January 6, 2008...8:22 pm
It figures
There was a thread on the forums that I just noticed today, discussing why they haven’t been getting the participation they were hoping for. I had this to say:
I think the lack of instructor participation is part of it, but I’d say much of the reason why people aren’t as active on the forums is because of how heavily moderated it is. People get frustrated with random posts disappearing, or topics being locked, or even a thread that may be headed somewhere interesting before being interrupted by a moderator telling them to get back on track. We need some breathing room, and people can feel contricted at times. On top of that, the forum guidelines are extremely vague, so often you don’t even know what’s been done wrong.
I remember noticing that my signature (which was the link to this blog) had disappeared when I wrote that, but I assumed I did something to delete it by accident since I had been changing a few things on my profile earlier. So I fixed it before I logged off. I came back online again to print something off, and of course, browse the forums for anything new. Again, the signature was gone. I found this in my email, with the link to the forum ‘guidelines’:
*rips hair out*
6 Comments
January 6, 2008 at 9:00 pm
I think it’s ironic that the person who “editted” your post spelled “edited” wrong. Classic.
January 8, 2008 at 3:59 pm
looool :D don’t rip it all out, save some for the next time ;) forums are a crazy world. that’s why i love blogging so much!
January 10, 2008 at 1:43 am
Assalam alaikum Safia, they removed the link to my blog on the forums also. The thing that got my upset was how some people still have a link to their blogs up on their profile page. If they’re gonna remove such links from peoples signature or profiles then at least they should be fair across the board. No one should be allowed and to have such links but unfortunately thats not the case cause clearly I can see some people still have the links to their blogs up.
Anyways, Almaghribs bullying and over-moderating their forums has pushed me off the cliff. I think someone has told them that their the only forums avaiable for students of knowledge in the Muslim Internet World…which THEY AINT. They’re better forums where you can express yourself without having what you write deleted.
Anyways, the participation on the their forums is not like it use to be…and six months from now, it will be worse than it is today. People are losing interest and are getting pushed away by their style of “administration”.
Personally I will NEVER again post anything on their forums.
InshAllah I cant wait until Deen College establishes itself as Islamic learning Center so those of us who have grown to become frustrated with Almaghrib can help build a bigger and better place to seek knowledge for the students of Toronto.
And perhaps one day, Deen College will have a forums where its students can hold intellectual debates where they dont have to worry about “posts disappearing” or where their instructors will actually participate and show interest for the forums. For the record, I love of Almaghrib instructors and I ask Allah to have mercy on their souls.
January 10, 2008 at 10:40 am
Wa alaikum assalam Ameen,
I’m sorry to hear that. As far as I understand, you can’t have a link in your actual signature, but it’s fine to have it as your ‘website’ on your profile page. I too noticed all the links in people’s signatures, so I emailed them this:
“If you are going to enforce such a policy, it would help to be more consistent. Just a quick browse through the forums and I’ve seen at least a dozen signatures linked to YouTube, blogs, or other ‘outside’ or personal links. It is not fair that those remain up while mine was the one removed. ”
And what I got back was this:
“You are right. We apply the policies as we come across the violations. You are more then welcome to notify us of any user with an outside link in their signature or elsewhere and we will be more then grateful to you in helping us apply those policies.”
Now I wasn’t about to snitch, but I hope they got the point. I’ve been getting so frustrated with how they run the forums like a prison, and I’ve seen it get worse since I first started using the forums back in May. And I hate to say it, but it’s really starting to affect how I feel about AlMaghrib itself. InshAllah they’ll wake up soon.
(I added you to my blogroll by the way, I hope you don’t mind!)
January 16, 2008 at 1:14 am
Your sig’s were so big and colourful I think they were just easier to notice :) . Send them any advice that you may have and then just give them the benefit of the doubt inshaAllah. I hope to see some improvements soon as you’re not alone in your concerns.
( and no I don’t work for them:) ).
I’m really looking forward to deen college!
January 18, 2008 at 6:09 pm
I was so proud of it too, with the different blues and everything lol. InshAllah we’ll see some changes, I did give my two cents on that “H.A.W.K.S” thread.
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