A Message For Those that Frequent Hunting Politics
I posted this on another thread, but am putting the same message at the top so that all will read it, pay attention to it. I realize it is rather long, but it is so very important.....
Everyone that frequents this forum, your consideration and resolve will make all the difference in the world in here. We will all benefit from this message, consequently we will also have better debates and discussions. Not to mention less bashing, and personal attacks happening on a freeken daily basis! This is not grade school here folks, if you do not feel you can post on a somewhat mature and reasonable basis.....no need to post at all. I have seen kids that are in Middle School, posting more maturely here on occaision than some adults of late. Just a thought.... My thanks in advance for everyones cooperation!
Chad, Great Post! Could not have said it better myself.....
Original quote by Chad:
Quote:
Mods can't babysit the board and screen every post, and shouldn't have to on a forum that is generally populated by adults. Other than blatent disregard for forum rules, I leave this one alone. We (the Mods) all have "our" boards, and use descretion that might or might not go along with the others. Personally, if I took on this particular board there wouldn't be many left to post on it when I got done.
In addition, we do not have the luxury of hitting the ignore button. Not to mention that we all have full time jobs, lives, and families and our share of problems&situations we deal with.... yet somehow, still find some free time(however little or much) to Moderate the forums with little or any thanks most of the time.
This forum has always been moderated in a more lenient manner than others, for it's content and quite simply because the members that frequented this particular forum in honesty......helped the Mods, by pretty much doing a great job of self-moderating yourselves. Of late it has become nothing more at times than cut throat, bickering, bashing, and just down right hateful. In short, my patience is at an end. If I need to start sending out more warnings, or further diciplinary action toward individuals, for abuse of posting rules& privledges....so be it.
We used to be like family around here and could banter and debate with the best of them. Hell, we often had alot of fun too!
You know, I stated once years ago when I first became a Mod and was very green around the gills..... I was not running for any popularity contests, and will moderate fairly and with an even hand as so much as being human allows me to do. I have always been here for you folks, always tried to resolve situations in a timely manner, with fairness, understanding and respect. I will of course still do that....however if I have to be hard A***d about it, trust me I can do so without flinching! If anyone has any questions feel free shoot me an email. But, some of the crap I have been observing on this forum has to stop folks. As an addition if any member is holding an offboard grudge or has a personal problem/situation with another member....
Allow me to reinterate......this is not the place to keep a vandetta going! Keep it off of the board period! We are here to argue ideas, debate, at times heated but this free for all is going to stop! Geesh, atleast agree to disagree once in awhile, bash an issue or an idea not the member.
My thanks to several of you ole timers on this forum who have emailed me with your concerns and comments. You know who you are and it has been very much appreciated. I happen to agree with your observations. Now lets get this back on track folks!! And I mean ASAP, trust me you don't want me to have to open up my can of whoop butt, or break out the water pistols folks...!! Several other Mods also help to moderate this forum. Cougar, Froman, Mdbowhuntr, and Chad keep an eye on things too.
My Thanks and Appreciation in advance to ALL for your cooperation on the situation!
RE: A Message For Those that Frequent Hunting Politics
Mr. Pirk, Thank you for showing some appreciation for what I may be single handedly trying to accomplish. It is very much appreciated.
We all have to work together on this one.....for those that want
nothing to do in accomplishing this goal,.....do us all a favor, don't bother to post. The majority of us are sick and tired of it around this forum.
You folks know that in the Politics forum, it has been pretty much been the spirit of the rules, not the letter of the rules. Why some want to go and screw that up is beyond me...Go figure!
Dang Cal, You beat me to it! I was going to ask what kind of cheese he wanted. [8D]
RE: A Message For Those that Frequent Hunting Politics
What is the problem here? Compared to other sites I've been to, this one stays fairly cool. Politics is the most controversial subject on the planet, it gets heated. Who wants to come on here and dance with everybody else? Yes, I agree that the name calling is silly but if people want to bicker so what? Nobody is forced to read anybody else's post, that is exactly why I hit the ignore button. I think you need to provide some concrete examples of what you mean. I'm not sure if I one of the bads ones who have ruined it for the old timers, or if I'm one of the ones who is cool about it. Perhaps you should call out in public some of them/us who have gone overboard. Some of the oldtimers should call out in the post when somebody cross's the line, instead on emailing you. Talk about crying to your mama. Christine I have had problems with people on this board and I corrected them flat out, or I simply hit the ignore button, I've never once emailed you to cry about a single person. However, I think you have been fair, and have stepped in at the appropriate times. I can't speak for everybody here, but I can tell you that you are appreciated for your commitment to this site. I know I wouldn't want your job moderating, nor would I be any good at it. Thank you for the time you put in here, and I know I'm not the only one who appreciates your efforts. Maybe we should establish a "be nice to moderator day" on this board.
