OK, after all the Mod activity over the past few days and repeated references to the ‘Rules’ I’ve just read the sticky at the top. I would have emailed this question to the Sticky author but his email address is not in his profile.

The question: If the rules against the behaviour the masses are clearly ‘guilty’ of have been in place for ’10 years’ and the Forum has grown from strength to strength under light touch moderation during that time, what has changed that has lead to the ‘crack down’? As far as I can see, the level of ‘misbehaviour’ is much as as it has always been so it’s not as if the forum has gone to hell in a hand cart.

I’m not tryin g to be provocative, I would simply like to know what is driving the change of approach please. I’m also not inviting others to ‘jump on the bandwagon’ and as such, if you would prefer to email a response directly please do. Additionaly, if you think a sensible question warrants a ban, so be it.

Bye! 😉

it is all fred’s fault
he is a horrible little scrote who has antagonized all the mods to within a inch of snapping, and now we are all having to pay for his horrible ways.
burn the little mockney scrote……………. 😀

…. tsssk… I am being serious <sigh>

eee, I remember when it was all effin and jeffin and pron round here 🙁

😉

I must say, I’ve been wondering too (along with many of us, I guess). My first thoughts were that perhaps STW is courting a new, squeaky clean sponsor who has demanded a cleanup.

Total speculation though.

Mark works at singletrackworld.com

I wonder what his email address could be?

Nah, I reckon they’re just fed up of dealing with the whining and hand-wringing emails every time someone does something entertaining. It’s like real life to some people, I swear !

“STW/st” does seem to employ a whole bunch of peeps now though, so it’s more of a business than it used to be

I do miss the old* stuff though – instant name-changes and all that pisstaking

*was never “here” before it was stw and I think I missed even the start of that

@ miketually Perhaps but I don’t know the format of STW addressing never having had reason to email before. It’s been said many times in the past week, email the mods etc rather than post up. If we are to do that, help us out eh?

It’s not too much to ask the author of the sticky being used to enforce the new approach to the rules to make it easy for forum users to provide feedback is it?

These are the rules of another forum that I go on:

“The rules are unwritten and if you can’t guess what they are, then this isn’t the forum for you.

Only one rule IS written – please use CAPITALS in your sentences. Those posts which don’t do this will be deleted on sight. “

They do not have any moderation problems. Perhaps we need a rule simplification here too.

he is a horrible little scrote who has antagonized all the mods to within a inch of snapping

I thought he was quite a good egg 🙂

it looks a bit like the answer is in the post no?

For the record… I’m not trying to stir. I would really like to know what’s changed.

barnes………..and we all know you are a bit ‘radio’ 😀

😉

barnes………..and we all know you are a bit ‘radio’

Can you repeat that again please 😉

Se up your own forum.

@redthunder. Is that to me? If so, I’m not questioning the rules or complaining, I’m asking for a bit of grown up feedback.

For the record… I’m not trying to stir. I would really like to know what’s changed.

I think a few prudes have been putting pressure on the mods, first they see pron in the A&A threads and now they (the prudes) want to prevent adults from expressing themselves in an adult way. Shame really.

Don’t know what has caused the change but the consequence is that it is getting a bit boring on here 😐

Now, from thinking about what they said about the forum being accessible to people of every age, which is true.

But being only 15 myself even though I use the said words myself a decent amount, If some one wrote a word of that nature and I was younger I would just take it as its an adult forum. That’s no problem.

Best bit I love about this forum is its one of the only ones that isn’t blocked by Leedslearning.net so therefore even though all the rude and bad words are used on here its clearly not seen as that bad to learning authority’s since almost every other forum is blocked.

I do find it cramping. would I get a ban for using a word I would in normal conversation? How about a word I’d happily use in a pub with ladies present? Or how about a word that fundamentalist americans might find upsetting (like evolution, or devilish)? How about a word I’d use at work that in some other location could be seen as smutty, like nipple (bike mechanic)

I really don’t know, and I’ve read the sticky a few times. If I used the word —— would it get automatically starred out? How about –00–? Good grief it’s like being in a Victorian novel

“D— your eyes you deuced ne’er do well, d— you to h—!”

The rules are the rules, I have no issue with that. Accept or go elsewhere. Fine.

