording and then submit it to Mr Wilson and ask that he post it as a permanent Sticky at the top of the page on this forum.

This Forum is called Ask the Cuemaker.

The following rules are put in place to make this forum a positive informative place where anyone can ask the quality cuemakers who frequent our forum questions.

Although anyone can participate in the thread’s discussions and ask questions, it should primarily be the experienced cuemakers who provide the answers. It might be appropriate for non-cuemakers to give some input on occasions. But that should be the exception instead of the norm.

The forum shall never be used by cuemakers or non-cuemakers to criticize other cuemakers, the quality of their work, or their methods.

All discussions shall be had in a spirit of cooperation with the desire to learn and share knowledge. This means anyone can ask questions and the questions should be answered by cuemakers. Once the cuemaker gives his opinion it is to be taken as such and not to be criticized. There are many ways to build quality cues and there are many variations on opinions of what constitutes quality work. Therefore no one is allowed to start criticizing and slamming other peoples methods. Simply state what you feel is the best method and it should be left at that.

Supply sources can be asked for, but all replies should be sent in the form of Private Messages. This protects our cuemakers supply sources from the general public. Almost no industry shares their wholesale sources with their customer base. So in fairness to our cuemakers we ask that this type of information be handled through Private Messages.
 
brianna187 said:
Great idea Chris and great post merry christmas to you and your family
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Same to you Lee.
My thought is all the rulings so far are just a he said, she said type of thing. But if the rules are posted in a permanent sticky then everyone will know what is actually expected. Then warnings and bans could be given out just like in all the other forums.
 
posting

Chris,
I like the idea. MUTUAL RESPECT. Who would have ever conceived of such a thing?? Great post!! I second, third and fourth your ideas.
The fifth I drink. lol.
Best wishes to all for the Holidays.

Tom Gedris, Triple Cross Cues:cool:
http://www.triplecrosscues.com
 
cueman said:
I have been thinking about some guidlines for this forum...................................

All discussions shall be had in a spirit of cooperation with the desire to learn and share knowledge. This means anyone can ask questions and the questions should be answered by cuemakers. Once the cuemaker gives his opinion it is to be taken as such and not to be criticized. There are many ways to build quality cues and there are many variations on opinions of what constitutes quality work. Therefore no one is allowed to start criticizing and slamming other peoples methods. Simply state what you feel is the best method and it should be left at that.

How does the above paragraph account for answers that are just plain wrong? If I were to respond to a question and give an incorrect answer I would expect and want that answer to be corrected - both for my own information and that of the OP. The way I interpret this is that a CM with the correct knowledge should basically let the wrong answer stand and I think that is not a good thing.

Supply sources can be asked for, but all replies should be sent in the form of Private Messages. This protects our cuemakers supply sources from the general public. Almost no industry shares their wholesale sources with their customer base. So in fairness to our cuemakers we ask that this type of information be handled through Private Messages.
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Each person can keep or share his sources as he sees fit as long as Lee, Chris, Joe B., Prathers, Schmelke, Atlas and others maintain websites with prices out there for any web surfer to see. Now, I admit, I receive no special discounts from anyone I have mentioned but I'm sure there are some who do. Those discounts are between the buyer and the seller but I think the seller is the one who wouldn't want that information posted in a public forum. As long as my customers can go to the various suppliers websites and reverse engineer all of my costs for materials I don't see where this prohibition accomplishes anything.

I agree this forum has lost too many cuemakers and something to bring them back or keep others participating should be done. I have no suggestions on how to do this but I do know I have lost a valuable resource for information each time a cuemaker stops participating here.

Regards,
Stoney
 
cueman said:
I have been thinking about some guidlines for this forum.
Here is a rough draft of what I came up with. What I am suggesting is that we work on the wording and then submit it to Mr Wilson and ask that he post it as a permanent Sticky at the top of the page on this forum.

This Forum is called Ask the Cuemaker.

The following rules are put in place to make this forum a positive informative place where anyone can ask the quality cuemakers who frequent our forum questions.

Although anyone can participate in the thread’s discussions and ask questions, it should primarily be the experienced cuemakers who provide the answers. It might be appropriate for non-cuemakers to give some input on occasions. But that should be the exception instead of the norm.

The forum shall never be used by cuemakers or non-cuemakers to criticize other cuemakers, the quality of their work, or their methods.

All discussions shall be had in a spirit of cooperation with the desire to learn and share knowledge. This means anyone can ask questions and the questions should be answered by cuemakers. Once the cuemaker gives his opinion it is to be taken as such and not to be criticized. There are many ways to build quality cues and there are many variations on opinions of what constitutes quality work. Therefore no one is allowed to start criticizing and slamming other peoples methods. Simply state what you feel is the best method and it should be left at that.

Supply sources can be asked for, but all replies should be sent in the form of Private Messages. This protects our cuemakers supply sources from the general public. Almost no industry shares their wholesale sources with their customer base. So in fairness to our cuemakers we ask that this type of information be handled through Private Messages.
Click to expand...

Many good ideas here. This should be stickied.
 
Stoney said:

How does the above paragraph account for answers that are just plain wrong? If I were to respond to a question and give an incorrect answer I would expect and want that answer to be corrected - both for my own information and that of the OP. The way I interpret this is that a CM with the correct knowledge should basically let the wrong answer stand and I think that is not a good thing.

