Behavior Issues

[JohnJMS]

I'm just worried that people basically abusing the site, like Blue/BF, etc... and clogging it with virtual garbage, will lead Mowtownsportsguy to shut down the political section altogether. Right now it's like swimming in the Rouge River back when it was totally polluted. I really hope that the actions of a few people don't cause the whole section to be closed.

[Corky]

Wouldn't be a bad thing to get rid of it and then ban folks who bring politics into the other areas.

[Mschottey1985]

Yes, lets ban everyone, period...then the forum will be much better!

[JohnJMS]

Originally Posted by Mschottey1985

Yes, lets ban everyone, period...then the forum will be much better!

No. Let's just ban people that abuse the forum, by doing things like bumping a dozen or so threads by BF up to the top. That's not engaging in discussion. That's just playing games, or what some would refer to - being a troll.

Trolls SHOULD be banned.

[zimm]

we can't ban Budahfan. i have a feeling that after about 10,000 posts of uselesss, non-credible, partisan drivel, he's going to post something brilliant that will make us all rethink our beliefs.

i am also waiting for Billy Mays to do an ad where he sells an actual cure for cancer for 3 low payments of $19.95 +s/h. i just hope that by that point, i haven't stopped watching infomercials. kinda like i hope that BF actually posts something worth reading before i quit reading MTS.

[JohnJMS]

Originally Posted by zimm

we can't ban Budahfan. i have a feeling that after about 10,000 posts of uselesss, non-credible, partisan drivel, he's going to post something brilliant that will make us all rethink our beliefs.

i am also waiting for Billy Mays to do an ad where he sells an actual cure for cancer for 3 low payments of $19.95 +s/h. i just hope that by that point, i haven't stopped watching infomercials. kinda like i hope that BF actually posts something worth reading before i quit reading MTS.

BF shouldn't go (well..........maybe). Like it or not, he posts things he believes. We may not agree, but that's what it's all about. The response to BF by the likes of BLUE - to attempt to clog the forum with bogus and fake anti-McCain threads - just as a reaction to BF is what is even more obnoxious. Then, when that doesn't work, searching out and bumping 12-20 BF threads up to the top - that's not political give and take. That's someone playing virtual games with the forum. That's what needs to be immediately addressed before people like that get the whole political section closed, which may be their goal, and that would be a shame if they succeeded.

[Who is the Drizzle?]

Originally Posted by JohnJMS

BF shouldn't go. Like it or not, he posts things he believes. We may not agree, but that's what it's all about. The response to BF by the likes of BLUE - to attempt to clog the forum with bogus and fake anti-McCain threads - just as a reaction to BF is what is even more obnoxious. Then, when that doesn't work, searching out and bumping 12-20 BF threads up to the top - that's not political give and take. That's someone playing virtual games with the forum. That's what needs to be immediately addressed before people like that get the whole political section closed, which may be their goal, and that would be a shame if they succeeded.

I can't believe BF actually believes what he posts. Maybe he wants to believe it or wants others to believe it, but unless he's tin hat man he can't.

I think you're overreacting to Blue....his mock BF posts were quite well done I thought, and maybe he went a little overboard with the bumping but people have done that in the past....altho maybe not so many at once. But yes, if it keeps up a temporary ban or a PM from a mod should take care of it.

[DennisDubay]

There's no difference between Blue or Buddafan ... they both need to go, as does the political forum right now. It's to close to the heart of a lot of people, and accordingly, people are acting out .. it's not conducive to logical, meaningful thought.

[JohnJMS]

Originally Posted by DennisDubay

There's no difference between Blue or Buddafan ... they both need to go, as does the political forum right now. It's to close to the heart of a lot of people, and accordingly, people are acting out .. it's not conducive to logical, meaningful thought.

I disagree. The whole forum doesn't need to go. There were plenty of extremely interesting topics and give and take going on. And then there was BF, and he was mostly ignored. How he's been dealt with by a few people lately has been the main issue. Rather than ignoring him, some have chosen to be part of the problem and mimic him.

I would be VERY disappointed if the entire forum was closed.

[markmeista]

Originally Posted by JohnJMS

I would be VERY disappointed if the entire forum was closed.

I would be disappointed if the entire forum closed as well, because I really believe that it would carry over to other forums. I wasn't around here when it (the political forum) was created, but I imagine that it was done, in part, to separate general topics from political ones. Seeing as how political topics have overtaken sports topics lately, it's not hard to imagine the B&G being dominated by politically-oriented threads on a regular basis.

I just hope that forum users might agree to some self-regulation to prevent the ridiculous behavior that we've seen lately. Maybe everyone has to consent to some new terms of use. I don't know. I'll just stay away from politics.

[tiger337]

I think Buddahfan believes what he is posting. I also think he is SPAMing the forum. To his credit though, he did say he would be willing to change his posting patterns if the moderators told him to do so.

[JohnJMS]

Originally Posted by markmeista

I would be disappointed if the entire forum closed as well, because I really believe that it would carry over to other forums. I wasn't around here when it (the political forum) was created, but I imagine that it was done, in part, to separate general topics from political ones. Seeing as how political topics have overtaken sports topics lately, it's not hard to imagine the B&G being dominated by politically-oriented threads on a regular basis.

