private wedding forum

[Philip Howells]

Actually this was only the first time a thread I originated has been moved - and I'm probably the bane of the mods lives because I seem to find too many mis-postings to bring to their attention. However, in this case it seems that Chris Hurd (I use his surname also to distinguish him from my pal Chris Harding) needed some threads to start the secret section off. I didn't expect him to ask my approval - it's his prerogative as the owners of a forum many of us value greatly, but what I didn't understand was what was sensitive in my thread.

Only the title (which is a joke one realises as soon as you read the thread) was remotely sensitive but nothing else and nothing to warrant its move.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Philip

I'm glad I still have the classification of "pal" !!! You know very well that I wouldn't post anything that would harm my business or reputation and neither would you. BUT obviously there seems to be a need to have posts that only registered members can see for some reason.

I was brought up with the belief "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say it!!" I'm not entirely sure what posts will qualify for the private bin or whether Chris himself will move posts considered worthy of the private forum or will people just post in there when they don't want the public to read something.

I guess it's best if we sit back and see what sort of topic is posted there and comment afterwards!!!

Maybe Chris is attempting to keep the argumentative posts private (like the video vs DSLR one that got somewhat heated!!!) so the public side of the forum stays "G" rated

Chris

[Jawad Mir]

Although I do understand having private wedding forum but at the same time, I do feel it's not necessary. Granted we all have to vent, etc etc but as professionals, I do feel we can always express our discontent in such a way that even if someone notices it, it doesn't come that harsh.

Frankly this forum is not very much traffic oriented compared to others, doing so, it will become slow. Once it becomes private, I think it will become way too nasty and as people we will loose control. That's my opinion


Jawad

[Chris Hurd]

Adam Wilt once told me that no good deed goes unpunished, and I'm shown yet again how right he was.

Originally Posted by Philip Howells

I see that the owner has already decided what sensitive means by moving some old threads into his new section. As the originator of one I protest. I saw nothing sensitive in the original post and still don't.

Actually that thread was indeed a *prime candidate* for the private forum. It had absolutely nothing to do with wedding video techniques, it involved an assumption about a real person with whom no one here has any direct experience, and it included a bit of vulgarity that I prefer not to have here (no, the asterisks don't make it okay).

Originally Posted by Philip Howells

More to the point, what's the value of a section devoted to the whims and idiosyncrasies of a few people who are so ashamed of what they've written they aren't prepared to have their name published openly? What are they ashamed of? If you want to say something that might damage your business, don't write it at all. If you're going to libel someone don't imagine a secret section will protect you.

Why in the world you think it's "devoted to the whims and idiosyncrasies of a few people who are so ashamed of what they've written they aren't prepared to have their name published openly?" That's a perfect example of the classic straw man argument, and your crass accusation that I would allow any form of libel on this site clearly demonstrates that even after all this time you still don't seem to get what DV Info Net is all about. I said specifically in no uncertain terms that the private forum would never be used that way, and I am truly bewildered that you would assume otherwise.

Originally Posted by Philip Howells

I can already hear people telling me that I don't have to use that section if I don't want to but one of the great virtues of this forum is that it demands people use their real names. This secret, hidden section, which doesn't even become visible until you sign in, is a step away from that transparency.

First -- it's no "secret" at all, not by a long shot. I even plugged it at the top of the site in our Site Announcements board. Second, it would be rude of me to dangle a locked forum in front of unregistered guests, and I really don't want any registrations resulting from just wanting to have a look inside, so of course the board isn't visible to lurkers.

Originally Posted by Philip Howells

Is there any other section on this forum that has members not prepared to be publicly accountable for their own views, opinions and statements? If they want to write something disparaging about weddings and events perhaps it is better for the reputation of the business is it wasn't written anyway.

Again with the straw man. No, there are no other sections on *this* forum, but all of our primary competitors in the wedding videography forum space are operating behind closed doors (including one on FaceBook, and it is not the only other real-names wedding videography community). All of them are private. I'm very proud to host the largest online community in this particular market, and even more proud to boast that the majority of discussions here are public. The private area is simply an annex, and hopefully it is an enticement for some of our existing members to use this site more often than they might be using our competitors.

Originally Posted by Philip Howells

If the owner wants to do something really useful it would be to rigidly enforce by removing, not moving, postings irrelevant to the topic, Wedding and Event TECHNIQUES.

No, I would never completely remove an off-topic thread especially if there is a more appropriate forum to which it can be re-directed. You are welcome however to start your own forum and run it the way you see fit. Meanwhile I find it far more useful to repair ambiguous one-word thread titles, such as this one, replacing "Why?" with "Why did I post with an ambiguous thread title?"

[Chris Hurd]

Originally Posted by Philip Howells

...the sooner the section is dropped as a "bad idea on second thoughts" the better.

