• Letters to the COW Team

  Bad Experience with a moderator

  Posted by Greg Ball on September 12, 2012 at 7:32 pm

  Hi there,

  I’m a long time member of the Cow and I love it! Thanks for all that you do for the production community.

  Recently I posted a question on the DVD Studio Pro forum, and I received a rude reply from one of your moderators. Alexander Kallas.

  I can’t figure out why any moderator would reply with READ THE MANUAL! To me that’s simply insulting. If someone feels that answer a basic question is beneath them, then perhaps they shouldn’t bother answering. When I replied (admittedly sarcastically), he continued his barrage by saying things like:

  “This is a pro application, not a video game. Learn the app. first, don’t ask others to finish it for you.”

  Is that an appropriate response from a moderator?

  As a video professional for 30 years, I’m certainly not a video game child, and I’ve worked on bigger systems over the years, I just needed a little help in a time crunch.

  The Cow is a great resource. Please do not let moderators with issues answer questions. I realize they volunteer their services and I really appreciate all that they do.

  Thanks very much.

  Greg Ball replied 13 years, 11 months ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

• 

  Tim Wilson

  September 12, 2012 at 7:47 pm

  Greg, I could not agree with you more. This is truly an insult and drives me INSANE. I’ve been trying to come up with a method where we could automatically detect “answers” like this and DELETE them. The command to RTM has absolutely no place anywhere in the COW, for any reason.

  I actually wrote about this in Creative COW Magazine. The broader point is that the only way to succeed is to constantly stay a newbie. A specific point was that a “newbie” question can come from somebody who is a world-class expert in something ELSE. I even gave a couple of examples. Therefore, you should assume that every newbie is smarter than you and makes more money, and answer accordingly.

  There was a mixed reaction, so I added in the comments:

  Have you ever noticed how the RTM-ers are so fast to answer on so many threads? Such anger! It’s also, often, simply wrong. It assumes that manuals are good enough. It assumes that somebody has enough training to even speak the same language the manual does. It assumes that they have access to the manual at all. It assumes that their boss is giving them room to breathe. Posting a question, then getting back to work on what they DO understand, is for people in trouble the absolute pinnacle of multitasking. It may be the best they can do.

  I’m now starting to rant, but I feel really, really strongly about this.

  Thanks for pointing out this particular post. The number of posts in the COW each day is well into 4 figures, and we simply can’t read them all. We’ll take care of this one though.

  Thanks too for being part of the COW. We truly appreciate it, and we’re glad we’ve been able to help.

  Regards,

  Tim Wilson
  Vice President, Editor-in-Chief
  Creative COW
• 

  Greg Ball

  September 12, 2012 at 8:58 pm

  Hi Tim,

  Thanks so much for your help and support. I really appreciate it. I often read and enjoy your articles in the Cow Magazine. I still have your Media 100 training video somewhere as well! LOL!

  Have a great day and thanks again.

  Greg

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