Each person can keep or share his sources as he sees fit as long as Lee, Chris, Joe B., Prathers, Schmelke, Atlas and others maintain websites with prices out there for any web surfer to see. Now, I admit, I receive no special discounts from anyone I have mentioned but I'm sure there are some who do. Those discounts are between the buyer and the seller but I think the seller is the one who wouldn't want that information posted in a public forum. As long as my customers can go to the various suppliers websites and reverse engineer all of my costs for materials I don't see where this prohibition accomplishes anything.

I agree this forum has lost too many cuemakers and something to bring them back or keep others participating should be done. I have no suggestions on how to do this but I do know I have lost a valuable resource for information each time a cuemaker stops participating here.

Regards,
Stoney
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I agree with you on maybe allowing retail sources to be named. But wholesale sources should not be named. Many cuemakers have stated that they do not like seeing that information posted up. Some cuemakers want to help other cuemakers, but they may not want to hurt the industry by sharing too many sources. For instance, if you post up the name of a good shaft supplier that sells nice wood at a low price. Then that company gets swamped with orders and the quality goes down as the price goes up. That is not hypothetical. It happened to me. I shared a really good shaft source with one cuemaker. He went and told most of the cuemakers between Baltimore and Missouri about it and I lost my sweet deal as he was just too busy to fill my normal monthly order of shafts. Then the price increased from $5 to $8 and this was like 15 years ago. And I have never got as good of wood at as good of a price since.

If you are an experienced cuemaker answering a question then you won't be giving a wrong answer. You might be giving an inferior way to do it, but never the less you would only share what you know works. And other cuemakers are welcome to give the opposite advice as long as they do not start demeaning the ones they disagree with. Mutual Respect as another poster put it is all we really need here.
 
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If a supplier will sell to anyone, it's a retailer.
If you want "protected" sources, you need to find wholesalers that limit who they sell to.
If you don't want your sources getting out, don't tell anyone.
Personally, if I have a good supplier, I don't mind giving their name out, because it helps them, and it's a way for me to show my appreciation.
Yeah, it's possible I could lose out if they get too big, but that's life. :grin:

I appreciate your sentiments and efforts, but you're pissing into the wind. The world is changing, and it can't be stopped.
And some people on the Internet will always act like fools, even if they do bother to read the rules first. (most don't)

I don't think answers should be limited to anyone.... as long as it's on topic, let 'er rip. If the questioner is stupid enough to believe everything they read, they deserve to be misled. There are enough knowledgeable posters around to straighten things out eventually. And moderators to enforce the basic rules.
 
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Tap, tap, tap.

Martin



Sheldon said:
If a supplier will sell to anyone, it's a retailer.
If you want "protected" sources, you need to find wholesalers that limit who they sell to.
If you don't want your sources getting out, don't tell anyone.
Personally, if I have a good supplier, I don't mind giving their name out, because it helps them, and it's a way for me to show my appreciation.
Yeah, it's possible I could lose out if they get too big, but that's life. :grin:

I appreciate your sentiments and efforts, but you're pissing into the wind. The world is changing, and it can't be stopped.
And some people on the Internet will always act like fools, even if they do bother to read the rules first. (most don't)

I don't think answers should be limited to anyone.... as long as it's on topic, let 'er rip. If the questioner is stupid enough to believe everything they read, they deserve to be misled. There are enough knowledgeable posters around to straighten things out eventually. And moderators to enforce the basic rules.
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With the possible exeption of suppliers, Chris' post sums up a great guideline for the expected level of conduct that this sub-forum should
operate on, but it's not going to mean squat if it's not enforced. There should be at least 4-5 moderators in this area to help keep the peace.

Break the rules and you should get banned from posting in this section for a reasonable "timeout".

Let's get some volunteers for moderators and vote some people in.

Frank
 
Jr's Farm said:
With the possible exeption of suppliers, Chris' post sums up a great guideline for the expected level of conduct that this sub-forum should
operate on, but it's not going to mean squat if it's not enforced. There should be at least 4-5 moderators in this area to help keep the peace.

Break the rules and you should get banned from posting in this section for a reasonable "timeout".

Let's get some volunteers for moderators and vote some people in.

Frank
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We do not vote in or out moderators or admins.

There are adequate tools in place to manage the forums, however it requires posters to act responsibly and report infractions. Nobody has time to pour over every thread and intercept perceived sleights.

If the problems are reported, they will be investigated and acted upon accordingly.



Chris, thank you for the suggestion.

Please review the main page to see the sticky.


Dave
 
Chris- great idea backed up by a "sticky" now. Thanks for your input. I think the forum will be a better place for it.
 
Mr. Wilson said:
We do not vote in or out moderators or admins.

There are adequate tools in place to manage the forums, however it requires posters to act responsibly and report infractions. Nobody has time to pour over every thread and intercept perceived sleights.

If the problems are reported, they will be investigated and acted upon accordingly.



Chris, thank you for the suggestion.

Please review the main page to see the sticky.


Dave
Click to expand...
I think we all owe Mr Wilson a big thank you. So now let's move on and turn this forum back into a place of Mutual Repsect. Now that the rules are in place we all know what is expected and can use the report button when things get out of hand.
 
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