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General Warning: Tone of Conversation

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xvart

Doing it wrong until I do it right.
Staff member
Moderator
Dear Forum Members,

As election season winds down, it is imperative that everyone remember the most important rule of Terraforums:

• Be kind and tolerant. Our membership consists of many different people from many different walks of life with different cultural and political views. Please remember everyone is entitled to their feelings and their opinions. Feel free to post your thoughts, ideas, advice and opinions, but NO PERSONAL ATTACKS or PUBLIC ARGUEMENTS will be tolerated. We are reasonably open on discussion topics and if you find a topic distasteful or offensive, do not read or participate in the topic. Having said that, if you are concerned about anything posted, please don't hesitate to contact a Moderator. The same rules regarding respectful behavior apply to PMs. Harrassment or abuse through PMs is not allowed and can be grounds for warnings/banning.

• Think before you post. If there is something that you want to add to the conversation, great, but read what you have written before you post it in a public forum. Make your posts of a contributory nature; don’t waste forum space (for example, don’t post 10 smileys and nothing else). If you have a question, try using the search function first - your query might already have been answered previously.

Based on past observations, I was actually impressed (for the most part) at the tone of the many political discussions, until recently. So I offer this general warning:

Anyone who comes even close to making a personal attack, judging the person behind the post, or belittling other members for any reason will be given a three day temporary ban, no questions asked. Your post will be deleted in its entirety, and the conversation will continue without you for three days.

There is a difference between being passionate and being obnoxious, rude, or disrespectful. And the moderating team will not tolerate it. Discuss the conversation, not the motivations or the intentions of the person.

So, that being said, my expectation of everyone here who is considering posting in what could be considered a controversial topic is to reread what you have typed before clicking submit. If you think about going for a low blow, think again. If you go ahead and submit questionable material then you'll have three days to think about it in the seclusion of banned land.

I'm glad we are all in agreement on this topic, and appreciate everyone remembering that this forum is for the spirit of discussion and conversation.

xvart.
 
I don't see anything very inflammatory there, but the conversation was stuck in pretty deep mud. Maybe locking it will allow people to go on to more productive things and grades will rise, family relations will improve and, even if not, the sun will still rise tomorrow.
 
The discussion was not at a point that justified locking it. Outsiders71 had valid response to my comments and I was not offended in the least. In fact, I found his last post to be very respectful. It has a good potential to snowball but I do not believe it had reached that point. Locking it is fine, but I just wanted to note my disagreement with the decision.
 
I don't see anything very inflammatory there, but the conversation was stuck in pretty deep mud.

Exactly. Edit: I stand corrected. I will reopen it provided it does not "snowball."

Maybe locking it will allow people to go on to more productive things and grades will rise, family relations will improve and, even if not, the sun will still rise tomorrow.

Exactly, again. If a member only wants to participate in potentially "controversial" topics, then when they all get locked, he or she can go fly a kite or read a book.

Furthermore, the report button still works, and will suffice for reporting posts. No need to draw further attention to the subject outside of reporting the post and/or pming a moderator. All things will be taken care of as deemed fit by the moderating team as necessary.

xvart.
 
The discussion was not at a point that justified locking it. Outsiders71 had valid response to my comments and I was not offended in the least. In fact, I found his last post to be very respectful. It has a good potential to snowball but I do not believe it had reached that point. Locking it is fine, but I just wanted to note my disagreement with the decision.

Remember, it isn't because of the last person that posts is a thread locked. It is the general tone of the thread in its entirety.

xvart.
 
Anyone who comes even close to making a personal attack, judging the person behind the post, or belittling other members for any reason will be given a three day temporary ban, no questions asked. Your post will be deleted in its entirety, and the conversation will continue without you for three days.

There is a difference between being passionate and being obnoxious, rude, or disrespectful. And the moderating team will not tolerate it. Discuss the conversation, not the motivations or the intentions of the person.

