Moderation: Too much or too little?

[101recon]

Sometimes I'm really amazed at the things I see on forums. Maybe it's just that my perspective is different. But JEEEEEESUS PEOPLE!!!!!

When I left for work this morning this thread had about 200 posts. In the next 6 hours or so the post count had risen to around 250. Most of these posts were made by about 8 or so members. That works out to about 1 post every 8 minutes. And most of them were about a damn smiley ( Or some analogy thereof). While I do understand that the debate is more about the underlying reasons than the smiley itself, IT'S STILL JUST A FORUM PEOPLE.

If you consider the time it takes to read all these posts, analyze them, pick out the parts you don't like, then type out a response you have wasted half a work day. Nothing seems to have been accomplished in this thread anyway.

If I had that kind of free time on my hands I would be in the water somewhere and the smileys and administration of SB wouldn't even enter my mind. Don't get me wrong. SB is a great place to learn about diving and meet other divers. But I also know a quite a few divers who choose not to participate here simply because of threads and debates like this one.

OK. Rant over. Feel free to indulge in all the flame cooked popcorn you can handle. I'll catch up on the thread when I get back from diving. Have fun and try to play nice. And remember..... Burnt popcorn is nasty.

 

[gypsyjim]

..... Burnt popcorn is nasty.

and it tastes almost as bad as it smells

 

[Insta-Gator]

101recon, you missed the point. Loss of a smiley is at worst a nuisance. What we're trying to point out is that there are people who are flamers, antagonists, malcontents that will on occasion use certain smilies as part of their diatribe against someone and the admins have chosen to remove the smilies rather than deal effectively with the antagonists. This only gets our attention because of the inconvenience and the feeling of censorship.

Enjoy your dive.

 

[101recon]

No, I get the point as I tried to say with this part of my post "While I do understand that the debate is more about the underlying reasons than the smiley itself, IT'S STILL JUST A FORUM PEOPLE."

And yes, there are "flamers, antagonists, malcontents that will on occasion use certain smilies as part of their diatribe against someone and the admins have chosen to remove the smilies rather than deal effectively with the antagonists." I agree completely. In fact I think there are far too many.

But my point is that with a forum of this size there is no way that everyone will agree and there is no way the admin can please everyone. There is also no way to convince everyone to be happy with the same sheet of music. I don't think any one of us can post anything that will stop the flamers and antagonists. It's like arguing with a drunk or a stubborn ass. You are wasting your time.

I'm just suggesting that we let the asses be asses and ignore them while we go on to more important things like diving. After all, that is why MOST of us are here.

 

[gypsyjim]

After all, that is why MOST of us are here.

there have been times I think that you might be being overly generous there!

---------- Post added at 07:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:40 PM ----------

but, yes, that is generally the idea behind this board

 

[101recon]

Possibly.

 

[Insta-Gator]

Live too far form salt water to be truly happy with diving. The local mud holes have not opened yet. So....we post and dream about diving. Or find other distractions.

 

[gypsyjim]

Live too far form salt water to be truly happy with diving. The local mud holes have not opened yet. So....we post and dream about diving. Or find other distractions.

I am with you. Any time I would have to carve a hole in the surface of the water, in order to dive, I would rather either go somewhere warmer, or just dream and/or talk about the dives to come.

---------- Post added at 08:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:06 PM ----------

They are calling for one to three inches of the white stuff here tonight. So, I sit by the wood stove and chat with other divers.

 

[101recon]

This explains the popcorn and beer.

 

[gypsyjim]

This explains the popcorn and beer.

Ay-yup, that it does.