Being a Moderator

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,979
In the interest of fair disclosure, I would have to agree that we ARE guilty of having double standards in a certain regard. For instance, we are more likely to cut a member slack regarding a post that is skirting the line (or arguably even over it somewhat) if that member has an established track record of making mostly positive contributions to the forum. But someone that has NOT established that track record is more likely to have their post deleted, particularly if whatever track record they have established is mostly littered with negative contributions.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,979
As my first boss used to remind me, a single "oh $h1t" undoes ten "attaboys". If you don't have them already banked, you're in trouble.
And we've all been there, too. I never really thought about it much, but any time I have started a new job I have always put in a lot of effort to do really good work. I think most of it is just due to the newness and the excitement of the new work -- everything is fresh and invigorating. But it DOES have the effect of banking up some attaboys and there HAVE been times when that bank has gotten tapped. I can think of three, specifically -- which is probably not bad over a 30+ year working life thus far -- and I'm sure there are others that I was never aware of.
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
Where's that? Sounds like my kind of place!


If you prefer a slight bit of civility but no moderation there's these guys. http://www.allischalmers.com/forum/default.asp

For a bunch of old farm equipment loving good ol' boys from time to time they can really tear it up in the politics section which as the forum admin says has "no lifeguard on duty" and is open to pretty much any topic you dare bring up in a public forum. :D

If you want to get a bit more rough there's the Bash Board. http://www.allthingsagriculture.com/Bashboard/index.php

As they describe themself 'it's the place where friends and enemies gather to argue.'
So if you can't get someone there into an all out drag out beat down lives being threatened debate over anything you just aren't trying. :p

For the ultimate life altering and likely permanent inner child scarred for life experience I would say that most any XXX site web forum would be the place to go. I don't go to any of those, hence the reason I can't give you an actual reference to what is the worst of the worst, but hey if you really really want to go off the deep end of the internet cesspool there will always be someone at one of those sites that passed the legal point of no return way too long ago you can play with. :eek::eek:
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
TCM, you have a protoge'. LGM is practicing up with his poking stick.:D

Sorry not taking on any new apprentices. I have a daughter and she is more than enough for me now. ;)

Although that does not exclude me from working freelance in a purely advisory position from time to time. :D
 

joeyd999

Joined Jun 6, 2011
5,237
If you prefer a slight bit of civility but no moderation there's these guys. http://www.allischalmers.com/forum/default.asp

For a bunch of old farm equipment loving good ol' boys from time to time they can really tear it up in the politics section which as the forum admin says has "no lifeguard on duty" and is open to pretty much any topic you dare bring up in a public forum. :D

If you want to get a bit more rough there's the Bash Board. http://www.allthingsagriculture.com/Bashboard/index.php

As they describe themself 'it's the place where friends and enemies gather to argue.'
So if you can't get someone there into an all out drag out beat down lives being threatened debate over anything you just aren't trying. :p

For the ultimate life altering and likely permanent inner child scarred for life experience I would say that most any XXX site web forum would be the place to go. I don't go to any of those, hence the reason I can't give you an actual reference to what is the worst of the worst, but hey if you really really want to go off the deep end of the internet cesspool there will always be someone at one of those sites that passed the legal point of no return way too long ago you can play with. :eek::eek:
But I want to argue with engineers, not farmers.
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
Don't think of them as farmers -- they are agricultural engineers.
So I have been told!
I was praising the strange wisdom of those who work with nature when I was advised that most of today's farmers have college degrees (instead of hard earned wisdom about the ways of the natural world?)
 

tracecom

Joined Apr 16, 2010
3,944
I often have breakfast on Sunday with a group of about a half dozen local farmers. They are really nice guys and are fun to talk to and learn from. One of them also runs two gins and ginned about 30,000 bales of cotton this year. A couple of the younger ones are probably college educated, but I haven't asked.
 

jpanhalt

Joined Jan 18, 2008
11,087
So I have been told!
I was praising the strange wisdom of those who work with nature when I was advised that most of today's farmers have college degrees (instead of hard earned wisdom about the ways of the natural world?)
Same is true for hamburger flippers.

More seriously, I have a married couple as neighbors -- two beautiful children too -- both are OSU graduates, neither player football ;) , and both are farmers. Farming today is quite technical. It is still hard work and long hours.

John
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,979
So I have been told!
I was praising the strange wisdom of those who work with nature when I was advised that most of today's farmers have college degrees (instead of hard earned wisdom about the ways of the natural world?)
My stepmother's brother is a Nebraska farmer and his three sons, AFAIK, are all college educated. A "good" agricultural education is actually very demanding, particularly if the focus is on running a family farm in today's high-tech world in competition with corporate farms. Aside from the obvious subject related to crops, there are lots of economic courses at the micro, macro, and international levels given how international trends, policies, and events influence commodity markets. There is also a heavy dose of biology and ecology so that farmers can plan so as to minimize stress on their crops, recognize distressed crops when it happens, and figure out how to respond to it. There is also a lot of technical knowledge that is needed. A lot of farming is now dependent of GPS utilization for all kinds of things ranging from controlling seed distribution to mapping soil moisture and insect infestations.
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
But I want to argue with engineers, not farmers.

