Can we bring a policy back?

Just a quick note, I honestly think that there are dozens of people on the forums whose posts could be reasonably considered "shallow and unsubstantial" - and they don't have to deal with a forum posse of at least 2-3 people chastising them day and night.
I am a wordsmith by profession. I could easily hammer out 500-word posts regularly and I would actually enjoy it a great deal, though I think a lot of people would then be bored to tears. The point of online communications in this day and age is precisely that a lot of it is short and succinct. That is why Twitter became so popular despite limiting users to 140 characters (initially).
The truth of the matter is that most people's attention span is considerably shorter than it used to be 20 or 25 years ago, and most writers I know are getting with the times. It doesn't mean most professional writers like myself can't hammer out long, drawn out and intricately reasoned essays. We can. The interest isn't quite there any more, for the most part.
So yeah a lot of people in this day and age keep it short and sweet, because most people expect short messages. It's the nature of communication in the 21st century, whether we like it or not.

 

It's already been mentioned that this isn't just about you Tina. The point is that people here don't want the JCC to become like Twitter.

 

I don't want the JCC to become like Twitter, either. Why would anyone? A link to Twitter (or any website for that matter) can be a springboard to a wider discussion. When the discussion happens organically, well, then it's usually something the participants will enjoy, right? I don't think news links are a replacement for a longer discussion, but they can be a starting point.

 

Endless? Do you actually mean that?

Take a stroll through some of the oldest pages of this forum.

 

My point is that comms is full of threads from the distant past still full of old skeletons quibbling with each other, and this thread will very likely share that same fate if it continues on its current trajectory.

 

My own point is that this thread has a long way to go before it qualifies as "endless," and is generally low-key compared to what I've seen in the past.

 

Look, the dark power of comms is already clouding our minds, driving us to split hairs at an atomic level. It’s too late for us! Save yourselves!

 

I appreciate the criticism, @a star war . I took nearly a month break from the pandemic forum just exactly because I considered my annoyance with Tina's posting style my own problem. A month away, I thought to myself, would help me improve my own attitude. If someone has the strength to remake the JCC in his/her own image, then more power to them, etc. I mean, it's still annoying, and my attitude is still piss poor, but I still consider it my own problem.

I didn't appreciate the public attack on Punk though. That was over the top.

 

I thought we had established this wasn't about any one person. Many mods have chimed in here to say if your problem is with a single person, and that person hasn't broken any forum rules, you put them on ignore. If a problem really involves a number of folks, then that's a different thing.

 

I do not think it is a concerted effort. I do not think 2-3 users are conspiring in secret. Those in question are specifically not clever enough by half for such machinations. Muting 2-3 users is not outside of your power, and you’re honestly not missing much by doing so.

Otherwise, as people have said multiple times, it’s a matter to be handled through the proper channels, which is to say: privately.

Id like to add that if you are feeling harassed, Tina, and like you need someone to talk to, feel free to pm me. I am happy to listen.

 

One of the admins probably said it best when he drew a parallel by comparing this thread with a bunch of cool kids asking the school to implement a special rule because they don't like the awkward nerdy kid sitting at their table.
I was always bullied in school because I was "different" - this feels exactly the same.

 

I've been here 21 years and have never put anyone on ignore before. But even at my advanced age I'm still capable of learning. Thanks for the advice.

 

I'm tentatively dipping a toe in here, because I'm not getting involved in dragging anyone through the mud. I don't do that.

But I wanted to add to this...

I can testify to Punk being a standup guy. I had a very, very bad day on Monday, and that evening he sent me a PM offering a place to hang and a free meal from his food truck once the lock down is over. Not only that, he offered to keep me company in the meantime by being a Fortnite buddy on PS4. (Which I accepted, but fell asleep while the game was downloading. Sorry Punk. ) That was an incredibly supportive gesture, and I'm grateful for it.

As it is, I'm not sure why this thread is still open. The other one was closed, but all the personal beef is still ongoing in here. Any discussion of policy, or unwritten rules of Senate decorum, is obviously not happening. It's all just mudslinging, and I feel that everyone should just put it in the past and cool off. Even if they have to use the ignore function to be able to do so.

 

Our old boards didn't have an 'ignore' feature, if I recall correctly. It only came in with the change to the current board software.

 

on one hand, I understand what a star war is saying, it's really not that hard to put somebody on ignore if you find their posts unsubstantial, shallow or just full of crap. I also agree that if Princess Tina says she doesn't want to be bothered by certain individuals that should (in reason) be respected too.
From an outsider, this thread seems, in essence, a rather trivial thing to be arguing about.

to those bothered about what others post and how often they post it > put them on ignore
if posters feel harrassed they have the option to go to a mod for advice and then put them on ignore
It's not like this is a pre-2012 situation when pressing a single button to essentially delete that person's post from existence from your screen isn't an option. It's exactly what this feature is for...

