Working on the Bast Temple website

I have been doing some work on the Bast Temple website this month. It is a part of the annual Open Full Moon ritual drive that happens every year at this time. Today's big accomplishment was that I added a couple of pictures to the website, both of which can be seen on the page detailing the 25 June 2010 Open Full Moon ritual.

Ok, it may not sound like much; but I am still proud of myself. After all, I am a self-taught webmaster. I actually caught the fact that I did not have the pictures titled right, and corrected the problem within five minutes of doing it wrong in the first place (a picture for the web should not be labeled "edited img 807" or anything along those lines). I am also a self-taught artist (I do not consider the art classes I took in school even remotely being trained in art---for goddess' sake, I did not even know what a color wheel was until I was a ZAM in Golden Dawn).

Trollish editing

There was some trollish editing done today, and I was the troll (or at least, that is how I am going to tell the story). But before I begin my story, here is my daily horoscope from Astrology.com (iVillage):

Expect a setback. It isn't likely to be the end of the road for any project, but it is likely to tie you up for longer than you would like. If you handle it well, you draw the right kind of attention to yourself.

Well, that last part is not going to happen (because I am a troll). As for the rest of it, this is one of those days when my daily horoscope was correct.

A couple of weeks ago, I got an inquiry about some of the information on the Bast Temple website. I hoped that it was just a misunderstanding, and not what I really thought it was all about. Today, any doubts that I had about the situation was cleared up.

The original inquiry was about the authority of Bast Temple. The inquiry indicated that there was some confusion about where the lodge's authority was coming from. I honestly did not see how anyone could be confused about it. The inquiry expressed concern that some might mistake Bast Temple as a lodge of the Order this person was a member of.

Today, it become "Cease and Desist of using our legally trademarked 'service mark.'" In other words, do not use the name of our Order, or any of its variants without legal permission unless you are giving a link to us, or acknowledging your past membership in the Order.

So I can't tell you the name of the Order in question. Nor the subject matter. If you are really smart, you can figure it out. A long memory will also help.

Now ask me what I think that this is really about? Go on, I dare you. Or better yet, just take a wild guess.

That is right---one of Bast Temple's pages was showing up on the first page of the Google results for this Order. And if you put in Denver or Colorado into the search request, the Bast Temple's page would be the very first result.

(The page would also got a lot of first and second page hits for the subject matter that this Order specializes in if Denver or Colorado was included.)

And it was NOT the page that the concern was being expressed about. Furthermore, this page actually gave a link to the correct web address of this Order.

(Let me explain the importance of that. A few of years ago, the then-current leader [aka webmaster] decided to close shop; and when the original Head and founder of the Order learned what happened, the founder decided to claim that the site had just moved instead. I know the truth; I have the webmaster's original announcement archived in PDF form, though I did modify my pages to match the founder's story. Bast Temple was the first to link to the new site after the original web site disappeared.)

Now, I suspect that someone wanted me to erase every page that mentioned this Order. To literally, lay waste to the lodge's website. Instead, I spent the day being a troll and just crossing out the name of this Order, one of its members, and making a new full disclosure statement. Oh, I did delete one page which was scheduled for deletion this summer anyways. If they would have waited until after the June OFM, their request would have been fulfilled without no ill-will at all being exchanged.

The sad truth of the matter is that Bast Temple was not getting that many web hits from the name of this Order, and definitely not any new members. If they think forcing me to remove the information is going to increase their numbers, they are sadly mistaken. And if the person who started this process thinks that it is going to result in him getting any members for his planned new project that he would not have gotten otherwise, he is also sadly mistaken (a lodge reworking that Order's material).

(And does he actually plan on mentioning the name of this Order in connection with this project? Place your bets now.)

The simple truth is that we are involved in catering to different markets. Bast Temple would be more likely to blackball an applicant suitable to this other Order than actually let them into the lodge. Hence, we wanted to redirect without having to do the work of the application process. Except now, we cannot actually direct them to the place that they are more suitable to go before they apply---because we are not allowed to mention the name of the Order that they actually belong in (and I do not give links without talking about the site or group I am linking to). And forcing us to talk to an applicant in person more suitable for them (and not just redirect them before the application process begins) just means that we get to tell the truth about why I left that Order---trust issues abound after that story is related.

(And I so want to tell someone that story about now, but I won't online for STRICT legal reasons. I am a troll, not a muckraker.)

Full disclosure: For STRICT legal reasons, I have to be a troll. I was willing to redirect people to this Order, and mention that I found some small merit in the sytem before today's events. Now, I can't. And I might be a little annoyed also. Hence, I have became a troll. At least now, I have an excuse not to trim my beard or get a haircut---so it is not a total loss. Thanks. Now if someone could point me to a nice local bridge to spend my summer days under, everyone will be happy.

Bringing the labels back

After seeing the feedback about removing the labels from my blog, I decided to bring them back. I guess that I was the only person that had a problem with how long my label list has gotten. All the feedback I got was in support of having the labels, and having them in an easily findable list on the side. So the labels are back. Yea! for labels.