My question is related to the recent application of them and what prompted that.

My question is related to the recent application of them and what prompted that.

It’s Xmas soon they all understandably want time off, a crack down now will hopefully give them a breather over Xmas.

@ miketually Perhaps but I don’t know the format of STW addressing never having had reason to email before. It’s been said many times in the past week, email the mods etc rather than post up. If we are to do that, help us out eh?

At the bottom of the page, there is a link which says “contact us”…

KINGTUT FTW. It does tend to go a bit mental on here over Christmas, given the sudden intake of booze and time off work..

I’m asking for a bit of grown up feedback.

😀

Another forum I go on has a slightly humerous swear filter that automatically changes sweary words to innocuous alternatives. C**t = carrot, s**t shampoo, pr**k pumpkin and so on, really defuses the whole bad language thing.
Was quite funny when we signed a player from Scarrotthorpe!

It would be a shame if this apparent crackdown changed the vibe of STW, I don’t post much but I’ve been visiting for years, I like the humour and feel of the forum.
I pretty much only buy the mag as I feel indebted to the forum providers, I probably wouldn’t buy it if I didn’t frequent the forum and I bet there are a few more out there like me.
Mods perhaps beware a drop in mag sales and profits if the forum starts to slide

I do find it cramping

Limited vocabulary, bassspine?

says the person censoring words from his own vocabulary – here add irony to yours from me 😉

Spaceman – Member

I pretty much only buy the mag as I feel indebted to the forum providers, I probably wouldn’t buy it if I didn’t frequent the forum and I bet there are a few more out there like me.

I’m one.

That’s the worry. The over current zealous heavy handedness could well change the vibe and then… I’m all for trying to keep things civilised but when making changes in order to apply 10 year old rules, best do it in a way that’s logical and reasonable.

The forum is a community of forumites after all. STW may ‘own’ the transport but the community ‘owns’ the dialogue.

Different forums have different rules.
Some are like being in the workshop at work, this one is now like visiting Mrs MTG’s mum. I can live with that.

However, I’m sure I read the word for “poo” that sounds a bit like “shift” in the magazine recently, or did I imagine that ?
Then Surf Mat got a two day ban for using that same word.
It’s a little bizarre that someone could potentially get a forum ban for quoting the print magazine on the forum.

And then there’s this… 😕
http://www.singletrackworld.com/2010/12/premier-broadcast-snow-jokers/

We should warn you that Matt and Jon use a little smidgen of bad language in this video.

The forum always used to, until this new post-hack version, have a swear filter that replaced the offending words with stars. So really, it’s going back to a simpler time.

However, certainly not as simple a time as the days of Sealoin etc which was genuine chaos on the intertubes.

It’s just a cycle that the forum goes through. Every now and then it gets a bit too unruly and a bit of military clamp down keeps it all in check for a while.

Four Queue!

I just read the fb vs Jordan thread, can’t believe it got closed just because a mod thought it would probably go downhill.

On that basis they could close just about anything.

I can only assume that even though people are complaining about the changes, the majority are happy and we therefore democracy in action, which is a good thing.
I would also imagine that if majority of people, or even some, were not happy you could always follow the rules to the letter and report all the posts which you find offensive, or which include bad language or swearfilter avoidance to the mods. A sudden and dramatic increase might have the effect of a rethink or mass bannings would have a dramatic effect on the numbers of posts.

Just a thought, like! (Anyone got a link for an angel emoticon?) 😆

I’m not bothered about the clamping down on swearing but it is a bit over zealous, I mean get real guys is shit (crap) really a swear word. What does piss me right off is swearing in the magazine from people who work as journalists then surely you have a more comprehensive vocabulary? I did see the ‘f’ word in a recent issue so double standards eh.

This is one of the reasons I cancelled my subs yesterday.

Okay so shit is no longer filtered out then. Bravo, some sense been applied.

Gary_M – I reported your post just to see what would happen. No offence meant or taken by your post and it’s not personal.

I can only assume that even though people are complaining about the changes, the majority are happy and we therefore democracy in action, which is a good thing.

democracy without a vote – I like that

or maybe we could be allowed to report threads that we want to keep too, if we’re enjoying them. then the mods can really apply democracy