Banning ankorwatt

[Hobby Shooter]

I've been away for a while due to moving continents and haven't followed much of the action here lately. It's sad that it has to come to this for any member. I've had some contact with Mikael outside of the forum (both of us being Swedish) and he is gentle person, but very focused and passionate. I hope it's a lesson to all of us to try to stick to the subject and be as polite as we can.

J

 

[dlleno]

This is all very interesting. I stop paying attention for a day or two and come back to see a real sensor conversation happening. I thought we could just ignore the ad hominum to increase the signal to noise, but it looks like the mods did what they had to do. And Btw I suspect that actively banning someone takes ongoing time and effort which I'm sure the mods would rather not spend. Mikael has a lot of knowledge and experience but unfortunately the right dose of wisdom wasn't there or he could have been an asset to cr.

 

[fugu82]

I started following canonrumors last March when I purchased my 5D3. The forum is a jewel; enormously helpful, thought-provoking, and entertaining.
The one dark spot has been when a useful, informative discussion here is hijacked by egomaniac trolls like Me-Me-Me-I-Am-The-Sole-Fount-Of-Experience-And-Wisdom-Mikael. People like him are an incurable poison in forums, and I applaud the moderators in banning his worthless a$$.

 

[David Hull]

Tried searching in google his name Mikael Risedal and I've found the same type of posts from him. Funny that the arguments are the same here in CR.

If you miss him here, he is still on DP Review, you can visit him over there.

 

[RAKAMRAK]

Just to satiate my curiosity, sometimes I have seen reference to some "the temple guy" in certain other topics in the forum here. Is this "the temple guy" and the erstwhile use ankorwatt one and the same?

 

[dlleno]

once HTP came up it was inevitable

 

[Chuck Alaimo]

Oh my, such a shame, now I may just have to shoot with my canons and be happy about because who will beat the dead horse of DR for us now???? Joking

 

[ajfotofilmagem]

We should all learn from the mistakes of others. Please do not hijack the topic ... :-\ Please do not quote the quote, do not quote the quote, do not quote the quote. :-X Please do not respond other users intransigent and owners of absolute truth. :'( Let them speak alone, and have more constructive discussions. If anyone miss the banned users, are free to seek them on other sites. : After all, the internet is full of statements authoritarian and anachronistic.

 

[Loswr]

Just to satiate my curiosity, sometimes I have seen reference to some "the temple guy" in certain other topics in the forum here. Is this "the temple guy" and the erstwhile use ankorwatt one and the same?

Yes.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I'm not very comfortable with a member bashing topic, Bans should be private and piling on is unfair because the banned member can't defend himself.

I'm not going to comment pro or con about the member in a public forum.

 

[kennykodak]

I'm not going to comment pro or con about the member in a public forum.

agreed, the topic stay fixed on the love of imaging and the shared enthusiasm for Canon products. as for the mods here, i think that they made the hard decision for the best of the community to stay on task. overall, a bad situation that i have seen in other forums on various topics handled with careful thought and protocol here.

 

[unfocused]

I've been away for a while due to moving continents and haven't followed much of the action here lately. It's sad that it has to come to this for any member. I've had some contact with Mikael outside of the forum (both of us being Swedish) and he is gentle person, but very focused and passionate. I hope it's a lesson to all of us to try to stick to the subject and be as polite as we can.

J

This is interesting and significant. One of the problems with internet forums is that it is too easy to attack someone without knowing anything about them and without having to face the person.

I was frustrated by the pointless and redundant arguing that characterized at least one thread recently. But, it does take at least two people to argue. I do feel some sense of injustice because it was quite clear that some individuals took great delight in baiting him and it appears they are walking away with no consequences to their actions. I never liked bullies in school and I don't like them on the internet.

My fear is that these same individuals will simply move on to another victim who feels passionately about an issue. Obviously, I don't know if the moderators issued any warnings to those who taunted him, but I suspect that since at least one would be classified as a "teacher's pet" I doubt if he will receive even a slap on the hand.

 

[comsense]

I am for freedom of expression (of course, bullying and abuse should not be tolerated). I avoid reading most rabid and useless posts so can't say if this person did that. If this person is banned just for being persistent opinionated PITA$$, then ignoring his posts is a better solution. You can't clap with one hand. So someone else also has to be responsible here. Also, I don't think usefulness should be criterion for being on forums. This is not some kind of classroom where every discussion have to be useful. Regardless, most discussions on all forums have always been pointless or tend to become pointless. And I don't see anything wrong with that. Its fun to watch posts like 'I bought camera XXX and its much better than 1DX' or 'my camera sucks, why cant it have all the features of 1DX at $700 price tag'.
Once in a while I do get useful information and tips for good deals. That's pretty much what blogging is about everywhere. I have people reply to me in an insulting way here, I just don't reply back. If I see a thread is pointless and is not even fun, I don't even read it.