Everyone knows I'm a Christian. The following personal attack was made against me for no just reason:

"I suggest you spend more time in church, because you seem to have missed a few of the more important parts."

I'm just asking for some fairness and for some follow through. If you're going to lock threads, and then create a thread like this giving warnings, follow it through. If that means I get temp banned for 3 days for calling his statement hypocritical then so be it.

Lastly I wasn't the one who injected the controversial topic. Why is it that I'm targeted because I responded to a statement nobody else wanted to touch? I wasn't even the aggressor in any of the topics, yet your wording seems to point to me.
 
Lastly I wasn't the one who injected the controversial topic. Why is it that I'm targeted because I responded to a statement nobody else wanted to touch?

First, nobody said you were the one who injected the controversial topic. Nobody said you were the cause of anything. Second, who is targeting you? Me? How have I targeted you? How are you a victim in anyway? I'll continue our pm conversation in private, where it is appropriate, as I've explained.

As I said to you in our pm exchange, all reported posts are reviewed by the moderating team. At that point, a decision will be rendered and everyone will move on with their lives. I think we can all agree that it is best for me not to just go around doing whatever I want or whatever I feel like. If your point was that I undermined myself by not immediately banning someone, you are correct. I should have been a little softer in my wording above since it is irresponsible of me to assume that role, except in obvious cases.

Furthermore, as I said, we are (mostly) all adults. If you think something is not appropriate, or consider something a personal attack, you can always discuss that with that member in private, and see if that was the intention, while the moderators discuss any potential violations. For example, try this one on for size:

"I think your comment was inappropriate, and I will follow up with you regarding it in a pm. Additionally, I have reported it to the moderating team."

xvart.

edit: if you want to continue to discuss the specifics of your complaint, we will continue to do so in private. There is no reason whatsoever to bring the rest of the community into it.
 
i have noticed one member here is always the victim, never the instigator......least in his mind......everyone else realizes that he stirs the pot as much as anybody....more than most i would say........infact he only seems to be posting in political or religious threads.....he hasnt even made a single post regarding plants since March 8, 2008 at 3:13 pm(my time) and even that had to do with a lighting system and not CP's themselves......he joined in another CP lighting thread when i started my LED experiment last December.....infact other than those two threads on lights he really hasnt joined in on a thread, or even created a thread on CP's since spring of 2007 but he produced well over 400 posts in that time.....no pics of his collection, no caring words to a newbie to help them out, not even a single bragging post about a single CP or mention of a new acquisition....

so tell me Outsiders71, are you just here to stir the pot?......you can only do that weakly as you cant form a political argument without cutting and pasting someone elses idea from another website...yah cant come up with your own ideas...why dont you actually just admit your nothing but a cry baby and leave those of us who are interested in CPs, that like to debate politics, that can form a coherent argument and dont go crying to the moderators about how so and so hurt my feelings, please lock the thread and make them stop, when it was your cry baby rear that jumped in the middle of our debate intent on making a fuss......leave the big boys alone to play their games since you cant seem to handle a lil rough housing and dont seem to be here for CP's at all......
 
  • #10
THIS THREAD IS LOCKED!

I will be looking into the other political threads in a minute as well and lock any of those I deem necessary. Since I am the only Mod here to do this right now I am taking full responsibility and if anyone has a problem with my actions they can PM me.

Rattler,

I am enacting the 3 day sit and think ban on you. Again, my decision and if the other mods decide I jumped the gun they can reverse my action as they see fit.

Outsider71,

Thrice in this thread you were told to not publicly air your gripes and that a PM to the mods would suffice. You flagrantly ignored the first time it was said.

Xvart's post #5:
Furthermore, the report button still works, and will suffice for reporting posts. No need to draw further attention to the subject outside of reporting the post and/or pming a moderator.

I highly suggest you now heed his second and third warnings on the matter and mine here and now as well. If you have an issue then use the PM function and take it to a Mod (obviously not me since we all know how you feel about me.) If you fail to abide by this warning you will face the consequences.
 
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