Posted By Mark Eastbourne
Am trying to assimilate what has been said so forgive me if I haven't grasped the full situation or digress from the original question.

Are there two "preferences" for the content of this forum? One group insisting that there is no humour or chat as doing this does not comply with the Approved User Guidlelines and posters doing this should be warned by the moderators and one group saying there is nothing wrong with a little light chat and appropriate humour as this does not make us unprofessional?

Personnally I don't see what is wrong with a bit of light chat and humour. I have sat here in my office after banging my head against the wall at work (with no head protection), logged on, learnt something and laughed too and I have definitely laughed at some of the things written which has really cheered me up. I think without the light chat and the humour it would take something away from the forum.

I don't know if my opinion means much as I have only been on this forum for a month.

I will add that as I knew there were a great many safety professionals on here I was a bit apprehensive about posting anything but what eventually made me take the plunge were the funny answers and general comradery and support I witnessed.

I support what Jeffrey has said and reiterate once more that I think the moderators are doing a good job because I received an email from them telling me off for writing an inappropriate post, I said sorry, learnt from it and hopefully in the future I can contribute something useful.

Mark

Posted By James Midlake
Can someone just tell me what a "Troll" posting is?


Midlake

Posted By Merv Newman
In this context a "troll" is a person who posts a deliberately provocative problem hoping to trap helpfull readers into trying to offer serious advice on an imaginary scenario.

Merv

Posted By Diane Thomason
Agree completely with Ron Hunter.

Nothing wrong with chatting, and nothing wrong with having a "full and frank exchange of views"!

But people asking for help - especially the less experienced - do occasionally get some less than polite replies, or their thread becomes a slanging match. Surely this isn't right? Fair enough for the regulars to start a slanging match in a thread of their own of course!

As Ron says we don't want these to happen- (a) newbies are scared away from what should be a valuable resource, and (b) the Press pick up some of the less than professional stuff and have a field day with it.

On another thread a while back it was suggested that there could be one forum for "chat" and another for "information exchange", which sounded good to me but the idea didn't seem popular.

Posted By srd
Perhaps we need to keep the existing forum which is available to the general public 'chat' free, make it a place where newbies are not afraid to ask for help and advice without fear of being shot down in flames, and make it the respectable public face of IOSH and the safety and health profession.

In addition, perhaps we could then set up a 'members only' part of the forum where members can have Friday rants on every day of the week, make humerous and sarcastic postings in the full knowledge that as only 'insiders' will be viewing them they are less likely to be misconstrued by outsiders, and have 'lively' discussions on our views about IOSH and the safety and health profession, be they positive or negative.

Stephen.

Posted By Is Kismet
...and don't forget to ensure none of the members are journalists, or people with sneaky ulterior motives.....

You don't think some of us are getting the tiniest bit paranoid?

Posted By Is Kismet
There is already a forum for IOSH members only, I don't see your point?