New Policy on Religious Threads

I was just making a valid point!

If it wasn't for the other admins keeping the others in line, any one of the admins could be a tyrant. It's self-moderation. Because in theory, any one of the admins could ban ten people randomly, but they know that they themselves would be banned if the other admins saw this. and so they don't do that. In theory, the admins can do anything they want -- lock any thread, delete any post, whatever, not listen to the posters at all -- but don't because they care about the board and the community. For example, the G-L incident. If it wsan't for the other admins stepping in and saying, "No, G-L is NOT George Lucas", then no one would have known. If they had all played along, then in theory then we would never have known.

In theory, we can do whatever we want, including ignoring all of you, but we care about the board, so we don't. That was pretty much what I was saying...

I'm just going over some basic political theory here! I was not being unmodest or anything!

--Mr. P

 

A valid point?
So let me get this straight, you can pretty much do anything you want in theory should you feel the need, but instead you keep each other in line from being tyrants.
So are you suggesting that you all are tyrants or that you're holding back yourselves from indulgence for our own good?

Technically, in theory, I could just pick up and walk away from this board should I feel the need.
It's free, it's not like I have any ties here and I do not have any obligations either.
With others suggesting that the opinion of the member can be ignored, you also suggest that the membership is not needed.
If that is the case, I know many who would follow me out here to find a board in which the members do matter.

 

Actually what it is is a business. The owners of TF.N "hire" the mods to keep the environment constructive. The JC is like a nightclub, and the mods are bouncers. If you come into the club and start ruining the environment for other patrons, it's bad for business, and your ass is in the street. Likewise, TF.N decides what kind of atmosphere it wants for its club, and what kind of patrons it wants to attract. If you don't like the experience they're offering, you can find another club that suits your tastes.

I made a request, and I'm glad others agreed with me, and that the mods felt the same way. If they hadn't, I would have left, like most of the people who joined around the time I did already have.

 

But doesn't that speak volumes, AJA? The fact that so many of the older people have left? You'd think this board and it's 'leaders' would want to keep us here....

And yet, they seem to be doing everything they can manage to drive anyone with mature opinions and adult ways of handling themselves away with repressive rules.

 

"Actually what it is is a BUSINESS."

Thus, they must keep the customers happy.

 

In response to this thread and Wylding's PM to me:

Guys, it's just a message board. Not life or death.

 

We do listen to members and members opinions are important, at least to me. This policy, like all the others, would not have been implemented if it wasn't supported by the majority of members. "It's not a democracy" is a phrase I personally hate when people use it to describe his place. Without its members this forum would be nothing. This policy had nothing but the best interests and the will of the members in mind.

 

But you didn't ASK our opinion!

You based this decision on the complaints of people who WANTED this! Not once did I see a thread or a PM asking the general population here what they thought.

Don't tell me you decided this based on a general consensus.

You wanted an easy out. You didn't want to moderate the discussions, weeding out those that were attacking. You just wanted all controversy to go way.

Look, I'm all for putting my feet up and vegging but that's not what the description of the job you all took is!

 

I am very saddened to see this. I will miss laughing at some of the things I've seen posted by Bible Gushers.

Fire-breathing lizards was my personal favorite.

 

"And yet, they seem to be doing everything they can manage to drive anyone with mature opinions and adult ways of handling themselves away with repressive rules."

Wormie, nobody left because of the mods. They left because of the other posters. The place became too hostile, rude, mean-spirited and childish, and they split. I've been here since nearly the beginning, and I'm the one who initially made this request. Look down the thread list and you will find it, and see the discussion that led to this decision.

 

There was a discussion thread right before this policy was enacted. The vast majority of the people who responded were for the policy.

And for the last time, this is not about being lazy or taking an easy way out. Most of the problems these threads create don't fall into the strict category of breaking rules. It's the inherent animosity that these threads create. You cannot moderate that.

 

I don't want to do any research into this. I don't care that much....

