Amateur Photographer & What Digital Camera: Board moderation matters: please read. II

Right folks, time for some serious man to man stuff. Problems continue to arise here on the Olympus forum (for whatever reason), and one issue in particular needs to be dealt with.

Everyone disagrees with reviews from time to time - that's inevitable, and it presents no necessary problem from the point of view of the forum. But there are some things that you really can't say and expect to be allowed to get away with. I'm talking here about calling the journalistic integrity of the magazines (either of them) into question. That surely has to be regarded as unacceptable on a forum owned and funded by the magazines' publisher. You can't bite the hand that feeds and then be all shocked and indignant if it slaps you down.

The members of staff on the magazines are professional people just like the rest of us, and publications like AP and WDC clearly depend heavily on their reputation for expert and impartial analysis of the equipment they test and report on. So when forum members start suggesting, whether openly or just by teasing insinuation, that they are not carrying out the most basic function of their profession in a fit and proper way it really should come as no surprise to anyone that the moderators step in.

So, here's the drill - and it's not up for negotiation, so don't expect to come back at me on it:

If you wish to disagree with anything in a review that is a matter of opinion, or if you find something that is a clear error of fact, that sort of thing is a perfectly proper basis for discussion on these forums.

If, on the other hand, you have doubts about the fundamental competence of the reviewer, or their impartiality towards any marque, or that of the magazine as a whole, that is something that you should pursue by other means. It is not acceptable to do so here. Quite apart from the general impropriety of making accusations like that behind the cloak of anonymity that the internet inevitably provides, a web forum is just too volatile a medium for that kind of thing to be tolerated.

The proper course of action, therefore, would be to write formally to the editor of the relevant publication and express your concerns, citing such reasons and evidence as you have.

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Huw Evans.

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