Should You Be Registered To Post - Part 2

[Unregistered]

Precisely Jiri - lets keep it to automation , not putting the world to rights , much too contenscious in this day and age don't you think ?

 

[Stephen Luft]

As with anything...you always have the option of ignoring or turning it off. If a post is questionable, you can ignore it. If the post exceeds Phil's standards, he will delete it. There are times that due to the responses to the original post, I have felt compelled to respond, whereby I wouldn't have responded to the original post.

Granted this is a PLC forum, but it is also a forum made up of individuals (over 15000 registerd members) from all over the world with valuable experiences and knowledge. In case you haven't noticed...and I know this is hard for some of you to fathom...the world doesn't revolve around PLCs. (the PLC with a VFD attached actually makes the world revolve...lol)

When you watch the news, listen to someone for advise or read an article...how often do you not know what the source is? When was the last time you read a book by annonymous? When was the last time you used advise from a mystery person?

Same thing here. Someone posts a question, opinion or off topic discussion and is looking for good information back from the community. How credible is a post by someone who chooses to not identify themselves. In essence, part of the community but unknown to everyone.

Can the information they have provided for their profile be false...yes. You then have to ask, why are they going to such lengths to conceal their identity? What do they have to hide?

Spam is always possible but I can only speak for myself and have not exerienced any.

If you are going to be active in the community...then have an identity. If you are just here for information and don't want to participate...that is fine too.

God Bless,

 

[R_C]

Let those without sin cast the first stone !
You need to remember that some of your so called "regulars" have also exhibited ignorance and rudeness , sometimes just because they "have been here longer than you " , or these are my buddies so I must protect them .
I have been faced with it , but what made me laugh was that no one came to my defense , because the offender was "in the club" .

I think that some things should be stopped dead if you want to stop agro:-

Any post have any connexion with religion , race or politics - there are times that someone says something (particularly when english is a second language , during a sensitive time , then gets jumped on - maybe a misunderstanding , but who knows ? but this time , the damage is done . You don't always know where someone comes from , lives , or what their religious beliefs are , and their views on current events , so better not discuss at all

Anyone wanting something for nothing ( no , not just advice , we all need that ) , but the freeloaders wanting a job , software or their homework for nothing - this forum should be a last resort for a student , so someone gives you the answer , you now know the answer , but you sure don't understand , and this is reflected frequently in the calibre of some of the so called graduates on site .

There is such a thing a a stupid question , sometimes I believe that people need saving from themselves - if you are presented with a man , explosives , a det cord , an he ask you what will happen if he hits the det cord , this conversation surely doesn't progress , the guy needs saving from himself , and the toys taking away and not returned . Don't we owe some posters this duty as well ? there was a guy yesterday who asked what might happen if he disconnected a neutral of a distribution system - With regard to the guys feelings , we need to stop someone like this going further , not tender any more advise - safety is no joke , and I don't want a death on my conscience.

So you know what someone tells you on the profile - is this a guarantee of good advice ? I think not . I see people with degrees off the back of a packet of cornflakes who you wouldn't let put a plug on a toaster .

Since this forum isn't a "shoot 'em down" job , if someone really upsets you , ignore them , do it enough , and they get quickly bored and go away - most people then quickly learn to self sensor what they post .

It seems as though you Mr. Unregistered are embarrassed or ashamed of your own thoughts and ideas.



It comes down to accountability. I ***** about this all the time in different facility that I go into. If there is no accountability for the operators or maintenance a machine can go from good to bad very fast. If a user is unregistered there is no accountability. I too am a member of several other forums and I was surprised that an unregistered user is allowed to post here, I think it almost encourages some people to post confrontational or derogatory remarks.

 

[Unregistered]

Explain how registration would prevent me from saying what I want to say ?
As my mother used to say " just put it down to ignorance" , but there are times when I can't help but to reply - after all , (without going down THAT road again) , if people actually had a damned good argument from time to time , there would perhaps be less trouble in the world -what is wrong with having a view that doesn't fit the general stereotype or model ?
I personally cannot handle working with lazy people or complete clowns - however as I have been reminded on a number of occasions , I should use the resources I have , albeit desperate , to the best of their ability , rather than just throwing them off site and going through the same heartache again . Other guys don't get troubled by this .
Ashamed ? no , not at all , wishing I should be more reticent ? yes possibly , but that goes for many others too .
I'm quite happy to state that whilst you may not like what I say , if I give you advise , it will be with some foundation - at least I don't lead people up the garden path with tosh , or reply to get a pat on the back .

