Should Maoman be more professional?
- Yes
- No
Note:[color=green]This thread was split from another feedback thread called:[/color] Who does Forumosa target: men only, or everyone? (link)
Dear administrators,
If I may, I would like to offer my opinion about this topic. Mind you, it’s not all positive. I don’t know what your vision is when it comes to operating this site, but I’d like to share my vision with you. To do so, I need you to bear with me for a few paragraphs because I’d like to tell you an anecdote.
It feels like it was yesterday, but it’s been years already. I used to run a business in a busy resort town called Lake Louise. I worked there for about 4 months, and when the manager left, I was offered to take over. At 22 years old, the chance of running a business in beautiful Lake Louise was not something I was about to pass.
I was young, unexperienced, and I was keen to learn. The owner spent about one month teaching me various aspect of operating his business and then he left the province. For the following 8 years, he would come to town for a weekend every couple months. I was put in charge of operating every aspect of the business. From hiring/firing, accounts payable and receivable, banking, costs control, project management, etc. You name it.
But as mentioned, I was young and unexperienced. I started working there in the fall, and by spring I was running the joint. Summer is the busy season, tourism and all, and came early June, the owner came to town and the first thing he asked me was “So, how many staff did you hire for summer?” I told him that in addition to the 6 full timers, I had hired three more people. He panicked, and I had no clue why. Within a week, he had hired another 11 people bringing our employees up to 20 people. I had no clue how busy that business was in the summer. I soon found out…
Once I had all the people I needed, the owner gave me instructions and he left town again. I was to fax him weekly reports which included bank deposits, accounts payable/receivable and payroll.
The thing is, came spring I had my climbing gear shipped from Quebec and I started rock climbing. I got addicted. My job is what allowed me to stay in Lake Louise and climb the Rocky Mountains, but climbing is what really was on my mind. I had the schedule sorted so that I did not have to work shifts, and I only did administrative work. I would get up at 6 in the morning (often earlier than that)to get my work done, and by 9am I was ready to head out. By 10 am we would start climbing and we would roll the rope at sun down. By the time I made it back to the restaurant, rush hour/dinner time was over. I would ask my staff how things went, and they would always say the same thing: “Good.” That was good enough for me… I would then proceed to pig out beef and Chicken in order to intake some much needed proteins to prepare myself for the next day on the rock. By the end of July, I was climbing professional level and I felt unstoppable. I felt so strong.
Climbing was my life… Work was just something I had to do for a few hours early in the morning 7 days a week. Until my boss came back to town in early August… While I was climbing, he went to the restaurant during rush hour and he got a glimpse of how his business was doing without management… At about 10pm that night, I was at home enjoying a hard earned beer with some climbing buddies who were on holiday from Quebec. We were all sitting outside when the owner showed up and said: “Christian, we need to talk.” I replied “OK, what’s up?” He then said “No, we need to talk.” I insisted and told him that it was fine. I told him that we could talk in front of my buddies. “Fine then” he said. I remember it like it was yesterday. He lost it at me. Of all the things he said, he repeated one sentence about three times. “I hired you to manage by business, and my business has no management.” The next morning we met for breakfast, and that’s when he laid it all out very clearly.
From then on, I realized that Climbing could not be my primary focus if I wanted to actually climb. I had to pay the bills first and do the job I was hired to do. And I did just that. I ran that business for the following 8 years and shattered all previous sales records. I got to climb in the summer and snowbard in the winter plenty, but not quite 10 hours a day like I was at first.
By now, you are probably wondering where I am going with this. It’s simple, really. Forumosa has no management. The site has administrators, but no one is managing it. Gus and Malc are doing a great job doing the work that few of us actually notice, but the actual boss, Maoman, doesn’t have his mind at work. His mind is with family and friends and with his own business/school/s which I’m sure he operates very successfully in Taipei. Maoman’s mind is not with Forumosa, but rather with his Forumosan “friends” among other things. Much like my mind was to climbing when it should have been at work.
On that note, of all that was written in this thread, below is what I remember as being the most accurate depiction of what I see on this site.
The site was to be more of a friend’s club that invited strangers in than a true community. Well, the repercussions are all around us now. Fcom is a little sad these days with the female posters feeling alienated and many lurkers unwilling to join in except to ask direct questions.
The solution? Clear house and act professional. Don’t make exceptions…[/quote]
Maoman’s last post puts an emphasis on how this(Forumosa) is “not the first thing on his mind.” I understand that, and I’m not blaming Maoman for the sake of blaming him. He is not paid to do this, after all. What I’m doing is trying to highlight how, for Maoman, Forumosa seems to have become more of a place to have fun with “friends” than a place to be professional. The site has become too big to be run with this kind of attitude. Forumosa is by far the biggest resource for foreigners in Taiwan, and it also reaches out into real life more than any other online community out there. In line with what MM said, if Forumosa is to become a real community, then maybe it’s time for someone, be it Maoman or someone else, to act professional and lead this site to its full potential. Right now, Forumosa is struggling to become anything more than just another deceiving URL in the rude and cold cyberspace. The thing is, and that is my vision, on an island that is only 700 kilometers in length, Forumosa has the potential to become a lot more than just a website. But changes need to be made for that to happen, and I have a few suggestions.
