People demanding zips
 

Hey all,
Recently I've started spending some more time here after a hiatus. I'm pleased to find that the board is as wonderful as I remembered.
And I'm certainly not a top contributor in any way, so don't have much grounds to stand on when it comes to criticizing other members, but I find it disheartening how often I see a reply that just says "zip please."
It's not contributing anything to the forum, and I think it's disrespectful to the people who take the time to post content to the boards.

...I guess this is mostly just a rant. And I suppose I'm interested in what other people have to say about it.
Myself, I find it aggravating when I have to download a full zip in order to see a few photos that I'm interested. I do understand how collectors and others who like zips would want them. But I think it's disgusting to see people demanding that contributors take the time to post zips, when those same people won't even take the few seconds required to do so themselves and post it for others who enjoy zips.

In all events, I'm still proud to be a member of this board. It has by far the most sophisticated, mature community I've ever seen on a board of this type, not to mention some incredible contributors.
And I look forward to sharing whatever I can find elsewhere that hasn't popped up here first.

//
 

Zip Please....Just joking.

I think it is okay to ask for a zip, but I usually don't have time so I turn it around and ask them if they don't mind zipping them for me. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but I never had anyone ask twice.

It kind of all depends on how the request is worded. There isn't really anything wrong with requesting zips, but just saying something like "zips please" is really impolite, I agree. It comes off sounding like the poster owes everyone a zip or is sort of like saying "why didn't you post one yet?" or something.

I say "OK, ask nicely and maybe you'l get one. Otherwise, keep your pants on....."


Klondike

I agree, it depends on how it's worded, but, I generally think it's impolite and adds nothing to the board as well. Lately I actually find myself wishing that we had a negative counterpart to the "thanks" button, but I'm sure that would get abused.

Actually I think that a "thumbs down" button would be a great tool. But I think it should (just as the "thanks" button does) display the name of the member giving it to them. That would curb the abuse factor (any member who abuses it would be seen by all).

I would be very hard pressed to use it as I wouldn't judge anyone's tastes with it but I certainly would use it for someone who consistently adds nothing but rude comments and complaints (especially while contributing zilch to the community).

Just my .01 worth. (I can't afford .02) :o

Anyone who is excessively rude is usually dealt with by the Mods. We've always maintained a "If you don't like it, don't look and/or don't comment" policy here at OCC, so a "thumbs down" button would certainly go against that. That being said, that policy only goes for matters of taste: if you see something that breaks the rules or is illegal, obviously you should report it. As for demanding ZIPs (as opposed to, say, politely asking for them), yeah, it's pretty rude, but there's no rule against it explicitly, and it's easily ignorable, IMHO.

Fango

Remember that very few people will post anything - comments, pics, whatever - that they know up front are going to be unpopular. Its human nature. In otherwords, no one posts thinking "yeah, i can't wait to see that thumbs down or one star rating!". So thats why I am in favor of giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, and going easy on tools that allow one to negatively rate posts. They're too ripe for abuse, and pretty soon things could degenerate into ugly arguments and wars. Plus which, they can have an inhibitory effect on the posting of non-mainstream type material, some of which can be very interesting but not for everyone.

If a particular poster rubs you the wrong way and does it repeatedly and the mods don't seem to take notice - you can always pm him :) Maybe he wasn't even aware he was doing anything unpopular.

Klondike

You can also add users you don't particularly care for to your Ignore List. That way all their posts are hidden from view for you.

Fango

I suppose I ought to add that I'm not in favour of a thumbs down button either. To me what is so great about this forum is that it's such a positive place to be.
The "don't like it, don't look at it" approach is imo the best possible. I'm certainly not going to follow up every "give zip" post with some snarky retort... that would be utterly pointless.

Interesting about the ignore list, though, I did not know that was here. Course, there's nobody on the board that has rubbed me significantly in the wrong way for me to want to use it.