Is there a "NEGATIVE CULTURE" @ NamePros?

[Internet.Domains]

There was a recent blog post by Domain Shane, a fellow NamePro member, that brought up the conversation regarding a "negative culture" at NamePros. He goes on to say, " But in 2016 a few individuals started harassing certain posters and creating an us vs them culture at the site. To the point that the negativity at the site drove all the content creators away from the site."

I am not sure if all the content creators has turned away, but I completely agree that some were driven away. Attacking ideas and opinions of fellow domain investors has always been common in blogs and forums, it seems to go with the territory. Domain investor's have passion and there are many different business models to explore, creating for some dynamic conversations. As long as there is attacking instead of debating in the community we do no better to legitimize the true value of internet domains to those outside....What do you think, is there a NEGATIVE CULTURE @ NamePros?

 

[gpmgroup]

Along time ago there was a monk who lived on the only narrow strip of land connecting two islands. Each of the islands' people kept themselves to themselves and seldom did the two islands’ people mix. Occasionally though a traveller would make the journey between the two islands and in doing so pass the monk’s house.

When a traveller passed the monk’s small house they would invariably stop and chat. On one such occasion the traveller asked the monk what the people of the North Island were like as he and everyone he knew had never left the South Island? The monk thought for a moment and said, “I will tell you, but first answer me one question, what are the people like on the South Island? The traveller said “they’re fantastic, great community, will do any thing for you, you couldn’t wish to meet a nicer group of people. To tell the truth I am very sad to be leaving. So tell me what are the people like on the North Island? The Monk smiled and said “Pretty much the same”. The traveller said that’s really good to hear and went on his way.

A few weeks later another traveller was travelling from the North Island to the South Island, on meeting the monk he said he had never been to the South Island before and neither had anyone he knew and asked if the Monk could tell him what the people on the South Island were really like? The Monk paused for a moment and said, “I will tell you, but first answer me a question, what are the people like on the North Island? The traveller said “they’re a nightmare, always at each others throats, causing trouble, its never ending to be honest I can’t wait to get away that’s why I’m leaving. So tell me what are the people like on the South Island? The Monk smiled and said “Pretty much the same”.

 

[WhoaDomain.com]

hmmmm I wonder if I should chime in? I for one have to AGREE.

in fact, if say someone harasses you constantly on NP and had enough and decide to report all occurances of harassment or simply posts that are not related to the topic you've posted.

You end up getting warned yourself for reporting someone excessively because they ARE excessively harassing you? I don't make a habit of reporting people as it's a bit childish and when I do I usually study the post and see if it's really worth reporting or just let it slide. So when I get reprimanded for reporting something I seriously think is worth reporting. Imagine my surprise when I instead get a warning?

Kind defeats the point of reporting people yes? especially if there's a limit to thee amount of reports you send out?

To ram the point home. If a man is robbed by the same robber ten times and the victim reports all ten times? So....in the NP world the victim that was robbed goes to Jail and the criminal goes free?

does that make sense?

As someone who has had his post deleted for being "offtopic" I have to wonder why the mechanism by which my topics are being delete for being "offtopic" is NOT being used to monitor when someone is obviously Targetting someone obsessively and posting things that are obviously offtopic and down right vicious?

I personally don't care as I can simply just ignore but such things clog up threads and fake inflate replies on certain threads which makes a thread more popular than it should be and just waste peoples time.

is there favoritism going on? One has to wonder.


IMO

 

[Eric Lyon]

@Avtar629 - The only part of your post that is on topic with this thread is your agreement with the question. The rest of your post is about other issues where you struggle to follow the rules and you're using this thread as an outlet to voice your disapproval. Please start a new thread if you'd like to discuss those other issues. Since you've already written them in this thread, I'll respond to them once and then you will need to create another thread if you want to continue discussing them.

You end up getting warned yourself for reporting someone excessively because they ARE excessively harassing you?

I just spent 30 minutes reviewing all of the warnings on your account. None of the warnings on your account are for reporting. However, the report system does get abused sometimes and we will issue warnings if any part of the website is misused.

if say someone harasses you constantly on NP

We have a policy to stop harassment. However, most of the time when members think they are being harassed is not what most would consider harassment. For example, if someone always disagrees with you, that is not harassment. If someone follows you around NamePros and dislikes every post of yours, that is a form of harassment. We understand that people will have differing opinions on where to draw the line.

is there favoritism going on? One has to wonder.

We do not play favorites. The rules apply to everyone equally. The only time anyone questions favoritism is when they don't like a decision that has been made or a rule that has been enforced but we apply the rules the same for everyone. Trust me, there are plenty of people who wish we would play favorites and they attack us publicly when we don't.

 

[MapleDots]

I want some of that favoritism please

Seriously though, from what I have seen so far it seems things are enforced pretty evenly across the board.

People seem to forget that a community forum is a living breathing entity which cannot truly be controlled. As long as we have individuals and characters we will always have some conflict and disagreements. Heck I have had more disagreements with relatives than I have had on this forum.

I don't know domain shane but it's easy to criticize a community when we should really be looking at our own actions to see what we may have done to bring on the situation in the first place.

Reminds something I like to live by...

In life we need to take full responsibility for our own attitudes, only then can we be justified in judging the attitude of others.

 

[DaveX]

I think a good indication of the community is how it treats new members. I have rarely, if ever, seen the warm welcomes to new members that I see here on NP.

Very positive from the start!

https://www.namepros.com/forums/networking-meet-and-greet.49/

 

[.NJ]

I will be honest here.

There is a degree of negativity that does surface from time to time with members.

From what I have seen over the years, the negativity seems to stem from the obsessive compulsive addiction that plagues alot of the domain industry.

Mix the addiction of domaining with alot of $$$$ spent (that they shouldn't have) and you have a recipe for weird whacked out negative behavior.

When the euphoric state of hand regging your million dollar domain wears off and reality sets in, it can be a real mind f_uck for some people.

I see some serious delusional $hit going on recently and it seems to have started becoming a pattern.

Maybe an in-house namepros psychologist might be needed?

Just saying....

 

[DaveX]

I will be honest here.

There is a degree of negativity that does surface from time to time with members.

From what I have seen over the years, the negativity seems to stem from the obsessive compulsive addiction that plagues alot of the domain industry.

Mix the addiction of domaining with alot of $$$$ spent (that they shouldn't have) and you have a recipe for weird whacked out negative behavior.

When the euphoric state of hand regging your million dollar domain wears off and reality sets in, it can be a real mind f_uck for some people.

I see some serious delusional $hit going on recently and it seems to have started becoming a pattern.

Maybe an in-house namepros psychologist might be needed?

Just saying....

One just wasnt enough...
Like Like Like!

 

[shorterwinters]

Maybe an in-house namepros psychologist might be needed?

Just saying....

Maybe forumtherapy should be considered?

 

[toughdomains]

Think a healthy online discussion is great! There are so few places you can get negative feedback

(think facebook removing the dislike option or yelp owners burying negative feedback with in store promotion - free drink if you write a positive comment on yelp)

Forums like namepros are one of the only places you can get honest/negative/real feedback.

Thought leaders may post content to drive awareness to a topic or idea or product and you need to be willing to take the good with the bad.
I come here to get some domain news, see what domainers are talking about and get honest feedback on our domain product.

We have made many changes over the last 6 months directly from the feedback (negative and positive) in this forum.

Without the negative feedback and comments we would have built our domain tool in a bubble and that is exactly what we did not want. We actually have a ticket called "Features from Namepro Members" that addresses wishes and complaints of current or non existing domain tools.

As long as your not just ranting and provide proof with screenshots and data of your issue I feel like negative feedback is more valuable than positive feedback.

 

[Emmy101]

I don't know what the thread is talking about I never seen any negativity here! honestly NamePros is my favorite forum

 

[kandyan]

Internet trolls.. are everywhere and that's part of the internet culture whether we like it or not...

But i think it's been managed pretty well here..

 

[Lox]

I see some serious delusional $hit going on recently

Some of us look for (help) direction and coordination and some of us look for (knowledge) conversation and endless debate. The process of changing mind (delusion) through conversation is the real art. More conversation and less debate will stop negations going on and lift up marketing.

Kind regards

 

[DU]

There was a recent blog post by Domain Shane, a fellow NamePro member

And is the assumption that we all just read than and know exactly where this blog post is? Part of the issue that will always exist is the cults of personality that tend to exist. The assumption we all read and follow Shane being somewhat of an example.

Shane Cultra - just pm'd with him yesterday here
Page Howe - just saw him selling emoji domains here
Media Options - well, you know what happened last week

Shane contributes sometimes. Page contributes sometimes. They're part of the forum and use it as a forum. @MediaOptions on the other hand swans in creates a fuss, generates bs threads and then the posts end up deleted. The forum would be better off if he just hung out with the Sherpas, imho. He's very much part of the negative atmosphere that gets generated.

It's not who you are but how you are that matters. I know I've rubbed people the wrong way but such is life.

 

[Internet.Domains]

And is the assumption that we all just read than and know exactly where this blog post is?

No it was not an assumption, just a case of forgetting to add the link. Here is the link:

https://dsad.com/domain-shanes-daily-list-domains-auction-friday-april-21st/

 

[DNWon]

I know I've rubbed people the wrong way but such is life.

But you're Ricky Henderson! Everyone loves Ricky Henderson, so I'm not buying it!

 

[shorterwinters]

No it was not an assumption, just a case of forgetting to add the link. Here is the link

Thank you. It didn't let me post the link but thank you for the link.

I don't know Shane or the history of this place beyond a couple weeks as mostly casual member.
My take, which means nothing.
The job of a moderator is a tough one I would think.
Shane is asking for censorship on a public forum.
It's needed at times but it's a really fine line.
You don't want a forum to run amok, but you want it to run amok.

Remember, half the people out there are idiots.

whoops, edit here. I should have checked earlier.
What is the amount of time one can go back and edit their post?
It seems overnight or a day had passed and I noticed I still had that option. I mistakenly spoke before this edit that I thought one could go back at anytime and edit what they said.
Thank you.

 

[Internet.Domains]

I know I've rubbed people the wrong way but such is life.

After your negative comments, I don't doubt that at all....

 

[deez007]

I think as with any community there are bound to be some arguments and disagreements and yeah sometimes they get heated. Folks here are generally mature enough to forgive, forget and move on. No hard feelings...

The overall vibe on NP is awesome..... this place kicks @ss!

 

[DU]

No it was not an assumption, just a case of forgetting to add the link. Here is the link:

https://dsad.com/domain-shanes-daily-list-domains-auction-friday-april-21st/

Reading the link it's rather an odd post - maybe it was a slow news day. "A textbook case of what happens to your business" is a period that has since rectified and traffic is down up. I would say things did get bad when the PRO group was formed. As with every forum on a narrow/niche subject forums get old and tired for long time users and new blood needs to come in and fill the void. I don't know who the influencers are that left that the forum hasn't replaced, I'd be interested to know. Good people have left but many remain. Statements like " But lack of transparency and control will always open things up for problems" is a typical 21st century view and a common mantra of the early days of social media and is largely debunked. Transparency has a purpose but there are limits... I think the mods do a decent job of communicating.

You can't have the .com vs .whatever discussion be brand new for everyone every week. Domaining hasn't changed much in a long time - it's made up of the experienced, the dreamers, the grafters, the manipulators, the liars, the thiefs, the intelligent, the honest, the helpers, the trolls. These groups will conflict.

As with everything, people just need to check your ego at the door when entering a building (especially if you're new to the building).

I don't think there's a negative culture at all at NP. There are specific people with specific battles. Religion and Politics have been cordoned off by the community naturally (not through rules) and overall the flow of communication is informative. DIsagreements happen of course and sometimes there are people more on one side than the other. A recent legal thread got somewhat contentious recently but even there decent opinion and understanding was provided that otherwise would not.... so disagreements and different views are extremely important.

The key ingredients to toxic threads are subjects that start with a controversial or agitating point of view (i.e. Person A says don't pay the broker) then have lots of feedback quickly (2-3 pages of posts) and then have everyone come in with an opinion without taking the time to read the aforementioned 2-3 pages. These threads grow and become what they were always destined to come troll-bait. Some are attempted troll bait and just fail into thread mediocrity.

Overall there are awesome people on NP with the odd person to avoid.

 

[coolbreeze]

I think from certain members, sort of a "Good ol" Boy" network who want to censor voices, not because they disagree with the point of view, but because they don't like the person it's coming from.

Case in point, I posted "Happy 420..." in the Cannabis Thread, on April 20th, and my post was deleted as not appropriate, however, others who posted the exact same "Happy 420" were left in place.

If you can't say Happy 420 in the Marijuana thread, on April 20th, something is seriously wrong, perhaps the moderators should look at those leveling the complaint and question their motives.

Update: As I was writing this I was informed the other Happy 420 posts were removed. But is that the answer, to censor a "Happy 420" post in the most appropriate thread, on the most appropriate day of the year.