Welcome to
ESL Printables,
the website where English Language teachers exchange resources:
worksheets, lesson plans, activities, etc.
Our collection is growing every day with the help of many teachers. If
you want to download you have to send your own contributions.
Are we allowed to give our opinions? Or is it particular to some?
I don �t know why every time I intervene there are some people here ready to
divert my post to turn them into personal attacks?
I have the impression that some people are just waiting for an occasion to
turn the forum into a deaf dialogue.
Lately, I intervened in some one �s post who was, if you read
his/hers post carefully, no more and no less asking for stopping the reporting and
moderating system.
The yesterday, I saw some one ADVERTISING some people �s WS. And I just reminded him that this is not acceptable here. (Read my original post in blue)
In any of my interventions was I offending or impolite to anyone. But many were.
I won �t appologize to any one.
I was doing my duty towards this marvellous site. I was just trying to defend it with what I have as means; the forum.
We wanted the moderation system and no one has the right to try to stop it or bypass it.
Advertising is advertising. Advertising means to make something known by the largest number of people and incite them to get or use via some stimulating their interst. Whether you advertise your own WS or others �, it is the same. What about those who don �t have friends? Or, how many very interesting WS are there which did not get the number of points they deserve? Why should we point a premium member �s WS? Didn �t we say that there no point competition here. Then, the famous question. What if everybody startd doing the same thing on the forum.
That were my points. If I was wrong, some had just to convince me with objective and thought replies instead of using ridiculous replies to say that mine are ridiculous. Aren �t we teachers here speaking to other teachers. And my conviction on this site which I will never change is if some thing is good for one it MUST be good for all and if something is not allowed to someone it MUST NOT be allowed to anyone.
The ridiculous people are those who treat others of looking for problems when they are just looking after the site �s interests.
The ridiculous people are those who reply on some posts on the fly without reading all the posts and getting the real point of each one.
The ridiculous people are those who instead of responding by giving good ideas and suggestion in the benefit of the site and in order this site stays fair and just for everybody old and new, they do their best to turn the issue into a personal affair.
The ridiculous people are those who are trying to make of this site a property of a certain clan. And others who want the forum to be just like a chat room or a saloon though Victor gave them more than necessary a "teachers Cafe" to exchange their bithdays, holidays, and family photos and other stuff and amabilities. No they want this on the front page forum which should as Victor said stay for more serious issues concerning the site and/or the ESL teaching/learning matters.
I am a member of this site. I contributed a lot of my hard work and more importantly gave it too much of my precious time. Thus, I will always be present. I will always intervene when I see or just feel that some people are trying through clear or inciduous means to cause some problems or harm to this site.
My Best Regards to all the Honest and serious Members.
about the reporting system: I agree with you it is there for a reason and I can �t see why anyone would it to be removed.
now on the advertising issue: I would not do it for my own work but IF/WHEN I download a ws that is really interesting but has not been downloaded much I do send a quick message on the board, the reason is quite simple; I do not do it because these teachers are my friends! i do it because sometimes ws can be very useful to other teachers but they haven �t been noticed (lay out/ not very colourful/ not many pictures)
I do advertise others work because I think it will be useful for others. I don �t see any harm in it... we all know that a ws does not have to "in your face" to be good however the pretty ones get more downloads and they are not always the best for some of our students!
please let �s agree that we disagree on this one because it is not my intention to start a heated argument, just wanted to share my views on the matter.
Please don �t be upset. All your responses seem very civil and polite to me. The ones who get frustrated are having a hard time getting points, just as I did in the beginning, and they are probably tired. Everyone will learn and grow as teachers if we are as patient with each other as we are with our students.
One suggestion I have is make all the tutorials on how to create worksheets totally free, so that it will be easier to learn. Does anyone else agree?
Well... I didn �t know what was all this about... so I checked the post from last night...
Goodnesses, you have the best intentions in the world and you �re totally devoted to this site - it �s a pity that some people can �t see and appreciate that.
I personally find it very difficult to act as a moderator, I get involved only when it �s clearly and obviously stolen or when friends ask for help - so I �m glad that you �re there watching and moderating with all your heart!!! I can only congratulate you for that!