First and foremost, Maoman has to moderate himself or else he should be replaced. Sexism is not the problem on this site. The general tone is the problem. In my opinion, the boss should be the example to follow, and Maoman’s posts are often showing a lack of professionalism given the responsibility he holds as a community leader. Maoman sets the tone on this site as a leader, and his tone is often inappropriate.
In this thread, Maoman posted something to help a long-term lurker understand what is considered a personal attack on this forum as a follow up on some good advice from joesax. For one, Maoman would have to adhere to that himself, and second, I don’t think the rules about personal attacks are adequate. In fact, the way some rules are enforced, it conflicts with another rule that simply calls for treating people with respect. More about that soon, but first let’s take a look at the rules as they are:[quote=“The Rules”]We consider it a personal attack to call a liar a liar, to call a moron a moron, or to call a jerk a jerk.[/quote]
Now here’s Maoman’s response to Tommy525 in the feedback forum when Tommy asks why a poster got banned: [quote=“Maoman”][url=Forumosa - Taiwan's largest and most active Taiwan-oriented global online community in English]Two weeks in the cyber slammer for being an off-topic jerk to another poster, and for posting a bunch of really tasteless pics. His account will be reactivated in two weeks.
These things happen.[/url][/quote]
I mean c’mon. I seriously doubt that I could post that Maoman is a jerk without having my post removed and receiving a PM with a quote from the rules. Why can Maoman do it? In the feedback forum of all. It’s not professional, it’s against the rules, and it only highlights the challenges this site is facing under such leadership.
Now about my second suggestion, I think that most of the site rules are a good thing to have. A big majority of the rules are fine as they are, but the most important part of it all needs to be revised if not changed altogether in order to address the tone on the site. From there admin has to lead the way and moderators have to adapt and adhere to the “New” rules and moderate accordingly. Here’s the flawed part in the rules:
Can I say that Maoman’s last post was so deceiving that it actually sounds retarded? Can I say that Maoman’s last post resound like that of drunk trying to keep his job despite a nasty habit of drinking at work? I’m not saying that this is what I actually think, this is just an example. I’m addressing the post, not the poster, ain’t I? Simply put, I don’t think it would be nice to post that although the rules allow for such posts. At least, the rules are enforced in such a way that such posts are often allowed. But how respectful is that?
It’s like this one: [quote=“Maoman”]your posts in this thread are in the shallow end of the philosphical pool. If you’re really looking for a good discussion, we’re going to need more grist. What you’re offering up is a watery broth of junior high rhetoric.[/quote]Give me a break. Sure Maoman addresses the message and not the messenger, but what bloody difference does it make? It’s not a respectful thing to say and it conflicts with this rule: [quote=“The Rules”]Treat people with respect. Don’t be rude or bigoted.[/quote]
It’s simple really… Be nice… I think I’ve said this before… And the above just isn’t nice, and certainly not something I would expect from the leader of this community.
Maoman’s post about personal attacks also says this: [quote=“Maoman”]
The importance of having a thick skin
If you are a human being with feelings, you might read things on Forumosa.com that you find offensive. That is to be expected. Discussions of political topics, cultural differences, and even daily life in Taiwan can be passionate and contentious. The administrators of this message board have little interest in catering to the most oversensitive members. If you get offended by many of the things you read on Forumosa.com, you might have to learn to deal with it.[/quote]Fair enough, but having our posts labeled watery broth of junior high rethoric, or being called a jerk has nothing to do with politics and culture. It’s plain offensive and against the rules. In fact, screw the rules. That’s just plain rude. I think there is a distinctive line between not catering to the oversensitive, and being rude and offensive.
My third suggestion is that if the site has become too big and admin do not have enough time to do things right (as is often said), then perhaps it’s time to delegate. Time to share some of your “powers” in order to have enough people involved to do things right so that lacking time to do things right doesn’t remain an issue.
My last suggestion is that I think that the whole “dictatorship” approach of looking at Forumosa management, as eloquently put by ironlady on many occasions, has to change. That’s not how communities should work, and I certainly hope that the powers that be would look into alternatives in order to add transparency and democracy to the way this community is led. Face it, dictatorship doesn’t have much appeal.
To conclude, and at the risk of repeating myself, if Forumosa really is a community and not just another bulletin board or a “friend’s club,” then posts like the above should not be posted by the chief man. They should be removed by the man or by the volunteers who follow his example. But right now the example that Maoman is conveying is not leading this community anywhere, IMOHO. In fact, it’s only making the community stagnate in the deceiving world that is the cyberspace. Don’t get me wrong. I think the site is doing fine, but my vision is that it could do a whole lot better if the administrator was somewhat more polite and professional while imposing the same unto moderators as should be expected for such a big site like Forumosa. Taiwan is a small place, the foreign community is a tight group, and very few online forums reach out into real life like Forumosa does. The site has grown tremendously in the last 5 years or so and it has become more than just a url in the cyberspace, IMO. But it seems like it is struggling to achieve what it should really be set out to achieve. In order to become more than just a website, I honestly think that changes need to happen at the administrative level in order to set an example; in order to guide moderators and posters in the right direction. To make the leap from Online to somewhat more of a Real Life community, posters should be expected to talk online a bit more as they would IRL, and that change can only begin with administration. If/when it happens, I think you are going to see a lot more women and men posting; you’re going to see a New Forumosa.
Sincerely,
Chris
