dhammer53

Inflamatory thread titles.

I read this thread...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/omni-...l#post11161503

... and found that the thread title had nothing to do with what was posted in the thread.

I'm not sure why the thread title was posted at all.

I'd like TalkBoard to consider adjusting the TOS to ask posters to post realistic titles, vs titles that have nothing to do with the actual topic.

ajax

I am of the personal belief that some members of our FT community are overreacting to this particular thread title.

It is obvious to any frequent (or not-so-frequent) reader of OMNI P/R that threads discussing issues surrounding the state of Israel or issues therein garner a great deal of attention (and generate a great deal of animosity ), to the chagrin of many members who wish to discuss something else.

My take on this thread title is that it has absolutely nothing to do with the state of Israel, neither discussion nor critique. Rather, it is a tongue-in-cheek jibe at the predominance of Israel-related threads in OMNI P/R.

Personally, I do not see the big deal in mentioning Israel in the thread title. At all. Ask yourself: would this issue have been highlighted had the title of the thread in question been "Not a Russian thread" or "Not an Electric-Car thread"? Surely those are just as tangential. There are literally hundreds, perhaps thousands, of threads with barely-related titles (or threads who stray so far off course that they are completely unrelated to their original titla within a dozen posts). So where's the outrage there? Why have none of these other threads, dozens of which we all see every day, provoked such a response? What am I missing?

And as for the ToS, why exactly should posting non-topical thread titles be a violation? I see you haven't given any argument as to why this should be done; indeed, this entire motion seems to be emotional and reactive, from what I can read in your post. Would this new regulation extend to all thread titles which are non-topical or tangential? Or only ones which evoke strong emotions? Who's to judge which ones are appropriate?

tcook052

Much ado about nothing, IMHO. Trying to lessen FTers ability to comment on the times in thread titles is a slipperly slope and one I'd not like FT to start down.

Prospero

See clause below, from the current FT Guidelines and Rules:

Create Descriptive Titles - link to this guideline
Make thread titles as specific and descriptive as possible. Sometimes posters will start a thread with a very general title such as, "Guess what?" or "Strange airline policy". Be as helpful as possible in your thread titles, and if you want to improve or change your thread's title after you create it, ask a moderator in that forum for help.

Dovster

You are missing the fact that there has been a tremendous amount of bad feeling about anti-Israel and anti-Semitic posts in recent days. This went as far as having a Holocaust denial post.

One thread has been removed completely. Another has been shut down. {passage redacted by moderator}

This was an incredibly insensitive time for making a joke about this -- especially when starting a thread which had absolutely nothing at all to do with Israel.

At the minimum, it demonstrated very poor judgment.

ajax

We definitely agree that it demonstrated poor judgement. I think that's where it ends. Lessons have been learnt and I suggest everyone move on. ^

I think your perspective of OMNI lately probably differs from mine; I don't spend as much time reading and contributing to threads about Israel (I have more or less given up to preserve my blood pressure and sanity and good God who can keep up?) and thus I spend less time noticing when things go horribly wrong in that department.

I feel, however, that amending the ToS because someone is feeling sensitive over a particular thread title is a step too far. Again, this would be a judgement call and would open itself up to claims of bias, etc., right from the get-go.

FWIW, this thread title was completely within the ToS: it was completely descriptive. The thread was not about Israel, and it said so right in the title.

I understand that this was not posited in the most sensitive of lights, but if we're following the letter of the law, it certainly fits.

Dovster

Agreed on both points. The OP's suggestion in this thread is to change the letter of the law. I don't know if I agree with him as it may be an over-reaction.

I see that Randy has changed the thread's title to take Israel out of it completely. I think that is probably a better solution.

euslaner

Perhaps, then, you should go to the thread and edit your post #60 (now #54 since Randy has deleted several other posts) which directly contradicts the sentiments you have just offered.

That said, the entire post is still filled with anti-Semitic diatribes and even as the title has changed, the tirades go on.

This is an issue on which people are more than sensitive. There have been vicious attacks on people's identity that threaten the FT community. They have occupied a great deal of time for both the moderators and Randy--and more than one poster has felt free to brag about hostile attitudes toward Jews. Some posters take great efforts to be as mean as possible toward Jews and Israel (and yes attitudes toward one are related to attitudes toward the other) and at least one FTer has left the community altogether and has taken the issue outside FT. This barrage of anti-Semitic posts threatens the very integrity of FT. The issue of thread titles is a minor blip in this set of problems.

If people care about FT, they can hold their rants (did the Holocaust happen? why do Jews have such peculiar religious practices?) and discuss it with their families and others who share their biases. It's time for this sort of discussion to go--or for OMNI/PR to go.

Randy Petersen

As an update and I might suggest, these things are usually handled quite well at the local level. This thread title was corrected once it came to the attention and interest of our volunteer Moderators. Not the first time a thread title was altered or corrected by our volunteers acting for and on the best interest of our members, and truly not likely the last.

A point of reference, as mentioned earlier in this thread, there has been an unusual spike in threads pertaining to Israel, not brought about by the specific interests of our members, but more related to world events. And, if it makes any difference, in the OP post, the member does also include reference to the U.S. in the footnote in addition to the reference of Israel.

ajax

Back to the issue at hand, I don't think we should amend the ToS.

nsx

This covers it pretty well, IMHO. As a moderator of the very friendly Southwest forum, this is the issue that I act on more than any other. Some posters just love to attract readers by using intentionally vague titles. I re-title these threads immediately. (Note that on FT the OP does not have the ability to edit his thread title, so there's no point in my waiting for that to occur!) This is a minor transgression that falls far short of warranting any disciplinary action.

After a few of his threads have been retitled, the poster may learn to use more descriptive titles. In the meantime, I have saved readers time finding out what the thread was about.

Vague titles unquestionably subtract value from FT. The TOS covers this issue adequately. If you have a problem with mistitled threads, I suggest that you contact the moderators of the forum in question and politely ask them to be more aggressive about re-titling threads.

FWIW, moderators hear complaints from both sides on this issue, with some posters preferring complete deletion to retitling of their masterpieces. Go figure.

Moderator2

Thank you for bringing the subject back in focus. Hopefully other posters will heed your good advice.

nsx

Moderator2, could you please retitle this thread "Requirement to make thread titles descriptive?"

RichardInSF

Of course, since the original content of the thread and references to it here have been totally changed, those of us who are not regular Omni readers have no idea how justified any of the requests are! Maybe that's better anyhow in the global scheme of things, but if it is, that also suggests that this thread has run its course as well.