now you see it - now you dont

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agricola64

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yesterday i posted an answer to: Raiders of the lost ark nazi bomber in "fictive projects" (i think)

today i do no longer see that whole category . and when i try the link form an email

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=4873.new;topicseen#new

i get

"The topic or board you are looking for appears to be either missing or off limits to you .." although i am logged in ..

what is going on .. ?
 
The site's administrator has reorganized some of the forum's categories to separate the wheat from the chaff... sorry... the serious stuff and database-oriented material from the fictional and light-hearted subjects...
 
Stargazer2006 said:
The site's administrator has reorganized some of the forum's categories to separate the wheat from the chaff... sorry... the serious stuff and database-oriented material from the fictional and light-hearted subjects...
Click to expand...

is that reorganizing as in "deleting" .. or reorganizing as in "shoving it into a different cubbyhole"?
 
What about to use the *search* function? ::)

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,4873.0/highlight,raiders+of+lost.html
 
Matej said:
What about to use the *search* function? ::)

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,4873.0/highlight,raiders+of+lost.html
Click to expand...

Interesting and frustrating since even following the direct link gives me the error message.
 
Really? Ordinary members have no right to post there, but they should see all the stuff without the problems. Okay, we will check it. The topic displayed to me without any problems.
 
Matej said:
Really? Ordinary members have no right to post there, but they should see all the stuff without the problems. Okay, we will check it. The topic displayed to me without any problems.
Click to expand...

does not display to me either ...
 
Matej said:
Really? Ordinary members have no right to post there, but they should see all the stuff without the problems. Okay, we will check it. The topic displayed to me without any problems.
Click to expand...

What was that? What is the difference between "ordinary members" and the ones who can post in the "Fictional" projects section?
 
If you already have the access to view it, read the particular section rules (sticky topic). Only the senior members, moderators and administrators can post here. Ordinary members, or I prefer the term standard members can read it, view the attachmets, but not to post.
 
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,7474.0.html

Read this message.

I have no desire to see hundreds of posts about fictional movie /scifi designs on the forum, which is why I was reluctant to create a separate section. Immediately after creation certain members starting flooding the forum with exactly that.

Senior Members are basically anyone who has a track record of particularly interesting / informative posts, there are 84 of them at present. They are allowed to post in the forum. I am considering what access to allow ordinary members - perhaps reply only, so they can't initiate topics but can discuss existing ones.
 
I have no issue with an administrator or moderator deleting the models and concept artwork that I posted. However, I am disappointed that a decision was made to block our ability to post when there seemed to be no final content requirements in place in the new "Fictional" section. What one person finds interesting is different than what another one finds interesting.

Frankly, it seems like your vision of the Secret Projects forum is to be a Senior Members only club. Clearly it is not the place for budding enthusiasts who are experiencing sources like the books of Norman Friedman for the first time and my participation is not welcome.

Your 84 can just knock themselves out. :mad:
 
I specifically revised the rules of the forum before creating this section:

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,7428.0.html

Please do not post your own "fantasy" projects in the Secret Projects forum. Designs by aeronautical engineering students, professional speculation by informed artists and the like can be posted in the Fictional, Theoretical and Speculative Projects forum here
Click to expand...

I also said "please read" in the subject line.

The forum is emphatically NOT for senior members only. However, the forum has run fine for years with minimal intervention because users largely stayed on topic, that topic being real designs that weren't built. Posting about fictional spaceships definitely does not come within the purpose of the forum as I created it. I am quite aware however that the forum exists for its members, so various sections have been made for more-or-less off topic discussions. That doesn't mean I want lots of people to join the forum purely to post jokes in The Bar; however, if members want to post the occasional joke, or silly link, then The Bar is the place to do it. Longstanding members ("senior") have shown they understand the concept and mostly stick to it.

The fictional section should work in the same way. We had a topic about the aircraft from the movie Stealth already, and that was fine - as an 'off-topic but likely to be of interest to users' diversion. I specifically don't want hundreds of picture posts of movie props and memorabilia. If you want to discuss the possible science behind a design, thats much more on-topic and likely to result in more interesting discussions with some of the engineer types on the board.

I'm sure there are forums out there which specialise in posting pictures of fictional movie designs, and if that is a major interest for you those specific posts may be better suited there.

Ordinary user ability to post new topics is temporarily suspended pending a rethink and a restatement of the rules. Its not permanent.
 
Triton said:
I have no issue with an administrator or moderator deleting the models and concept artwork that I posted. However, I am disappointed that a decision was made to block our ability to post when there seemed to be no final content requirements in place in the new "Fictional" section. What one person finds interesting is different than what another one finds interesting.

