Fully Moderated Forums comes to Winnipesaukee.com

[brk-lnt]

Originally Posted by gtagrip

Do we still not have the right to voice our opinion?

Technically, you never had that right in the first place. A forum is conceptually like private property.

You have the right to free speech in public areas and free publication. You do NOT have a right to free speech inside or on another entities' private property.

Walk in to Walmart and try to setup a soapbox and starting preaching away at some core value you believe in. You'll be escorted off the premises post-haste and will have no recourse.

People seem to have make-believe "rights" to all sorts of things, or not understand what their Constitutional rights do and do not apply to. I'm not claiming to be an expert either, but you might want to do a little more research and understanding before you go too far off in what you believe to be "right".

[trfour]

Originally Posted by brk-lnt

Technically, you never had that right in the first place. A forum is conceptually like private property.

You have the right to free speech in public areas and free publication. You do NOT have a right to free speech inside or on another entities' private property.

Walk in to Walmart and try to setup a soapbox and starting preaching away at some core value you believe in. You'll be escorted off the premises post-haste and will have no recourse.

People seem to have make-believe "rights" to all sorts of things, or not understand what their Constitutional rights do and do not apply to. I'm not claiming to be an expert either, but you might want to do a little more research and understanding before you go too far off in what you believe to be "right".

You hit the nail right on the head!!!!

Ever since this thread showed up out here, I've been reading along and just praying to God to keep my mouth shut!.... I had to borrow one O'those white thingies what tie behind your back to keep me away from my keyboard, so to speak... you know, the boys in the white coats will lend'um for free!

Quality is job one out here! WebMaster Don not only Rocks & Rolls in this, and may I add, [ " The Best Website On This Planet " ]!!!!

Being a veteran myself, I have found that it is much more important to protect freedom of speech, and yet respect a more private space, should it also be important!...



Terry
__________________________________________________ ___

[fpartri497]

Get over It, Quit whining, get on with your life . This thread is total nonsense

[XCR-700]

I couldn’t help but laugh when I took a moment to clear my head and revisit some of the posts and I find it most interesting to see how some here who seem to support the moderation concept are also the ones who keep using interesting terms to address/describe any position counter to theirs.

Terms such as:

• I won't post in these two foolish threads again.
• You just don’t get it!
• That some of you can't tell what column you fall in to is oh sooooo sad....
• Will this never end?
• I think it should disappear into the sunset and never return.
• I've been reading along and just praying to God to keep my mouth shut!
• Get over It, Quit whining, get on with your life . This thread is total nonsense
• But boy does it have a few jerks wedged in the crevices!
• those who don't like the rules can simply go elsewhere.
• ETC, Etc, etc,,,

And people are talking about “rights and ownership and protections” and I cant help but ask the question is this what got the boating site saddled with moderation,,,

I am the first to admit that I am often strongly opinionated and maybe even a bit hot-headed, but these posts clearly seem intolerant of opposing views and the posters appear to embody an omniscient attitude !

Worst of all is this reoccurring theme that voicing an opinion/preference about not liking the concept of forum moderation and censorship is somehow an attack on the owner of the Winnipesaukee.com site, which could not be farther from the truth.

Is this really the example you folks want to be using to promote a kinder and more user friendly forum?

Or maybe this is what you consider leading by example??

Or is this just the shut up and do what I say or suffer the consequences of our group wrath???

I think I will stick to my original comment “Very Disappointing,,,”

[Blue Thunder]

You've posted 11 times in this thread alone. I think you've made your point.......can we move on?

Blue Thunder

[XCR-700]

Originally Posted by Blue Thunder

You've posted 11 times in this thread alone. I think you've made your point.......can we move on?

Blue Thunder

My apologies, I didn’t know there was a specific standard convention for the number of posts to a single and fairly active thread (and relatively obscure and hidden in the bowls of the site one no less)

But you are100% correct not only am I the one who got folks all riled up for voicing an apparently controversial opinion, I am probably its most prolific poster on this matter even after saying I would not say any more about the issue. Sorry,,,

I will close out my activity on this matter by saying that I have in fact seen reasonable posts in favor of moderation! I still remain convinced that it is NOT something I favor for a variety of reasons, but some here have made their case and probably better than I have.

I remain disappointed that the members of the site are not joining together to request a reconsideration of this change, and promising to conduct themselves in an adult and civil manner and focus on meaningful discussion without personal attacks nor being so thin-skinned and closed minded that any opposition to their point makes the other guy a bad-guy and label the post/thread ridiculous-foolish-nonsense-etc as we have seen in this thread!

