Quote:
Originally Posted by Kracken
The speed limit forums contain:
172 threads
10,873 posts
500,000 + views.
Those are some extremely impressive numbers. It is safe to say there was some interest in these forums. Some might say the topic was beaten to death, hard to argue that with the facts in front of you. I have spent quite some time reading these threads. There is a little bit of everything in there. Some discussions are extremely entertaining, others are witty, many are thought provoking and some are simply childish.
There is a common theme they all share; one or more protagonists that escalate the debate. The instigators are very easy to identify. For the most part, they do not participate in the discussion. They simply add an inflammatory comment or two in the right spot and sit back and watch the chaos erupt. It’s like walking into a crowded room, breaking wind, and walking out. The troublemakers are not exclusive to one side of the argument. They create a flashpoint, a comment made to infuriate one group and it turns into a battle of who can land the biggest haymaker and receive the most accolades (thumbs up) from their side. I have seen this on other threads; a certain restaurant review comes to mind. They all end the same way… locked.
Enough is enough.
Several threads have been started to bring civility back to the forums (this being one of them). In this very thread there is a level headed debate between members with different viewpoints on the rules and civility. It seems even this thread is not immune to troublemakers. A single comment was posted to try to escalate the discussion into an argument. Fortunately, nobody took the bait.
That is progress  |
Kracken,
Just reading your post and realizing that as someone who in not one of the most active posters but is often opinionated, I hope I don’t fall into your class of instigators.
First and foremost I don’t have unlimited time to review every post and then respond to every post that I might have an opinion on. Its pretty much a hit/miss kind of thing with me, but I can assure you that I don’t sit back and think about ways to torque the other members up, I do have better things to do with my life,,, And for better or worse, when I do post I tell it the way I see it,,, so that picture I paint is 100% authentic and I’ll take my lumps for my sometimes different perspective (I never claimed to be mainstream,,,).
As for this thread in particular, being that I’m the bad guy that started this unthinkable opposition to moderation, I still stand by comments. I understand that the site owners can do whatever they want with their site, and as for all the other positions that have been posted on this matter, I acknowledge that from a certain perspective some may be practical reasons for moderation, unfortunately, for me the fundamental issues of a TOTAL dislike of censorship, the irritation of adults failing to take responsibility for their actions and/or being held accountable for their actions, and adults acting like spoiled brat children whining until they get what they want just pushes my buttons and then I turn into Mr prolific forum poster. Call it venting or whatever you want, but that’s my profile and I hope that is not what you equate to instigator. Maybe I’ll have to learn to take a breath before hitting the submit button,,,
As for the situation that allegedly got us into this full moderation mode, well again, maybe I’m odd man out here, but I do truly believe that there is nothing wrong with an expansive and heated debate on a forum. I think it causes some to review their positions to better articulate their thoughts and feelings, and maybe at some point they may even reevaluate that position. This is the backbone of our culture and to impose forced buffers (time) fully moderated reviews, and censorship is something that just rubs me wrong. That’s my reaction and clearly I am in the minority on this, but as I said, I fully embrace the concept of free and open debate, so I say have at it and if that does make me a instigator in the end, well then so be it. Guess I have been called worse,,, LOL
And my final argument in favor of open forums is exactly what you listed with your metrics, it clearly shows that “hot topics” are hot in terms of hits and participation. And that equals more revenue for the site, more exposure for its commercial advertisers, and hopefully more participation from posters and the value of different perspectives. And if I might add, I would be interested to see if the moderation is impacting the metrics of the boating forum,,, (negative)