Geocities is closing

Geocities is closing in October and honestly I could care less, both as a writer and as the webmaster of my lodge.

There is the option of transferring the pages to Yahoo webhosting for eight dollars a month (a whole year at a time). But the lodge related pages never got any traffic, nor did my pages as a writer. That is why I quit adding pages to both sites.

No traffic=massive waste of time and energy.

I can find the geocities pages on a search engine, but only because I know what words to search with. No one ever finds these pages unless they are purposely looking for them.

And I have no idea why anyone linked to them (a couple of people did for some reason beyond my ability to reason out), despite the fact that my blogs right here on Blogger (or at least two of them) and the Bast Temple website (done with Microsoft Office Live) were better examples of the work being done by me and the lodge.

So let us wave goodby to geocities; I am sure not going to miss them.

How are Forums moderated?

Last month, Servitor Lucem posted the following question about someone who might be a poser (in my comment section): On moderated fora, why do such posts get to the list? Now there is a mystery.

And while I do not know the specifics of that particular case, I do know something about the moderation of internet forums. After all, I have done that myself on occasion. So exactly how and why are internet forums moderated?

The how is that the owner, and sometimes a couple of other people they appoint, chose to approve posts before they are "published" on the internet.

There are various levels of moderation which makes it hard sometimes to figure out who the moderators are. For instance, on the Golden Dawn Forum, which is moderated by VH Frater CN (Martin), Pat Zalewski is on the "automatically approved" setting; his posts go though as soon as he hits "post". Due to this, new members often think that he is one of the moderators; he is not; it is just that his posts are preapproved.

There are a couple of forums where my own membership is on auto-accept for my posts. I am not a moderator, but I have gained the trust of the forum owners so my posts just go though without having to wait for a moderator to approve them manually.

Conversely, some people have annoyed the moderators of various groups so much that none of their posts get approved. The most infamous example of this is Enochian Chess Steve. Given his style of arguing and the fact that he does so much advertising, most Golden Dawn forums are not letting his posts though at all.

In between these two states are all the rest of the members. The very fact that some posts make it to the boards without moderation makes it hard to tell if your own posts are getting though. There are a couple of forums where occasionally it can take a couple of days for a post to be approved. Sometimes you can even tell when someone thought that their post was rejected because they rewrite it and try again, and end up with a couple of posts on the same subject (one complete with an apology for the rejected post that actually ended up being approved).

To understand why certain posts get approved and others rejected, we must understand the why of moderation.

At one time on the internet, moderation was not even possible. Yes, back in the first pixel age, everybody's posts were automatically accepted. It was a happy time, then some unhappy people invented flames and spam; they ruined it for the rest of us.

When I first started running forums, I did not use moderation. I thought that there was better uses for my time.

Then I had a forum go down in flames. Within a forty-eight hour period, there was so much mud slinging and setting fire to people that I was forced to put the forum on moderation. The forum never recovered.

Since then, my forums are either private (invite only) or automatically moderated. The latest one that I am kicking around ideas for, Rocky Mountain Golden Dawn (I might be changing the name of it), is already set for all posts to be moderated. The doors have not even been opened yet (though you could join if you want to), and I am presuming that trouble could happen if I am not careful.

If it wasn't for flames and spam, none of us would go though the trouble of moderating posts; it is a time consuming task; it also involves checking you email on a regular basis, a pain if you are busy with other projects.

So how do I personally chose what posts are allowed to go though (the same holds true for the comment section of my blogs)?

First off, I have a short list of people that I trust. As long as they do not spam the group to death (the occasional ad is fine, but you better be contributing a lot more than just that), I just let their posts though. Some people will never get on this list: spammers, flamers, and politicians (do not tell me your Order is better than mine).

After that, I will admit that it is based on whim and my mood. On a day, I am feeling good, I will let things though that on a bad day, I would reject automatically. Then there is the fun-filled, let's feed the sharks moments.

Like the recent might be a poser, his posts are just the type I might let though because I am curious to see the reactions of the other members. It is like throwing a bloody pig into a shark tank; it is amusing to see the feeding frenzy.

(I never claimed to be a nice person, have I?)

Now, one of the big things that the leaders of the Big Name Orders would like to see is the automatic rejection of anoymous attacks. Now, I have rejected several attempts to post links to smear sites in my comment section here. Personally, I reject such things because they are not what I want to read. And I have no desire to create them myself ( I believe that the best Orders will succeed based on what they have to offer to their membership; nothing else matters).

But I am not sure that it will become standard policy of moderated forums. And there are always the rogue forums that crop up (typically called "watchdog"). But that is a subject for another day. So there you have it: it is sadistic whim that allows the posts of possible posers though; someone wanted to be amused by watching the sharks feed.

(By the way, I am innocent; I am not a member of that particular forum's staff. As always when talking about the workings of other group, this is only my opinion; I could be wrong.)