Marshall = Mods?

I have not read much content that I deem in need of being moderated, but we defintely need to have more of an emphasis on moderators as the site expands. The few things I have noticed that I would like guarded against are personal attacks and advertisers faking a recommendation or a review on products they are making money off of.

I really like the marshalls and I think they do a great job. Just sometimes I feel they have too rash of actions.

Interesting view...do you feel there is an existing or potential problem with phony reviews by advertisers or anyone else? Examples???

BTW, I don't think anyone here has read "much" content they would deem in need of moderation - that kind of content tends to get deleted. There are round the clock moderators online and also quite a few caring members who are quick to report problem posts (those members know who they are and by the way, thank you).

Unfortunately, sometimes the general population doesn't see the entire exchange of pms between the moderator and the member and when the moderator corrects or bans the member for his/her wrong doing, sometimes we look like the bad guy. Believe me the marshalls are committed to making this website the best there is. If a marshall ever gets out of line, he/she will be dealt with. Keep in mind though, if a marshall seems harsh, there is a legitimate reason. We have to protect the site, otherwise there would be utter chaos. If you ever have a problem or need assurance on something, feel free to pm a marshall and we will be glad to help you. Golfwrx is the best and we have the best marshalls. If you saw the abuse we go through with some members or I should say some ex members, you wouldn't want this job!! So trust me we are not the bad guys!! Thanks for your opinion and enjoy the site.

Let me add that the marshalls are just a group of regular guys who don't get paid and do this, rather we do this because we love the game and we love this site. We don't claim to be perfect but we do guarantee you that we are committed to make this the best site.

you guys do a great and appreciated job

I think the marshalls do a great job and are some of the best on any of these golf forums.

Yes I did know that the marshalls were mods and I feel that they are doing a fantastic job

You guys are definitely doing a fantastic job of dealing with the regular parts of the forums. Plus some of the guys I have gotten to speak to in the chatrooms etc, and theyre really nice down to earth guys. I will second that sometimes you don't know what completely goes on between marshalls, and even junior mods and the members. I know I've had to put out numerous fires between junior fires, so I can only imagine what the regular marshalls go through day after day dealing with the problems of the rest of the forum. Especially a little bit back when there was that hectic time of horrible issues going on with banned members etc. coming back and posting. Id also have to agree that there are some great members that help out and make the job much easier.

Keep up the good work guys,


Adam

Would you please follow up to Demos question? I haven't seen any fake advertisers? Are you sure you haven't mixed up sites or have a misunderstanding? None of us have a clue of what you are talking about. If you don't want to post a response then you need to pm a moderator with a detailed explanation supporting your claim. We don't let just anybody be a sponsor on our site and quite frankly we are stunned by your comment. The ball is in your court. You need to substantiate your claim.

All I am saying is that there is a potential problem, and it should be something to look out for.

there is a big difference between potential and an actual problem.. you are taking the easy way out and saying potential. Come on.. give us one example of this even coming close to an actual issue on this site.

Being completely un-biased is very big challenge. We try to choose Sponsors with quality products and good reputation for delivery and customer service. We do allow honest opinions and because we are not a "store", we are not motivated by personal gain through sales. We do want our Sponsors to be successful but, if something does smell fishy, please be open about it. We always recommend to take reviews with a grain of salt and try to read up on things as much as possible. Also asking questions will always help clarify any issue.

My opinion finds that this forum is consistent and the Marshalls are quick to assist and do so in a manner that "us hacks, poor spellers etc" are treated with respect. I spent alot of time on Golf Digest forum and found the trash, racist and personal attacks were the worst, they finally closed the site and I havent looked to see if it returned.

The moderators on this site are doing a GREAT job. Taking care of things that needs to be taken care of without going overboard. Fantastic job guys!

O.K. So you haven't seen any of this because the confusing part is that you said "the few things that I have noticed" that is why we called into question what are those few things you've seen and are you sure you saw them here. So if I understand you correctly, you actually didn't see a few things rather these are issues to look our for. Thanks for clearing that up.

I understood marshall=moderator..and yes I think you guys do a great job. Never easy dealing with the general public.

I've seen people jumped on for what I consider "debate"

The Michelle Wie threads jump to mind. Sure some people like her. Others don't. Your entitled to your opinion. That doesn't mean you should get a 2 week holiday for disagreeing with the general consensus. From a casual observer who loves a good debate I saw this as a complete over-reaction.

I've also seen threads locked due to others being open for the same (or similar) topic. Yet I've never tracked down that "similar" thread in which to post.

