| Author | Message | ||
     Chris Dickson Citizen Username: Ironman Post Number: 941 Registered: 8-2001  |
What if we went to a "Survivor" format ... You know, voting folks off the island ... Hmmm ... Who'd be first? | ||
| Montagnard Citizen Username: Montagnard Post Number: 316 Registered: 6-2003 |
A Survivor format would be quite good, or maybe a poster rating scheme like they use for reviewers on Amazon.com. Threads could be then labelled with the high, average, and lowest poster rating, so you could decide whether they were worth reading. There would also be a threshold, so if your poster rating was too low, you would not be able to post to the thread. However, you could always improve your rating by getting your friends to rate you as "relevant" or "good", so even the trolls would get a chance from time to time, provided that enough people actually saw them as representative. | ||
| mem Citizen Username: Mem Post Number: 2516 Registered: 5-2001  |
Dave, The person who attacked me out of the blue, both on-line and through privateline, was extremely mean spirited, and not well either. If a witch hunt was conducted, it's because sometimes, you really do get what you give. | ||
| canismajor Citizen Username: Canismajor Post Number: 243 Registered: 7-2001 |
How about setting limits on the number of posts per day per thread? This might eliminate the endless petty sniping that seems to go on ad infinitem on MOL these days. I would prefer if any and all posts that go totally off topic were summarily zapped or swiftly relocated to a new area called "Landfill". I'm growing tired of reading threads whose titles pique my interest but that go on to degenerate into political polemics or schoolyard bullying. I'm not sure that a fee-based Soapbox would work, but a fee-based Ignore feature might. I would certainly be willing to pony up to avoid wading through the self-aggrandizing ravings of those who have gone a long way towards ruining MOL. | ||
| Charles "Chuck" Howley Citizen Username: Cowboy Post Number: 218 Registered: 9-2003 |
I have a better idea. Why not address the issue of "Liberal Slander" which has become increasingly obvious on MOL. You could even go as far as to ban someone other than a conservative once in a while. That would serve to show that bias is not always the rule here on MOL Soapbox. | ||
| wharfrat Citizen Username: Wharfrat Post Number: 893 Registered: 6-2001 |
Chuck- You could even go as far as to ban someone other than a conservative once in a while. Dave is very fair when deciding to ban a poster for personal attacks. It has very little to do with "liberal bias". The fact that some of the more "conservative" posters are banned with greater frequency is because they cross a line and resort to personal attacks. | ||
| bobk Citizen Username: Bobk Post Number: 4157 Registered: 5-2001 |
Chucky, are you as a died in the wool conservative proposing a quota.  | ||
| greenetree Citizen Username: Greenetree Post Number: 1904 Registered: 5-2001 |
Why not a permanent ban after a certain number of suspensions? Frankly , I think that everyone who complains about freedom of speech should start their own board. Jerseyfab- I don't know if you are really new or an old poster under another name, but Dave gives us a lot of access to a lot of information & it doesn't cost us a cent. I don't get you attacking him as if he is being greedy. I am one of those people who no longer reads the Soapbox on a regular basis, and I never even browse threads that are obviously about politics, the war, "what's wrong with Maplewood", etc. I haven't opened the Education thread at all in over a year. I got sick and tired of the negativity, psuedo-intellectual mental masturbation, childishness and personal attacks. It's true, people like me just don't read those threads. But, it seems as more people get turned off, many of the people (not all) who stay are the loud, boorish ones who don't add very much to the mix. | ||
| notehead Citizen Username: Notehead Post Number: 804 Registered: 5-2001  |
I'm with Greenetree - if you don't like it here, then take a hike. I wholeheartedly support a permanent ban on posters who have earned a certain number of suspensions, but how can Dave keep those posters off MOL? It's easy enough to create another screen name (although I personally have never had a reason to). As a sage friend once said, "you can't take the spots off a leopard." Posters here are who they are, and those of us who participate are just going to have to get along as well as we can, or ignore each other. | ||
| United Strawberry of America Citizen Username: Strawberry Post Number: 1662 Registered: 10-2001  |
Notey, I thought you were with "Greenpeace", not "Greentrees".  "We won't always have the strongest military" --Howard Dean "Most competent and qualified kindergarden teachers can tell you who the 5 kids are in his or her class likely to wind up in prison 15 - 20 years from now." --Howard Dean | ||
| Tom Reingold the prissy-pants Citizen Username: Noglider Post Number: 1551 Registered: 1-2003  |
Maybe Dave's latest improvement is all we need. He (or Jamie) has apparently moved the soapbox lower in the list of sections. This will prevent the newcomers from stopping in too soon. Tom Reingold There is nothing | ||
| 1-2many Citizen Username: Wbg69 Post Number: 793 Registered: 6-2002 |
Dave, thank you for soliciting participant suggestions on how you should run your website. and it being the end of the year, it seems like a good time in general to thank you for running the site. I have learned a lot by participating here, and have increased certain skills. so thanks, Dave, a lot, and also thanks to all the other posters who bring their ideas here and who observe with the minimum standards of civility Dave sets. which brings us to the topic at hand: I support the suggestion of increasing severity of punishment for recidivism, and respectfully propose that the first attack gets 3 days' suspension, 2nd gets 1 week, 3rd gets 2, 4th gets 4, and 5th gets infinity, i.e., expulsion. for suspended posters who run out, get a new e-mail account, and then use it to set up a new identity: I don't see how you prohibit this. I DO, though, think that if/when they're caught, they should be subject to intensified punishment. Chris Dickson's Survivor idea made me chuckle. nice one, Chris! though I fear that the politically too-unorthodox might be eliminated for this reason, rather than for violations of posting standards. this IS the marketplace of ideas. to maintain (reinstate?) the flow of new and different ideas, there have to be some enforced standards to force participants to be civil, and to stick to substantive issues only. | ||
