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SCOUTER-Terry

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Everything posted by SCOUTER-Terry

  1. Yes, but that wouldn't have been very Scoutlike. TERRY HOWERTON
  2. stepfordscouting.com... that's funny. How long before that site shows up? :-) TERRY HOWERTON
  3. I wouldn't read much into any merchandise that is inside the catalog. The entire catalog (while "open for business" and selling merchandise) is still experimental technology that's being refined over the coming weeks. SCOUTER Catalog used to be a very active vendor of a great selection of Scouting products, but that Catalog was closed a few years ago. The new online catalog is in conjunction with Amazon, and we have yet to do much (or ANY) specific merchandising and filtering of products that are available from Amazon through this site. Without going into specific plans (in part because t
  4. Allow me to apologize for inappropriate comments earlier. I rushed through a posting and did not give the matter the attention and care that it deserved. I regret wording my remarks in such a way that they could be easily construed to be personal or demeaning to an individual. More appropriately, I meant to establish two clear points: 1) it's important to not be sloppy in making contributions to this discussion (case in point!), especially when it's so easy to set a better example; 2) there was information that suggests "Juris" was creating deliberate noise. "Juris" failed
  5. That was a tech glitch... whoops! (In fact, I thought we had fixed that some time ago!). The Moderator Area is ONLY for offline conversations and helping to make collective decisions. The messages there are not really "secret" as much as they are just administrative. I want to stress again... there is NO status involved with being a member of the moderator team, and no special "clique" is intended in any way. If I thought that was becoming the case, we'd change the way we handle moderation on the forums. On the whole, we assembled a pretty balanced group of moderators, and they are
  6. The quality of the forums is important, especially for the thousands of users who visit only to read each day. Quality can easily be subjective, and it's NOT our policy to try and squelch out anyone with a perspective or thought. But when a poster is nearly unintelligible, it quickly rises to the level of just "forum noise". It's not difficult to pause a moment before hitting submit, to consider a thought, or run a quick spell check. And doing so can have a very positive impact on how people view both you and these forums. There's been very, very few times that anyone has ever bee
  7. I wanted to publicly share a few observations about our expanded moderator team and the role of moderators in this forum. All of this information has been privately given to the moderators themselves. In the past week, we've expanded the moderator team from two (OldGreyEagle and HopsScout) to seven. The people selected to join the moderator team were chosen for a variety of reasons (and many, many others were also considered to be excellent candidates, and from time to time we expect this moderator team to change and others asked to serve). OGE (let's call him "Moderator Emeritus" for no
  8. Whoops. :-) Thta's a "bug" to fix, huh? Oh well, as I said, not a state secret (though I assumed the state was a bit less careless than that!). The main goal to to let everyone know that moderators will come and go, they walk among us, and there's no sepcial "club" associated with being one (other than they have shown their cheerful service). Let's keep it happy. -- TERRY HOWERTON
  9. Just a brief announcement. We have expanded the moderator team by adding several people. We've asked these folks to provide some cheerful service for at least the next six months, and expect that from time to time we may rotate duties and allow the moderators to just be "normal participants". We've discussed it a bit among the team, and decided that for now the specific people that are assigned moderator duty won't be "announced". It's not really a secret, and I'm torn between keeping this low-key and giving these folks the kudos they deserve for volunteering. The folks that have accepte
  10. BobWhite - my advice to you is to tread softly, consider your approach and how it's received, listen to honest observations when given in earnest and be very careful to not point fingers right now. TERRY HOWERTON
  11. I can not begin to thank OGE enough for his wonderful service to this community. His "moderation" has reflected every meaning of that word. I share his frustration with those few posters who simply can not "get" how to contribute positively to this discussion. Regardless, we thank him for his service, and look forward to his continued participation. Later in the week, we'll introduce new moderators that will be joining the team (which will be expanded). Thank you OGE... you are a GOOD SCOUT! TERRY HOWERTON