The problems that have been reported on the boating forum are far more clear to me after seeing how this thread evolved and as was my original thought, there is a LOT of hostile energy around differences of opinion, and at least on this thread, NO legitimate concerns for personal attacks and NOT a single nasty PM to me! (not that I am looking for any,,,)

Well that’s what I walk away from this thread with,,,

I sincerely want to thank to all who posted in a reasonable and meaningful way!!!

I look forward to our next exciting adventure,,,

[gtagrip]

Originally Posted by brk-lnt

Technically, you never had that right in the first place. A forum is conceptually like private property.

Then what is the sense of having a forum if different opinions cannot be heard?

[brk-lnt]

Originally Posted by gtagrip

Then what is the sense of having a forum if different opinions cannot be heard?

Dude. Seriously. The opinions HAVE been heard. About 8000 times. That's how we ended up here.

No one is trying to limit your ability to voice your opinion.

As far as I can tell, the moderation is simply making sure any blatant flame bait and trolling posts don't get posted, and you can't make a rational argument that THOSE posts add anything to the community.

It's *moderation* not *censorship* (for the most part, the only things being censored would appear to be those posts against the charter of the site, which you agreed to when signing up).

[Winnigirl]

IMO, there's a difference between expressing your opinion and beating a dead horse.

[CrawfordCentury]

Originally Posted by Winnigirl

IMO, there's a difference between expressing your opinion and beating a dead horse.

Ha! Since we're using this thread as a means of airing our grievances, I would like to express my utter dismay at this site's smileys selection. For example, this one would come in mighty handy on occasion

[VtSteve]

when the dead horse being beaten is your own. I think the next few years will provide some humor for many.

I read XCR's last post and understood full well what he meant. There are many that were quite put back by some of the more uncivil threads. In threads like this one, they may be civil, but their shout downs and put downs are still pretty obvious to most people.

I live right on Lake Champlain, up front and center. I "had" a next door neighbor from Winni, and we discussed the lake. She thought it was "so pristine" here. I reminisced about the cleaner water at Winni. She said, in a very civil tone, that Champlain was better because most every boat she saw here was a beautiful sailboat. So pristine.

She doesn't boat at all, neither power nor sail. Many on this forum remind me of her. She stated her case, and was quite perturbed, though civil, that anyone would dispute her view. It would be easier for me to turn a NASCAR driver into a pedal biker than vis versus.

[Rose]

Originally Posted by VtSteve

It will be interesting when the dead horse being beaten is your own.

My concern with beating any dead horse is that it ends up being unhealthy for the one doing the beating. I've learned over the years (and most likely lost a job because of it) that trying to get someone to see your logic is ultimately a waste of time and, if played out too long, sanity.

This situation of the entire boating forum being moderated rather than just the problematic few being punished reminds me of when I was in junior high and a few people misbehaved in the cafeteria. It ultimately led to the entire cafeteria being sat boy-girl-boy-girl for the entire lunch period. EEEEEWWWWW!!!! COOTIES!!!!! But I never thought how unfair of the adults to do that, I thought how unfair that we had to do that because of a few people who couldn't behave.

[Skipper of the Sea Que]

There has always been forum moderation. What a few of you are reacting to is the TIMING of the moderation or redacting. Countless times in the past I've seen recently posted items and tell myself that's not going to last long and a short time later, POOF, it's gone. It violated the forum rules. There was moderation. What Don has done for the moment is changed the timing of his "editing" from post post to pre-post. In other words. Instead of reviewing the posts after they show up on the web, in the boating forum he is reviewing them BEFORE they appear in public.

So, there should be no clamor about moderation - it has ALWAYS been around this site. Webmaster Don has always reviewed each and every post. And, Don is very moderate in his moderation (I would have "blown up" or "locked up" many more posts/threads than he has - like this one for instance ) .

IHMO he is a very "liberal" moderator. It is very clear what is being "moderated" (it's in the forum rules). Your ideas and comments are welcome and do not have to agree with anyone. However, your style or personal attacks (different from ideas) may not belong on this forum. Example: Do you think that Don agrees with everything FatLazyLess posts? (no offense FLL )

Let's give this a rest and go moderately about our enjoyment of the lake and this web site.

And again, a big Thank You to Don and to all whose participation help make this a great site.

sliding off box of soap now...