Often it’s not what you say it’s how you say it. In the world of forums it’s how you moderate. A Jack Nicholson meme from the Stephen King classic, “The Shining” has set off quite the ruckus at Namepros.
Longtime member Elad N had been using the classic “Here’s Johnny!” avatar on his Namepros account.
Apparently someone complained, and the mods while not feeling it was offensive, felt that Namepros should be going with a more professional look and feel and asked the member to kindly change their avatar.
That’s when the fireworks began
Elad N started a thread
Namepros forced me to change my avatar- Do you find it or me disturbing
He added a poll which is 90 no and 4 yes.
The mods made it clear that they voted no, it was not disturbing but not professional.
Longtime members like Brad Mugford, Hawkeye and Compassion along with a host of other members took great exception to this.
Some members were triggered and apparently started dropping F-bombs and had their accounts restricted.
I left some comments as well, the way I see things is that you cannot single one person out.
Namepros mods referenced the Nicholson character, writing:
The relevant matter is whether it is considered professional to have a picture of a scene from a movie where the person is trying to kill someone. The answer is no, it is not professional. Yes, that’s an opinion. Yes, you may disagree. But that’s the decision we made after it was reported to us.
I responded that long time member JB Lions for many years used an Al Pacino avatar playing Michael Corleone, who killed many more people than the Nicholson character.
I added later on that:
You don’t want to single out one member.
Publish a post:
Please be advised that members who have an avatar that does not fit with our enhanced professional standards will be kindly asked to change the avatar.
We will not be holding a poll for each avatar, if you are asked to change it please change it.
If you will not change it, we will refund you any 2020 membership fees you paid and close your account.
Namepros will be updating our terms of service and by joining you agree that Namepros can decide what avatars are professional and which are not.
This thread sparked another thread started by Brad Mugford on the moderation sucking at Namepros.
There are a few who seem like they want to “cape” for the mods which has led some to wonder their true motive. I don’t think there are motives, some fight power others rollover. Alpha vs Beta, etc…
I think one of the things that stood out for me was that in the first thread I referenced, Namepros equated itself to LinkedIN. The mods mentioned to other grown adults many who are self-employed if they would talk to their boss like they are talking in the forum?
Again not everyone rolls over.
I have ran many polls at Namepros and the focus really is not business. The majority of voters in polls did not make their living or substantial money at Namepros.
Many equate domaining to a hobby, Namepros as their social network.
If we want to get real professional
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 in Namepros, how do I enter into a binding agreement with member name Stewie and an avatar from Family Guy?
Now I will say the mods have a tough job, it’s not an easy job. But you can’t lose good members and single people out, whenever someone complains about something subjective like an avatar, have a meeting. Think about it and make a post, save everyone all the drama.
Let everyone have a time to read about a new change and then implement it.
One can also see there is a rich what I call “Domaining Twitter” and many people interact with one another who do not participate at Namepros. There are always options.
Bill says
You are so right about real names for real money. Thx for posting this.
Alpha says
Excellent article Raymond! I believe you struck upon one of the key points —– Beta males, there are so many beta males on namepros it’s pathetic, hopefuly most don’t procreate.
Domain says
Isn’t beta males a domaining thing it’s not like you’re seeing too many manly men at NamesCon I mean look at Linton and Silver no alphas there.
Mika says
Hmmm, I don’t think you know those people very well. neither do I but even I can see you probably talk too much and achieve too little in your own life.
However, maybe i’m wrong. You should show us your life as a beacon of how we should live. So, go on, do it, let us share in your success.
Raymond Hackney says
Yeah I doubt he knows them personally. To be fair it’s not about success.
Beta Male – beta male
noun
noun: beta male; plural noun: beta males
a subordinate male animal in a particular group.
“alpha and beta males will share paternity of cubs sired when two females are in estrus”
a man tending to assume a passive or subservient role in social or professional situations.
“there’s nothing macho about him—he’s a total beta male”
Zen says
I mean you can say alpha just means steroid fueled or neanderthal, so cut that out.
The moderators made a mistake, they could have fixed it but chose to have 20 pages of drama. Bring back Elad
Yakov says
I complained. His avatar was degrading.
Data Glasses says
Anne Frank would be crying in her grave ….
Leo Golan says
What a shame. NP is degrading. All this political correctness stuff, and tolerance for trolls who are just poisoning the forum atmosphere and killing a wish to even open the forum in the morning. And now this Orwellian stuff.
Shame.
Nick says
Everyone should spend the day swearing in every single post as a protest: Like I bid 2 fucking dollars for that motherfucking awesome domain.
NamePros Moderator says
Raymond,
Thank you for helping to raise awareness that NamePros is striving to be more professional. For us, “professional” doesn’t necessarily have to be businesslike, but we believe it should at least involve being respectful and considerate of others.
“Let everyone have a time to read about a new change and then implement it.”
You’re right. We didn’t realize that would be necessary since we’ve been doing it for 5 years with hardly any resistance, but the part we overlooked is that most members did not realize we’ve been doing it.
Most of the avatars we’ve removed have been more problematic, such as sexually explicit images, so there hasn’t been much objection until now.
After some really great advice from MapleDots via NamePros DM, we are in the process of changing the processes regarding avatars.
It was an oversight and mistake on our part.
We will do better.