Frankly, it seems like your vision of the Secret Projects forum is to be a Senior Members only club. Clearly it is not the place for budding enthusiasts who are experiencing sources like the books of Norman Friedman for the first time and my participation is not welcome.

Your 84 can just knock themselves out. :mad:
Click to expand...



Just to try to put it in perspective, imagine someone had spent a lot of time and effort landscaping their yard. People liked it so much they started bring flowers and other interesting plants to make the yard even better. It became the talk of the town. Now somebody comes over and dump bags of leaves on the lawn. What do you think the reaction would be?

Most of the "84" have been posting on the net for years and have seen thousands of fan art / movie pics. They've seen most questions asked over and over again. They've seen all the assinine X vs Y debates argued more times than they care to remember. Now there is a site that is for the most part devoid of all that crap and you wonder why they want to keep it that way? The site owner is being NICE. Many would just as soon show the offenders the door with a size 14 boot up their backside.

My point is you can go to dozens of other forums and get the same old crap or participate here and try to make it a better place. Ultimately it's what's interesting to the administrator that matters anyway - it's his board.
 
I am also of the opinion that the forum's creator is entitled to get the place to function in the way he planned it from the start. Having created things like fanzines, sites and forums in the past, there is simply nothing I hated more than someone trying to take over or trying to corrupt the original concept.

Yet I also understand the frustration of some. I know that sometimes I will refrain from simply commenting on a contribution with a "Wow! Awesome!" and thus will strive to add a little something to it to get the thread going... but I think sometimes it's also good to simply be appreciative. There is nothing on this forum that bugs me more than seeing months old "threads" made of one single post containing absolutely awesome stuff and no-one even seemed to care and say "Thanks!"

If Secret Projects is meant as an encyclopaedia only for the erudites to contribute and the others to read, then I don't think a forum is quite the format you guys want. Any Content Management System can do the trick, with different levels of contribution and mostly publication of stuff... The occasional comment here or there, and that's all.

However, the principle of forums is THREADS. From a natural point of view, a thread can loop, it can sometimes be lost and found again, can sometimes be hard to follow, but it is a living thing! If you belong to a forum and you're afraid to just go plain silly in a post for fear of irrelevancy or the ire of the admin, the forum ceases to be the social place it is destined to be.

When I realize that a months old member (Triton) became a "guest" (read: either "resigned" or "was chucked out") because he expressed his disagreement on that point, it is kind of a shame. And if the admin or some high profile members cannot tolerate the existence of a bar section, and even worse, if they strive to control even what is discussed in that informal section, then clearly this forum ceases to be a welcoming place to simply become a restricted club for experts.

Of course this is only my opinion on the matter, for what it's worth. I'm only a rookie in this place, but I also know a thing or two, and if my status as an "ordinary" member means that I should always be wary of not getting off-topic, or that I may face censorship of my posts if I stray a bit, or worse, if I can no longer even start a thread, I may have to reconsider my membership eventually.
 
Triton deleted his own account. I had no desire to see him quit the forum. I have never deleted anyone's account - the most I've done is remove the ability to post, and only after repeated warnings.

I personally like thank you posts. Its nice to know that your post was interesting to someone. I ALWAYS post a thanks when someone posts something I found particularly interesting. So please don't think you can't just post a "thats cool".

I also have no problems with people going off-topic, though I will sometimes split the topic if it stays off-topic and move it to The Bar. However, this presumes that the users in question do sometimes post something related to the core interests of the forum.

If a given user posts 95% of the time in the Bar, the chances are they aren't really interested in the core part of the forum, and they are in fact just probably on the wrong forum.

I am happy with forum users discussing fictional projects from time to time, particularly when they are reasonably serious, and having a separate section is great for making sure that we don't get people thinking they are real projects. It also gives a home to all the University studies Hesham has posted, which will be moved there this weekend.

However, when I log on to the forum and 90% of posts are in the Fictional section, that is not really fulfilling my expectations of the point of the subforum. I don't want the forum swamped with pictures of movie props.

I have no personal issues with any users, and I hope new users will continue to arrive. That includes novices as well as experts. Everyone starts out a novice. However, unless users want chaos, there must be rules governing what is posted.
 
Pity, Triton posted several good topics on what-ifs and never-weres, especially in the Naval Section. There goes a good source of images. :-\
 
Hello all, I just wanted to let you know that I am not pleased with losing my cool yesterday. I apologize for my actions and I hope that you all will accept my apology. After having a chance to sleep on it, I thought it was unfair to not talk to Overscan about the situation. He and I are both working to reconcile our respective concerns.
 
Good news, Triton! Perhaps the thread ought to be renamed as "Now you see HIM, now you don't... now you see him AGAIN..." !!!
 

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