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

I thought some of us did downhill biking??

You’re voting by posting, if you don’t like, don’t post.
I think the reporting of posts is only for posts which break the rules, but I’m sure the mods would be pleased to receive any emails with positive feedback though, nothing to stop you sending them a mail.

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.

No worries.

You’re voting by posting, if you don’t like, don’t post.

See I’d endorse that but my suspicion is that “if you don’t like; go and bleat to the mods” applies more commonly and then the squeaky wheel gets the grease (and the non-anodyne thread gets pulled)

The mods are getting older. We all turn into our fathers, in the end…

If a word is not swear filtered such as Garym post can you use them without a ban?

Junkyard- no.

It’s not that hard guys. You do have time to think about what you post. I used swearing in quite a few of my posts previously but because they asked I stopped. Why not just do what they want?

It’s not that hard guys

well, maybe it is, spokes 🙄 – the OP was about recent changes in mod activity. I didn’t read it as being just about swearing; after all, if you swear (and it’s a word stw care about) it turns into **** anyway.
SO it’s about filter evasion but also (and more IMO) about why the approach has changed, or maybe is still changing – perhaps more puritanical application of the rules is just around the corner.

Yes, the site belongs to Mark & Chipps (AFAIK anyway) but it’s somewhere I like to come because of the banter rather than the pics of peoples’ new bikes and tyre questions. If the banter is stamped out so is the attraction, for me at least.

I honestly can’t remember a SINGLE thread that I’ve felt needed to be removed for reasons of offense (though occasional posting of personal details is inappropriate). There’s plenty of crap posted but I just tend to not read that (nor take it so seriously), rather than complain about it.

And to end, a suggestion:
Would it be possible, rather than deleting or closing a thread, that it could be readable only by logged in members and marked as “interesting” and so avoid the horror of accidental exposure to the thoughts of the extreme xenohomophobomisogynist sociopaths that populate stw ?

Scaredy, a middle aged middle class white male occasional biker. (Can I really be so far removed from “the mainstream” that I just don’t get this at all?).

There’s another thread on this sort of subject here which Mark has now closed but his response at the bottom of Page 5 might be worth a read if you’re unsure about the rules?

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/booooooooooo/page/5

I honestly can’t remember a SINGLE thread that I’ve felt needed to be removed for reasons of offense (though occasional posting of personal details is inappropriate).

Come on, loads of threads degenerate into sexist leching comments along the lines of “I’d do her” and so on, it’s just crude. 🙁

I honestly can’t remember a SINGLE thread that I’ve felt needed to be removed for reasons of offense (though occasional posting of personal details is inappropriate). There’s plenty of crap posted but I just tend to not read that (nor take it so seriously), rather than complain about it.

Firstly, I’ve posted a more detailed response on the other thread but to answer this point above, it is very clear to us that you are in the minority on that point. The majority of users of our forum do not want a free for all where anything goes. It’s a public forum and as a result everything that is posted is PUBLISHED to hundreds of thousands of visitors who have access to this site. That level of visibility of your comments demands a serious level of respect, not least because it’s us here at STHQ who are legally responsible for everything that is posted here.

For example.. I was contacted earlier this week by a hospital that objected to a comment that had been made about their hospital by a forum user. As it happened, despite the implicit legal threat we decided not to remove the comment. They came across the comment because they had been alerted by an automated Google news search on the name of their hospital.

My point is that what you say on here is VERY widely read. Far beyond the usual close circle of friends that most of us intend. The consequences of what is said can be very serious. That principal applies just as much to the sensibilities of the general reading public as it does for insulted hospital trusts and their big room of lawyers.

I’m not entering into anymore debate on the issue of moderation now as it will never end as we are never going to implement a policy that agrees with everyone. This is the one we have and it is the same one we’ve always had. The recent ‘crackdown’ has been in response to a growing need for it. Please work with us and accept the terms of use of our forum. Take responsibility for what you post and realise that your audience is much larger than you may ever intend.

Mr Woppit – Member
The mods are getting older. We all turn into our fathers, in the end…

lol – or will that get me banned???

(mark) it is very clear to us that you are in the minority on that point

Okay on the “never” aspect, but on the general point of finding the majority of closed or deleted threads inoffensive ? I doubt it – bet you daren’t open the last 2 or 3 up and run a proper poll !

I think I am probably fairly hard to offend, maybe “abnormally” so, and so can see that some members may be offended by some stuff. Personally I’d still leave that stuff up – how else am I going to know whose opinion to disrespect, and who’s an utter (four stars); Would the women on here happily go out on a group bike ride with blokes who’re into letching at photos of lycra’d up girls on the internet and offering to “kick their back doors in” ? How will they ever know which of us is ?

As somebody said somewhere on here recently, these things tend to be self-moderating IF LEFT, and stuff like A&A has run it’s course because it was clearly being taken over by letching. I’m not into that stuff, so I don’t bother with it (and that would appear to be the majority view) – but I don’t feel a need either to complain or to get all aggressive when someone else posts up a half-dressed man or woman.

Legal responsibility is one thing but a lot of the modding is totally unrelated to that (I never saw A&A approach page 3 of the sun, for example)

out of interest – that word that starts with f, that they used lots on Father Ted – banned for use these days, presumably ?

For example.. I was contacted earlier this week by a hospital that objected to a comment that had been made about their hospital by a forum user. As it happened, despite the implicit legal threat we decided not to remove the comment. They came across the comment because they had been alerted by an automated Google news search on the name of their hospital.

My point is that what you say on here is VERY widely read. Far beyond the usual close circle of friends that most of us intend. The consequences of what is said can be very serious. That principal applies just as much to the sensibilities of the general reading public as it does for insulted hospital trusts and their big room of lawyers.

