I'm a little confused. Is the problem that posters are calling other people names, like '*******,' or something else?
LOL, I've been called worse, so it wouldn't upset me. But you said who DOESN'T know the rules, and to be honest, I don't. I know that the moderators don't like dropping F-bombs too much although an occasional one doesn't seem to be too bad. I guess making threats is a no-no. Other than that I'm not sure where you draw the line on being 'uncivil.' And I'm not sure what, exactly, triggered Jeff to close the other thread.
Anyone else find the basket full of holes a funny visual? I would ban people that act over the top.....that would clean it up a lot. DD
Well, fair is fair. Upon further review, I understand the confusion. I was surprised to see how thin the FAQ was when I reviewed it. And the posting guidelines, aside from some pretty obvious hard-and-fast rules, does vary from admin to admin. Some of us are twitchier than others. The "tone" of a thread is difficult to gauge although Jeff was right-on re: the closed thread. That thing had gotten absurd. I don't think f-bombs or profanities in general bother us much at all. That's what the filter's for. A well-placed profanity does a great job of putting emphasis on your point. Really, trying to get around the profanity filter's worse than actually using it. I don't want to speak for the rest of the Crew, but I'm not necessarily sure that it's violating the posting guidelines that has gotten the D&D where it is now. Again, it's the tone of the place. It's not Poster A calling Poster B a rimjobbing buttplugging eyepatched Nazi that has us-- me-- fed up; it's the monotonous droning of hyperbole, accusations of extremism, and repetitive cut-n-pasted articles, going around in ever-tightening circles of mockery and aggression. Worst of all is that I think some of you that think you're part of the solution are part of the problem. I don't blame you, the D&D brings out the worst in me, too. Mostly, the question ends up being, would bbs2.clutchfans.net be a better, or worse place, if the D&D didn't exist? And if you think it would be better, does your reasoning have anything to do with the justification for the existence a Houston Rockets website? I guess you must not have noticed gifford1967's question, either, since that was what I was referring to.
When was the last time someone was banned? I have never been threatened by a poster. . Of course, I do have my e-mail turned off based on some vaguely threatening public posts in my first few days of posting posting which were right after 9/11. I have never put someone on ignore or really been very tempted to do so. I assume all those who have threatened anyone have been banned. When is the last time someone was banned? It seems that perhaps the moderators are not banning, so things will get out of control and they can justify the elimination of this forum. I hope not. I think it would be doubly unfortunate to do this right after requiring members to contribute, which otherwise is certainly very reasonable. I personally am sorry that I didn't contribute earlier, though I had spent an hour or two on a couple of occasions previously to clear up my paypal account. Being denied access certainly got me to think about how to solve the problem. Overall despite the insults, I think much info is excahanged and people, including me, are exposed to view points they normally would not seek out. The forum provides an outlet for discussions not often had among work mates, neighbors or even friends. I know my wife, for instance, prefers for me to discuss Arab -Israeli political issues on this forum rather than at dinner with most of our Jewish friends. BTW I think that the GARM forum has also declined in the last couple of years, too. In that case it might be because of the lack of strong posters who actually disagree on issues and have the passion to seek out proof for their positions and to engage in extended debate.
I can fully understand why the admins do not want to babysit us here. Especially given this simply isn't supposed to be a political board. And we certainly should be toning it down. All of us. So...ban away. Lock threads. No 'warning' emails needed. (a quick note on the locked thread would be appreciated to let us know where we're off base). DoD does a good job keeping game day chats relatively civil. And duplicate/offtopic threads are not tolerated in GARM. We've had a much more lenient policy here. Certainly anything that there is to be said about the character (or lack thereof) of either presidential candidate has been said. Be particularly brutal in closing those. There's some suprisingly good stuff being discussed here. It would be a shame to lose that.
and the forum is poorer for it...i'm certainly a prime offender in posting articles, although i (usually) intend them as discussion starters, not to bludgeon other posters, sam excepted... seriously, batman, it'd be good to see you again, and perhaps your presence could help exercise a moderating influence on some of the rest of us.
I can't believe you guys have received death threats. That's just absurd. I've obviously gotten upset about on this BBS a lot. Maybe more than anyone else, if for no other reason than I've been here a long time. However, I can't imagine ever taking this place so seriously that I would resort to threatening people. If I were an admin or moderator, I probably would've shut it down right after the first one. I will miss this place if it goes for no other reason than it is where I get some of my news. I like the articles, even if the vast, vast majority of them are heavily biased in one way or another. I enjoy hearing other perspectives on things, as it's not only helped me understand where the other side is coming from, it's also helped me in our new political site. I would like to think that the moderators and admins would start a zero-tolerance type thing. Identify the types of posts that get you kicked out without chance of return, then when people offend, they're gone. However, I could see where they wouldn't want to do that if they've received death threats before. Honestly, that's just bizzare to me. As much as I disagree with a lot of people on this board, never in my wildest imagination could I envision Trader_Jorge, bigtexxx, basso, bamaslammer, Faos, giddyup or anyone on the other side doing that. Nor could I picture rimrocker, SamFisher, andymoon, gifford1967, RMTex, or any other current liberal doing the same. Bizzare.
