RoxyRollah

chick balls..

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Freebase Dali

Something I was reading in Trollheart's previous post also stuck out to me and I thought I should comment on it, if only to show my own perspective on the matter, which I don't say is representative of the rest of the mods (which is why there are a lot of things we might debate if we don't already know the general consensus from previous debates or approach)

He mentioned the lounge being more laid back and certain members having a go in there, versus the rest of the site. Now, while we don't advocate blatant personal insults ANYWHERE in the site, I do kind of classify them differently based on context.

If you're given a back and forth between two known members who are cool with each other and one of them drops an insult on the other in a lounge thread, the other might reciprocate, and due to the context, you know it's friendly banter and goofing off. I might assume it's that scenario for a lot of cases where a particular member is known for such things that never actually stir up the ant pile and people kind of go along with it.

However... it would be a bad assumption on my part to keep thinking that way for every case, but I can't realistically follow people around and see what they're saying and judging context. Nor do I think it would be feasible to take a hardline approach and kill any communication irrelevant of the bounds of friendly banter because we could neither spot all occurrences nor foster an environment where people feel free enough to have fun with their friends.

With that said, it really takes more than just the mods following people around. If someone is insulted and not finding it as friendly as the person on the other end might assume, they need to report these things and explain that they're uncomfortable and feel it's uncalled for. This will help us help them, as we can't be everywhere all of the time. There is far too much banter to sift through to try and judge issues unless we're there in the moment.

So, if you would like to see better attention to what you feel is objectionable and we haven't already addressed it, report the issue and let us work it out. I trust in the objectivity of those I help mod this place with and I know each of us are different enough to come to a good average of what should be done. But we can never come to those conclusions if all of this builds up silently and comes out in threads like these where suddenly we're seeing all sorts of issues and being looked at for not acting on them prior.

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fiddler

People get heated in conversations about hot topic items - it happens. It's not uncommon, nor is it something that you should be heavy handed on. So two well known members get into a fuss over something that was said. Okay, it happens. I also know that generally after some time these members will "kiss & make up" so to speak.

For instance, me and YorkeDaddy had a heated discussion in another thread, I think both of us probably stepped over the line in this way or that. Well at the end of the day we apologized to one another via PM and that was that. Which is what should happen. But if in every situation like that the mods stepped in and just banned both of us, then there's a good chance it would make the situation worse because both members might play the blame game on the other.

Freebase is right, they can't fix a problem/step into a situation to resolve it that they don't know about. Just like in real life, if your neighbor steals your stuff every day and all of a sudden you shoot him, when the cops get there, they might not be so inclined to listen to your side of the story.

RoxyRollah

You know whats funny?? Most ppl that dont want this change are the ones cool enough to fake insult each other. And if they dont report the post that was made by the line crosser where is the harm?

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RoxyRollah

ifract Bob and you all die. Tonight!

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Goofle

I think bob. sending Trollheart albums that he enjoys is worth at least a temp ban personally.

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RoxyRollah

I'm coming to kill you.....Let me in its raining.

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fiddler

Who is bob? And I love the rain. We could go dancin' in the rain, ya know!

RoxyRollah

Bob is the man.and worst cycler ever.

edit see Bob you can come in now you da man

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Guybrush

I agree, finding where the line should go for what's acceptable outside of the lounge forum is difficult. There should be some kind of guideline that helps moderators identify whether or not a post is breaking the rules.

I think a system of two-three questions or so could be good. To identify "meaningless one word (or short) nonsense posts or the like", a moderator could ask him/herself the following :

• Is the post on topic?
• Is the post of value to the community or ongoing discussion?

If the answer is yes in both cases, it's a keeper. If it's no on both accounts, probably not. These questions are just off the top of my head. Possibly there could be more or better questions.

For myself, I have the following perspective. Members here tend to have a somewhat stream-of-consciousness approach to posting. Example :

And then another post :

The post saying "lol u tit" is slightly offensive, but probably in a friendly way. However, it is not on topic and it is only directed towards one person, so it is not of any relevant value to the community as a whole. I would say it's a short nonsense post and should earn some punitive action and perhaps deletion/merging.

However, dear old Walt could easily avoid his inane post by doing the following :

Now Walt gets his friendly stab across to his friend on the public forum and simultaneously gives the rest of us a post worth reading.

edit :

Before someone accuses me of thinking people need to be on the level of Walt Whitman for me to think their posts are worthy, the reason I cited him was for comical effect.

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