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Originally Posted by KathyWdrf
...
And one modest request: would it be possible to put OMNI back up in "read-only" form, so that we can look at it without being able to post to it? |
Originally Posted by Leftover Meatloaf
As a non-OMNI participant who read all of FT for over a year before registering to post and read OMNI for at least half that time, I agree 100%. I know that the OMNI moderators have gotten a lot of support in this thread, but if you ask me, the moderators were the problem in the thread. Their moderation was NOT even handed when it came to political discussions. If you viewed it as "fair and balanced" then you likely see Dan Rathers reporting as "fair and balanced" as well - you'd be wrong in both cases.
In over a year, I don't recall seeing anything in OMNI that I found offensive. It seemed to be a pretty tame political (and lets stick to that, because that's where the problems were) discussion where each side presented their point of view and (in some cases) supported it with links to legitimate news. Frequently a thread would get locked or include a "warning post" from a moderator to "cut out the personal attacks". I'd read through the threads and try to figure out what the offending post was. Generally it would be a situation where a conservative-leaning poster would be making a logical and well-supported post that the moderators disagreed with. What it boiled down to is that they couldn't handle the truth. All you need to do is read through the ORP forum for the past year and it is quite clear to see that moderation in OMNI was a huge problem (although it appears that some of those threads in ORP have been deleted). Don't get me wrong, its Randy's board and we read it for free; he can do whatever he wants with his property. If he wanted his board to be a tool to elect John Kerry, he could have left OMNI open. Obviously he decided that he didn't want his board used for that purpose. But, all this gushing over the "great job" the moderators did really hit a nerve with me. Unbalanced moderation may not be the only cause of the demise of OMNI, but it certainly played a role from my perspective. We couldn't handle the truth, you sound like Jack Nicholson in "A Few Good Men" :p Needless to say, we have complains about everything, we act on the complaints, we are unfair, we don't do anything, we are unfair. 90% of all the reported posts come from politic/religion threads ;) |
Originally Posted by kcvt750
The U.S. Department of Labor announced an unexpected spike in worker productivity on October 4th, 2004. ;)
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Originally Posted by Leftover Meatloaf
As a non-OMNI participant who read all of FT for over a year before registering to post and read OMNI for at least half that time, I agree 100%. I know that the OMNI moderators have gotten a lot of support in this thread, but if you ask me, the moderators were the problem in the thread. Their moderation was NOT even handed when it came to political discussions. If you viewed it as "fair and balanced" then you likely see Dan Rathers reporting as "fair and balanced" as well - you'd be wrong in both cases.
In over a year, I don't recall seeing anything in OMNI that I found offensive. It seemed to be a pretty tame political (and lets stick to that, because that's where the problems were) discussion where each side presented their point of view and (in some cases) supported it with links to legitimate news. Frequently a thread would get locked or include a "warning post" from a moderator to "cut out the personal attacks". I'd read through the threads and try to figure out what the offending post was. Generally it would be a situation where a conservative-leaning poster would be making a logical and well-supported post that the moderators disagreed with. What it boiled down to is that they couldn't handle the truth. All you need to do is read through the ORP forum for the past year and it is quite clear to see that moderation in OMNI was a huge problem (although it appears that some of those threads in ORP have been deleted). Don't get me wrong, its Randy's board and we read it for free; he can do whatever he wants with his property. If he wanted his board to be a tool to elect John Kerry, he could have left OMNI open. Obviously he decided that he didn't want his board used for that purpose. But, all this gushing over the "great job" the moderators did really hit a nerve with me. Unbalanced moderation may not be the only cause of the demise of OMNI, but it certainly played a role from my perspective. I'm all for the permanent removal of politics and religion from FT. Come to think of it, I'm in favour of a ban on public complaints about moderator decisions too. If you don't like it, feel free to take it to private e-mail or private message with Randy. Posting the complaints in public does little but cause the "I like 98% of moderators" crowd to jump into the fray too. What's the point in that? FewMiles.. |
I used to travel a whole lot (130K miles/year) from 1992-2000, so FT was a great place to be. I'm travelling a whole lot this year, too.
But I had down travel years in 2001-2003 (a job that kept me close to home). I kept active on FlyerTalk during those years, mostly to visit OMNI. I'll miss it. |
OMNI is closed. What's OMNI? :p
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As for the "take it to another board" comment, there's a reason FT is special - it's got a great group of members. Putting aside politics (and OMNI was wildly tame versus some boards where people are continuously talking about how certain people and groups should be killed, let alone some name calling), OMNI brought together an incredibly intelligent and worldly group of people had great insight and advice.
While I participate on some other boards, I haven't found any, and I doubt I will, where there's such a great membership where I'd feel comfortable asking for personal advice, let alone care about the recommendations of other members.
Originally Posted by jfe
And as I asked before, you probably learned a lot, but chances are, no one has switched positions. And I mean that for everyone who has discussed politics in there
Maybe I haven't done a complete 180, but I've certainly learned a lot and had my positions shaped by the arguments that have been made. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Originally Posted by FewMiles
Why even bother with this discussion... OMNI is now closed, and still we have people saying the moderation was unfair. You know what, when it comes to politics and religion, you put the three mods in a tough spot. Whatever they do, one side or another ends up complaining about it, not because the mods are biased one way or the other, but more because people are just so touchy when it comes to religion and politics and can't take it even though they like to dish it out.