  12. It's an interesting idea, for sure. We've certainly thought about how to have a forum JUST for Scouts before, but I don't believe the right answer has come to us just yet. Of course, Scouts are encouraged to post within the forums, and many do... 50% of the forum moderator volunteers are Scouts! ;-) But I agree that a specific area limited JUST to Scouts posts might make for a more free spirited discussion among the Scouts (without frustration or intimidation from adults that might jump into the middle of things). How might this work best? Ideas? Should this section o
  13. Overbearing? Really? With less than 1% of the threads on this board ever closed, and just a handful of friendly edits to specific posts that cross the line, you find that overbearing? Edited from my previous posts addressing moderators and thread closures:First, I want to take a moment and thank HopsScout (a fine, young Scout) and OldGreyEagle (a Scouter I would have loved to have in my troop when I was a youth) once again for their tremendous service to this forum... they both stepped up to fill a much needed role, and have done so consistently with the kind of balanced cheerful service
  14. Would you like to help build the SCOUTER.com NetCompass database of resources? Help us to help Scouting, and even get paid for your time! Signup for more information. TERRY HOWERTON
  15. Stay tuned... those are features under development (but with no specific time table for completion). TERRY HOWERTON
  16. As FScouter suggests, you could create a personal home page here on the site (http://www.SCOUTER.com/hosting) and upload them there. TERRY HOWERTON
  17. First, I want to take a moment and thank HopsScout and OldGreyEagle once again for their tremendous service to this forum... they both stepped up to fill a much needed role, and have done so consistently with the kind of balanced cheerful service that we all expected. Their personalites could not be more suited for the job. I think some are overreacting about "thread closures". A big part of the moderator's role is simply to "guide" the discussion forward. Closing a thread doesn't mean a topic is being squelched or anyone's speech is being restricted. It's just a friendly correction, lea
  18. OK, that's about all the rope needed for someone to hang themselves. Mark Yaworksi was in fact banned from this forum over a year ago. He later returned, and is FOG today. Yaworski returned with a personal vendetta against some of the forum members, and registered using another member's real name. When I confronted him on this, he insisted that by coincidence it was his own real name, but refused to offer any proof, instead choosing to taunt me. The opportunity (and this point the burden) to prove he is not Mark Yaworski remains, and he may fax me a copy of his driver's license. Of c
  19. Jason, your post was removed, and this one closed, because you have been banned from participation in these forums for several weeks, and your continued disregard for the rules is an insult to everyone else participating here. Additionally, the link in the post that you made was inappropriate. (This message has been edited by a staff member.) TERRY HOWERTON
  20. I hope they almost exclusively stay participants, and their opinions are ALWAYS welcome. Both of these folks have consistently demonstrated "moderation" in the way they have presented themselves on the board, and have been model Scouts/Scouters in their posts, as far as I'm concerned.Here's a little secret that I forgot to mention to them privately: no one will know which moderator has edited a post. If a post has to be edited, it will just say "Edited by a Staff Member"... if anyone gets upset or disagrees with the actions of a "Staff Member", you should always assume that it was me, SCOUTER-
  21. While Hops_Scout will do a fine job representing the interests of the youth who read and post here, I can't think of an adult on this board who has more consistently demonstrated how a good, fun Scout leader should act than OldGreyEagle. I am very happy to announce that he has agreed to serve as a Moderator in this forum. He'll be able to edit, move and delete posts within the forum to help keep things organized and ensure quality content. Remember, when you post here you are not just participating in a discussion, but creating a searchable archive of ideas and resources that will be used
  22. I am pleased to announce that the SCOUTER.com Forums has added a new Moderator to help organize the discussions here. Hops_Scout, whom many of you have come to know as a helpful and thoughtful young man through his contributions to the Forum, has agreed to lend us a helping hand. Hops_Scout, as a youth member in our midst, has often done a nice job of setting an example for everyone. I'm sure he makes a fine SPL in real life, and I am pleased to have him serve in a similar capacity within this Forum. He has the authority to move, delete or edit posts as necessary. Hops_Scout and I ha
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