Professional? Not me, I'm a hobbyist. I've no idea how IT professionals behave, having spent my working life in engineering machine-shops.
No jokes? Sorry, my sense-of-humour bypass operation failed.
Guess I don't fit in here. Ah well...so what (shrugs shoulders and walks off into the sunset).

1 members found this post helpful.

I've worked in such environments too, brianL, as well as in IT environments. Neither is too different. Professional is getting things done, and done well. There is a time and place for camaraderie, and 'looser' talk. It isn't around clients, unless THEY instigate it, and you know them. Even then, lines need to be established, but that's case-by-case, and nothing you can put in a set of rules.

Anyone who things they can codify a set of rules for interpersonal behavior is a total idiot. And an even bigger idiot if they think people will actually OBEY those rules, if they're written.

2 members found this post helpful.

the discussion picked up some momentum since i last logged in; it has moved on (to phrase it politely).

i might feel tempted to join in, but i will refrain this time:

just for the record i want to stress that this has very, very little to do anymore with my OP.

it's ok, i'm not complaining. carry on.

2 members found this post helpful.

Aha, so our cunning plan of distracting you from your original concerns by subtly changing the topic of conversation, as well as getting some newbies to pose all manner of questions that we knew you would find it difficult to avoid addressing, worked. Nice.

2 members found this post helpful.

The discussion moved onto the issue of "professionalism", the short answer to which is:

"Professionalism" does not necessarily need a workplace.

Chambers Dictionary:

I wouldn't include the "training" aspect personally, but the upshot is that professionalism is a general approach.

2 members found this post helpful.

+infinity.
This is similar to ethics, morals, values etc... its not a matter of: when at work, when at church, when around family, its something you either have or you do not have in that moment or in general. Decorum, has been under assault for a long time now, and has rapidly accelerated with the advent of "trashy tv shows" and more recently social media (which I like to call anti-social media).

ondoho,

Your first post is a bit too long to individually quote, but a couple comments.

* The rules are meant as a framework for participating here at LQ. Guidelines if you will.
* Mods most certainly do *not* have absolute power to take punitive measures against a user without the need to justify themselves.
* Warnings are in no way meant to intimidate. The purpose is to ensure there is a way to communicate with a member about behavior that we'd prefer not happen in a way that is consistent and durable.
* Mod actions should *never* be personal. There are lengthy mod guidelines that are objective in nature and all rules apply to mods exactly as they do to members.
* You can always appeal, directly to me. I can and will continue to reverse infractions, ensure objectivity, and alter mod behavior where necessary.
* For every member that wants to see less moderation, there is a member that want to see more.
* The reality is that with the massive number of members LQ has; spanning myriad cultures, societal norms, personality types, age groups, and much more... there is no way to make everyone happy. We aim to ensure there is a friendly place where everyone can discuss Linux and Open Source. Sometimes we get it wrong, and we're always trying to improve. Member feedback is critical for this, so thank you.

--jeremy

8 members found this post helpful.

Are there any specific examples of places you don't think we're transparent enough, or where transparency could be improved?

--jeremy

When a member is new we treat this type of behavior as an opportunity to educate and make clear what is acceptable for participation here at LQ. We try to always assume positive intent. Some very long time members started on fairly rocky ground initially. If the behavior continues it should be addressed.

The first step is most often a private warning, so don't necessarily take the lack of an in thread comment as a lack of action.

--jeremy

It doesn't take much time to read these forums and other forums to find out who is not conducting themselves like an adult.

If you don't STOP a very small subset of members from ACTING like the CHILDISH IDIOTS THEY ARE IN REAL LIFE then the threads fall into a flame war in seconds. You would have to agree that any reader trying to solve a problem would find it difficult to filter out the RUDE AND MEAN PARTS. (who would do that?)

1 members found this post helpful.

unfortunately there's no information i can see that would help me to form my own opinion about this.
call it a hunch, but i don't see that anything is stopping a mod from giving out warnings to people they dislike.

maybe not by design, but they can very well be used like that.
and they do show up on my "permanent record", so they also influence further mod actions.

should...
and what rules are in place to ensure that?

tehy should be made public & prominent.

i probably should have done that, but it reminded me of "telling the teacher".
in retrospect, that was probably silly.
anyhow, i made you aware of the problems now, you are free to reverse some of my warnings.
i have very little hope that rtmistler or Mara will be reprimanded for misunderstanding & being overzealous with me, but feel free do do that also.
but the problem of the system being inherently broken remains (and it is not LQ's problem, all classical forums i know of apply the same system of moderation) - i now decided to change my attitude instead.

thank you for taking an interest.

3 members found this post helpful.

Come on, be a man, name names (and stop shouting). How do you know what anyone is like "IN REAL LIFE"? All you know of them is what you can surmise from what they post.
I got banned for a day for calling another member a spoilt brat. A lesser offence than calling a group of members "CHILDISH IDIOTS", don't you think?

2 members found this post helpful.

This is not the type of response I expect out of a mod. Please refrain from it moving forward.

--jeremy

And this was the appropriate response, perhaps a wee bit late, but otherwise appropriate.