I'm all for the permanent removal of politics and religion from FT. Come to think of it, I'm in favour of a ban on public complaints about moderator decisions too. On the first part, I disagree. Adults can have a discussion of religion and politics without resorting to attacks. If certain members can't act like adults, they shouldn't be posting. |
Originally Posted by Leftover Meatloaf
Their moderation was NOT even handed when it came to political discussions. If you viewed it as "fair and balanced" then you likely see Dan Rathers reporting as "fair and balanced" as well - you'd be wrong in both cases.
If the moderator thinks it's political, it's gone. If your contribution gets (let's pick an arbitrary number) 5 threads locked in a week, then automatic timeout. If you want to call the moderator a biased tyrant? Guess what? Some of us don't care what you think of us. It's not a popularity contest, and this ain't a democracy. |
Originally Posted by kcvt750
The U.S. Department of Labor announced an unexpected spike in worker productivity on October 4th, 2004. ;)
CLASSIC ^ |
MHO is that closing OMNI is a mistake.
Yes, there was a lot of insensitivity there. But, last I checked, one was not forced to go into that forum. It's at the bottom of the list and those that partook in the nonsense did so at their own peril. It was a great place to get to know people better and get funky questions answered. People here know a lot about travel, but they also know a lot about other stuff too. OMNI represented a great opportunity to harness that knowledge. |
Originally Posted by Doppy
As for the "take it to another board" comment, there's a reason FT is special - it's got a great group of members. Putting aside politics (and OMNI was wildly tame versus some boards where people are continuously talking about how certain people and groups should be killed, let alone some name calling), OMNI brought together an incredibly intelligent and worldly group of people had great insight and advice.
While I participate on some other boards, I haven't found any, and I doubt I will, where there's such a great membership where I'd feel comfortable asking for personal advice, let alone care about the recommendations of other members. I think you're completely wrong. Maybe I haven't done a complete 180, but I've certainly learned a lot and had my positions shaped by the arguments that have been made. I'm sure I'm not the only one. I agree. Honestly, people are always complaining about moderation and I think I've yet to see anything which really merits a complaint. Not every decision is going to go the way you want it to, but I think the moderators - across all the fora (that I'm familiar with) are doing a great job. I'm with you on the second part. Way too much complaining. This forum should be renamed "Only Silly Complaints." On the first part, I disagree. Adults can have a discussion of religion and politics without resorting to attacks. If certain members can't act like adults, they shouldn't be posting. |
Originally Posted by Leftover Meatloaf
As a non-OMNI participant who read all of FT for over a year before registering to post and read OMNI for at least half that time, I agree 100%. I know that the OMNI moderators have gotten a lot of support in this thread, but if you ask me, the moderators were the problem in the thread. Their moderation was NOT even handed when it came to political discussions. If you viewed it as "fair and balanced" then you likely see Dan Rathers reporting as "fair and balanced" as well - you'd be wrong in both cases.
In over a year, I don't recall seeing anything in OMNI that I found offensive. It seemed to be a pretty tame political (and lets stick to that, because that's where the problems were) discussion where each side presented their point of view and (in some cases) supported it with links to legitimate news. Frequently a thread would get locked or include a "warning post" from a moderator to "cut out the personal attacks". I'd read through the threads and try to figure out what the offending post was. Generally it would be a situation where a conservative-leaning poster would be making a logical and well-supported post that the moderators disagreed with. What it boiled down to is that they couldn't handle the truth. All you need to do is read through the ORP forum for the past year and it is quite clear to see that moderation in OMNI was a huge problem (although it appears that some of those threads in ORP have been deleted). Don't get me wrong, its Randy's board and we read it for free; he can do whatever he wants with his property. If he wanted his board to be a tool to elect John Kerry, he could have left OMNI open. Obviously he decided that he didn't want his board used for that purpose. But, all this gushing over the "great job" the moderators did really hit a nerve with me. Unbalanced moderation may not be the only cause of the demise of OMNI, but it certainly played a role from my perspective. Well, this whole argument (blaming the moderators for their supposed bias and claiming that OMNI could have been "a tool to elect John Kerry" if Randy had wanted that) really supports the idea of CLOSING OMNI, or at least cutting out political/religious threads, rather than the opposite!!! Talk about self-defeating arguments! :p |
Originally Posted by jfe
Your response exemplifies the reason why OMNI was closed, but thanks for proving my point ;)
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:confused: :td: :mad: :(
I'm sad to see OMNI go. Not entirely surprised, but it's always a shame to see such a vibrant part of a community go with such short notice. I assumed it was a technical problem. With OMNI I've been a subscriber to two philosophies: "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words may never hurt me" and "If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen" I'm of the opinion that OMNI's problems stemmed more from people taking offense to the posts than the people posting controversial material in the first place. That being said, I do recognize that there was a great number of immature posts and possibly offensive material. However, in my entire OMNI experience I can only think of 1 or 2 posts that were genuinely offensive, and had it been an unpleasant forum to visit, I wouldn't have! I think some people had a fixation with reading offensive posts so they could make a stink. :td: It's too bad that FT couldn't handle it. I don't want to end this post sounding like an unappreciative jerk. Ultimately, I thank you Randy for this wonderful website and it's wealth of knowledge. It has literally changed my life for the better. ^ ^ ;) ;) I respect your decision to close OMNI, although I'm most disappointed. Hopefully someday it will be able to be reopened with a disclaimer that says "If you are offended by anything you read here...T.S., it's unmoderated, deal with it" |
Originally Posted by anrkitec
I am sorry but this makes no sense to me...unless it is an inside joke [?] :confused:
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3 minutes later we engage in exchanging PMs, please edit posts, closing threads, having to respond in ORP That is how all closed threads get out of control, and this summarizes why OMNI was ultimately closed <sigh> |
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