Attitude in replies

[Ontarkie 14,190]

18 hours ago, SneakyPete said:

Well seeing how site owner?/Founder posted in this thread earlier asking for feedback it is good place as any to mention it.

Neither really. This is not my site to seek policing and not my place to educate. I can just share how I perceived thing through the lens of my personal experience. 

 

I'd like to clarify the issue that I observed in that thread: When poster quotes or responds to someone while using automated translation tools it would change the text they are responding to senders native language. Having upper forums English only makes perfect sense to me for all the reasons you listed. Again requiring English is not an issue. But maybe something can be done on a technical level so that quoted text doesn't get translated when response is posted from a poster using automated tool in attempt to comply with the site rule.  

 Members are given the chance to  have their thread moved to the proper regional forum. We are often ignored when we ask. 

[beloved_dingo 1,976]

I have been here since 2018, to get advice on filing the I-129f for my (then) fiancé. Now he's a citizen, and I can say with certainty that we would not have had the smooth journey we had without VJ. We did everything DIY, never got an RFE, never had a hiccup throughout the whole experience. The advice here is invaluable, and I am still here because in the last 5 years I have also learned A TON, and I want to keep helping others with their immigration journeys. 

 

I have noticed some threads recently (over the last few months) where comments seemed to become unnecessarily rude and unproductive. I do think most of the time the moderation team intervenes though, and cleans up those threads and/or locks it. However, it can take several hours or more before administrative action is taken. Frankly, this is the nature of forums. I was a mod for years on another forum, and it was impossible to please everyone or catch every infraction in a timely manner no matter how hard you try to keep everything clean, friendly, in-line with TOS, etc. 

 

I have certainly seen posts here that I thought were "over the line" as far as having a harsh/sarcastic/antagonistic tone. You do have to report these posts if you want anything done about it, which has already been said ad nauseum. However, I have also seen new users get very reactionary, question seasoned members' advice, get mad because they got a "confused" reaction, etc. There is nothing wrong with being blunt or even a bit harsh in those cases as long as you are still being constructive. It can be frustrating to give advice to someone, only for them to make it clear they will be upset unless you say what they want to hear. 

 

A few things that stand out to me in this thread so far:

• The first posts when searching "trans" are off-topic political posts instead of something immigration related. On the flip side, if you search "gay", the first results are immigration specific, and more than half of the results on the first page are immigration specific. Regardless of your political stance, shouldn't trans people be able to find relevant immigration information here? 
• The "confused" reaction is perceived by many to be used in a negative way. So is it constructive to have it here? I don't personally mind it, and I have used it myself, but it's worth considering. 
• People need to report posts. I report posts a lot. If you have issues with what you are seeing, report it. 
• @TBoneTX and I have radically different political views. But I have never, not once, seen TBone be disrespectful to any member of this forum. TBone is an invaluable resource of information here, and he is responsive to reports/issues in threads. 
• The off-topic thing is a separate issue but I tend to just avoid threads that do not interest me and/or have a sensitive topic that I'd rather not be a part of. If there was a way to hide/block threads from view, perhaps that would be helpful. I would use that feature if we had it. People with different political views are also welcome to post whatever political threads they want so it's not like it's "only right-wing takes allowed!" 
• The "I'm out" thing was, imo, completely fine when it was specifically a @Mike E thing, we are all different people with different quirks/habits, but perhaps the recent trend of many other users adopting this phrase has become a bit too much. Especially when multiple people do it in the same thread. Threads aren't an airport, there's no need for every person to announce departure. 

Just my 2 cents. Overall my experience here has been good and I also like that this website is not an echo-chamber. People from all backgrounds, cultures, and political beliefs co-exist here. And that's a good thing. 

Edited July 24, 2023 by beloved_dingo

[TBoneTX 45,008]

1 hour ago, beloved_dingo said:

it can take several hours or more before administrative action is taken.

Yes -- often because opinions are being sought internally and the best course of action (or inaction) is being discussed.

-----

b_d's post merits enshrinement in the pantheon of "All-Time Greatest VJ Posts."

[Boiler 45,292]

I do not think we have ever had a Trans member. Trying to think how it would be different anyway just go by the whatever is on their documents.

 

On that basis there would be nothing immigration related to come up.

[millefleur 5,045]

1 hour ago, beloved_dingo said:

• The "confused" reaction is perceived by many to be used in a negative way. So is it constructive to have it here? I don't personally mind it, and I have used it myself, but it's worth considering.

