Cleaning Up the FE Forum

[Sam]

The fact is that there is plenty of room to remove a lot of the fighting and still have plenty of spirited debate. However, the posters who are the usual fighters have to either learn that they can't attack people personally, or they will have to leave.

There are some people that will simply not like a culture change and they might leave on their own. To them i say, I wish you wouldn't, but respect your choice, because I no longer have a product (forum) that suits your personal needs. The nice thing is, they can always leave and then monitor from a distance and come back.

And Rouse, as a response to you personally, I say...give it a chance...why not say you will see how things look in three weeks and decide then if it went in the direction you were worried about. I don't know what you need from a forum, so maybe your conclusion will be that it did...but maybe not.

 

[TDFnCali]

The fact is that there is plenty of room to remove a lot of the fighting and still have plenty of spirited debate. However, the posters who are the usual fighters have to either learn that they can't attack people personally, or they will have to leave.

There are some people that will simply not like a culture change and they might leave on their own. To them i say, I wish you wouldn't, but respect your choice, because I no longer have a product (forum) that suits your personal needs. The nice thing is, they can always leave and then monitor from a distance and come back.

And Rouse, as a response to you personally, I say...give it a chance...why not say you will see how things look in three weeks and decide then if it went in the direction you were worried about. I don't know what you need from a forum, so maybe your conclusion will be that it did...but maybe not.

Thanks Sam!

I think rouse and others, including myself....are unsure what an attack is exactly? If someone is lying & u call them on it, is that an attack? If u say facts about a company that another doesnt like, even tough its true...is that an attack? What I believe, but Im not sure on is....as long as u dont make it personal towards that person (basically name calling/threats) its ok right?

Please, if u could, clarify that!

 

[Sam]

I recognize the problem that many of you have and will continue to have, because there isn't a crystal clear definition of an attack. However, there are quite a few things that are way past the point of ambiguity to all but those who actually post them.

As a general framework, making personal remarks, directed at a person, calling someone a liar, a jerk, a phony, an #$%hole, using vulgar language toward people etc... are clearly personal attacks.

So what do you do if you are convinced someone is actually lying? There is no problem disagreeing with what someone says, and there can be an agreeable way to point out misinformation without making it personal.

There are 38,000 members on this forum and less than 50 have ever received warnings for fighting or for personal attacks, so clearly, the vast vast majority of people around here get where the line is.

No one is going to be banned for something defensible, that falls in the grey area, unless they are warned specifically and clearly against a certain kind of post and then violate that. Repeat offenders who simply need to be disagreeable and try to keep their toe just inside the line, will be issues personal warnings drawing different lines for them and violation of that will result in their being removed.

 

[rousemark]

The fact is that there is plenty of room to remove a lot of the fighting and still have plenty of spirited debate. However, the posters who are the usual fighters have to either learn that they can't attack people personally, or they will have to leave.

There are some people that will simply not like a culture change and they might leave on their own. To them i say, I wish you wouldn't, but respect your choice, because I no longer have a product (forum) that suits your personal needs. The nice thing is, they can always leave and then monitor from a distance and come back.

And Rouse, as a response to you personally, I say...give it a chance...why not say you will see how things look in three weeks and decide then if it went in the direction you were worried about. I don't know what you need from a forum, so maybe your conclusion will be that it did...but maybe not.

Sam.. I am not going anywhere.. I am just voicing my concerns becasue everyone else on this thread was saying, "Hip, Hip, Hooray." and I didn't want you to get the idea that everyone felt that way. As for what I want in a forum, you have been providing it up to now so that is why I hate to see it change.

 

[Sam]

I told Mike this privately, But I will post it here too...I deleted his posts, even though I did find them funny...at least the second one anyway, because this is an important discussion and I don't want it going off the rails...

 

[theinsuranceman]

Sam, I've noticed you have a good command of english grammar and good expression of thoughts. Anyway we can enforce this trait with forum members?

 

[TDFnCali]

Sam, I've noticed you have a good command of english grammar and good expression of thoughts. Anyway we can enforce this trait with forum members?

Yes, lets start with Greg ^^^ not capitalizing the word English. That's your 1st warning Greg, 2 more grammar errors & you're out of here!

 

[rousemark]

Yes, lets start with Greg ^^^ no capitalizing the word English. That's your 1st warning Greg, 2 more grammar errors & you're out of here!

Yeah.. but at least he got "grammar" right...

 

[TDFnCali]

Yeah.. but at least he got "grammar" right...

Then we both did, since we spelled it the exact same way!

 

[rousemark]

Got to missing a couple of folks and now I see they are banned per the new rules.. Sure hope it isn't permanent.