PHOTO DISCUSSION THREAD -2017

Good evening @alana my friend but all that will do is to open a can of worms and the reasons "Why we haven't voted for images is a step to far" can we not just enjoy the monthly photo comp as we all do and I respectfully suggest that this discussion be concluded if that is alright by all the members,not sure what to say next but I have I think tried to make it clear in the guidelines and in previous posts that " Images entered for the monthly photo comp do not have to be garden related and every chosen Theme is open to every members own Interpretation,enjoy your evening

 

Well said @wiseowl

Hugs to everyone

 

As everyone, I hope, knows it is a deliberate policy of GC Admin to rarely step in or intervene in threads but in this case I think there is a need to. Questioning other members reasons for their own personal decisions is only something that can lead to offence, upset and general loss of humour. One of the things that, in my opinion, makes GC stand apart from other Forums is it's friendliness, tolerance, generosity and sympathy that is so prevalent every day.
However, I do not see that in any of the posts that are questioning a member's decision in how they vote and, in fact, such reactions only leads to member's questioning if they should be open and honest and that then leads to a debilitation in what GC has fought to protect and that is ,Freedom of Speech that does not offend or breach the Rules and Protocols of Gardeners Corner.
This Competition is run by a member of Admin that I have the deepest respect for and who loves GC to his bones and has put in a lot of time and effort to make sure the Competition is open, fair, with the rules clarified exactly. I believe that any further discussion regarding any member's personal decision on how, or why, they vote can only damage the standing of any member continuing to do so, or any member replying to a post of that nature, and also to the very essence of Gardeners Corner.
I would therefore ask that no further participation is continued regarding those posts and should anyone have a problem with this request would they please pm me.

 

Generally, the answer would be yes, but Miss Jiff has special dispensation.... coz I said so Please pass this along to Miss Jiff, with my kindest regards

 

"M", that is your opinion and choice However, in the interests of peace and harmony within GC, there are rare occasions when Admin has to step in and intervene and in this particular matter a decision was taken by all of Admin to request that no further questioning of a member's motives or reasons when voting should continue in this Thread.
I will again point out that Woo has clarified the rules and he, and the rest of Admin. do not want an continuance of the matter. If you believe that such a matter does not disturb the Harmony and Peace then that, again, is your opinion, but it is not your decision, that lies with the Admin Team.
I have no intention of taking part of any further discussion in this thread regarding the matter. If you cannot/do not want to agree with the request to not carry on with posts relating to questioning a member's reasons for voting then please do not post as that will only cause further lessening of Harmony.
I will therefore, if I may, ask that you follow the following procedures [a] Report me for attacking freedom of speech , pm me if you still have a problem.

 

Now @"M", what on earth would we want to go and do something silly like that for?

I fear that the intention of @ARMANDII's post has perhaps been taken the wrong way. We, as a team, discussed some of the points that were raised in this thread in the office, and also went on to discuss the potential (and it was just that, potential) that existed for a bit of conflict over this. The discussions here around this point had extended further, and as you rightly point out @wiseowl had clarified the situation for everyone. No-one, least of all @ARMANDII, wants to quell or censor discussion, however it was the feeling of all of us that this particular part of the subject was in danger of being 'done to death' which may in turn have resulted in one or more members becoming aggrieved at others views, hence the decision was made to request that there was no further discussion of that particular point.

The reference to taking things to a PM was not to censor anyone, but more to allow people to ask why we had asked that discussion be terminated on this point, or indeed to raise their specific grievance with any of the current rules directly with us without having the pressure of feeling as though they were going against the grain somehow. None of the Admin team felt that there was any criticism of us, or anyone else for that matter, and as you correctly point out, no-one was unfriendly. Sometimes, we try to act pro-actively to prevent a situation arising rather than wait for people to fall out over something and then have to sort it all out afterwards - and it really is as simple as that.

Personally speaking, if and when we get to the point where we are having to warn or sanction any member, we all take it as something of a failure; no action of this nature is taken by one single member of the team alone, ever - it is always done on a consensus basis to ensure the utmost fairness and I can assure you that we all take it quite hard personally when we have to do so. Our preference is to work with our members, who are after all also our friends, and try to make sure that things never get anywhere remotely unpleasant.

 

Well everyone I started and ran the photo competition for many years and so I feel I have to interject here and I hope I don't offend anyone here either.. But.....

The fact that as I was very ill Woo took up the baton from me and has run it expertly since then and you all questioning how people vote now is very sad.!

The comp guidelines for the theme were and still are:-
That people interpreted the theme the way they thought best for them..

and voting was:-

To pick the entries you liked best voting on them giving a reason why you voted for it..

There is no room for members to say why they didn't vote on a particular photo.. Voting is to decide a winner for that month.. No to pick out a loser.!!

The remark made by The member is, I think is acceptable if that is how she decides to vote.!! Who are we to question it quite honestly.. Everyone has their own criteria in voting personal to them.

As you say "M" a free country, well supposedly.! So can we all put this to bed now..

Woo is doing a great job of a very thankless task in his own time and believe me it does become thankless when this kind of squabble happens.. This comp is for pleasure and not bitching and back biting.!

There I have vented my angst ... I hope now this can be put to bed and not spoil any more comps and voting..!!

 

That's a Total lie! :rasp: