The closing of community threads
 

Why, might I ask, are we as a community, not permitted to express our concern about missing members of our community?

In closing the most recent "doc" inquiry, Randy writes:

????? To my knowledge there are exactly zero open threads wherein one can ask and answer this question. It is obviously a concern to the great many people who have asked after doc and one could surmise are bothered by too many threads about the same topic being closed.

If the real concern is that certain people with poor manners may feel the uncontrollable urge to make a personal attack upon doc every time they see his name, would it not be eminently more sensible to simply edit out those offensive posts and leave the thread in tact?

In the same vein, could we please have a clear definition of what is and what is not of valid concern to our community. IMHO, anything that we desire to share with one another as a community is appropriate but apparently the powers that be have decided that we have restrictions on our discussions which are unfortunately rather vague and undefined.

Why for instance was the favorite movie thread closed while the obit of a steakhouse owner is ok? I am not judging here, just trying to clarify my understanding.

Thank you, Punki

[This message has been edited by Punki (edited 04-22-2002).]

Great thread, Punki. I couldn't agree more. But, I must advise you to be careful of what you post, cause' unless you are one of those special members around here, you just may get busted.

I apparently got my time-out because I was charged (& convicted) of spreading 'rumours' about doc. (????)

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

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Gaucho100K

Punki,

I think the favorite movie thread was moved. I remember seeing it somewhere else...but cannot remember where.
As far as the Doc thread. I wondered the same thing because there are no unlocked threads out there about Doc.
However, I am not going to question it. Maybe it was closed because eventually it would have had a nasty comment in there from someone. Maybe They did not realize that all the previous threads about Doc had been closed?

How many times do we have to ask where DOC is? It was answered once... and again, and again... and then the thread starting going south in nastiness...

We do not ask about every person that chooses to stop posting for awhile... and it is obvious that asking about DOC will just start the naysayers again...

Once the question has been answered, does it really need to be asked over and over again?

{SIGH}

William

Omni

Again, as always, wharvey posts with the voice of reason. Amen.

Of course it doesn't "need" to. But that won't stop some..... Sigh indeed.

Thank you Wharvey for your concern that it is possible that threads regrding doc, might possibly go south. It is, however, within the realm of possibility that any thread might go south and, if we just start shutting down every thread, just because there is a possibility that it might go south, without any definable standards and guidelines, pretty soon we couldn't have a bulletin board at all any more. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Is there some reason that my suggested cure for poor manners and nastiness, as suggested above:

wouldn't work better than the random closing of threads?

The community has long sought moderation, Randy has set moderation as one of his primary goals, many intelligent and well reasoned Flyer Talk members have volunteered for moderation duties, and months ago, I know for a fact that Blonde Bomber proposed to the Talk Board an excellent set of moderation guidelines. Is there something preventing the implementation of real moderation?

IMHO, FlyerTalk would be a much more welcoming, involving cyber space if poor manners and nastiness were handled by effective, intelligent moderation, rather than by random and seemingly heavy-handed locking and movement of threads.

I have been here almost since the beginning and have watched FlyerTalk grow from something very tentative to something very strong, inclusive and joyful--exactly because it was enabling, spontaneous and fun. Yes as it grew it attracted some less than desirable types and yes they will continue to arrive from time to time but I see no reason that they could not be easily handled (as they are on every other bulletin board I frequent) with effective moderation.

It is, IMHO, a shame to throw out the baby (our wonderful FlyerTalk Community) with the bathwater, when far more workable and desirable solutions are readily available.

The real concern here is not doc or the movie thread or the steak house thread. The real issue is the development and equitable application of reasonable and definable guidelines and procedures. Those are the questions that are asked again and again and again and never seem to be comprehended or answered.

****sigh**** very much indeed. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif



[This message has been edited by Punki (edited 04-20-2002).]

Now, there you have the real AMEN.

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Gaucho100K

Great post Wharvey.. I couldn't agree with you more.. Doc is fine, we all (most of us anyway) miss him want him back and we all know that... there isn't any more reason to beat a dead horse here..

It would appear that we are having a slight problem with not being able to see the forest for the trees.

For the purposes of this discussion, doc is a tree, the movie thread is a tree, all individual issues, (which I am beginning to suspect are being drug up as red herrings to avoid the real issue) are simply trees.

The forest is:

I would very much appreciate, for the purposes of this discussion, focusing on the forest and not getting bogged down in the trees.

I miss doc. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

How does this thread differ from the one that you also posted in Talkboard? Isn't this just another thread that says the samething, asks the same questions.. and takes up the space of your clients who need to sift through all our FT stuff that takes up their precious time? I didn't know that FT existed for them?

[This message has been edited by TrojanHorse (edited 04-20-2002).]

TrojanHorse wites:

Yes both threads are similar in that they are both asking for equity, clarity and definition.

I personally believe that freedom of speech and the right to (very politely, of course) speak one's mind is extremely precious and those are the exact freedoms that I see ebbing away with the heavy-handed and totally random time outs and thread closings, that occur regularly on FLyerTalk these days without any clear guildlines or explanations.

Why are some people temporarily banned without a clear reason and other who have posted truly hateful personal attacks on others allowed to continue and even receive praise?

I believe very strongly in equity and will continue to fight to attain it until I believe it has been achieved. Please remember that I an an old lady who was trained to believe that, when you know you are right, you must persist and be willing to put your money where your mouth is, chain yourself to the courthouse railing, and even go to jail, if necessary, to prevent injustice.

Did you think that the very first time we started talking about Viet Nam that the government said, "Oh yeah. Ok, we are wrong. We'll change our direction tomorrow."

People who know me well know that I am a most peaaceful person, and I have made great effort never to say anything unkind or unfair to anyone on FlyerTalk, even when (especially when) I disagree with them. When , however, I see people being treated unfairly, I will continue to attempt to right that wrong as long as I have strenghth in my fingers and an internet connection. Sooner or later the wisest among you will begin to get the point and the rest will follow. Well at least that is how it happened with Viet Nam. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

If in the process of politely speaking what I believe to be the truth, I am banned. So be it, such an action would more graphically prove my point than anything I could ever do or say.



[This message has been edited by Punki (edited 04-20-2002).]

My immediate point is that you mentioned in the TB version that good flyertalkers (as opposed to the bad ones I guess) are leaving b/c they have to sift through threads that do not belong in an area or are hard to find and that they have a very limited amount of precious time (I guess the rest of us do not have any time constraints). anyway, this thread would appear to me as being a duplicate issue in the wrong forum which is just what you are trying to prevent...

For the record, I have never met you and do not know a thing about you other than what I read.. nor am I looking for any character references for you.. I just am very curious as to why you are doing something you seem so adamantly are trying to prevent?

Very Good Point TrojanHorse.

Rather than copy/paste my thoughts on this issue, here is a thread on the same issue.


http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum...ML/000058.html

Purely as an example, every few days, someone new (to the question) may wonder "What has happened to doc?". Therefore, the reason for new threads.

Of course, there's nothing preventing those who have no interest whatever in what has happened to doc from simply ignoring such threads, since they are all clearly labeled, in the same way that many of us change the channel whenever we encounter professional wrestling on television.

Or, do some feel that they are entitled not to even be subject to knowledge of the availability of things in which they are not interested? (Note: The world does not generally work this way. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif)