See you around

I've been here for four years, so yes I've seen Elad's avatar a number of times. It didn't bother me in the least.

Is it unprofessional? Yes, I could see the argument for that.

Am I going to hunt down other people who have similar avatars? No, I couldn't care less.

I'm aware that many mods have seen Elad's picture many times. @Mod Team Bravo did provide an explanation earlier on for why it may have never been reported. He also mentioned that NP now wants to go in a new, more professional direction.

At the end of the day, the cardinal rule still holds: If a mod asks you to do something... listen first, discuss later.

 

I do not believe the mods have any other option but to do that, they opened Pandora's box, anything short of that means Elad N was unfairly singled out.

Bye bye logos of iconic companies, bye bye breasts and booty pics, bye bye cartoons, monsters, weed and beer pics, bye bye any weapons pics, bye bye anything that triggers another member.

 

I will say this I do not believe anyone on planet Earth equates Namepros with LinkedIN, everyone going to start using their real name? It could be argued that while doing business for real money, real names are the only thing that's professional. It's a binding agreement to do business here right? It goes awry and goes to court,

Your honor stewie from Family Guy has not paid me my $2,500 for NH.tv?
Judge: Stewie from Family Guy???
Your honor that was the avatar and user name on the professional forum where I transacted the sale.
Judge: Get out of my court.
Your honor it's a professional forum.

 

Then the PROFESSIONAL thing to do would make a PUBLIC post about going towards a more professional image for the forum which would include a tightening of what is allowed as an avatar BEFORE swiping the avatar from someone that had been using an avatar for so long.


You know...ESTABLISH A PRECEDENT.

A functional ethical compass would have guided NamePros to create a template so DUE PROCESS could transpire case by case rather than the underhanded method used on our fellow member of good standing.

 

Of course this is hypothetical but seriously...if someone joins the forum and recognizes your name or picture as a serial killer, rapist, or whatever kind of criminal from some where and is offended by your 'long time in use' name/picture and feels it's inappropriate and should be removed, and a mod decides they agree and asks you to change your name 'now' because of such; you are insinuating you'd have no problem doing so and right then on the spot?? No pre-established reasoning's or rules of, just a mod suddenly telling you to do so! (And please use your parenting it's the 'right thing to do' reasoning that you use in your life.)

 

It's the only logical choice in my opinion.

 

Like Raymond said above, this decision really opens up Pandora's Box.
Best of luck dealing with it.

Brad

 

Agreed. NP made a mistake here. Shame that Elad ignored established precedent of doing what a mod asks of you, or he could have spear-headed the discussion on making that right.

 

If I were personally accused of being a rapist and was asked to change my picture based on that accusation?? Uh yes, I would have a problem with that. I would leave the forum.

 

That's not what I said. I said if your pic or name was similar to such. And I said 'hypothetically'. Could be anything they saw and didn't like or feel was right.

 

It certainly does. I think it raises a wide variety of other questions.

Like, what does "professional" mean for NP? Maybe it means more exclusive. Maybe it means all members need to provide NP with valid photo ID to prove their identity. That would certainly weed out the fake profiles and trolls.

Maybe it even means all members must pay an annual fee.

I think it could be an interesting direction if they're serious about it. And being serious about it is the only way to make a real, noticeable change. It'll mean prioritizing what they want from the forum, and possibly a lot of manual validation.

 

Oh okay. Yeah I'd still leave the forum.

 

So now I see Riz M. is 85%-100% restricted also.

So in this one thread NamePros lost Elad, and at least Mary Muse, .X., and Riz M. have all been almost fully restricted.

I don't really understand what is going on. It seems like something changed overnight.

To NamePros mods, you need to take some responsibility here. At some point everyone else is not the issue. Do you think any of this responsibility might fall squarely on your own decisions?

Brad

 

Ok, well I feel your grin in your pic is a condescending smirk, and it is offensive as it implies you are superior here over all the members and should be changed. Off to complain/report such to a mod.

 

If it works, don't touch it.
I think that this forum has been running for the last 17 years and working quite fine.
As for today, the domain names forum of reference.
You just have to change how it works, to crush all the good work done.

 

That's certainly your right. If they ask me to change my picture, I'll have to make a decision about the strength of my convictions.

 

Personally speaking, I would love logging in here knowing that only respectful and professional domainers are kicking around. There's a lot of wasted noise and space in this forum.

 

I'm sure Joe you've never had a speeding ticket or have ever spit on a sidewalk. "You're an oak!"

 

The respect is earned by your actions, not by your pic.

 

Seems clear to me that the Mod Teams are slowly prepping NP for sale.

Think about it. In recent-ish NP history, management has:

- enticed many of us into paid accounts (successfully boosting revenue)

- become extremely lenient allowing spam & spammers (boosting post & member counts) (quantity > quality) (poor for the community, so it's a giveaway that owners are prepping to sell)

- switched to anonymous modding (less accountability for the unpopular "HR" decisions)

- been pushing people to use their full names (an attempt to give this place a more LinkedIn-esque "professional" vibe, and transcend being "just a forum")

- and now apparently the next step is profile pictures

Some members will find the "new" NP appealing, but many will venture to a more casual, fun domain forum, where they're able to express themselves more freely, and without constantly being bombarded with spam and bickering.

In the end, will it be "worth it" for the owners? Possibly, if a sale occurs sooner than later. But we're clearly seeing a growing trend of high-quality members leaving NP, so I'd say it's pretty clear that this won't be "worth it" for the NP community.

 

Dear NamePros Mods,
By this act you guys are saying that a person's appearence/looks is more important than his/her wisdom.
Not fair.
Can we please keep this forum Cool as before!?
Cheers!

 

Now you are doing doublespeak.

The Mod clearly stated that they acted because of the report. Now you come here, state the opposite and keep arguing pointlessly.

Basically, it was made clear that to lose an avatar forcefully two conditions are to be met a) someone has to complain; b) a mod has to find it unprofessional by own personal standards.

 

Correct. The report brings it to their attention, and then they make the decision on whether or not to take action.

 

I think this is really unfortunate. We seem to have lost a long term and respected member over something that clearly many think is trivial. Many people have gotten angry and said some things in less than professional ways.

It seems from the exchange shown early in thread, that the original request was respectfully made by mods, and again respectful from mods on the repeat. While I totally understand a member not wanting to arbitrarily give up an avatar that he had used for a long time, and I think he had the right to respectfully request a reconsideration or additional reasons, but it seems, to me by simply saying I am leaving and starting this thread was not a helpful way to respond.

I found the image unattractive, but was not offended, perhaps because I had no clue until today what it was from (I never watch horror movies). I had always assumed it was just a really unflattering picture of Elad!

A few times over the decades through my work I had to deal with situations that at first to me seemed someone unreasonably sensitive about something, but when I knew the entire story, I could see why they reacted so strongly to something that others felt was fine. That is why a vote, even if it was set up correctly, and voted on by more than about 0.05% of the monthly visitors to NamePros, would still not be the right way to decide an issue like this. I did not vote and do not plan to.

Mods have an incredibly difficult job, and all of us should go out of our way to be respectful and understanding, while at the same time communicating if we think they are off-base with a decision.

Perhaps this is already in place, but I wonder if what we need at NamePros is some sort of an appeal mechanism, not one with power to change what the admin and mods decide, but as a sober second look that they would consider in a reconsideration of a disputed decision. Several respected people who would confidentially look at issues brought to them, provide an opinion, which both sides would consider. At the very least it would provide a brief cooling off period so perhaps things like this would not explode in a matter of hours.

On some of the general issues raised earlier in the thread, I personally do support a more professional tone for NamePros, at least in the sections which are open to Google search. I think it is in all of our interests to be part of a professional domain organization that can facilitate our development as domain investors, and that has a positive public face to a much broader world.

While frankly, until today I had never thought much about avatars, I think what we need is some general guidance about what is and is not allowed, and some sort of phase-in period after the community has discussed in detail the new guidelines. I think the abruptness of the request was part of the issue here, and probably feeling singled out (or have others been asked to change avatars?) While I would prefer if everyone used a professional avatar, I realize that different people have different styles. I have wondered about the copyright or TM infringement issues with some images used. That seems incongruent with our general agreement that registering TM names is wrong.

I hope this can be unwound and some sort of satisfactory resolution found.

Bob