I couldn’t agree more with what you have written, but there is a clear difference between swearing gratuitously, swearing as a part of the English language (it’s part of the vocabulary afterall and I am an English teacher) and libelous posting for which I don’t need bad language. I find the the insults far more, well, insulting to my intelligence than a bit of swearing, but I guess that’s my upbringing.

I was going to suggest a separate closed, password protected area for adults and the more mature children as scardeypants has suggested.

A third point is that, even though I used ‘fudge’ in another thread, it was commented on as being swear filter avoidance, which clearly demonstrates the readers way of thinking rather than mine, as someone who swears regularly and hopefully appropriately, I have seen this as a challenge to introduce new ways of expressing myself without bad language, but I can’t control how people interprete my words. 😯

Okay. So far:

1. The rules are being applied more rigorously than before due to a deterioration in behaviour and/or an increase in complaints.

2. There was a recent ‘scare’ where an incoming email reminded STWHQ that stuff written here has implications beyond the world of STW. Potential implications for those charged with the provision and management of the forum.

3. Nothing has changed re: the rules they are simply being applied in response to 1 and 2.

That it?

Suggestion:

If a thread has to be locked, say why. Simply repeating the ‘read the rules’ mantra is not enough and comes over a bit bully boy.

If a thread is deleted, explain to the OP why. Again, explaining to people where they are going wrong is likely to engage them more than simply telling them off by delete+naughty step.

I’m not trying to tell you how to run a forum or moderate one and I’m sure there’s a load of work required to keep us all in line. However, anonymous moderation that is seen as distant and a little high handed will not help the forum to thrive which is, I believe, what we all want.

So, with all this talk about how the moderators are spoiling this forum…
Has there been a surge of activity on BikeRadar as everyone migrates across ?

For the record ‘fudge’ in the context you used it and ‘****’ would not be moderated. ‘****’ is obviously the more controversial of the two but we’ve looked into it’s origins and meaning and we have decided that even though it is often used in the place of the more offensive f word it is not considered in the main to be as offensive. However it’s context would always be considered and if it was used in the context of abusing another person then it would potentially be moderated in the way any such abusive posts would be.

If a thread has to be locked, say why. Simply repeating the ‘read the rules’ mantra is not enough and comes over a bit bully boy.

I see your point.. I really do.. but no, we won;t do this. If we engage on the forum then the argument becomes endless. no matter what the reason there is always someone who will argue the point and it become unmanageable. That’s exactly why we have always had the golden rule that moderator decisions won’t be discussed on the forum – although I appreciate this rare irony considering what I am now doing. The rule is if you want a reason then ask us directly by email. If we think you are asking when the answer is obvious then we’ll use our discretion and may not answer – we just don’t have the time.

We take a pragmatic approach to moderation. We won;t catch everything but we will act where we are made aware of issues that require our intervention. Not every rule infringement will be dealt with. That’s just the way it is. But we will not let the forum become a free for all. We never have and as I’ve said in the sticky thread, considering the enormous traffic levels this forum gets, it’s frankly amazing that we don’t have to moderate more or ban more than we do. The vast majority of users respect the rules and guidelines and that’s the way we want things to stay.

I’ve just read your post,Mark, at the end of the Boooooooo! thread and completely agree with the attitude towards swearing and that on some threads the atmosphere descends into insult hurling and is not very pleasant.

Another suggestion, would it not be possible to flag a thread in the title with a warning regarding content, but at anytime rather than with a 15minute limit?

Flagging up threads will just draw more attention to them. In other words more attention to the threads that contain abuse that we have published. We’d rather that people just followed the simple rules about posting in the first place

Fair enough. 😉

I always go straight to the closed threads to see what it was all about. 😛

@Mark. Last go.

I understand you don’t wish/have time to engage in dialogue. My suggestion was more, rather than end a locked thread with ‘Thread closed, read the rules’ end it with ‘Thread closed, contravenes rule xyz’. It’s more specific and explains (without debate) why the Mods felt they needed to step in.

Not sure you commented on the second point about threads being summarily executed with the OP being advised the reason why (by email)?

boblo, he’s already said read the rules, read them, read the explanation at the end of the boooooooo thread which will help you understand and sit back and wait for this thread to be closed. 😉

I am totally for freedom of both expression and speech, but with this freedom comes a responsibility. Some people can not behave responsibily and, IMO, don’t deserve a reason.

@ don. Thank you for your input. The irony is delicious… We have a post stating a ‘read the rules’ response is inadequate followed by a post saying ‘read the rules’… 🙂

The point is, ‘read the rules’ is not enough. Stuff the ‘rules’. Some of us are over 12 and resent being treated as if we’re not.

BTW, I did suggest this be conducted in private, Mark has elected to do it publicly.

Not sure you commented on the second point about threads being summarily executed with the OP being advised the reason why (by email)?

I’d have thought that by the time a thread gets deleted the OP is probably well aware of the reason why, if not they can surely email to ask?

Mark obviously has a bit of a lazy morning going on to engage in discussion on here but, astonishingly, the staff actually have a magazine to write as well so I imagine that trawling the forum looking for troublesome threads and emailing people telling them that their prized thread about pole dancing has been pulled due to the inability of certain members of the forum to think outside of their genitals probably comes quite low down the list of priorities…

Talking of magazines, mine arrived this morning. 🙂

Every so often there’s a bit of a crack down on dodgy posting, or a subtle change in how mods approach certain topics. Then there’s a lot of discussion about it. A few people use threats of cancelling subs or never posting again. Then everything settles down and we all carry on having a jolly old time.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

I’ve been posting here since forever and it’s still pretty much the place it always was. I think Mark et al get the moderation just about right. I’ve posted here lots, including having several arguments on various topics and joining in with banter and in-jokes and the like, and haven’t ever been banned.