I just got a message from the website īs admins saying that my powerpoint about "passive with past simple tense" has been reported to be violating thee rules. First of all, I must say that I am a new member here, so before I upload a work of mine, I revise the rules. Because I am afraid, I might make a mistake. This powerpoint was a quiz show, questions were  asked in the past simple passive form and there were multirple-choice answers in it. Actually, I have used this quiz show in my classes to make my students actively learn and use this grammatical structure. I just turned it into a powerpoint for ESL, and shame on me but htis is my second powerpoint in my life. I am not good at preparing a powerpoint. I got the pics on google. I just can īt understand what is wrong with my work. Can any body who happened to see my powerpoint, tell me what the problem is. Or  can the member/s who reported it  inform me about the trouble. So, the next time I can be more careful while making a powerpoint and don īt make the same mistake. I should learn this. In my country there is a good saying: Not knowing is not a shame, but not learning is a shame. I don īt want to be ashamed of ignorance about the rules any more. Please  help me. 

 

                                     Gülgün ÖZTÜRK.  

 

From what I can see on the tiny preview of the file, there is a watermarked image in the first slide.

 

Using watermarked images is not allowed... 

 

Giorgi 

                         Hi Giorgi,

 

          I made this mistake not only because I am a new member, but also because I am quite illiterate  about how to prepare a powerpoint. Thanks a lot for your warning. I will do my best to learn the website rules and of course how to prepare a powerpoint.

 

 

Welcome, Gülgün!

 

No worries, we all get reported, especially in the early days of our "career" here :) 

 

We īll be looking forward to seeing your contributions!

 

Have a great evening.

 

Giorgi 

I will second that from Giorgi. Keep trying, Gulgun! Most of us have had something reported. My first ppt was reported because a potato had a copyright mark on it. I was disgusted - a picture of a simple potato! But rules is rules, I suppose! 

Have a great evening.

Lynne 

 

                 

 

                     Dear Giorgi and Lynne,

 

   Thank you for your support but I am pissed off now. Becasue I think before we are reporting someone īs work we should first warn him/her kindly via private messanger. Isn īt this messanger to be used for such reasons? Or am I mistaken? We should inform each other first because our colleague might have violated by mistake or just because of ignorance, like my case. Aren īt we here to help and teach us each other? Should we cross out each other with red pencils? I was preparing a worksheet for the site when I got a message from the admins telling that my powerpoint was reported and I was too frustrated that I was going to cancel my account. I haven īt stolen from any body, it was just a mistake caused by my  awkwardness. I think something must be done about this. Rules are rules, but if we help each other about minor mistakes and use the warning system before reporting like spies of the admins, things might get better. As far as I know 3 violations causes dissmissal from the site. What if I have upploaded 3 powerpoints with the same mistake??? I have been put in the jail :)

                               

                                                              Hi David Lisgo,

 

              Thanks a lot foryour reply. I don īt take it personally but for those like me, I mean for the new ones, there must be system of warning before reporting the work if the violation of the rules is not "stealing". When a work of ours is removed, other members might think it is because of some sort of stealing/cheating. Because they just remove it without leaving any explanation about the case. I could learn what my fault was only after posting on the forum.  Of course I am in the learning process and I will get better in the mean time. But as a teacher of English I have always tried to teach my students using "positive" approaches and  methods. My learning process, however, started in a negative aspect. 

Hi Gülgün

 

As other people have said ,  several of my worksheets   were reported at the beginning , and I also found it stressful and frustrating, but now that I am a moderator , I understand things better. There are rules we must follow , otherwise  the site could  just close down: watermarked and copyrighted  images aren īt allowed ,and  even sometimes  images  have no marks but are copyrighted from somewhere!!!!Being a moderator  is  already a tedius  work ( when you get 5000 points you can become one ) and as David said , Victor has created a system which enables  us to report  the worksheets  and after we have to check  whether  they were duefully reported or not , and it takes   a bloody long time  even filing through  the sites when we are sure  it is a copy!! So anyway  keep up the good work and welcome

Sylvie!

Hi gulgunmurat

 

Firstly, donīt stress over the rules. We all live and learn.

 

Secondly, anyone can report a contribution for breaking the rules, including yourself. Moderators will then vote yes or no as to removal. Reporters are welcome to send a friendly PM to let someone know about the breach, but this is entirely optional.

 

The first two reporting reasons are serious breaches - 3 strikes, and a memberīs account is cancelled.  Think about if you are studying at uni and you plagiarise - in my neck of the woods, 3 strikes and youīre out of the uni. No questions asked.  Itīs serious.

 

The other reasons have no effect on oneīs membership and  moderators will vote on each reported contribution. If a contribution is removed, it can be amended and uploaded. If you were at uni, itīs like resubmitting an assignment.

 

A warning system has often been suggested but in reality members who tried this approach have commented that it was not successful. But as I said, reporters can send a friendly PM if they wish.

 

Once you reach 5000 points you will be invited to moderate, too.  You will find it a thankless, daunting task and will soon realise that those few who do moderate on the reporting page do a sterling job. I take my hat off to them. Alas, unless you have 5000 points, you are unable to actually see just how much they have to wade through on a daily basis, voluntarily. Itīs knee-high!

 

Finally, keep your chin up!  We all live and learn and our contributions get better and better as time goes by.

 

Cheers

 

Jayho

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                    Hello  Jayho,

 

          Thanks a lot for your reply to my post.  You have spent the most precious thing in your life: Your time. I know I am new here and so I am open to learning. Anyway, I learned a lot from what I lived. I don īt have any problems with the moderators or my colleagues. Why should I? As far as I see, everyone here is trying to help the others voluntarily. The problem might have occurred because of my personality: I am extremely thoughtful and I always try to put my human side before my roles in my life. I just thought before reporting ech other especially for minor errors (deliberate steaing is something serious and should be punished of course), would it be more suitable if we warned each other via private messanger? That īs it ! If I had been warned this way, I would have thanked gratefully to my colleague and delete my work. When it comes to being one of the moderators of this website, I am not after it. If knew me well, you wouldn īt put this word next to my name :) In Turkey, there are a lot of facebook groups about English, some of which are really powerful and active with over 50 thousand members. They focus on English exams such as IELTS; TOEFL; University Entrance Exams for English departments and so on and I was one of the admins of most of them. Beside this, 3 of my colleagues published a vocabulary test book (advanced level) and if I had gone on being an admin like them, I was going to be one of the authors and my name would be next to theirs on the cover of the book. I have told you these, just to show that I am not interested in "tittles". I don īt want to be at the top. I am not interested in being a moderator. I am here as a "student", not as a teacher. I am trying to learn, not to teach. This website is like a university for me. I am after new ideas, techniques and methods of others. I have a good collection of books and worksheets both printed and in the electronic form like you and many others . What I really need is inspiration and innovative ideas. I am here for this reason. 

 

                                               Have a good day...