As I see it , the only way that your registration could enforce any "discipline" would be to insist on an email address from a domain , rather than web based email , but short of sending the boys round with a length of profibus cable , I still don't know what you can do .

 

[Unregistered]

And to add to the above, quite frankly I find this all quite boorish and not the least bit intellectually stimulating. But since I'm anonymous, I can say things like that.

 

[Unregistered]

Balderdash!

The way many people write, or the words they use, give away their posts. Sometimes it is nice to post a question anonymously that we should know the answer to, or to pick on one of those old guys.

 

[Unregistered]

And to add to the above, quite frankly I find this all quite boorish and not the least bit intellectually stimulating. But since I'm anonymous, I can say things like that.

I would bet that you did'nt even read it.

 

[Unregistered]

I would bet that you did'nt even read it.

Did you?

 

[Unregistered]

Did you?

No.

 

[Unregistered]

No.

Are you having fun talking to yourself?

 

[Unregistered]

Are you having fun talking to yourself?

Yes. are you having fun listening in?

 

[rsdoran]

I do agree with Peter though if the spam gets to be too much you should get rid of unregistered posting but so far the spam
has been minimal

The only reason it will be minimal for any forum is thru diligence of the administrator of that forum, it is not a part time effort.

As a "guest" to any forum you are never anonymous, at least not to the administrator so what you may be allowed to do (or say) can be limited on a per post basis or involve blocking IP addresses. The use of "anonymous" IP's can also be easily determined and filtered but again this is something that requires diligence of the administrator.

PLC's.net has a very large membership now and overall there are not that many "guest" posts, of those its rare that someone is rude...with the exception of one registered person that continuously posts as unregistered.

Personally it shouldnt make a difference overall whether someone registers or not except to the individual participating, if they want to continuously participate (network or ???) then its in their interest to do so.

What should matter is "conduct", the rules state:
7. Again, Please, no advertising, name calling, rude behavior, foul language, or disrespectful posts.
The registered members ignore this as much as the guests, as people in what should be a Professional field, conduct and manners should be just as important as the information available.

Personal opinion only: I do not agree with someone being "registered" then continuously posting as "guest" or "unregistered guest" just because they can and think it allows them the freedom to do as they wish, it could set a precedent that could create problems. The problem is that as a forum administrator, that assumes (in most cases) he/she is dealing with professionals and adults, wants to allow members the freedom to post "as needed"...ie on the road without password etc etc, but to do so requires even more diligence in monitoring activities.

For what it is worth...Thanks Phil for plcs.net, my introduction into forums and what goes on behind the scenes.

 

[Steve Bailey]

As I see it, the argument in favor of only allowing registered members to post revolves around the assumption that registration will somehow confer an aura of responsibility on a person while anonymity equates to irresponsibility. Personally, I don't buy that argument, and it's impossible to prove or refute.

Requiring registration before allowing a person to post may deter some people from participating, thus depriving us of some potentially valuable contributors. That's another argument that you can neither prove nor refute.

Those in favor of requiring registration before allowing posting believe that it will weed out more toads than princes. Those opposed to required registration are concerned that the toads will always find a way to be toads, but the princes will decide it's not worth it. Since it's not possible to prove or disprove either side of the debate, I say let's err on the side of maximum participation, especially since so many people have already stated that they tend to trust the advice from registered participants more than that which comes from anonymous sources.

 

[TimothyMoulder]

Would I be too far off base to say, it doesn't matter?

I'm with Steve on this. We have thousands (wow, did I just write that? THOUSANDS!) of people who access this site, and some number of those might have passed it by if they had to register, for fear of ending up on a spam list (the main reason I never register for anything, if I can help it).

Now, I'm sure I contributed to this debate to some degree - I noticed Phil deleted all my posts on that contentious topic a short while ago. Not complaining - his playground, his rules, all respect and gratitude to Phil for creating this world for us. If I put him out in any way, shape or form, for that I apologize.

But I just think registration would cause more problems than it would solve.

My 2-bits!

TM

 

[akreel]

I vote NO simply because there are times when I don't have the password available and would like to post.

Why not pick an easier password? This isn't a bank. Use "God", "love", or "PLC"

I'm amazed that Phil can keep the spammers out of here without requiring registration. I say go ahead with registration. It doesn't make you any less anonymous and doesn't represent any security risk to the user. What it does do is require a little extra effort from all the one-hit-wonders. Maybe your question isn't that important if you can't be bothered to enter a handle for yourself.

AK