RE: A Message For Those that Frequent Hunting Politics
What is the problem here? Compared to other sites I've been to, this one stays fairly cool.
Muley69
If your goal is to be like "other" sites, we can easily achieve that. Of course, then you achieve mediocrity by definition (others might call it being in the mainstream) since you've become just like everybody else. HN for a while had risen far above mediocrity in that we had some genuine, knockdown, dragout debates with most of the namecalling avoided. When you posted in here, people genuinely debated your idea instead of attacking you. They expostulated why your idea didn't work or wasn't practical and explained why some other idea was. Yes, we had our arguments between members but they were generally willing to still go hunting with each other and often did. You still got the argument/discussion but you didn't get so much of the anger or insults. It was easily the classiest place for hunters to discuss the issues.
Politics is the most controversial subject on the planet, it gets heated. Who wants to come on here and dance with everybody else? Yes, I agree that the name calling is silly but if people want to bicker so what? Nobody is forced to read anybody else's post, that is exactly why I hit the ignore button.
Yes, people could do that but it really lessens the pleasure of reading any particular topic. Half of the fun is reading how the others respond to somebody's argument and thinking about your possible response. Hitting their ignore button is like being deaf without a hearing aid at an interesting conversation. You feel like you're out of the loop, missing potentially important information and it's simply not as much fun.
I think you need to provide some concrete examples of what you mean. I'm not sure if I one of the bads ones who have ruined it for the old timers, or if I'm one of the ones who is cool about it. Perhaps you should call out in public some of them/us who have gone overboard. Some of the oldtimers should call out in the post when somebody cross's the line, instead on emailing you.
Muley, if you read carefully, quite a few of the oldtimers have been posting when people cross a line. They don't name specific individuals but most people are generally able to read between the lines quite well and can figure out whom they're referring to. In the past, when members have had disagreements, it was a common practice to email each other privately so they could perhaps communicate more efficiently and avoid a public confrontation. Similar to speaking privately with somebody you're disagreeing with at school instead of in front of a large crowd egging on both of you to fight.
As for concrete examples, the concept is for people not to attack each other personally (no personal insults).
Example--"Muley your posts are obviously written by a wet behind the ears kid." That was an example of how not to make a point and instead give the impression of a personal attack on you for your age.
Some people say attack their ideas instead of the person but that doesn't completely remove the problem.
Example--If I say your idea is stupid, I have technically attacked your "idea" but most people would also strongly suspect that I am attacking you personally as well. And when you read my post, it will be difficult for you to get beyond the idea that I've said you're stupid. I'm not really going to change your mind and a flame war is likely to occur soon.
Now if I said something like this--Muley, your idea doesn't take into account the following problems. Blah, blah, blah. Therefore your idea wouldn't be able to completely solve this problem or issue. I think a solution would also include blah, blah, blah. You would probably receive my post with less anger and maybe even consider my idea. Or I could say Muley, I think you're wrong for the following reasons and your argument would not fix problems blah, blah, blah. Same concept. You'd probably think about my idea more openly and possibly even change your mind.
Many people have mentioned that some people post statements they would never say in person to somebody else and thus hide behind the anonymity of the internet. If you think making your statement to the other person's face is something another person would probably smack you down for or at least start the fight talk, then your post is probably out of line and not very productive. A lot of people lately have been crossing that line and it has deteriorated the quality of this board. Just my humble opinion here but I'd bet I could prove quite a bit of it if all of us were gathered in one group and people spoke like they posted here.
I'll have to respond to more of your post later.
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RE: A Message For Those that Frequent Hunting Politics
Ok Cal, now that post makes a little more sense of things. For the record I do not aspire to make this site like others I visit, my comment was before everbody starts railing about this site, comparatively it's pretty tame. One doesn't have to hit the ignore button in order to ignore a poster. If somebody is out of line, no response is generally a quick and effective way to end that situation. A response of "I'm not going down that road" and end it will usaully suffice as well. I have hit the ignore button on only one poster on this site. This individual argued for the sake of argument and was largely ineffective and too quick with the personal attacks. I simple found no value in reading their post anymore. Imho, there are too many on here trying to spread their personal beliefs and simply trying to cause problems. Anyone who has read my post knows full well I post as I see it. I'm not trying to convince anybody my beliefs are the way, I'm not attempting to "create" an online personality, if anything I am brutally honest, more then I can say for a lot of the posters on here. You will never see me coming on here with an alias either. More then the name calling are the people playing little games, that's the real problem.
A Message For Those that Frequent Hunting Politics