The mods (marshalls) here seem to be far more active than needed, on topics that are far less contentious as other forums I belong too.

you dont get the kind of PM's we get...something behind the scene that you have no idea about... you would be shocked

I wish a civil, polite, spirited discussion could take place. I see the same time of behavior in Scotty Cameron and TM threads. People like to come and just pop off on other members or make mean spirited comments. The amount of threads that get deleted because of objectionable comments is incredible. I'm not talking about borderline stuff but, straight out attacks. No one here likes to play big brother but, we have to think globally and to remember that this is a place for men, women, and children of all ages. We do not "enjoy" warning people are the abusive emails that sometimes follows. We also will not allow that dirty laundry to be aired in public. To a casual passer by, if the moderators look active then that's great news to hear. Hopefully that will allow people to feel more comfortable to make their first post because they will know that we won't allow trash on here.



Please PM me or a moderator if you cannot find that topic. This is a large board and even though the search function has been given priority for board resources, sometimes the right key words are not known.



For Close to 15k members and 200k posts in one year, the percentages of banned members and deleted posts are very low. Unlike other forums, you don't get 30 year vacations so their membership numbers still look good.

The forum has grown quite a bit since this was brought up last. I think its good to get feedback from the viewers to see if there is/are areas needed for improvement.

i think that the marshals and mods on this forum do a great job. I rarely see any threads that need to be removed, and if i do, they are gone in an instant.
The crew here is top-notch

Keep up the good work

-rp

i'd have to say they do a reasonbly good job... there is a lot of content to view, and it's hard to catch everything...

although i seem to have been targeted a few weeks, which i found to be a bit questionable... no harm no foul though, i suppose...

Hats off to you guys for a job well done. It's a pleasure to belong to a forum that caters to it's members rather than to "fill their own pockets".

Remember guys/ladies, this is a place where members can interact with one another by expressing their thoughts & opinions, share insightful & helpful information and form bonds. Immature comments, thoughtless expressions and the bashing of other members & people will not be tolerated by the moderators & members of GOLFWRX.

Nuff said, Have a nice day

Thanks to everyone who aides in making this the best golf site on the web. To anyone who doesn't believe the above statement, take it from someone who is in this business for a living, this site gives me and other fellow golf professionals an unbelieveable insight into upcoming trends and equipment in the business. Thanks guys for all of your help and insight!

I've got to say this thread is a touch surprising ... this website always seemed to me to be governed with an extremely light touch so far as mods go. I'm not really on enough to know the difference between mods and junior mods and marshalls (or whatever) - but whatever the devil they do, they seem to do it extremely well. (I had not realized there was that many people banned, or that much ugly stuff going on in PM's between members and mods ...).

Running internet discussion boards is nearly an impossible job (I've done it on IT/technical sites). There is always a delicate balance between creating an environment in which everyone feels free to express strong opinions in a vigorous way, and one in which every other thread turns into a bloody rugby scrum. Mods do need an extremely thick skin, and a fairly even tempered attitude ... but as good a job as they do, they still are just going to get ripped a new one now and then.

An additional problem with something like a golf board (especially a well known one) is that it certainly does become a target for "viral" marketers and just plain spam. I was on a board at MySpace, and there was this guy that was continually hyping his stupid new golf show (that largely consists of amateurs hitting really bad shots on a show with production values somewhere between late night cable and YouTube). The show won't be around a year from now ... but this guy kept hyping it ... not only in "Bulletin" posts (where advertisers commonly post things) but in discussion threads. "Look at this funny clip", "You'll find this really interesting!!!". This group's moderator was non-existant. It sort of reached the point where on some days, fully have the posts were spammers ... this guy, someone hawking a belt you could stick tees in, "Caddy Girls", & etc. (I actually left because of the guy I mentioned though ... got in to a huge argument with him because he was a seriel spammer ... every damn week ... and he kept trying to claim it wasn't "Spam"). Well, on this board, there would be no question. The mods would look at his first post, and send him a short note: "Either pay to advertise and put your ads in the place on the site where advertisers post, or get out."

[Weird thing I just remembered ... on my last post there, I simply recommended GolfWRX to the board there ... and about a half dozen of the more serious golfers emailed me privately - and probably have become members here - MySpace is a lot of kids who "broke 80 their first year, and commonly drive it 380 yards", and a few adults ... though most of the adults are sort of leaving. The guy himself (possibly to pump himself up in front of the kids that think his show is "cute") said he'd been "Contacted by GolfWRX, and asked whether he would do an exchange with them". He might have been BSing, but if he advertises here ... watch him carefully ... he doesn't think talking about his show in discussion threads is spamming, because it is "related to golf".]

This brings up a bigger point - that mods on a board need to deal with. On the one hand, advertisers are necessary - it takes a lot of banwidth to run a high visibility, active site. On the other hand, one of the greatest values of a board full of golf fanatics is that you can get a wide range of opinions about any product. (I just, for instance, swithced from Hogan to Mizzy irons ... and a chief source of info was golf boards). GolfWRX is actually superlative about this. People here get pics of clubs before they're even on the market, buy them as soon as they can ... and ... I must say, I have read reviews on clubs here that are more balanced, exhaustive, and complete than I've ever read in Golf Mags ... it is a truly great value that this board possesses. What GolfWRX has somehow done is cultivated advertisers (including fairly major Golf manufacturers) ... while at the same time, not inhibiting honest opinions about the advertiser products. That is a hard thing to do ... but this site does it.

