Re: Polite discourse vs hostility and rudeness

It's your site and you can do as you please, but I don't think this will work out too well. For instance, there could be a serious thread I would want to participate in, and I would have "interested in polite" discussion near my name, but the thread I am interested in has several that have no problem with being nasty, what can I do ? Avoid the thread ? I can report but, in all honesty, I have reported a couple of times and nothing happened, so I doubt that would work.

I find that yes, we need to be treated as adults, but by the same token, we also have to act like adults, and some, unfortunately do not.

I have seen many nasty comments on the forum since I registered in 2013, and nothing was done, on the other hand I have seen some good posts being removed. If policy is for light moderation, than members that want to have complete freedom of speech and want to continue being disrespectful will take advantage of it and will continue posting in a nasty manner.

Re: Polite discourse vs hostility and rudeness

? My message was too short apparently, so I have stretched it. What on Earth is wrong here? If it ain't broke don't bloody fix it!

Re: Polite discourse vs hostility and rudeness

I agree with that, if anyone breaks the rules of the foum they can be warned, then if they continue they should be banned.

Re: Polite discourse vs hostility and rudeness

And there it is, folks, in a nutshell. Short, sweet and to the point.

That's about all we need.

Re: Polite discourse vs hostility and rudeness

How long for and how will they be warned and will it be private or public??? See my previous post.

If a thread gets too racy/smutty/whatever you want to call it...then any member who doesn't like it can always ask for it to be moved to the Hahaha forum.

Re: Polite discourse vs hostility and rudeness

Surprise me, who are the nominated "Peers" or should it be self perceived better than other "Peers", let me guess

Re: Polite discourse vs hostility and rudeness

Thanks for the feedback everyone.. just a few points while they're in my head:

- Unfortunately it's not as easy as giving people 'three strikes' because most of the objectionable comments that are posted are not against our rules anyway. It's generally an abrasive, rude tone that some members do not deserve or want. Remember we draw the line at abusive posts, not rude or abrasive ones (which is subjective anyway).

- By shifting the focus on to, and empowering members, what we are basically saying is 'Hey, if you want to target your reply to someone then think twice before insulting them - because they can have your post removed".

Alan mentioned peer pressure, well this is something like that - but 100X more effective... because if someone continues to keep insulting others, their posts keep getting deleted so they end up wasting their time and energy. It's a bit like ignoring unwanted behaviour of your puppy - they soon stop

- The last point, and this is pretty important, is that some people actually like heated debates I know it's crazy isn't it?

So maybe start with this:

Having said all that, perhaps before we try this, maybe we can try a more incremental approach - start with 'abusive' posts, then maybe later add rude to the list, then if that doesn't achieve the desired result, add condescending, and so on.

Posts that are abusive towards another member are not acceptable.

Any member can use the report post icon to let us know, and should this happen and a Mod thinks the reported post is abusive, and in context (i.e. the receiver's own behaviour in a thread) then they will delete the contents of the post and replace it with the text:

<Request for post deletion granted - see this new rule (link)>

How is this different?

Firstly we generally remove abusive posts anyway. But, we're not perfect, sometimes we miss some. Also, sometimes we look at other replies in a thread and if the receiver has behaved similarly then we think it's unfair to single the other person out. Other times their just may be too many and we don't have time to analyse everything. Despite us trying to act consistently there are simply a lot of factors which result in some being deleted and others not.

So this is different in that it:

- spells things out so everyone knows where they stand
- allows every a better chance of getting an abusive post removed
- shifts the focus away from Mods (because the decision is influenced more by this rule, and the reporting member, than the Mods own actions)

Re: Polite discourse vs hostility and rudeness

Along with Corrie and Planting boring carrots. Come down to the hahaha cellar of darkness , we are opening the coffins soon.

Re: Polite discourse vs hostility and rudeness

So when a post is deleted we will also be given the decency of the name of which serial complainer complained about it.Or will it be a hush hush Masons handshake of the chosen ones?
.

Re: Polite discourse vs hostility and rudeness

I think they should be warned in private. Then that particular person is kept on sort of a 'watch' by the mods. If they continue, bye-bye.