Important: Opinions vs Advertizing

[tripwire45]

I've noticed in a few threads that there seems to be a bit of tension when a member expresses a positive opinion about their training provider when others disagree. This is a tough one and I've seen a number of threads "go south" when people started to personalize conflict either because they really liked a particular provider or really disliked them.

It's tough to know when someone is just expressing an opinion and when they may be covertly acting as an agent for a provider and deliberately "spamming" the forum. The mod staff takes a good, hard look at every thread that even has a hint of this. It doesn't mean we take action all the time. Sometimes, a person is just enthusiastic about who they are learning from but are not crossing the line and actually advertising for them.

What I want to avoid is any undo hostility in these situations. You never know when you are even accidentally hurting an innocent party. If any member has a concern about another member's post, you are free to Private Message any Mod or Admin and bring it to our attention. If we are unaware of the issue, we will give it a look and take whatever action may be necessary. Most of the time, we are already aware of the thread.

You may not know but there are "hidden" forums that only the mods and admins can access. We use those forums to communicate with each other about these sorts of situations so it's not like we are all individually flying by the seat of our pants.

CertForums is one of the best certification boards I've ever seen and that is due largely to the quality of the membership and staff. I think everyone works hard to make sure CF presents a positive and helpful attitude. Sure, we all have opinions and sometimes we get bent out of shape, but in the end, we are a community dedicated to assisting one another in a common goal. The CF staff would like to keep it that way.

All we ask is that, if you feel a little hot under the collar, pause a few minutes before you reply to a thread and think about what you *really* want to say and why. You are all a good lot. I'm glad to be here with you.