| United Strawberry of America Citizen Username: Strawberry Post Number: 1663 Registered: 10-2001 |
You know what... enough is enough.. This thing is called a soapbox and it gives each of us a chance to vent on issues that bother us. MOL has plenty of other areas that offer those who use MOL a chance to ask questions and receive answers on topics from home improvement etc. etc. where they don't have to worry about having their feelings hurt. This thing where people are insulted by topics or posters in the soap box which advertises "having a cow man this is the place to be." is just stupid. So to those with glass chins go elsewhere.. By the way, It's always the same posters whining and bitching to Dave to ban me and you know what, Dave won't because I have a right to say what's on my mind just like Wharfrat and the liberal left do. Look the deal is this, Tom Reingold calls himself prissy pants because someone personally attacked him and he responded by laughing off the whole thing. He's not concerned with what others say, and neither should anyone else who "trolls" into the soapbox. Grow up already, each and everyone of you. (not you Dave) "We won't always have the strongest military" --Howard Dean "Most competent and qualified kindergarden teachers can tell you who the 5 kids are in his or her class likely to wind up in prison 15 - 20 years from now." --Howard Dean | ||
| mfpark Citizen Username: Mfpark Post Number: 106 Registered: 9-2001 |
Notehead: I think Greenetree was saying something different than the way you heard it. Greenie said that s/he no longer even participates in many Soapbox discussions, same as many others. This means that Soapbox, by definition, becomes more concentrated on those with aggressive posting practices--and I mean aggressive in terms of what they say, how often they say it, and how loudly they try to scream at others. Frankly, I think the best thing would be for people to ignore the morons and only dialogue with people interested in a true dialogue. Personal attacks should be treated like the childlike temper tantrums they are--and ignored, like we do when our children stamp their feet and demand negative attention. What they want is the thrill of negative feedback, a pseudo-macho confrontation. I say, simply ignore them, move past their posts, and speak to the ones that are responsible and reasonable in their search for new knowledge. Soon enough the morons will dry up from shouting in the wind. People who have divergent viewpoints should be able to reasonably debate them, even heatedly, without getting into personal attacks and dismissive rants. | ||
| notehead Citizen Username: Notehead Post Number: 809 Registered: 5-2001 |
You're right, I read the whole thing too quickly (trying to work at the same time!). That is quite true - more of the posters that remain in the soapbox are less interested in really discussing issues than they were 3+ years ago when many of us got started here. I've left MOL for months at a time for that very reason. | ||
| greenetree Citizen Username: Greenetree Post Number: 1906 Registered: 5-2001 |
MF- If only that were true. I've been a member of this community for about 3 years (I think). It used to be easy to ignore certain posters. I even had a one on one debate with someone who isn't around anymore at one point a couple years ago: we each posted rather sharply at each other (without name calling), resolved it within 4 posts on one thread and never addressed each other again. The main reason I don't even look at most Soapbox threads is that the back and forth completely overtakes and derails the discussion. It's too demoralizing to try and follow a thread when it disinigrates into mostly insults. Sometimes finding the actual discussion is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Grown adults should be able to follow some basic rules of communication and respect. Since there are a handful in this community who so clearly cannot, I stick to the other sections. I'm just sad that there are others who used to be intelligent, thoughtful, prolific posters who don't seem to participate anymore, or who rarely weigh in on hot issues. | ||
| Tom Reingold the prissy-pants Citizen Username: Noglider Post Number: 1559 Registered: 1-2003 |
My father told me that when he was a kid, his mother stepped on his toe. She apparently wasn't a very compassionate woman and yelled at him, "Get your foot out from under mine!" Tom Reingold There is nothing | ||
| Tom Reingold the prissy-pants Citizen Username: Noglider Post Number: 1560 Registered: 1-2003 |
Dave, I just reread the original note in this thread. I think you are trying to address two problems as if they are one. One is the personal attacks. The other is the cyclical nature of the discussions. The fact is that people like to make the same platitudes repeatedly. Maybe it's sad, but I think it's even sadder when people butt in just to say "boring". Whose job is it to entertain them? The personal attacks actually dismay me. I try not to let them get to me, but I think the world would be a better place if people were more responsible for what they said. Tom Reingold There is nothing | ||
| mem Citizen Username: Mem Post Number: 2522 Registered: 5-2001 |
OK, I am going to post this to answer the recent emails - why was I attacked? I was making fun of Clinton as I sometimes do, basically because I hold Clinton responsible for my friend's murder. Why do I blame Clinton? Because of all the serious terrorist attacks that came before 9/11 - nothing was done. This poster, who identifies way too much with Clinton, went at me visciously on MOL and through privateline. This wasn't the first time over the years, but it was particularly malicious this time. End of story. | ||
| Joan Citizen Username: Joancrystal Post Number: 2310 Registered: 5-2001 |
Dave: I don't think dividing soapbox into two separate directories is going to accomplish much. The posting style used by regulars won't change much and you will end up having to police both sections instead of one. One of the major problems with the real name directory was that the more interesting and comprehensive discussions remained in the "open" section of the board. The same is likely to happen again if the soapbox is split. I like the idea of having penalties for posters who launch person attacks and make otherwise inappropriate posts. By requiring real name information upon registration, even for posters choosing to be anonymous on line, the use of new poster names to avoid suspension could be controlled in most cases. |
