Taking Virtual Public Forum Into Justice November 30, 2007

Warning: This is one serious post and anything mentioned in this post are simply from my judgment and understanding of my rights as a virtual public forum moderator. In conclusion, this is all text and it’s very long…. I guess. You might want to read this if you’re the member of any virtual public forum. Happy reading!

I received a Private Message from one member of my regular forum, which I act as one of the Moderator in the forum. It’s the second message I received from that particular person. The story; someone (refer as first party after this) heard someone (refer as second party after this) talking bad about him/her in the forum, thus creating a raging and uncomfortable emotion, and he/she ask his friend (refer as third party – a middle person, after this), a forum member to ask if there are any way, I, as a Moderator can give them the information about certain member in the forum so they can bring the person into the court.

Funny?

Here’s the punch line. If there’s no way that the said party couldn’t get this matter into justice, the forum will be dragged to the court as well, and this means total involvement of the forum Admin, Moderators and members as well.

Here’s what I have to say; though I’ve explained to the forum member (third party) earlier that trying to help his friend to dig out the info about this other forum member (second party) whom spread bad words about the first person (first party).

1. The forum itself shall never be liable for any damage caused by the member of the forum in any way possible to anyone, be it (the damage party / first party) is in any relation to the forum or not. The forum is only a medium provided by the owner to let people discuss, proposing a solution and share something related to the topics being in conversation. Any information placed in the forum shall be evaluated by the forum member in their discrete and fair judgment. Forum moderator(s) should take any immediate act to filter and delete any unreasonable, unreliable post that contains hate, anger and other things that can be considered as not suitable for public viewing.
2. Admin and Moderator(s) of the forum shall not be held liable any time for a damage caused that is not within their knowledge and conscience. This means if the second party spread rumors and bad things about the first party in the forum’s topic, without the attendance of any moderator at time, there’s simply no way to drag the Admin and Moderator(s) into the state of guilty, for virtual forum works 24/7. There’s no appointed human moderator that can stand facing the PC with Internet connection 24/7 monitoring the forum all the time.
3. Shall there a warning statement issued by the Moderator to the second party, with taking into account the necessity and consciousness on putting the forum topic in a good manner and profitable for anyone knowledge, which damaged intentionally and unintentionally by the second party, the responsible of giving the last warning; which is to ban the certain member IP to re-join the forum should be fall on the Admin responsibility – if the forum structure support such feature.
4. Any misunderstanding of opinions following the breach of ethics (which has been explained in the Terms & Conditions) which leads to exposure of personal privacy between the first party, second party & the third party shall be resolved privately between them, with Admin and Moderators act as an observer and give proper advice and decision; if, the said parties decided to request a judgment and view from the Admin and Moderator side.
5. Any forum members, other than the Admin, Moderators and the authorized member of the legal and registered organization that created by the members participated in the forum; using the forum name to represent the organization, does not represent the mission and vision of the forum at all cost. It has been explained in the Terms & Conditions that forum members shall be responsible for whatever they post in the forum; which has been explained and assumed understood by the party mentioned earlier in this paragraph. Any post contains element(s) that obviously breach the forum Terms & Conditions will be filtered and deleted by the Admin & Moderator(s). If the Admin, Moderator(s) & the member of the forum registered organization breach the Terms & Conditions, they will automatically remove from their position.
6. Forum Admin & Moderator(s) can only expose the user information to other party when there’s an accumulate decision achieved after discussing the rationality and relevancy of giving out the forum member detail to other party. However, user information limited to what they’ve disclosed during registration (to the forum) or edited from time to time.

I’ve summarized and replied what I’ve listed above to the third party. I’ve assured the forum member (third party) that I will do what I can do, as long as it is within my power and responsiblity as the forum moderator. I know it’s really uncomfortable to know that someone anonymously (almost everyone never disclosed their actual name in public forum) spreading bad things about us. It can lead to emotional stress and bad reputation which is not good for anyone.

It’s importance to practice healthy ethics when it comes to giving out opinion in the public forum. It really represent who we are, despite there’s a claim everyone can pretend to be someone that is not them in the cyber space. Believe me; any single words can lead to the truth.

Anyway, if I can take any forum member to the court, I will pick anyone that advertise their online business, erection program, penis enlargement supplement, products and anyone that always lead the topic to nowhere (Out Of Topic). 

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Creative Photography – Unusual Angles November 26, 2007

At first time, I thought photography is all about taking pictures and capture the best moments and all that kind of things. Yes, that is the basic thing; without taking into account the importance of composition, lighting and angles.

I was keen to take pictures about everything, from scenery to scale model. After a while, I thought it was boring – sooner I realized I’ve lost interest in taking pictures. I let the camera stay in the box, and take it out sometimes to clean up the dust.

A couple of weeks ago, I got this email from Dave Peterson, a professional photographer because I subscribed to his website newsletter. He was talking about taking pictures from unusual angles. He realized most photos are shot at eye level. Come to think of it, this is because traditionally, you needed to have the viewfinder up to your eye to ensure you get everyone in the shot.

So this is his tips:

1. Hold your camera at waist height and click while walking around. Some photos will be blurred, but you can usually find some that are very good. This works particularly well in sunlight when walking around a tourist area.
2. When shooting any subject with a lot of straight lines (like someone on a fence), turn the camera 45 degrees to give a diagonal look to your image that enhances the mood of the picture.
3. Sometimes the best images need to be taken from unusual locations such as from the top of a building (for a birds eye shot) or right down on the ground. Also point the camera different ways .including straight up or straight down. Don’t be afraid to try different angles. Placing your camera at angles of 30 degrees from the horizontal or vertical lines work well.
4. When finding that great angle, don’t worry about looking the fool! Being self-conscious will affect your ability to find great angles, your concentration, and maybe even the quality of your photographs.
5. You don’t need to go to extremes to find a great angle – even standing on a step, or getting down onto one knee can make a lot of difference.
6. To make small things look large, lie on the ground and hold your camera towards the sky. This will make your small subject look like a giant! This also works well for tall buildings such as lighthouses.

Credit to Dave Peterson, for the tips.
Photos taken by me during the recent Labuan Classic Car AutoShow 2007

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