I'd almost venture to say the GARM can be a more harsh place than this one! The "Trade Francis, Francis sucks" threads got to be a bit repetitive.
Why you chickensh*t c*cks*cking flip flopping Dubya lover....I'm gonna kill you! RM95, the method of death I choose for you is alcohol poisoning....that way we can have one last party! LOL!
I, for one, am so bored by the political discussions here. Debating the issues...i love it. That's fun, and I learn a lot from really different viewpoints. I've learned a ton about different faiths from people like Sane, for example. I've learned different perspectives on issues that I had never considered before. But debating who has the better/smarter candidate?? Debating the truths and un-truths of the candidate's lives from years ago?? Yeah, that does NOTHING for me. It's like gossip talk, frankly...except it's team oriented, in some weird Jim Romesque sorta way. It's just goofy. And frankly, that's about 75% of the discussion in D&D at this point. I will say I've noticed this creeping into the rest of the board as well. As bama says, I see it in GARM. And it's even made an appearance in the Astros/Texans board here lately in ways I've never seen it before in there.
It's like two rival street gangs engaging in serious warfare in here at times and I've seen that in the GARM, especially last season.
quick suggestion: "Game day" sticky for November 2. All the Bush/Kerry stuff goes in there. (and what a treat THAT thread would be to read).
Have to agree. (Despite the fact that you are a die-hard commie), I enjoy reading your (whacky) views on Venezuela and other subjects . Seriously, I am glad I didn't post in whichever post it was that brought the admins over the edge...but I enjoy reading the D&D, even with the occasional fights (and sometimes participating in them, to a certain extent)...personally, I think it would be a pity if it was closed down... .
Someone correct me on this if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression any threats that took place originated in the GARM, not here. They're a good example of how things can get out of hand, but I don't think threats are what the admins are concerned about in here and eliminating threats or even name calling won't solve the problem a lot of people have with this forum. Thanks basso. I expect though that some others on your side of the aisle -- and at least some of the admins -- would classify me as one who is often more problem than solution. I see Brian's point about this forum not having much to do with the Rockets and I agree with it. If it's a hassle -- and it obviously is for some people -- I can see how it would easy to decide it wasn't worth the grief. The thing is, it's precisely because we come here for the Rockets that I somehow began enjoying talking politics here. I've never enjoyed political boards. There's no hope of understanding or good will there. Here, at least sometimes, there is. Here we have a random sample of people, bound by a common interest that isn't political, getting to know each other apart from our Rocket love. I've tried to explain to non board types why this is where I go to read and write about politics and it really does have a great lot to do with the random sample and the fact that, whatever our disagreements, we all know we have something in common too. Two things really -- a love of the Rockets and a love of the site. I've made a lot of good friends here too -- some I've met, many more I haven't. basso and I could hardly be farther apart ideologically, but we traded good, friendly, completely non-political emails for a while and got to know each other a bit. That's happened too with thumbs, giddyup, wrath_of_khan, B-Bob, rimrocker and several others. Good things happen here so I'd be sad to see it go. I don't have a suggestion about how to fix things here. Again, I suspect there are people who feel I'm part of the problem, so I'm loathe to offer suggestions. Whatever happens, this is a great site all around -- my favorite on the web -- and that's due not only to the posters here but to the instincts and wisdom of the admins. I trust they'll make the right decision about whatever happens next.
As someone who does more (a lot lot lot more) reading of this forum than posting in it, I definitely think the BBS would be worse off without the D&D section. 50% of the problem would be the resulting, potentially negative impact on the regular hangout. The other half is that I think that while the forum is dominated by a select few going back and forth constantly, I still definitely think that the random poster (me or someone else) can be heard in that noise to make their points when they want. Clearly the select few who constantly post in here are, for the most part, extremists in whatever they beleive in - I find it educational, in a strange way, to read those types of opinions. Room for improvement, imo, would come from banishing those who go overboard (keeping in mind the moderator's own interests - i.e. not getting death threats) and more frequent locking of threads, given that 75% of them are generally about the same thing (which is okay in GARM cause this is a Rockets site). Just my thoughts.
Oh, great. And I thought I could feel safe from the name calling jail raping I was often the target for.