A practical suggestion to moderators to avoid trolls taking over: Make a separate category for opinions out of gear talk and keep it at the bottom of page. Keep and enforce the gear talk specifically for advice/discussion on practical and useable functions of gear (like menu, buttons, uses, tips, tricks etc). Move all the abstract and hypothetical B%&%@*% aka opinions ('like zooms are better than prime' or vice-verse, 'EOS M is the best camera ever', 'why is 35/50 mm a standard FL, why not 30/40' etc.) to 'gear opinion' category and don't show opinion category posts on forum discussion list on home page. This could be the best of both......

This is just my opinion.
In the end, the people running the show/forum have (should have) right to decide what kind of platform they want to provide. If you don,t like it........

 

[dlleno]

In the end, the people running the show/forum have (should have) right to decide what kind of platform they want to provide. If you don,t like it........

well thats really it. Craig is running a business, not a social justice advocacy program. This means success is measured, among other things, by the revenue stream generated by such things as google adsense for example. It means Craig sets the rules and operates the site in a way that meets his business/personal/whatever goals. canonrumors.com has a marketable product -- exposure to an audience of photographers who buy stuff. Advertizers pay money for exposure on the site because its their business to expose their products to an audience they believe is attractive. Advertizers won't pay money for exposure on a site that doesn't have an attractive potential customer base. If craig does not manage the forum in a way that provides that attractive audience for his advertizers, he looses money.

based on the ads that I see, the way they are presented, and from what little I know of google adsense and the various resources out there that analize site traffic and estimate worth, I'd say Craig you must have a attractive revenue stream that has taken you 6 years or so to develop. good for you and hurray for capitalism.

Managing the forum is simply carying out the interests of the site, a task which I imagine is not always peaches and cream.

 

[bvukich]

In the end, the people running the show/forum have (should have) right to decide what kind of platform they want to provide. If you don,t like it........

well thats really it. Craig is running a business, not a social justice advocacy program. This means success is measured, among other things, by the revenue stream generated by such things as google adsense for example. It means Craig sets the rules and operates the site in a way that meets his business/personal/whatever goals. canonrumors.com has a marketable product -- exposure to an audience of photographers who buy stuff. Advertizers pay money for exposure on the site because its their business to expose their products to an audience they believe is attractive. Advertizers won't pay money for exposure on a site that doesn't have an attractive potential customer base. If craig does not manage the forum in a way that provides that attractive audience for his advertizers, he looses money.

based on the ads that I see, the way they are presented, and from what little I know of google adsense and the various resources out there that analize site traffic and estimate worth, I'd say Craig you must have a attractive revenue stream that has taken you 6 years or so to develop. good for you and hurray for capitalism.

Managing the forum is simply carying out the interests of the site, a task which I imagine is not always peaches and cream.

Actually, it's simpler than that all around. This site was never started as a revenue stream, and I believe self supporting (financially) is the only goal of that sort. This site exists because of a personal interest of Craig's, and the desire to provide a community for people that share that interest.

And you're over-thinking the culling of undesirables to cultivate a desirable marketing base. No profanity, no personal attacks (and obviously no spam). That's really where it begins and ends. Everyone that can play by those very simple rules is welcome and wanted. All skill levels, all experience levels, etc.

 

[verysimplejason]

Tried searching in google his name Mikael Risedal and I've found the same type of posts from him. Funny that the arguments are the same here in CR.

If you miss him here, he is still on DP Review, you can visit him over there.

Ever heard of sarcasm?

 

[Harry Muff]

The job of a troll is to wind people up and not necessarily make rude comments themselves, but to provoke them.

 

[Pi]

The job of a troll is to wind people up and not necessarily make rude comments themselves, but to provoke them.

That is exactly what happened to him - he was provoked.

 

[risc32]

so you're saying ankorwatt is/was openly "mickael", and now he's gone?

 

[eml58]

so you're saying ankorwatt is/was openly "mickael", and now he's gone?

No/Yes/Sort of.

He was originally openly "Michael", but was banned.

In a second coming he became "Ankor Wat", which was clandestinely, "Michael", in disguise, but later became more openly "Michael", but was banned.

And now he's gone.