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You'll see we enabled Thanks across the Board as well. Why limit the fun???
Pete, the word polarization has been bantered about a few times... Is it so wrong for people to have an opinion on a matter in a social community? Is it so wrong for people to subtly indicate their stance on the matter without spewing forth yet another post summarizing the points of someone else...?
Or do yo honestly foresee leather jackets being printed up w/ DLB, Hitchhikers, Lionfish, DNY on the backs and people showing up at the dock @ 8pm for a good ole fashion re-enactment from West Side Story....
What purpose does enabling the Thanks button serve in these specific threads vs. others....? From the forum selection, its all about educating the new diver. Seems like taking a page from LDS playbook on identifying their clientèle. All us people who've been around forever don't matter anymore, cuz it's all about pushing the mask, fins, and snorkel....
Have a Happy ITK - I will... The internet will be here when I return....
-Tim
Slandered? You probably meant libeled, and all I did was to provide a few facts about the Lionfish thread. Let me list them...
- People are making wild allegations that this action was a direct result of the Lionfish Thread. (True while the allegations are false)
- People have indeed apologized for their actions in that thread. (True)
- It has been the subject of a number of reported posts. (True)
- None of those reports concerned the Thanks button. (True)
- It has been used to make fun of others. (True)
- Those posts have been removed. (True)
- I don't think that its mission has only to do with Lionfish. (True)
I did not bring up the Lionfish thread, but many have and are blaming it for the removal of the thanks button. I aimed to show that this was not the case. In doing so, I simply stated facts. As I have learned in a suit recently brought against me, the truth, no matter how unflattering, is the absolute defense against libel. I feel that I am not guilty in that respect. I have stated previously I was not being coy in posting this. I also pointed out later that this was something that the mods have reached consensus on, based over several years of trying to keep civility here on ScubaBoard. Indeed (and ironically so), keeping ScubaBoard civil is largely a thankless job and the mods should be commended for their hard work and devotion. But here, I will try to explain it.
In many of the more contentious threads, you will see the two sides coalescing by the thanks given to one side or the other. The more contentious the thread, the more thanks are given and to the point that it may resemble your Lionfish thread in the sheer number of thanks given. It should not be hard to see that these kind of contentious threads usually spawn problematic posts which must be dealt with. The causality is tenuous at best: which came first, the thanks or the problematic posts? Yet the mods and I believe that the Thanks feature can actually galvanize opposing sides into to making more and more inflammatory posts, creating more work for us and a less civil community. I don't know how else to explain it, I apologize for my ineptitude in doing so, but I am not alone in seeing this phenomenon. Many of the people who have PMed me privately, thanking me for this, have indicated the very same thing. If you have not experienced it, then please thank the mods for their ability to keep things moderately civil. Perhaps this helps somewhat more even though I must apologize for not being able to convey my thoughts as I would like. Mea culpa.
The forums selected are "diving related only." Scuba Diving Central includes everything from New Divers through Tech, Instructor forums, Captain forums, etc. So it's not about the new divers, it's about diving related content. At the moment the only forums on the DNR list are the community and the non-diving related forums.
While I can't make any promises on what the final resolution will be, we are still considering all the feedback being given, both pro and con.
.....is apparently pissing a lot of people off in the long run! ......
3 to 1 Ben....three to one. 'nuff said
I'm not going to read 34 pages of this thread but could someone please explain or post to the explanation of what exactly was being abused and how? I mean, I can't see that the person being thanked would be upset by the feature and I don't get why someone else might take exception to someone being thanked-even if that person holds a different opinion. It just shows that a certain number of people agree or disagree with you and does not validate the position one way or the other.