The standards of this forum.

[Scruffydog777]

Ray is a man of high standards in this forum. He's a person who's carried on what MerciAlizee and Arronius tried to establish here. Me....I'm a loose cannon. I try to maintain good standards, but when I see things that bother me, I'm too quick to go off, in a bad way.

We or maybe I should say I, try to go against things we see that led to the demise of AF. One of those was the language that we thought wasn't acceptable to Alizée and so, not acceptable to this forum.

Unfortunately Ray, being the only active mod, has to bear the brunt of disciplanary action in this forum, even when such action may have been instigated by someone else, such as me, which I often do.

So members here need to realize there are many members behind the scenes, trying to keep up with keeping this a site, Alizée would be proud of.

[ALS]

I feel the regular long term members are aware of common civility between members. We've had a few and I mean VERY few members in the past that come here to spread their drama. Lucky for us they've seemed to move on to other venues to entertain themselves.

Some people just need to get over that this forum is all about Alizée, and not about them and the legend in their own minds of how important they are to the board. That has probably been the biggest obstacle to many individuals not playing well with others on the board.

[Future Raptor Ace]

Play nice everyone .... know I'm watching you all! :gun2:

[Ray4AJ]

Age and geography can have a lot to do with what a person feels is appropriate or inappropriate. On the one hand there is forum tradition, but there is also the constant evolution of standards, and this community is a global community.

I've never interacted with Brad or Ben... I arrived too late. But I have looked back at old threads and posts and have tried to pick up on the way they wanted the forum to go. Seeing their comments at times of conflict. The guidelines here intentionally aren't too specific beyond no politics and no religion. We depend on the members to use their best judgement when posting to maintain the balance but at the same time sometimes stand back and see how something plays out. Often times something questionable will quickly fade away on it's own without intervention. That seems to ruffle the fewest feathers.

All the members are part of the community and activity is the best way to keep it going. Over-active moderation can stifle participation.

[Rev]

Hi FRA.

How are you? It's been awhile. :)

[Scruffydog777]

FRA!......How ya doing????

[lapinschous]

Play nice everyone .... know I'm watching you all! :gun2:


We'll always be watching , you from above , and I from the shadows.... :)

Take care FRA

[BrianO1]

Unfortunately Ray, being the only active mod, has to bear the brunt of disciplanary action in this forum

I remember those days. Wasn't fun at all. Trying your best to make the right calls and keep the forum "in shape", just to have all that effort thrown back in your face.

[Scruffydog777]

I think it's time we revisited this thread, now that we have some new mods. I don't think we have any written rules in here. If there are, they are hidden in a way the CIA would be proud of.

I joined this forum 12 years ago this month. I had also joined the Alizee Forum at the same time, which last year shut down. I preferred this forum because they were very strict about staying on topic. Alizee America was more laid back. Now when you have a lot of members posting, it's important to keep on subject, especially for when in the future, you look back for something, you pretty much know where to find it. But when you don't have many people posting, we've seen good conversations broken up because they were off topic, huring a 'current' situation that wasn't good to begin with.

Merci Alizee was appointed by Ben to run this forum years ago and he's done a great job of it. He was very level headed, not getting into any arguements. Then Aaronius31 came along and helped out. I believe he was 14 at the time. He had very good values, probably coming from his strict upbringing. After one of my trips to Paris, I sent him an ActuaAlizee magazine I had found there along with an autographed cd. He tried to intercept the package before his parents, but they got to it first and asked "Who is this guy in Boston who sent you this package and what's in it?". He explained who i was and that the package contained stuff relating to a beautiful French singer named Alizee. Surprisingly, his father was alright with it. Just an example of that strict upbringing, but it shaped him into a great young man.

Back then, there were battles in both forums. As far as the ones in here and sometimes in there, I was often in the middle of them. I was always too eager to do battle and that is still true today. I recently told Ben, even though we don't have a lot of active members, I felt we needed to have 2 more mods to try and have as much coverage during the week as we can. I did not ask to be appointed a mod 'again', because of that 'too eager to do battle' flaw.

Our forum has improved over the years with fewer and fewer battles. As far as the Alizee Forum, in the last few months of their operation, they had the same old battles day after day and I think it just became a not very pleasant place for people to post.

