- Admin
- #1
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Ladies & Gentleman...
I don't like making these types of announcements. I would prefer to work behind the scenes with the mods to eliminate issues, but that obviously isn't working.
We came into this MAP endeavor with a plan and a vision. A lot of time, hard work, and financial resources were put into this endeavor.
While I very much appreciate everyone that has gotten with the program and do enter into civil, meaningful, and good faith discussion, too many here refuse to either get on board, or support that vision, and instead have other ideas concerning their behavior, and it keeps spiraling out of control and setting us back to square one. Obviously, the gentle guidance without consequence method does not work. We now recognize that we are going to have to take a step back (or several) in order to move forward.
However, we will have this one civil political board on the internet where the opposition comes together, even if as a result that means that there is no one left posting on it and the rest are stuck posting on their own segmented boards, if at all. I am well aware of what I am risking here, and I also accept responsibility for allowing it to get out of hand through my own inaction, or lack of enforcement.
From this point on we require civil, and meaningful discourse and in good faith on the MCB. Note I wrote "require, and not "request". Those that are either unwilling or incapable of doing so should avoid posting on this board. There are many sites out there that will welcome your behavior. This is not one of them. Either get with the program and stick with the program, or seek political discussion with the opposition elsewhere
I am requiring members to stop attempting to get under the oppositions skin, stop the snide remarks and sniping, stop posting pointed or vitriolic sarcasm laced responses, and stop triggering and trolling one another. Beta testing is over. Patience with problem members is over. Trying to enlighten the few that are not bright enough to "get it" is over. There will be no more warnings, no more guidance, and no more allowing such violations to slide. Why? Because everyone that is posting here now has been here long enough to know what the expectations of the MCB are.
Sure! Debate your points and argue them passionately, but keep it civil and avoid any of the violations mentioned above. Proof your posts before hitting submit. If your post contains anything triggering or otherwise crosses the lines of acceptability, then edit it until it is up to standards. Ask yourselves... Is it relevant, is it civil, and is it respectful? If your post meets that criteria, only then should you click submit.
News for those of you that like to present their opinions as if fact. If you make an assertion on the MCB and present it as fact, you then must be prepared to back it up. No more entire threads filled with avoiding, dancing around answering, deflecting and telling members to do their own homework when that burden of proof is on the person making the assertion. When you practice such avoidance you lose credibility, leaving us with the perception that you are spreading misinformation. Good Faith means being "honest". That is an expectation on this board. So, if you are stating an opinion, make sure that you express that it is just that - an opinion, rather than inviting such challenges.
Moving forward, any time we see an instance of any of the above violations, we will issue infractions at minimum, and there is a very good chance that we will boot the offending members off of the MCB board. We do have a short list of members that regularly practice violating the rules, and we will skip any infractions with them and go straight to issuing MCB board or site bans. If those that are removed go to their affiliate boards complaining about it, then we will remove them from the site completely. There is zero tolerance for public undermining.
Harsh? Yes! But apparently that is what it is going to take to both get this board on track, as well as keep it that way. History here already shows that when we moderate members, many will observe the rules for a short period of time, yet before long they will revert back to the same behavior that got them moderated to begin with. We will have zero patience with them. Otherwise, If you are a member that encourages division on this board but otherwise observes the rules, you still need to strongly reconsider that approach.
There isn't much of a moderation presence here, but you can bet that in my waking hours I will be spending any spare time that I have reading posts on this board, as well as the others, and enforcing the site rules. I have had plenty of time to analyze nearly every member here. Be aware that "Whatabout so-and-so" is not a defense. Being "unaware" or "oblivious" of the either rules, or that your behavior is unacceptable otherwise, are not acceptable excuses.
We are going to set the table once again, and this time I expect it to remain set properly, as per our vision. Simply put! It's time to begin culling the herd.
Once again, those of you that came here to support our vision for this site and have maintained discipline throughout, I really appreciate you all and hope that you will bare with us, as there will be expected fallout from those that will lose their ability to continue behaving in a manner that we find unacceptable for this board, but in the end hopefully with you as our core we can make this thing work.
