Off-Topic Forum Suspension Disussion

[rtaylor61]

Perhaps funny... but posting it will help solve what... ?

Lots of people have offered up a number of good suggestions so far, but this offers no constructive input that I can see.


(PS ... don't forget to give credit to the original author of that work)



- whatever

Bring back the OT forum with limits. It has been proven that certain members cannot act as adults. Certain topics should be off limits. If we "can't all get along", then those who can't should go elsewhere for those "off limit" topics. And if they choose to be offended, it is their choice!

RT

[gratewhitehuntr]

I wouldn't dream of taking credit for Lou's work.

Since he didn't post it himself (in the general forum) I thought I would omit his name and if there was any heat it would be directed at me.

Not fair for Lou to be criticized for posting something he didn't intend to.
What with GWB's comment about "that pissant Canadian" and all... could be seen as inflammatory you know.
We do have a few members (ex-members mayhaps?) who are "sensitive" .

I think this is a good example of why we need off topic.

Uncle Lou needs someplace to be funny.

Oh yes, something constructive....... um............ let me see..............


That was for whatever sissy had his mommy call Lynn cause he was gettin picked on in whatever thread and got the whole damn game called. (I wasn't even here to see what happened)

Cry me a river.

Make some rules. I'll either abide by them or I'll go elsewhere.
Simple as that.

yep, that should do it.

goodnight ladies, email me when OT comes back up.

[gratewhitehuntr]

ok, so I can be a little... um.... short............ in the morning.


I vote for making rules.

Not about what can be talked about, but rather what may or may not get you banned or suspended or shunned.
Let the other members cast votes or flag posts or something that gives them a stake in it too.
having the responsibility of having to flag their fellow members and get them banned will lead to cooler heads.

Or just have summary banning.
Give the Mods a stick to swing.

that reminds me of a joke.......... a baby harp seal walks into a club...........

in danger of banination....... GW

[murph]

That was for whatever sissy had his mommy call Lynn cause he was gettin picked on in whatever thread and got the whole damn game called. (I wasn't even here to see what happened)

That's the worst part of all this. Not knowing what, exactly happened because I missed the thread/s in question. Unless I set it all off by mistake and then wandered off none the wiser?


Even if OT isn't resurrected isn't it likely OT posts will increasingly creep into other threads?
Wouldn't it be better to keep them all in one place where they can be monitored by your NSA or FBI agent/mods? (of which I think GWH is a likely candidate.)


After all this seems like a fairly rare occurrence here and in general the vast majority of posters are fairly civil to each other and no matter what you do you'll still get the occasional 'character' that seems to disrupt things.

[str8_razr]

I am not sure what happened that caused the OT forum to close... but I was getting a lot of very useful/helpful information re: buying a motorcycle. I am really disappointed to see the OT forum gone. If some members can't conduct themselves as gentlemen, then they should be banned from the forum... easy as that. But making the rest of the community pay for the actions of a few, seems undemocratic.

Andrew

[sensei_kyle]

Please keep the discussion on track. If you want to share pictures, please e-mail them.

[azjoe]

I am not sure what happened that caused the OT forum to close... but I was getting a lot of very useful/helpful information re: buying a motorcycle. I am really disappointed to see the OT forum gone. If some members can't conduct themselves as gentlemen, then they should be banned from the forum... easy as that. But making the rest of the community pay for the actions of a few, seems undemocratic.

Andrew

Andrew,
I miss the motorcycle discussion too.

After all this occurred the other day I was thinking... when I was a little kid in grade school things worked this way: We often had a couple kids who continually misbehaved, ignoring the teacher, challenging her authority and the schools rules, refusing to follow directions, etc. After several unsuccessful admonishments, the whole class was kept in at recess. Us kids bitched at the teacher and claimed how unfair it was, which usually got us in trouble instead of getting recess restored. And so, the bad kids continued to misbehave and we had no recess the next day. We bitched some more and the kids continued to misbehave... no recess the third day. By now most of us were sick and tired of not having recess, so we banded together and started giving the misbehaving kids some flack for misbehaving... we told them to be quiet when they broke the no-talking rule, we told them to sit down when they broke the must stay in your seat rule, etc., etc.

Well, that peer pressure usually worked wonders... the more those kids were taken to task by the rest of the class the better their behavior seemed. Eventually most of those kids "got it" and learned to temper their personal needs to co-exist with the greater needs of the group. And most importantly, recess returned as a part of everyone's daily routine. Now, this didn't work 100% of the time... every once in a while an offender decided their needs were all they cared about and screw the group... and thus continued their shenanigans. And so their punishment changed to something more capital in nature. But the peer pressure resolved an awful lot of problems long before there was the need for more sever measures. More importantly it taught us kids a lot a life lessons... how to act as a group in a positive and motivational way, how to act as an individual within the norms of the group, that just bitching about something usually didn't result in the outcome we'd like, that we can't delegate every problem we have to the teacher for resolution, and that sometimes rules were rules and we just needed to follow them whether we like it or not. Although we kids thought school was totally authoritarian, and it mostly was, as an adult I can now see there actually some budding elements of democracy at work in that framework.

I'm an adult now, not a kid... and so I expect to be treated in an adult way. But I can't help wondering if maybe what I learned years ago might be useful in these trying times...

[PapaBull]

It's hard enough to maintain on-topic discussions in postiive and mature ways on internet forums. Off Topic forums ALWAYS end up having some challenges but there are solutions.

Some members simply don't play well with others in situations like that and after a warning or two, they can have their OT privileges removed without having to affect their status otherwise or to close the topic.

Members can be placed on personal "ignore" lists if they get under your skin.

Members can be placed on a sitewide ignore list known as Tachy goes to Coventry if they get really out of hand.

And, I've found prohibiting discussion of (a) politics and (b) religion goes a long, long way toward keeping the peace even if it limits the number of hits and participation significantly. It seems that members like talking about things that will inevitably get them all wound up and religion and politics tend to be the most active topics - and the ones that cause virtually all the problems. Go figure.

[gratewhitehuntr]

And so their punishment changed to something more capital in nature.

Well, I can drive to ATL and deliver a " Slap-O-Gram" to Mr JD but Canada and Cali are a little out of my range.......................................... need a bigger rifle.............

[azjoe]

Well, I can drive to ATL and deliver a " Slap-O-Gram" to Mr JD but Canada and Cali are a little out of my range.......................................... need a bigger rifle.............

I Hey... if all you can do is ATL then that's ok. I can spot you a fiver for gas if you need it.