It's easy to sit behind a keyboard a thousand miles away from someone and tell them what you think of them in unpleasant terms, it's harder to respectfully disagree with someone. I often make comments about my religous inclinations in here. A member in here who could've just said I don't want to hear that crap, sent me a pm about it. Our views were quite opposite, but we both stated our views in a long pm to each other. We didn't try to change each other's views and we respected each others stance and that was that.

One of my biggest problems I have is I see a post that bothers me and on more than a few occassions, it's something I read the wrong way and I'll reply in haste. I tried to make it a rule that when I see something I don't like, wait until the next day to respond, but unfortunately, I seldom listen to my own advice.

As far as Alizée, this is a forum and not a fan club. It's okay to be critical of her and that criticism can be harsh at times though at times, it's been too harsh and again, I've been one of the worst offenders. But I feel those around her are off limits. We can disucss them, but should be very careful about what we say about them. I think she can put up with criticism of herself, but not her family and that I feel is something we shouldn't allow.

If you have a problem with what someone else says, reach out to them or to the mods. We have 3 now. I can always be reached through the forum. Though my pm box is often full, my e-mail address is a valid one in the forum. There are a lot of conversations here that go on in pm.

So others please speak up on ways you feel we should run this forum.

[Fall]

Brad gave this guideline for posts in the forum when he owned it.
I take the hands off approach on pretty much everything within reason, except for the following.

1. anything that would offend Alizée
2. political discussion (this isnt the place, i delete all political threads)
3. spam (and ban the user)
4. official videos / audio of Alizée material that can be purchased.

When Ben took over, he added religion to the list of topics or post content to avoid or remove.

I think most, if not all (including myself) have broken these rules at one point or another. I think Deepwaters, may he rest in peace, made the suggestion that you should always post as if Alizée was going to read it. Now that we have three moderators we can quickly spot and fix problems, but that is supposed to be the last resort. It is in the hands of each forum member to think twice about what you say in your posts.

[CleverCowboy]

Thanks for bumping this thread.

The problem with forums is that there are people involved :) , and when you get two or more together, there will be differences in every conceivable way. I have read a lot of historical threads on this forum going way back and WOW, there were some pretty vicious stuff said. Since I have been a member, the forum has been quite tame in comparison.

I think we all have shown good judgment in our posts for the most part, and if we slip, there is always the Delete button and an apology if necessary. Problem solved. I think common sense can guide our online behavior similarly to being at a social gathering in real life, especially when there are people in the room that you don't know well. A good rule of thumb is if you cannot say something to their face, then you probably shouldn't say it in a post.

Moderators have four levels of Infractions they can issue:

Inappropriate Language
Insulting Other Members
Signature Rule Violation
Spammed Advertisements

The first two are very broad. What one might consider Inappropriate Language, others might have no issues.

Edit:

Brad gave this guideline for posts in the forum when he owned it.

When Ben took over, he added religion to the list of topics or post content to avoid or remove.


Brad's list is good but it is hard to know what offends Alizee. For example, we have posted pictures of our favorite Alizee hair styles, but also our least favorite. Concert outfits that we didn't like. I'm interpreting it is being careful about what is posted about the people she is closest to, Annily, Greg, her parents, etc.

Politics are so triggering these days, so I have to agree strongly with that, but there was some recent discussions about France's economic model, which might be misinterpreted as being political, but I would consider it more Economics.

With religion, there is a big difference between proselytizing and just posting something FYI. Scruffy had a recent trip to Cyprus and posted some pictures of the churches he visited and some historical background. I see nothing wrong with those kind of posts.

[RedRafe]

Hi'yall... :)

Hope the day finds you well, and that everything is cool...

Alrighty...

I'm looking at the existing "guidelines" for posts in the forum, and, to me, they look pretty appropriate, and fairly much self explanatory.

Yeah, a couple of them do leave a lot of room for loose interpretation, but, as CleverCowboy put it...

The problem with forums is that there are people involved :) , and when you get two or more together, there will be differences in every conceivable way.

I am one of these strange people that deeply believes in "respect", "courtesy", and "common sense", and, as a general rule I try, wherever, and whenever possible, to treat people in the same fashion that I would wish to be treated myself. ;)

I'm not perfect, (you may have noticed), but please, if I offend anyone in any way, would you please tell me, and I will most assuredly fix whatever it is.


To me, the only real "minefields" that I can foresee are "religion" and "politics", and then only with regard to "proselytizing".