So you want someone who you have half a chance of winning an argument with? :rolleyes:

Would you consider me a engineer or a farmer? o_O

Honestly as someone who grew up in a farming community and pursued engineering as a career at one point I can say with great certainty that there are very few educated engineers who have the width and depth of applied knowledge that the average farmer or rancher has.

An engineer will tell you somethings impossible. A farmer will tell you 15 ways to make it work using nothing but junk that any other farmer would have laying around out in a shed or tree row of broken down machinery then offer to come over and help just to make a new friend (and see what sort of junk collection you have of course.) ! :D

Now if you are looking for engineers to argue with these are some of my favorite guys to go around with! http://cr4.globalspec.com/

Just pop in as a new guy and ask a really dumb question and I guarantee no one will pull any punches while educating you. :p

I never do. :D
 

JoeJester

Joined Apr 26, 2005
4,390
Farmers use science to have greater yields per acre. They use gps to plot their land and have their soil analyzed to determine the best fertilizer to spray on each area they plotted.
 

strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
And we've all been there, too. I never really thought about it much, but any time I have started a new job I have always put in a lot of effort to do really good work. I think most of it is just due to the newness and the excitement of the new work -- everything is fresh and invigorating. But it DOES have the effect of banking up some attaboys and there HAVE been times when that bank has gotten tapped. I can think of three, specifically -- which is probably not bad over a 30+ year working life thus far -- and I'm sure there are others that I was never aware of.
I had a sage E-6 educate me about this in the Navy. I was complaining about an apparent double standard wherein I had more demanded of me than my peers. I would try so hard to be "that guy" who always got right, ahead if schedule, and if I didn't get it right or was behind schedule, i would be in deeper shit than my peers who never tried and didn't even attempt to maintain a schedule.

He said when you report to a new command, you have a couple of options; bust ass and make yourself known, or accelerate slowly. Performance evaluations highlight improvement; if you leave no room for improvement, your evals will flat line. And once you set your own bar that high, you can't deliver anything less, even if it's still tenfold above what your peers deliver.

A modification of "oh shit/ataa boy" ratio that I think holds true is that when your bank balance is a high positive value, an oh shit costs a high value. If your account has a low balance, an oh shit costs very little or nothing. If you're a serial fuccup, people expect failure of you, and they aren't disappointed when it happens.

Initially that was one of the reasons why I left the Navy for the civilian workforce. I figured out there, your employment isn't based on a 4 year contract that requires intentional gross misconduct to get fired. I thought they would be more appreciative of my hard work. I thought they would simply shed any perpetual underperformers, and I could have job security wherever I went. I thought i could put this sage Navy bull crap advice behind me (sadly, in the Navy, it's good advice). But as I've been out here a while, I've started to see the problem still exists. Firing people isn't fun. It's easier to just let slackers slack, and let overachievers carry their dead weight. It's easier to motivate someone who already has internal motivation, to compensate for the shortcomings of those who don't; all you have to say is "job well done" and occasionally "I'm disappointed."

So as much as I hate to say it, the advice remains relevant. It's a strategically logical choice to sandbag your performance when beginning a new job. As much as I'd like to follow that advice, i can't.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,979
I've experienced some of that, but not enough to make me even try to sandbag -- which is good because it's not in me. In the Air Force I noted that it seemed that 90% of the work was done by 10% of the people. In civilian life I've found that it is commonly more like 75% of the work is done by 25% of the people, but that it is more variable.
 

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,220
Me either. It will just have to remain one of those inconvenient truths of life that I can't come to terms with. Like "girls always fall for the asshole "; logically, if you want to get the girl, you just treat her like garbage. But, I'm not an <snip>I'd rather be a real friend than a fake boyfriend. Anyway I'm past that one; got married somehow, and now I don't have to worry about it.
Sadly, discussing about why most beautiful girls always fall for the AHs would require opening a new thread forum.

But just like you, I'm already married, so I'm past that... wait a minute... my wife is beautiful... ergo, that would make m... oh no! Emoji Smiley-33.png
 
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Sadly, discussing about why most beautiful girls always fall for the AHs would require opening a new thread forum.
It's quite simple, really -- Apparent allies may be phonies -- whereas the sincerity of overt jerks is guaranteed!:rolleyes::D:D:D
For many people, definite knowledge of 'where one stands' trumps civility --even affection-- hands down!:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Best regards
HP:)
 
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