I just hope that forum users might agree to some self-regulation to prevent the ridiculous behavior that we've seen lately. Maybe everyone has to consent to some new terms of use. I don't know. I'll just stay away from politics.

I would tend to agree with this. Closing the political forum is just begging to have these issues spread to other sections of MTS like a cancer. Most of the posts right now are in the political forum because we have a very big election taking place while simultaneously, we have the biggest financial crisis of our generation taking place. It's like Super Bowl time for politics. I'm sure it will naturally calm down in a couple of weeks.

[hueytaxi]

hueytaxi, AlKalineIsGod, Corky, JohnJMS, jonjd, markmeista, shauntacular, slim pickens, zimm
G'nite mates.

[shauntacular]

Just leave it. Ignore Blue or Buddhafan if they bother you. I personally don't mind either. I take the piss out of Buddhafan in a few of his threads because I think he's posting ridiculous stuff, but I in no way think he shouldn't be allowed to post it. Whining about it constantly will force the mods to act and they're liable to do something to curtail future whining like... close down the political forums and putting the kabosh on any further politically related posting, which would be a real shame considering some of the minds we have on this board.

Seriously, just leave it be. You gotta take hte good with the bad.

Edit: g'night, Huey. :)

[Corky]

Originally Posted by hueytaxi

hueytaxi, AlKalineIsGod, Corky, JohnJMS, jonjd, markmeista, shauntacular, slim pickens, zimm
G'nite mates.

Yo. I am grading papers so I will be up a bit longer. I always return them fully commented-upon and scored within 24 hours so I have a bot more to do this evening. IT is fun reading what a bunch of duffer grad students have to say about Perennialism.

[zimm]

Originally Posted by hueytaxi

hueytaxi, AlKalineIsGod, Corky, JohnJMS, jonjd, markmeista, shauntacular, slim pickens, zimm
G'nite mates.

insomnia!

[JohnJMS]

Originally Posted by zimm

insomnia!

That is a correct assessment, at least in my case! lol

[Firewaltz]

I take full responsibility for my actions in the forum last night. I wouldn't do anything differently, except maybe find a more productive way to spend my time. I don't know why everyone here wants to pretend like Buddahfan isn't the root of the problem. The powers that be haven't found an effective way to deal with it, and I think that was part of what caused last night's fallout. We have been encouraged to just ignore BF's posts, as if that will solve all our problems. As far as I can see, BF isn't the least bit concerned about that. He continues to plunder away with impunity. Further, to allow him to post without challenge could be viewed as the other side conceding the point he's making. That I'm quite unwilling to do. There has to be a more pro-active approach short of banning everyone you don't like.

[JohnJMS]

Originally Posted by Firewaltz

I take full responsibility for my actions in the forum last night. I wouldn't do anything differently, except maybe find a more productive way to spend my time. I don't know why everyone here wants to pretend like Buddahfan isn't the root of the problem. The powers that be haven't found an effective way to deal with it, and I think that was part of what caused last night's fallout. We have been encouraged to just ignore BF's posts, as if that will solve all our problems. As far as I can see, BF isn't the least bit concerned about that. He continues to plunder away with impunity. Further, to allow him to post without challenge could be viewed as the other side conceding the point he's making. That I'm quite unwilling to do. There has to be a more pro-active approach short of banning everyone you don't like.

Well, the solution to stopping alleged spamming behavior isn't to start spamming yourself. What happened last night was a couple of people becoming part of the problem through escalation.

[Oblong]

The problem we have in trying to limit buddahfan's threads is how do you define it? What would you propose the policy be? "Please don't start stupid threads?" Anything I can think of would be too generic and subjective to really mean anything. I strongly oppose any type of censorship on what sites are appropriate to link stories from. The users define what's legitimate by their responses.

As far as I'm concerned the problems from last night have been dealt with and I'm happy to just forget it ever happened. Carry on.

[pfife]

Originally Posted by Oblong

The problem we have in trying to limit buddahfan's threads is how do you define it? What would you propose the policy be? "Please don't start stupid threads?" Anything I can think of would be too generic and subjective to really mean anything. I strongly oppose any type of censorship on what sites are appropriate to link stories from. The users define what's legitimate by their responses.

As far as I'm concerned the problems from last night have been dealt with and I'm happy to just forget it ever happened. Carry on.

I have no idea what happened last night, but if your last paragraph means the forum won't be taken away then I'm happy too.

[Firewaltz]

Originally Posted by Oblong

The problem we have in trying to limit buddahfan's threads is how do you define it?

How about a policy that says you can't post 5 threads on the same topic every time WorldNetDaily and AmericasRight update their sites? That would be a good place to start. We only need one thread about how Obama's lying about his religion, economic theories, etc. If we wanted to read WorldNetDaily or AmericasRight on a daily basis we could go there ourselves.

As far as I'm concerned the problems from last night have been dealt with and I'm happy to just forget it ever happened. Carry on.