The proposal for a private annex was made here more than two years ago, and a number of our members voiced their support for it wholeheartedly. You even participated in the exact same discussion but you said nothing at that time to indicate any concern. I'm not sure why you're opposed to it now when you weren't opposed to it then, but all I have done here is to follow through -- finally -- on something I said I was going to do, at the request of our members.

Refer to http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/wedding-...ing-board.html

Originally Posted by Chris Hurd

4. The addition of (at least one) *private* invitation-only sub-forum which will not be searchable by Google. The idea is to create a comfortable space for frank discussions that can't be accessed by potential customers. I've had more than one instance of a wedding videographer asking me to withdraw his or her posts from public view because their customers were searching for them through Google, where we're heavily indexed. Some discussions about this business are best conducted behind closed doors, and it's about time that DV Info Net provided that.

Originally Posted by Shaun Roemich

FULL KUDOS!

A websearch for my name turns up a bunch of stuff I've actually done, my website and a BUNCH of my DVI posts, which can be a good or a bad thing as I'm pretty open about some of my views and some of my experiences with clients (who MAY be reading about the horror stories I've written about them...)

Thanks AGAIN CH!

Originally Posted by Travis Cossel

Chris H, I think that is a very comprehensive and useful list of revisions. I absolutely love the idea of a private sub-forum for discussing sensitive matters. I just think your proposed changes are perfect so far. I don't have anything to add at this point.

Thank you once again for providing such an awesome place for professionals to interact.

Originally Posted by Jason Robinson

Excellent! I created a google news alert for anything bearing my name (with a few flags to get rid of references to sports because apparently there is a famous football (aka soccer) coach that shares my name). I would absolutely love to move all my internal biz related posts out of the public's eye. There are only 3-6 companies in my market, and two or three of us are here on this board. So we are very very searchable by potential clients.

Heck, I would even pay a nominal fee (<$20) for access to a private board for Wedding & event videography. I'm not using any other videography forums (see above experience) so I'm as good as parked here on DVinfo.

Originally Posted by Dave Blackhurst

A private "wedding lounge" sounds like a good idea, generally it's a good idea not to say anything if you can't say anything nice... especially on the web! That's a plus of the "real names" policy here - hopefully you won't make too much of an arse of yourself knowing that it could easily attach to you! BUT, a "professionals" area that's got an extra layer of security might be good for those "sensitive" postings that would benefit from the input of other pros.

Originally Posted by Jason Robinson

Not that I am volunteering to pay for access to a private section of DVInfo, but I TOTALLY WOULD. If that was all that was needed to get the private wedding / event section private video viewing sections implemented, then I'd be all over that. Besides, DVi has made me & my business possible. If Chris isn't getting some bank as a result of his vision & planning to create this board, then well... why not?

It's more than just a little embarrassing that it took a couple of years to make this happen!

Thread "Why did I post with an ambiguous thread title?" merged with "Private Wedding Forum," which is where it belonged in the first place.

[Dylan Couper]

Originally Posted by Philip Howells

I can already hear people telling me that I don't have to use that section if I don't want to but one of the great virtues of this forum is that it demands people use their real names. This secret, hidden section, which doesn't even become visible until you sign in, is a step away from that transparency.

Hey Philip
If I was going to post with the attitude you have in this thread, I'd be doing it in a secret forum that my potential clients couldn't read.

[Don Bloom]

I think everyone needs a place to vent about a job, a client or the business in general. Brides use the various wedding sites and other vendors have their place but I can tell you that from my experience those sites aren't as open or public as DVi.
While I know there are times to vent to others in my industry and would have liked to do it here, because of the openess and ability for the public to view I haven't. Does it mean I'm going to spend all of my time there? I certainly hope not but it is nice to know that IF I so CHOOSE I can commisserate with others about a particular situation or client without fear of being outed on Google.
Use the sub-forum or not, it's your choice. All of life is a choice. If you don't want to use that sub-forum please feel free to not use it.

[Jim Schuchmann]

Chris,
Thank you for the private section!!!
One of the other hats I wear is that of a local elected official. In that role you learn very quick what needs to be said in front of an audience and what needs to remain confidential.

While I don't believe I will be coming to this section to vent about a customer, I may end up here to find out if someone else in this experienced community has a good idea on how to deal with a problem client. I would not want my discussion on that topic to be used against me at a later point in time, ie, slander/libel suit, which by the way does not have to be based on any merit to be filed against you and cost you huge sums of money to defend against.

I have just expressed an opinion that I am grateful for the fact that I could express in private.

Again - THANK YOU CHRIS!! Keep up the good work.

[Garrett Low]

Jim, you are aware you just expressed your views in the public forum : )

[Chris Hurd]

Maybe I need to move this thread... hmmm.