TBF: Moderation Issues

[StillILearn]

Did we sound as if we were getting all ready to start slanging?

I don't think there's a single slanger left around here! Mr Moto doesn't appear to me to be a slanger in any way, shape or form (quite the opposite, in fact), and I'm demonstrably not a slanger. Why, I wouldn't be the tiniest bit likely to even slang back if somebody happened to go on and slang me first.

That leaves abecedarian and Miss Shelf, of whom I may honestly say: "two more kindly faces I have never seen in my life".

We are all known factors around here, after all, and we were just taking an innocent stroll down memory lane. Some of those older posts were made by you, and some were very funny!

(That all of novella's posts are worthy of a reread goes without saying.)

Are you certain sure you didn't kinda jump the gun on this one?

I have a feeling that maybe last year's dust-up might have left everybody feeling just a tad bit nervous, if not a little bit quick on the trigger finger.

 

[sirmyk]

Sometimes I like this forum as much as I like snorting fish eggs up my nose. What went wrong? Where have all the interesting members gone...

 

[Occlith]

Where have all the interesting members gone...

I haven't left you...I'm still here...

 

[Wabbit]

Did we sound as if we were getting all ready to start slanging?

I don't think there's a single slanger left around here! Mr Moto doesn't appear to me to be a slanger in any way, shape or form (quite the opposite, in fact), and I'm demonstrably not a slanger. Why, I wouldn't be the tiniest bit likely to even slang back if somebody happened to go on and slang me first.

No, and I'm sorry if you took it that way. That isn't what I was saying nor meant to imply. I know you are not a slanger nor any of the others you mentioned.

However the thread is ( at least in my opinion ) no way innocent. A trip down memory lane is great, but why is a thread created and every link leads to a notorious banned member or a closed thread? That isn't an innocent trip down memory.

That leaves abecedarian and Miss Shelf, of whom I may honestly say: "two more kindly faces I have never seen in my life".

I agree!

Are you certain sure you didn't kinda jump the gun on this one?

I'm rarely certain of anything

I have a feeling that maybe last year's dust-up might have left everybody feeling just a tad bit nervous, if not a little bit quick on the trigger finger.

Maybe so

Finally, I why didn't you just PM me this???? There isnt a need to create a thread. If you have a question then PM me with it please.

 

[Motokid]

I think what TBF has evolved into, in my humble opinion, is a very stale, very un-creative, very predictable environment that has a way of alienating it's own members over time, and eventually losing them to boredom and frustration. (How many of the people in those threads I dug up are still active here?) Not many members last more then a year do they? Gee, I wonder why?

When I first joined there was hardly ever any threads locked. Now it's so common people don't really seem to care. Just another day at TBF. There was rarely a post deletion. Mods did not require every question to be asked through pm, and the place was alive with so many different personalities.

Now....well hell....it's hardly worth checking in anymore to see if there's something interesting going on.

I brought those old threads back to the surface because they were really a wonderful laugh to read through. There was some tense times in a few of those threads, but in the end I think most were worked out between the members without the interference on the mods. We self-policed. Something completely lacking in todays TBF.

Apparently censorship is alive and well.

It is sad that a place I used to really enjoy has desolved into such a sterile environment. I'm almost confused as to why many of those older threads are not just deleted if they are so damn horrible to have around? Maybe TBF should start a new policy of any thread that is locked, or inactive for a period of six months gets automatically deleted?

"You" decide how you want this forum to be. If the way TBF is today is really what "you" want it to be, then I guess my time here is just about finished.

Some people go to amusement parks to ride the rollercoasters. That's me. Some are happy just doing slow circles on the merry-go-round. Apparently that's what the general TBF membership, and governing TBF body are happy with.

 

[Motokid]

Finally, I why didn't you just PM me this???? There isnt a need to create a thread. If you have a question then PM me with it please.

This is exactly part of the problem.

Don't discuss in the open. Don't be honest and allow others to read anything that might be a help to the forum in the long run. Be private. Use the pm function. Lets keep anything that might be the least bit negative about the forum hidden away. Don't let others here know there might be an interesting issue to discuss....

 

[Shade]

I don't normally get involved in threads like this, but I just wanted to ask: has novella gone? People are speaking of her as though she has, but I wasn't aware.

 

[novella]

Hi Shade,

No, I'm not gone. I just have less to say. Anything I do say may be held against me in a court of law. I got a warning for posting a gag book search. I thought it was amusing.

Well, anyway. I read a lot, I write a lot, but my interests do not seem to be intersecting with the TBF populace as much as they used to.

Currently reading Who Walks in Darkness by Chandler Brossard. Just finished Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Could write a review here for that, but I'm not sure it's the right place.

I'll soon be reading Mother's Milk by E. St. Aubyn, Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, Good Family by Terry Gamble, and The Moviegoer by Walker Percy. I don't think these are the kinds of books TBF members are interested in, your kind self excepted. No evidence to the contrary, anyway.