The "confused" reaction does feel kind of unnecessary. I remember the days back when we did not have it and it was fine. It doesn't really add anything and we've actually had some members abuse it in the past (basically spam-react people's posts with it.)

 

Back in those days, people used to reply with popcorn to "controversial" posts (or specifically this one ) but we mods have actually cracked down on that! It's an ever evolving process around here and we appreciate your input. 

[beloved_dingo 1,976]

41 minutes ago, Boiler said:

I do not think we have ever had a Trans member. Trying to think how it would be different anyway just go by the whatever is on their documents.

 

On that basis there would be nothing immigration related to come up.

Here's a post from a trans member on VJ.

 

Semi-regularly, we have LGBT people here who ask if being gay will affect their immigration journey. Often this is due to discrimination in their home country. Trans people could have the same concerns, but a search of the forums would likely put them off from joining or feeling comfortable asking questions.

 

[Boiler 45,292]

23 minutes ago, beloved_dingo said:

Here's a post from a trans member on VJ.

 

Semi-regularly, we have LGBT people here who ask if being gay will affect their immigration journey. Often this is due to discrimination in their home country. Trans people could have the same concerns, but a search of the forums would likely put them off from joining or feeling comfortable asking questions.

 

Oops and I contributed if briefly

 

My only excuse is that is was 6 years ago

 

I normally use Like and then Laughter. Confused is a fall back for anything else 

[SneakyPete 75]

7 hours ago, beloved_dingo said:

The first posts when searching "trans" are off-topic political posts instead of something immigration related. On the flip side, if you search "gay", the first results are immigration specific, and more than half of the results on the first page are immigration specific. Regardless of your political stance, shouldn't trans people be able to find relevant immigration information here? 

My suggestion would be a bigger firewall between CEHT subforum and the rest of the side. Search on this side is already hard or maybe I never was able to figure it out? can't search in chronological order for some reason?? I think search by default should not return any results from CEHT at all, and maybe have checkbox along the lines "search all subforums: Warning you might see results not pertaining to immigration" or something along those lines if at all technically possible. 

[SalishSea 17,736]

9 hours ago, Boiler said:

I do not think we have ever had a Trans member. Trying to think how it would be different anyway just go by the whatever is on their documents.

 

On that basis there would be nothing immigration related to come up.

We have had trans people post on VJ….    Specifically regarding the issue of sex assigned at birth on BC vs what appears on current documentation.

[millefleur 5,045]

I agree with the others that the search feature is quite bad. Remember back when I needed to look something up and it's frustrating you can't sort by oldest vs newest or other options. The option to select a specific forum (or exclude ones) would be extremely helpful. 

[powerpuff 6,598]

9 minutes ago, millefleur said:

I agree with the others that the search feature is quite bad. Remember back when I needed to look something up and it's frustrating you can't sort by oldest vs newest or other options. The option to select a specific forum (or exclude ones) would be extremely helpful. 

Yes, I agree. I think I’ve brought it up before too, the mobile search is completely off. I’ve had luck with desktop browser search on VJ, that helped me immensely when I was looking for answers. 

[TBoneTX 45,008]

Even the desktop-browser search can be strengthened.  Years ago, a member observed, "A website this large and complex needs a kick-butt Search function."

[WaterLeaf 200]

I've been here for a few years and it's easy to get confused with what is possibly mean manner vs helpful contribution and it could take days for me to re-read it in the way that it wasn't mean mannered. It was something that I had to learn to pick up over the time and try to communicate to understand.

 

While that may have happened to the new members, I guess it was also because of the lack of bigger picture explanation. A good example of that would be "Too married for K1". If there are a link provided by VJ that explains it, I think it'll be less troublesome trying to explain it. Things like this can be helpful I believe.

 

Just my thought. I haven't reported something lately but I don't stay on here all the time. I reported a few back then for questionable context. But nonetheless I've seen the site been better overall with the progress of taming down the wild beast since a few years ago when I joined.

[Captain Ewok 1,888]

15 hours ago, powerpuff said:

Yes, I agree. I think I’ve brought it up before too, the mobile search is completely off. I’ve had luck with desktop browser search on VJ, that helped me immensely when I was looking for answers. 

 

What differences do you see on mobile vs desktop search?

 

Do people use the Google powered search or "advanced" internal search more?

[SneakyPete 75]

32 minutes ago, Captain Ewok said:

Do people use the Google powered search or "advanced" internal search more?

I didn't realize there was "advanced" internal search until you mentioned it just now.