About advertizing: I �m against advertizing and I �ve been "rude" more than once towards the members who �ve advertized their ws on the forum. As far as advertizing other people �s work, I agree that it shouldn �t be advertized on the forum, but I �m not sure that it can be prevented! Personally, if I see something interesting for a friend, I p.m. the person in question to "advertize" the ws, but I never do it on the forum. Everybody here teaches different levels, ages, etc... and one ws I may like or care for isn �t necessary useful or interesting for everyone.
And to conclude: over the last few weeks I �ve read some posts where you �ve intervened and have used a great sense of humor which I really appreciated and made me laugh. I hope to see this humor back very soon - hopefully in lighter posts!
I �m taking it you are both moderators? And goodness, I know the thread you are speaking of as I was following it last night myself. And as I correctly remember, you suggested that instead of complaining about what was wrong with the site, we should make some suggestions about how to improve it. Well I have a suggestion, and maybe you wouldn �t mind bringing this up with Victor the next time you are all discussing the site:
As a relatively new member, I once came to the message board to advertise my worksheet. Only for I was kindly informed by someone via PM that this was not allowed, I would have continued to do it until I was faced with "rudeness" as you put it linlin.
If I was unaware that this was not allowed, as it is NOT stated in the FAQ or rules about uploading, do you really think its fair or mannerly to be rude to me??
I think, considering the intensity of people �s feelings towards those who advertise on the message board, that it should really be made reference to somewhere, particularly in the FAQ.
If, somehow, this is mentioned somewhere, and I have somehow overlooked it (not through lack of searching) then please forgive my ignorance, but I �m pretty sure I read the rules and FAQ carefully.
First of all, I want to thank you cause you �ve done an excellent work here.
As Aimee said, I also find it difficult to moderate because I take it too personal. But your answers are always polite and direct. So, my advice is to take it easy and not to get upset by those " ridiculous replies" that many of us have received lately.
We have to keep in mind, that this site is to share and not to destroy.
I said it once and I �ll say it again: I think advertising is really unnecessary, if the worksheet is good, trust me, users will notice...
BUT, and the big BUt is ....that for now, there are NO written rules against doing so..
yesterday �s user was just pointing out a sheet and was merely giving her/his opinion...
so I find it very strange how she/he is being singled out for stating her opinion..
the only person that can impose certain rules is Victor!
So until that happens, we cannot demand someone to stop advertising ... whether we �ve accumulated 100 points or 10 000 points.
we can suggest them to stop advertising , but we cannot bully users to remove their posts.....cause sadly, from the looks of things, that�s what�s going on...
Goodnesses, where is this �teacher �s cafe � you speak of? "And others
who want the forum to be just like a chat room or a saloon though
Victor gave them more than necessary a "teachers Cafe" to exchange
their bithdays, holidays, and family photos and other stuff and
amabilities. "
Linlin, it isn �t common sense to �not � advertise. In many forums, if you put something up for viewing, you are expected to let everyone know via the forum where it is.
I have a question. If we are not meant to clutter up the main page, where do we post? Perhaps in this �teacher �s cafe � that I don �t see anywhere on the site?
I have been wondering how these �clubs � even start. There is no way on this site to keep a list of your favourite members you �d like to befriend. I had a query the other day and responded. My pm I sent is now gone. Someone has asked the same thing today. I wanted to look back on my pm, but the only thing in my inbox is messages I �ve received. If I �ve sent a message to someone in the past and I �d like to get to know them better... it is gone.
As far as being taken up the wrong way (addressing the original post here), I read those threads over the past few days. I do believe if we all take into consideration that there is a real person on the other end of the screen/keyboard and treat everyone with kindness, courtesy, and respect, this kind of thing won �t happen. This is also a multi-cultural community. In some cultures, it seems normal to be somewhat more abrupt, while in others, they go to the opposite extreme in terms of deference. It would be nice if everyone just gave more thought to their responses and how they �re worded instead of just reacting.
@tint Thank you for a wise and intelligent answer. the teacher �s caf� is at the top of the opening page
if you send someone a personnal message, when the person answers, you will be able to see both your message and hers/his if you click on the thread at the top of the message . Thus you can keep all the messages you like ! I hope it is clear!