And my writing exercises don't seem to go down well with the woodland creatures.

 

[Shade]

I got a warning for posting a gag book search.

You're kidding! I suppose too much time spent looking at a two-dimensional screen can lead to problems with perspective...

Currently reading Who Walks in Darkness by Chandler Brossard

Now you must let me know about that because I've just started some Beats myself - if Bukowski and Fante count. And the Gamble too, which I've not heard of. Hope you like Mother's Milk, which I found swooningly brilliant, and Revolutionary Road. I'm sure you'll find a place to talk about them.

 

[seanwrightfan]

Can you two stop talking about books please? This isn't a books thread!

To go back to the original point, I am afraid that this is what happens when the forum founder and admin dude goes AWOL and leaves mods in charge. Nothing against those mods at all, but you have to have one person in charge, who can direct the forum and keep it running along the lines on which it was originally set up.

So, either Darren needs to come back and take charge again, or he needs to pass the reigns onto somebody else. The forum might change direction, but it would at least be consistent.

 

[Motokid]

I got a warning for posting a gag book search. I thought it was amusing.

I'm not surprised.

I got my "formal warning/strike" for actually trying to get people excited about reading a book.

I take flack for creating nothing but nonsensical, inane, and useless non-book related conversations and all is well, but I try to get a few members excited about reading a book and I get a strike.

I'm not surprised at all.

 

[StillILearn]

Finally, I why didn't you just PM me this???? There isnt a need to create a thread. If you have a question then PM me with it please.

With respect, Wabbit, there is a good reason why I didn't PM you. I really do feel that we all need to talk as a community. I hope you will let us do that. We can simply ignore any wise-asses (should any wise-asses decide to try to disrupt the meeting) but let's address the intelligent concerns and comments we are hearing here -- kind of like in a town meeting, you know? I know you realiize that some of our best minds have decided not to participate anymore because of what they perceive to be censorship.

I keep hearing Ell's plea. "Take back the boards and make them into what you want them to be." Many of us want them to be scintillating! And they were, and they could be again. I think that's what Moto was trying to say. That's innocent enough.

Please let us talk? A "Closed" thread feels like a door slammed in our faces, and we are not muggers. But if we are wanting to vent a little bit, you can understand that too. You probably have a few vents you'd like to blow some steam out of here yourself! Now's the good time to do it. We're listenin' !

 

[Miss Shelf]

nice to see ya around, seanwrightfan!

Thanks for the compliments, I don't really think of myself as "nice"!

I didn't think the locked thread was an invitation to a free-for-all, but I can see where it might make the mods nervous. Yeah, there's a different perspective looking back on controversial threads, but as I recall, at the time it was happening, it wasn't pleasant and some people might not have the same fond memories.

I agree that this is Darren's forum, and he's appointed moderators who adhere to his rules for the forum, so I don't think blaming Wabbit is fair. It can't be fun to be the "bad guy" all the time.

I also agree with Moto that this place is what you make it. If we want some interesting threads, then we have to create them. I've noticed the place has been rather dull lately, and I think Moto was trying to liven things up a bit. Perhaps resurrecting old threads that not everyone looks at with fondness wasn't the solution. I myself have been reading a lot recently, and have other interests, but I'll try to come up with something that's interesting!

 

[Toadal]

The thing is, you shouldn't have to. It's a sign of laziness on the part of those that run the forum that it's down to the users to do everything.

If things slow down a bit, it should be theose in charge that come up with some interesting titbits to get things moving again. It's part of the challenge of running a website. Sitting back and letting people struggle isn't the way forward at all.

 

[Miss Shelf]

I have to disagree with you, Toady. If starting new threads were up to the mods I think that would hamper everyone here, they'd be afraid to disagree. I don't see anything wrong with letting the forum stagnate a bit, since it always seems to perk back up sooner or later.

 

[Toadal]

That's not really what I meant, Shelfy. Of course others should come up with new posts and new ideas. But when they don't and when things stall, then those running the forum have a responsibility to pitch in with stuff to keep the momentum up.

 

[Miss Shelf]

But it would seem forced! it's more fun when people come up with something off the cuff, rather than the mods running through a List of Interesting Topics to Jump-Start Discussions.

 

[Toadal]

Oh, no, it doesn't have to be like that at all. If the mod has a genuine interest in the stuff being discussed, and it is an interesting conversation starter, then it's just fine.

Honestly - I do this all the time on the forum I help to run, and I don't think anyone notices that it is going on.

 

[Miss Shelf]

Hmm. Is Palimp so dull lately you've come here for sustenance?

 

[Toadal]

Not at all - things are going very nicely over there, largely because it's run properly. I was actually dragged back over to these parts because of the ill treatment of a good friend of mine. This thread amused me because, once again, despite the users of this forum pleading for something to be done to arrest its decline, those in power refuse to do anything about it. I was just offering my advice on how things might be improved. I never expected it to fall on anything other than deaf ears.