Arguements

[Romanar]

Is it just me, or does this region seem less friendly than it used to?  I've seen at least one overly heated "discussion" here in General, and frankly, the Senate is reminding me of the RW government.  I remember a time (I think it was back in the old Lexicon) when we had a calm discussion about a Nazi swastica!

[Allama]

I agree with you wholeheartedly, Romanar.  Even in the short time in which I've been here (since April 4th) I've seen a marked increase in the level of vehemence and, frankly, sometimes-rude behavior going on in this forum.  That's why I abstain from political discussions as much as I can now, to be honest.  I don't even read topics I know beforehand are those sorts of debates because people just get too upset and it, in turn, upsets me.

[Eientei]

I don't mind political discussion or debate.  That's one of the reasons I like this region.  When people start to take it personally and carry grudges outside of the debate, then that's a problem.

[PoD Gunner]

Romanar, I couldn't agree more. That has had me worried for a while now. I have hoped that with the help of the community, this issues will be settled without Mod-Intervention, because that really is the last resort. It looks like I was wrong, to quote Mr. Timberlake.

This is a direct notice:

From this moment on, flamming, cursing, trolling, baiting, uncivil behaviour and the rest will be observed more closely and action will be taken against forum members who  cannot or will not understand that the Taijituan Forums are a public place where people have to enjoy themselves and treat others with respect. Thinking before posting would also be an asset I would appreciate in all members.

If necessary, a specific forum policy aimed at such offences will be put together and enforced. I still hope this will not be the case.

Smarten up or we will help you do it.
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[Myroria]

I blame Delfos.

 

[Khablan]

We all know how this sort of thing works.  One person posts something that's bound to offend others.  Someone reads it, gets angry, and shoots off an angry reply.  Seeing that, other people start jumping on the bandwagon on either side, every post escalating it, and it just snowballs into a fruitless flame war.  We've seen it happen everywhere on the internet.  In some places, it's so prevalent that it's just considered the norm.

Here in our forum, it generally doesn't go that way.  We have one or two people here who tend to regularly post things that are pointedly inflammatory to one group or another.  We're used to it out of them, and although sometimes we call them on it, we generally don't let them drag us into some huge argument over it.

We like being able to have intelligent discussions on serious subjects here, and the vast majority of us tend to ignore attempts to start heated arguments, because we'd rather go on with our discussion rather than let them turn it into something else.  We realize that such posts make people look like jerks to everyone read them, and there's no need to point out the obvious.

The really interesting thing I've noticed here is that it only takes one person to respond in anger, and that seems to start the domino effect.  Soon there are several more heated responsed from other people.  And that's when it turns into a flame war.  We become reactionary, because we've seen one person get angry over it.

Personally, I value the fact that we can discuss things intelligently here that would automatically start a flame war elsewhere.  Religion and politics are commonly banned subjects on other places across the internet because of it.  This place has been a haven where we -can- discuss them.

Sometimes it's actually useful to calmly point out that someone is acting like a jerk.  As long as we -do- remain calm about it and refuse to be drawn into a flame war, it serves to remind them that our threads can't be hijacked so easily and that if they want us to pay any attention to their opinions, they'll have act in a more mature fashion.  That's often all it takes.

But to jump on the bandwagon and start shooting, that's just giving the original moron what he was hoping for, and it just encourages them to do it in future threads.  And then our forum becomes just like all the others where we can forget about being able to have intelligent debates on anything that really matters.

[PoD Gunner]

I appreciate the thoughts Khab, but do not worry, I have never jumped on a wagon and started shooting. If necessary, mod-action will be directed at specific issues. I am not keen on doing it but I am tired to sit around waiting for something to happen and see this community turn into a flaming-fest. When I see people behaving like something else in here, i will call them on it.

Not feeding the troll is always the best thing, except when others do it or it feeds himself, I guess in such cases an interruption of the food-chain will do the trick.

[Delfos]

Myroria is being a jerk :fb:

[PoD Gunner]

Haha! What's new. If you want to bring something to my attention, please PM me with info and a link.

[Akka-Wakka]

I must say that this is starting to sound like the Lexicon.  It may surprise some of you, but hings used to be calm in the Lexicon once.

Like Rom said, we really did have a very calm discussion about a swastika in someone's signiture.  The person in question put it in their signature because he admired the way the nazis had rebuilt the German economy (not their other traits/political/social beliefs).  Someone was offended by it and publicly asked them to remove it.  After the person with the signiture had said why he wanted to include it, there were something like a hundred posts about the subject, and all of them were completely civil and at no point was any mod action threatened.  At the end, the person agree that despite his intent not being offensive what so ever, others would probably not know that, and so he agreed to remove it.

I say all this, to demonstrate that even great places need to be careful they don't fall into the same trap.  In the Lexicon's case, 2 months later, everyone was at each others throats at every opportunity.

Unfortunately, I don't think there is really any way to guard against this totally.  I feel that rules will only serve to annoy people, and that the only real defense we have is common sense.

If you want an example of the type of post that will make this region stay the way it is, just look at Khab's post above.  It is calm and collected, and gives the impression of such.  It isn't really what Khab said that impressed me, but rather the way she said it.  No anger was expressed, just an opinion.  No one was confronted (not even implied).  As far as my experience goes, it has always served me better to resolve disputes in private rather than in public.  I think the same applies for IRC atm, but I digress.

In essence, if everyone keeps a cool head and think before they type, I see no reason why Taijitu can't continue to be a great place.

[Of Crazed]

Hmm, I really don't mind a bit of passion on the forums as long as it contributes to the quality of the forum.  If someone makes an intelligent post that is quality and interesting to read and there is something offencive in the mix, I am much more willing to forgive them then people who post stuiped topics that not only bring nothing to the forum, but offend some.

I would like to point out the Senate debate in one of the threads between me and I-S was a good example of this, while I was a bit offencive to I-S and in return him to me, both of us were disscussing a matter and bring ideas to the table and at the end of the day we were both still on good terms.

I would like to see some mod action, but not really in censoring.  There are a LOT of duplicate threads that pop up and sometimes they are similar enough to be merged in one thread.  I would LOVE to see more of that.

As far as censoring and stuff goes, I want that to stay lax, and like the one forum I go to treats censorship.  The forum is Electronics Gamers Monthly's Non Game Realated AKA NGR which is sometimes nicked named Animal House.  When people make spam threads, trolls, duplicate threads and ect.  most of the time thoes users are flamed by the community.  While that may seem a little harsh, it leads to a forum with great quality that is interesting.  The most important thing about NGR that it is one of the few true communities I have seen on the internet.  Not saying we should impliment thoes ideas its

The last thing I want is for Taijitu to become a steril place where passion is forbiden because of over moderations.

[PoD Gunner]

Before starting to compare Taijitu with the Lex or predicting sterility, I think it would be perhaps more productive to help the ones who care about this community. If Akka wants to remember exactly, even in the times when the Lex went well, there was a subtle and effective modding action in the cases that required it. I intend to do no more, if necessary. I wish that this community should take care of itself and that the Mods would enjoy posting silly stuff and having fun as much as others, don't assume otherwise. Atm I am inclined to believe that the situation is a bit different. I urge you all to help make a change visible and avoid any modding actions that might also do some harm.

[Bara]

*rasies hand*

Can i be the guy who tries to clam everybody down?!

[Ess]

[Bara]