-Andrus
I don't like making these types of announcements. I would prefer to work behind the scenes with the mods to eliminate issues, but that obviously isn't working.
We came into this MAP endeavor with a plan and a vision. A lot of time, hard work, and financial resources were put into this endeavor.
While I very much appreciate everyone that has gotten with the program and do enter into civil, meaningful, and good faith discussion, too many here refuse to either get on board, or support that vision, and instead have other ideas concerning their behavior, and it keeps spiraling out of control and setting us back to square one. Obviously, the gentle guidance without consequence method does not work. We now recognize that we are going to have to take a step back (or several) in order to move forward.
However, we will have this one civil political board on the internet where the opposition comes together, even if as a result that means that there is no one left posting on it and the rest are stuck posting on their own segmented boards, if at all. I am well aware of what I am risking here, and I also accept responsibility for allowing it to get out of hand through my own inaction, or lack of enforcement.
From this point on we require civil, and meaningful discourse and in good faith on the MCB. Note I wrote "require, and not "request". Those that are either unwilling or incapable of doing so should avoid posting on this board. There are many sites out there that will welcome your behavior. This is not one of them. Either get with the program and stick with the program, or seek political discussion with the opposition elsewhere
I am requiring members to stop attempting to get under the oppositions skin, stop the snide remarks and sniping, stop posting pointed or vitriolic sarcasm laced responses, and stop triggering and trolling one another. Beta testing is over. Patience with problem members is over. Trying to enlighten the few that are not bright enough to "get it" is over. There will be no more warnings, no more guidance, and no more allowing such violations to slide. Why? Because everyone that is posting here now has been here long enough to know what the expectations of the MCB are.
Sure! Debate your points and argue them passionately, but keep it civil and avoid any of the violations mentioned above. Proof your posts before hitting submit. If your post contains anything triggering or otherwise crosses the lines of acceptability, then edit it until it is up to standards. Ask yourselves... Is it relevant, is it civil, and is it respectful? If your post meets that criteria, only then should you click submit.
News for those of you that like to present their opinions as if fact. If you make an assertion on the MCB and present it as fact, you then must be prepared to back it up. No more entire threads filled with avoiding, dancing around answering, deflecting and telling members to do their own homework when that burden of proof is on the person making the assertion. When you practice such avoidance you lose credibility, leaving us with the perception that you are spreading misinformation. Good Faith means being "honest". That is an expectation on this board. So, if you are stating an opinion, make sure that you express that it is just that - an opinion, rather than inviting such challenges.
Moving forward, any time we see an instance of any of the above violations, we will issue infractions at minimum, and there is a very good chance that we will boot the offending members off of the MCB board. We do have a short list of members that regularly practice violating the rules, and we will skip any infractions with them and go straight to issuing MCB board or site bans. If those that are removed go to their affiliate boards complaining about it, then we will remove them from the site completely. There is zero tolerance for public undermining.
Harsh? Yes! But apparently that is what it is going to take to both get this board on track, as well as keep it that way. History here already shows that when we moderate members, many will observe the rules for a short period of time, yet before long they will revert back to the same behavior that got them moderated to begin with. We will have zero patience with them. Otherwise, If you are a member that encourages division on this board but otherwise observes the rules, you still need to strongly reconsider that approach.
There isn't much of a moderation presence here, but you can bet that in my waking hours I will be spending any spare time that I have reading posts on this board, as well as the others, and enforcing the site rules. I have had plenty of time to analyze nearly every member here. Be aware that "Whatabout so-and-so" is not a defense. Being "unaware" or "oblivious" of the either rules, or that your behavior is unacceptable otherwise, are not acceptable excuses.
We are going to set the table once again, and this time I expect it to remain set properly, as per our vision. Simply put! It's time to begin culling the herd.
Once again, those of you that came here to support our vision for this site and have maintained discipline throughout, I really appreciate you all and hope that you will bare with us, as there will be expected fallout from those that will lose their ability to continue behaving in a manner that we find unacceptable for this board, but in the end hopefully with you as our core we can make this thing work.
-Andrus