With regard to these ideas, you can believe in anything you wish, and I will have no problem with you whatsoever. :)

But, if you try "stuffing it in my face", or "beating me over the head with it", then we may just have some differences. ;)

And y'know, life is just too short to really get annoyed over such things. :agree:


If I don't like it, I can just leave. ;)

"Courtesy", "respect", "common sense".


Opinions...

Everybody has them, lots of them. You get to have them... It's only "human" and "natural", and it indicates an "active" and "functioning" intellect.

But, you remember "courtesy" and all that other stuff, well, they come into play here again.

My "Grandmother" had this saying: "If you can't say something nice about someone, then don't say anything at all"...

Or, if I was maybe a wee bit more "strident" than usual about voicing my opinions and thoughts, it would be abbreviated to "If you can't say anything nice, then shut up", quickly followed by a "slap around the ear" for "emphasis". ;)

Well, I had a lot to say for myself as a child and am very lucky that both my ears aren't "pinned" back flat against my head because of that. :D

A very "British", rather "Victorian" way of looking at things, overall, but, it, and other similar "ideas" do have their place in modern society, and, they did kind of shape the ways I tend to look at things, and in the way I relate to other people.

So, with regard to myself, personally "opinions", "criticism", and other such related topics/ideas, trust me, I have plenty of these, some of them quite "scathing", but you will find I will mostly tend to keep them to myself, unless I am asked for them.

So, unless Alizée herself was to say to me "RedRafe the Unworthy", I wish to hear all of your opinions on all of my "misdeeds", and all the things that you do not like, etc,", then you are not probably not be going to hear me expressing any of my opinions about Alizée, at all, really.

Who the hell am I to criticize anyone else, about anything. Am I perfect, HELL NO!

Anyhow, that is just my own personal take on the matter, with reference to myself.


With regard to anyone else, y'all can think what you want, say what you want, whatever. ;)

Just, "be excellent" to each other, ok... :agree: :)


Now, with regard to criticism and stuff of her family etc...

Annily, without a doubt is the absolute "apple" of all of her parents "eyes", so to speak. She is a very very sweet, funny, intelligent young lady.

Her mother adores her beyond all things, and when they are together, they positively "go nova", which is a wonderful thing to see. :D

I'll be honest, she, (and at times, her mother, I hate to admit) really put me in mind of my "nieces", and "great nieces", back in Scotland, which, now I come to think of it, is partially probably why I can get so defensive, with regard to her, at times.

Damn, I must be getting old... :omg: :o :D

I really, really, can't see anything there with regard to Annily that anyone would want to criticize.

So, as "Granny" would sort of say, "If you can't say anything nice, then shut up". :p :D ;)


Greg, well, Greg is EVERYTHING that is wonderful to Alizée, just look at her Instagram posts about him. Basically, she loves him to "distraction", and he makes her happier "beyond belief". :)

That is ALL I NEED TO KNOW....

Long may that love continue to flourish and prosper.

You know what my Granny would say. :p :D ;)


Anyhow, these are just some of my passing thoughts, and are probably really "apropros of nothing".


This "forum" really belongs to you guys, I'm probably just a "wanderer", passing through, though I do feel that I am here for a reason, that I have some task to complete, before I leave, and it is really all about what works for the long term "faithful" here.

As I have stated many times before, you are a great group of people, please just make this forum work the way that you really want it to. :agree: :)

[Scruffydog777]

Well said RedRafe, but you did make one mistake in that you said the forum belongs to "you guys". Well it belongs to you too. You're a welcome addition to this forum with some colorful and well thought out posts. We make mistakes (especially me), we correct them and we move on and the forum becomes a better place for it. So I hope you consider this your 'second' home for a long time to come.

[CleverCowboy]

Well said RedRafe, but you did make one mistake in that you said the forum belongs to "you guys". Well it belongs to you too. You're a welcome addition to this forum with some colorful and well thought out posts.

I agree with Scruffy, RedRafe. You are as much a part of this community as anybody else. It was not in the too far distant past that I registered after a period of lurking. I just dove in, and I knew I asked questions that have been asked before and said some knuckle-headed things, but the members were welcoming and I felt right at home.

So kick your shoes off and set a spell... :)

[RedRafe]

Thank you, gentlemen...:hatsoff:

Coming from you guys, that means a lot... :)

There are every few of "us" left, and you guys are kind of "the originals"...

Respect...;)