Question 3: The challenge of sarcastic and rude members and replies

[yyz-kin]

I can not begin to say how frustrating it is to see members, both new and old, hide behind the internet and hurl insults or harsh comments to another member. Behavior like this can not be moderated by a sticky - it needs to be moderated by an agreement that we are all here for the good of each other and that such behavior and treatment of others will not be tolerated. I have seen long standing members turn into a school yard bully at times and we all need to step back and relax. I think the people need to decide if they want to have such members amongst them - we have all seen the posts where one has been offside and how this person is knocked down a few pegs from the masses.

I am sure that you will all agree that we need to have some governance and agreement on behavior and that this needs to be monitored. It is posts like these that detract from the overall experience of Flyertalk and they shouldn't be tolerated.

[Radioman]

Hi
I dont think that a stick is required. Its just something else that folk will ignore, if they are ignorant and rude then that type of person would most certainly ignore it.

As it has been stated the TOS of Flyertalk already covers this. Also people can report the posts and with any luck moderators might find it before that.

Also one thing to bear in mind, what you might find rude and offensive others might find it funny and amusing, even more so in a world wide community where some things dont translate that well between countries.

J

[CMK10]

Part of my platform is that "No one should be made to feel stupid for their opinion in 2010" and I firmly believe that.

I was 16 years old when I joined Flyertalk and there were times when I felt the old "beat it kid you're bothering us" attitude from some of the older members. Now, 7.5 years later I try to keep that in mind when I reply to a post. It's very easy to cut someone down to size, to use the face with impunity and to win your argument by pointing out someone's poor spelling/grammar or how you have more status then they do.

Unfortunately, too active a police force might stunt posting from the older members who have a wealth of information. I think if a gentle reminder from time to time as well as policing the use of the word "troll" and stopping threads a bit earlier (preventative moderation) would do the most good.

Also, members, especially new ones, should feel comfortable if they come to a member of the Talkboard or Moderation staff with their complaints they will be dealt with no matter who made them feel insulted.

[hfly]

Different forums have different tastes. The level of conversation and sarcasm on the BA board at time would probably get a significant number of its regulars banned on other fora such as LH if they posted the same way over there. So everything needs to be put in perspective.

In any case there is the TOS and there are some stickies already about proper behaviour, so I really do not know what this question is about.

I will say however that that when a jr. varsity question is asked for the thousandth time these days, there are far fewer rude answers than there used to be.