Mooseman said:
LOL ....... You'd wait that long??????
After crapping, that pet would know what a football feels like going through the uprights on a fieldgoal attempt.......
If everyone would put the house troll on their ignore list and just ridicule him for posting at all, he would not get to upset anyone and would post less and less.
Since the whole ignore/ban debate, the HT has posted very little, it's only when others read his posts and comment on the content that he continues to post.
I for one never read anything he writes and I doubt many do, anywhere.
If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it, does anyone care if it made a sound?
I think you're contradicting yourself here.
Using my "bad dog" analogy, you say that you'd make sure the problem was taken care of, but then you say that it's everyone's duty to actively ignore the problem. I agree that, as posters, ignoring the problem is the best we can do, but I still think the moderators have a responsibility to maintain the civility of this forum. It's their house and they have the ability to get rid of the dog.
We're just guests in the house. Some guests can ignore the problem and carry on, but a lot of other guests are going to get a whiff of what's going on and excuse themselves from the premises. It's a damn shame that a great poster like Istanbul took off for just that reason. What happens when new members get baited into and frustrated by the pointless arguments? Should we send an email to all new members saying, "Oh, by the way, don't forget to add so-and-so to your ignore list. Otherwise you won't want to stick around here."?
Getting rid of problem posters not only helps keep discussions respectful and civilized, but it also saves a lot of time for the new members. On another board I visit, one long-time member insists on posting everything in all capitals. He's been around for a while, so the mods allow it. But every time someone new comes on, they just think he's an ******* who likes to shout all the time, leading the thread to diverge into a "what is this guy's problem" discussion and completely leaving the original topic. It's very annoying and distracting. I wish the mods would just say, "write like a normal person or we're going to have to suspend you."
Spiderman said:
That was pretty much Isty's argument.
However, if it's not formalized somewhere, the general rule has been that unless they're actively cussing someone out or posting spam, we let it be. If "we" (meaning the majority) ban everyone who disagrees with our opinion, then a) this would be a boring forum and b) it becomes more a dictatorship, that if you don't agree with us, then you're not welcome.
The threads after 9/11 were VERY heated and lots of personal attacks went on, but no one was banned.
Yeah, it's disrespectful and insensitive to post something rude in a grieving thread but let's face it, there's rude people all over. And if someone wants to display it on the board, then everyone who reads it knows what type of person he is and chooses whether or not to deal with him in the future. Like Mooseman says, put him on the Ignore List if you have to.
And a determined person can get around a banning anyway....
This isn't about dissenting opinions. It's about personal attacks and intentional aggravation. When a person constantly stops by and tells you how crappy your organization is and how the world would be a better place without it and consistently stirs up trouble to the point that people are leaving, don't you think maybe they really don't want to be a part of it anyway?
I wasn't around here right after 9/11, but I believe that would be an extraneous circumstance. I don't know what was said, but if people were throwing around personal attacks and being extremely distasteful, maybe they did need a suspension. Take some time off. Cool down a bit. Come back in a couple weeks and we'll see if we can be normal people again.
Again, I think we need guidelines. Not unspoken rules, but actual written formal rules for posting in this forum. If people can't abide by them, they're not welcome here. There is, in fact, a point between dictatorship and anarchy that can be reached.