At any rate, I'm probably babbling, but at the end of the day, my point is this:

I am almost never aware that there are mods here ... but know full well how much they must do behind the scenes to keep this website so incredibly valuable to golf fanatics.

My hat (er, golf cap) is off to you ladies and gentlemen ... don't change a thing you're doing ...

Great observation....and with insight!! You will be Ryan's new best friend. Actually, I could not agree with you more.........This site with it's administrators, moderator, and other faithful followers runs very smoothly. There is an extraordinarily gentle hand on the reins of our membership here, allowing for more latitude than most sites that I've been on. Way to go!!

I think the marshalls do a fien job of keeping the site functioning well. I believe we have very well mannered members, but we also have great marshalls that keep everything in order.

Keep up the good work!

C.J.

I too think the Mods' do a fine job. However, I have seen some questionable actions by a certain junior mod. While it is good to give juniors some responsibility, they need to be carefully supervised and educated on the judicious use of their mod privilages. Just my $.02.

I do indeed know marshalls=mods... I beleive that for what they get paid they do an excellant job I beleive that giving back to this board the way that they do is honorable considering they do it for free... in the future I myself would donate some of my time to give back to what I see as the best golf forum on the net!!! Now for my rant: The only thing I see as a slight downer is sometime our first amendment rights are squashed here a little bit.. and I dont mean on bashing or attack threads as those should be squashed asap, but on just general discussion threads where people are just stating their opinions on certain subjects... just wish a larger consideration for our first ammendment rights were shown in a litle less thread lockage for CERTAIN threads, not all locked ones but I beleive what makes this forum great is the ability to express opinions as I myself have had my views on subjects changed here by listening to other members on a few topics. Rant over I still rate this place a 10 of 10.

I think you guys do a fantastic job.

And I agree with your actions about 99% of the time.

Thanks for all your hard works anyways - to ALL the mods and people who donate their time running things here...

Overall, I am appreciative of the work all you guys put into the website. However (unlike the above), I feel that the policy on 'trolls' (a.k.a. trouble makers) could be tougher.

There has been several instances lately where one individual in particular has demonstrated poor behavior by putting other members down. Just because this is the internet it doesn't mean drop-kicks should get a free pass. Issue a warning once and then enforce the ban if the individual does not comply.

I understand that the moderators are volunteers and have responsibilities outside of these forums. However (and this may already be the case), a moderator should be assigned to one area only to ensure that he/she is not overrun with work (which results in bad posts slipping through the cracks).

Thanks.

Ty

Thanks for your post. We try our absolute best to let threads take their course without having to shut them down. The last thing we want to do is prevent our members from being able to state their opinion. However if we feel things are getting out of hand and getting personal, we have to bring an end to it. We won't tolerate name calling, bashing, and negative slander. Having a good argument is great for the site as long as it's done in a respectful manner. When both opinions are expressed, it should be one of those "agree to disagree" moments. Thanks again for your post.

If any of you ever see a thread that gets locked and want to know why, PM one of the Marshalls. We'd be more than happy to discuss it with you and let you know exactly why we closed it. Heck, maybe through some discussion it can be re-opened. Like I said, the last thing we want to do is take away our member's freedom of speech. But when it gets personal or confrontative, we need to step in.

Just having this thread up speaks volumes of how this site compares to others, where having this type of conversation, or the slightest differance of opinion from a mod-owner will get you deep sixed for 34 years without batting an eye. Like I said overall I see this place as my number one site to go on the web, in fact second place is not even close in comparison. Although my wife would strongly disagree that this site serves ANY purpose on this planet.... but like they say, if you have to ask.. you just dont understand

No, I didn't know the Marshalls were the Moderators too. I just assumed they were people who had made tons of posts because when I first started on the site you were given a "designation" based on how many posts you made. For example, Hacker, Weekender, etc.

Being that they are the Moderators, I think they're doing a great job because I don't think a group should be able to identify a Mod by their posts. It should be done in the background so it doesn't effect the site and involve people who are here because of their interests, not because they want to follow flame wars. As a member of the site I can follow and participate in discussions and even disagreements but everything is kept respectful and doesn't fall into trash talking.

I've been a lurker here for awhile and recently began more actively posting.

I have become more active because I find the board well moderated.

Open enough for a spirited discussion at times but moderated just enough so that those threads don't spiral into a flaming death dive...

Time for a bump for new members.

It's a pleasure to belong to a forum that caters to it's members rather than to "fill their own pockets".

I agree with you on that, or make you feel like a second class citizen because you don't buy their crap