What I do care is that this seems like a trend. A trend that really doesn't make me want to stay. And that makes me very sad. I may not have a good reputation with the administration around here but I do have many friends and if I leave, I leave them. I love the discussions that I've had here, the endless boring nights at work I've blown off here....

But if I have to watch every topic I post, every reponse I make....well, that's not any fun and that's not what this place was supposed to be.

Padme, I'm sorry but I see it differently than you, I guess. I see this as the beginning. Animosity can be moderated. It takes work. It takes warnings. It may even take bannings. But it can be moderated.

 

This is all that I will say.

I keep hearing that this is a Star Wars board. We must keep religious threads pertaining to Star Wars.

Find me one topic about Star Wars in the Community forum.

I will never tell anyone that they have to believe the way that I believe. There are consequences to every action, you must make the choice. I try to choose to inform and not belittle anyone. Of course, being human that is not always the case, but should intelligent conversation suffer for it? I should be the one to suffer, not everyone else because of my idiotic behavior.

Of course this ban will remain in effect, of this I have no doubts. We have no say in it but that was what we agreed upon when we became part of these boards. I will abide by it but that does not mean I agree with it.

In a losing battle, it's better to say your piece and move on. It's the more intelligent option. All the rhetoric just causes you to lose face.

These boards do not have to be here and you can leave.

EDIT: I didn't see the above post of PadmeBra.

 

Shi-Bandarr, refer to my last post for why this isn't about an easy way out.

Wormie2, I think you need more than one policy to make a trend. Don't make it more than it is.

 

The crack down on sexual threads.

The total lack of toleration for criticism.

The rampant bannings instead of warnings anytime anyone steps out of line.

Should I go on?

All of this is relatively recent, Padme.

And this isn't a trend? Already people are screaming to have political discussions banned. What next? If you keep limiting what we can talk about, pretty soon all that will be left is the weather.

How's the weather there today, Padme? Yeah? It's raining here.

 

Boooooring.....

 

You've gotta love it when people see asking them to be considerate of other members as an infringement on their personal freedom. That's what you call absolute self-absorbtion.

 

But's that what it is AJA, an infringement. No one forces you to participate in any thread, you can protect yourself. You don't have to go read and post in any thread you don't want too.

 

No it isn't. It's like saying you have a right to go to a movie theater and dump your drink on somebody's head, or show up buck naked to the symphony. Life doesn't work that way, and being on the internet doesn't give you license to treat other people like crap.

 

User called Wormie2! Its a family forum, why should we need such things as sexual threads?! Or other nonsensical unfamiliy forum like stuff which has also been banned? Good riddence, says I! Good riddence! Be gone, foul topics of an offensive nature! This is but a FAMILY STAR WARS forum, thus we do not need religious debate threads and whatnot. Why for should members be warned, for should they not be aware of the rules alreadys? Some members lack common sense, and that is their own problem, and they should purchase some at a store or some such thing.

 

AJA your analogy doesn't follow. No one forces you to participate in any thread you don't want to, so how can I insult you if you don't even participate in the same discussion?

 

Just a straight question, how many mods agreed on this policy when it was installed again yesterday?

 

What is wrong with you, McNerf? I really want to know!

Certain things are universal to the human race. Sex, religion, politics, relationships and the need to share. You prohibit any of this because some people can't handle themselves and you might as well limit topics to weather and Barney!

 

I made my thinking on the matter clear in the thread where I made the request. As I said there, IMO, 99% of the religious and political threads are de facto trolling, because they are posted for the sole purpose of starting an argument and spreading animosity on the board. There have been threads started for the sole purpose of drawing in people of religious faith and then mocking their views while the original poster sat back and chuckled at the carnage, and there have been threads posted by those who are religious touting the virtues of their faith, which is in turn unwelcome to those who do not share that faith. The end result is a deterioration in the overall tone of the board, and that is why it makes sense to simply return to a long-standing policy that said, "no religious threads". There was also one forbidding political threads, and as I said, I support bringing that one back as well, although that seems to be a dead issue as of now.

 

Wormie2, I've never seen you post in a religious thread so quit your whining.