Also to Princess Tina, have you considered the JCC just isn't for you? far be it for me to tell you where to post, but the JCC is its own club with it's own way of doing things, if you're happy to post there, great, continue to do so. But a lot of your beefs with said forum seem to trigger you for various reasons. Again this is not a criticism, just something for you to think about. There are plenty of social threads for you to become apart of.

Of course, this is coming from somebody who doesn't frequent the JCC, and hasn't since around 2006. So feel free to ignore my well-intentioned advice if you wish

 

@Dandelo , in almost 20 years of being in these forums, I've never once been under the delusion that you are suggesting. That's precisely why I believe that there should be clear rules that we can all abide by, and that is something that I've always believed. That has never been any different for me. Now, having said that, we are experiencing very unprecedented circumstances globally, and certain subjects are naturally prone to attract a higher level of interest than has ever been the case - because none of us have ever lived through a global pandemic before. Not any one of us. A thread that is all about discussing the most pressing subject in the world right now shouldn't be treated like it's the personal fiefdom of the person who started that thread. We are all in this together.

Aside from a few differences of opinion regarding the SW movies, I think the majority of discussions have, through the years, been far more likely to bring people together than the other way around. We can and must be supportive of each other.

 

I will also take the suggestion from this thread and I will put Princess_Tina on ignore. I doubt it will be as easy as people suggest, because Princess_Tina has such an excessively high post rate that discussions are probably going to be hard to follow.

 

No, we don't. One thing this discussion has illuminated is your vision of how things should be on the boards, and perhaps in general. What you're asking for is forced harmony, which is no harmony at all. Conflict is inevitable in any community, and it's particularly true within families. More than a few of us have likened this place to being like a family, particularly given how old it is.

Also, I'm kind of tired of reading about your perception of the pandemic and how assume it applies to everyone. Not everyone has the same view of it, or has experienced it the same way. For me, it has been one of the most stable periods of my life. Yes, the pandemic as well as recent civil rights events have attracted a great deal of interest, but everyone experiences and manages them differently.

The pandemic may be the most pressing subject in the world for you at this time (and that's fine, of course), but it isn't necessarily the case for every person here, or elsewhere for that matter.

 

You talking to me!?

 

That is completely and utterly false, just like saying that the forum rules are there to "force harmony" on everybody here. I mean, yeah there are rules against certain kind of things and just because you're asked not to do certain things by the site owner doesn't mean then site owner is "forcing harmony" on you.

And you're absolutely right that some people have more privilege than others and things that have been deeply distressing for many people all over the world aren't necessarily distressful for the more privileged people in the world. Likewise, you can focus on the subjects and topics that are of interest to you, again everyone may come here with different interests.

 

so, people obviously reply to these drive-by twitter posts then it seems, surely then some people find something substantial in her posts to respond to.
Again from being an outsider, I'm getting the impression a certain user is a new Bib_Fortuna in the making that just spams. However, if people are engaged enough that by putting said user on ignore would disrupt the flow of conversation there seems to be more to it then that.

 

Well, you see what happens. People take offense at Princess_Tina's unrelenting mothering. I ignore it, and then it looks like KW criticizes me, to me.

I've used this ignore function for 6 minutes now and I can already tell you it sucks.

 

No, Tina. I'm pointing out the reality of what you're saying. You said:

These are your words. I am not making them up or misquoting you. Support is an action-- it's something active. For everyone to be supportive of each other requires some degree of either harmony or agreement (even if it's just an agreement to be supportive of each other). Not everyone here is on board with that, which is completely okay.

Thank you for the inference that only those who are privileged find things less distressing or are experiencing things differently from you. In fact, what I've benefitted from is quiet and space, two things which I have in my apartment (neighbors aside). Now, I am privileged to have my own apartment, but there's more to it than that. There are many people with trauma in their past who have found the pandemic to be either liberating or otherwise far less upsetting than many of their (our) peers.

People experience the world differently than you do, Tina, and I think you need to learn to let people be themselves. Perhaps I need to take my own advice, except that I deeply resent being told how to think and feel. You're welcome to think and feel as you like, but you're not welcome to require others to have the same experience.

 

LOL fair enough.

 

I don't agree with that, I think there are ways to be supportive that are not "active" - sometimes you can support people silently by just not doing anything unless asked, but being there for them if they ask for something that's within your ability to affect. And in any case, the statement doesn't make sense if taken to literal extremes - nobody would have the bandwidth to be "actively" supportive of hundreds of people, some of whom you'd barely know. There just wouldn't be enough time in the world.

Of course people can be themselves, in any way they can, and as long as they're not breaking any forum rules, no sensible person would have problem with that. If you believe in letting people be themselves, then you can lead by example.