Censorship and SB..how far are we going to take this???

[Anonymous Poster]

That is IMHO exactly one of the things OP is pointing out. Personally I respect El Orans and respectfully say; it is BS to reprimand those comments. If the posters felt attacked they can go complain to their mommy. Geesh. One of the joys of the internet is one can brandish a weapon at their computer monitor all they want with out fear a worse lunatic gets medieval proactively .

If that is what the OP was talking about, then I am fully in favor of the moderation, and I am completely opposed to your position.

The joy of the Internet used to be that you could have interesting conversations with intelligent people without geographical limitations. Oh, there were always disagreements, and some of the flamewars were legendary, but they were never so devoid of self-control as the bicker-fests these days.

Look at the classic dispute between Andrew Tanenbaum and Linus Torvalds. There you had two intelligent people with quite disparate points of view, and the conversation was such that it lives on in myth and legend. If the Internet population these days had anywhere near the character of the people in that thread, we wouldn't need to have babysitting moderators to keep the natives from torching the village.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

It's Anonymous Poster's posts that shouldn't count.

You're entitled to your own opinion.

 

[BTravlin]

As a relatively new member, I must admit I'm not sure where or when this problem cropped up. I've never been to the SI or MOF because I wasn't aware they were here.

If there's an opt-in section and they want some looser rules then I have no problem with that but, ultimately, it's up to the owner of SB to decide what's best for their baby. Visitors and or members can then decide to stay or go depending on what suits them best.

Do I appreciate the fact that the main forum areas are pretty much free of so called adult language? Yes, I do. I try to limit my cussing as much as possible because I personally just don't think it's good to get in the habit of communicating that way.

Do I cuss? Yes, I do, but mostly during spontaneous eruptions of anger.

Would I not visit SB if cussing were common? No, I'd still visit but I think the quality of the discussions would deteriorate over time. Some threads already get overheated more due to a lack of written communication skills and/or poor comprehension skills rather than rabid disagreements over ideas. I don't see how adult language will add to a clear exchange of ideas. If the quality of the discussions did deteriorate over time then I'd move on.

 

[NathanBrazil]

So if I don't want to see/read something, then I need to ignore it. If you want to say something and are censored, why don't you just ignore it?

 

[NathanBrazil]

I'm not having a field day. It is obvious my post touched on something that was soo long overdue.

Not obvious at all. As usual on the internet, its become a post-fest between .0001% of the members...with most supporting the idea of that posters should exercise self-control and when that fails, then control should be exercised for them. And yes, there are the few on the 'fringe' whose reponses are that we should ignore the lack of self-control or go "..cry to our mommy."

 

[drbill]

There have been only a few occasions where I felt my posts were being unfairly "censored," usually due to the personal opinions of the moderator doing so. In such cases I appeal them. "Censorship" on "political" grounds has to be fairly enforced across the entire range of political persuasions and at times I don't feel it is. However, I'm not on SB to express my political beliefs so much... I'm hear to share in our common interest of SCUBA diving.

As for the "four-letter" words, I have been surprised on occasion at what words are **** out but I'm not one who is very fond of using such words to begin with. If you can't express your opinions in creative and compelling language without resorting to the use of such words, then you may need some further language training.

Hmmm... since this is an international board, I wonder if it is just English four-letter words that are censored. What about those in Norwegian, Spanish or Tagalog?

 

[DandyDon]

Oh, I've had Mods with their own vendettas on me, and one of them is still a Mod, but I survived. Much of my work did not, but I did, and with my reduced presence here - no real problems now.

If I get into a real tif, I can phone the owner, and he does return calls. Well, I guess the only time we actually spoke on phone was another story entirely, but he's fun to dine & visit with - I'm sure fun to dive with for those who have had the opportunity.

This thread has become a roach in the spaghetti.

Yep. Good on Jex for getting it going as it needed to go, even tho I don't agree. I need to go back to post #1 and Thank it. I am losing interesting in the thread, tho...

Originally Posted by fishdelasol View Post
Does my opinion count since I am not a supporting member?

Yep, Supporting is a different deal. You're an equal member, period. We all are.

 

[JeffG]

Create an area called The Wild West (possibly a sub-forum to The Surface Interval??)
A password-accessed place to discuss political, religious, and other topics that can turn into passionate discussions. This sub-forum is not moderated except for the most egregious offenses. Basically, no name-calling, derogatory comments, and no spam - other than that, anything goes). Do NOT enter here and then cry for help - you are on your own.

This is the part that I like.

As far as the Hot chick friday or censored language goes...I really couldn't give a ****.

Let the Global Warming/Whale threads go and let them evolve naturally.

Now, for sure this threads would get heated and someone will blow a gasket. So the mods could instead of editing/moderating and wasting a whole bunch of time, just put a 24hr hold on any thread that goes south. Leave the offensive posts there.

Keeps the moderator work down, but would allow people to cool of (or sober up ) before being able to post again.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

This is the part that I like. . .

Now, for sure this threads would get heated and someone will blow a gasket. So the mods could instead of editing/moderating and wasting a whole bunch of time, just put a 24hr hold on any thread that goes south. Leave the offensive posts there.

Keeps the moderator work down, but would allow people to cool of (or sober up ) before being able to post again.

Would you freeze just the thread or both the thread and the account of the offenders Machine Gun [-]Kelly[/-] Kitty?

 

[JeffG]

Would you freeze just the thread or both the thread and the account of the offenders Machine Gun [-]Kelly[/-] Kitty?

Just the thread.

For the type of users that get frustrated and does the "You are a %$^^%$^% moron" post. They just need to cool off.

There will be Seagull type users (fly in and caca over everthing). They might have to be dealt with differently.

I like keeping the offending posts though. For good or bad, they reflect the user.