I'm certainly in agreement with being happy to forget about last night, but I'm not so sure the problems have been fully addressed. But time will tell, I guess.

[Firewaltz]

Originally Posted by JohnJMS

Well, the solution to stopping alleged spamming behavior isn't to start spamming yourself.

I guess the solution to unfair taxation isn't dumping tea into the harbor, either, but... When nothing is being done to address very real concerns, I guess you've got to expect a little rebellion.

[pfife]

Originally Posted by Firewaltz

I guess the solution to unfair taxation isn't dumping tea into the harbor, either, but... When nothing is being done to address very real concerns, I guess you've got to expect a little rebellion.

or when a situation is a very small deal, you've got to expect really bad comparisons to make it seem like a bigger deal than it is.

[Firewaltz]

Originally Posted by pfife

or when a situation is a very small deal, you've got to expect really bad comparisons to make it seem like a bigger deal than it is.

If what BF is doing is a very small deal, then what we did in response should be viewed the same way. Just ignore it, and it will stop.

[pfife]

Originally Posted by Firewaltz

If what BF is doing is a very small deal, then what we did in response should be viewed the same way. Just ignore it, and it will stop.

actually, that's entirely false.

What BF is doing doesn't make the forum very difficult to navigate. Bumping 20 BF threads and posting 20 more threads mimic'ing him makes the forum very difficult to navigate.

[sinister porpoise]

Blue posted a thread linking to this
http://suzieqq.wordpress.com/2008/04...liff-schecter/ and it was deleted. Then Firewaltz started a thread about McCain's policies making sexual abuse harder to detect/more prevalent and that was deleted. Then they bumped some threads out of frustration.

[thewave84]

One thing about Buddahfan is that his thread titles reflect the content of the stories that he is linking to. He doesn't make up his own completely false accusations like "Republican Skinhead" and "McCain friend of NAMBLA".

[JohnJMS]

The NAMBLA title was, if I recall, "McCain: Friend of NAMBLA".

Come on SP, that's a tad incendiary. And it wasn't posted on merits. And they didn't bump "some" threads. They flooded the board so the entire first page was nothing but BF threads.

Keep spinning if you want, but you don't accurately depict what took place.

[Melody]

Wow. Glad I missed that business last night. My son brought over his new Rock Band II game to play on the big screen, so we were having fun.

In general, the liberal regulars here seem to be good, albeit misguided , folk. It seems like problems tend to arise when someone random or only occasional comes into the middle of something, not understanding the history or dynamic, gets ticked off and then the rodeo is on.

But it's good to be able to interact with people who don't agree with us. I think that a large part of the problem in politics today is that most people tend to live in a more or less echo chamber, or spend their time in venues (workplace, etc.) where it's inappropriate to discuss politics.

A good rule of thumb for internet comment boards is that if you read a post and it makes your heart rate increase, probably best to hit the back button instead of posting right away.

I feel for the mods. I used to be the administrator for a live chat and forum. It's difficult to please anyone let alone everyone, but I never have understood why people can't be satisfied with ignoring (either via their profile, or just via personal self control) the people that aggravate them. Since I was dealing with primarily teenagers, I could blame inexperience and hormones. But I found that the adults are the least reasonable and mature. What a shame.


Anyway ... learning to hang drywall. A nasty job requiring frequent breaks. But I'm back to sanding mud for a while. Have fun, y'all.

[Greenwit]

Originally Posted by Oblong

The problem we have in trying to limit buddahfan's threads is how do you define it? What would you propose the policy be?

How 'bout.....you can't copy 'n paste more lines than you actually write. Links are OK.

[jonjd]

At the bottom of the main page under "Who's Online," I notice a "No Politics" status. Is this new? When was it established?

[hueytaxi]

As a result of Buddahfan, a couple posters began countermeasures with inane threads opposite of BF's posts. Several days of hot discussion led to (I think last Sunday night) MWG banning one poster for bumping all of BF's recent posts to the top and problem posters being denied access to the political forum. This was accomplished by establishing a new User Group (no politics).

[hueytaxi]

We need some controversy on the political forum again. It has become boring and draws less traffic (almost) than the off season minor league thread.

[ToledoTigerFan]

Originally Posted by hueytaxi

We need some controversy on the political forum again. It has become boring and draws less traffic (almost) than the off season minor league thread.

Let's start it here. You're an idiot. Want a second opinion? You're a moron, too.

[jaymo]

Originally Posted by ToledoTigerFan

Let's start it here. You're an idiot. Want a second opinion? You're a moron, too.

http://www.ilovewavs.com/Effects/Mus...%20Rimshot.wav

That one needed a little help.

[hueytaxi]

Originally Posted by ToledoTigerFan

Let's start it here. You're an idiot. Want a second opinion? You're a moron, too.

As usual, only 1/2 correct. Nice spin though.

[hueytaxi]

Happy to see the Political forum getting back to normal.

[hueytaxi]

After following a political forum topic the last few days, a lot of heat went into the debates. Yet tonight it seemed to close with friendly completion. I congratulate the the participants.

[djhutch]

Generally speaking it has been a little nicer.