PF RULES AND GUIDELINES - Comments Welcome

You finished high school when you were 6 ?

 

Maybe she's lying about her age...

 

But most women lie about their age to make it go down, not up.

 

Looks like you found out.....hope you come back....

 

Oh did he ever come back!

 

another thread to be used to illustrate the definition of irony

could also be used as an example of hypocrisy

 

I did.

...have a happy day.

 

haha, nice find!!

I look forward to the day BillyBob and Jovial will rule this madhouse.

 

a few observations. mod replies would be appreciated, as well as those from other "common" members

i was looking for the oft cited Terms Of Service. maybe i missed it, but given the frequency with which they are pointed to, maybe the TOS, together with raytri's update could be made more prominent and accessible

AnitaMiracle, in a thread which is now locked - no surprise, it discussed moderation issues - she advocated a balance of mods from both political directions. while some supported her recommendation, others insisted that mod political leanings are not a factor in the way infractions, edits and bannishments are dealt with. i concur in AnitaMiracle's assessment. the rules allow the majority of mods to permaban a member. one of the bases of bannishment is what is found to be trolling. the board mod panel has acknowledged it is unable to define what is meant by that term. however, the rules allow a "troll" to be identified and evicted if more that 50% of the mods are in agreement. it is not a far stretch to believe the now dominent conservative leaning mod panel finds members of the left to be trolls with more frequency than we would find members from the right wing to be trollish. and the recent bannishments appear to support that belief that political inclination is a factor in the decision. it was previously indicated that the panel would take under advisement that a supermajority rather than a simple majrity vote would be required to effect a permaban, to offset such a bias ... but there is no indication such has been implemented or formally considered by the mod panel

last point. and the reason for the TOS search discussed above. the mods, and many of their hangers on, parrot the statement that if one has a problem with the moderation team that a PM should be the format used. it has been presented that the private matter should be kept private and that the concern of the member regards mod behavior/action/inaction should not be exposed publicly for other forum members to read and to post comnments in response
i have not found such a PM requirement in the TOS, nor do i locate one within raytri's more recent amendments. while i can understand that the mod panel would want its potential indescretions concealed from public view, in order to save face, and/or to avoid an outpouring of support for adopting changes, why is that desire for secrecy found to be beneficial to the administration of the board?

 

Have you read the very first sticky in the Forum Help, Feedback, Ect. section???


http://www.politicalforum.com/forum-help-feedback-etc/4052-political-forum-guidelines-comments-welcome.html#post58192

It's not labeled "Terms Of Service" but it's directly from the site owner.

 

As someone who has been a mod on other forums, I know that it is difficult to maintain a political balance on the staff since mods are usually chosen for their ability to follow the rules, maintain their equanimity while being bashed, and to act in a mostly unbiased manner. I say mostly unbiased since everyone has their opinions and varying perspectives so people will differ on what they consider acceptable and unacceptable. It is more important for a mod to be fair and equitable overall than for them to be conservative, liberal, or some other political label.

They shouldn't be a factor, but since no one is perfect, sometimes an individual's biases can affect how they handle certain infractions.

Trolling may be subjective, but if someone on the forum is frequently hijacking, trolling, insulting, and violating the rules, it's fair to say they are trolling, and their political orientation isn't pertinent.

Secrecy is not to save face but to maintain civility on the boards and to keep the staff from being overwhelmed. Moderating is mostly a thankless, stressful job and people seem to forget that the staff consists of unpaid volunteers who accept the job because they care about the board, not because they are on some power trip. Experience shows that the staff will hear complaints from conservatives that there is a liberal bias, and will hear from liberals that there is a conservative bias and this is because individual perspectives vary so widely. If more were made public there would be more pile-ons, more threads complaining about the board, and the VOLUNTEER staff would be swamped with even more PMs than they receive now.

 

and that's one of my points. glad to again recite it for you, since it happens to be extant thread. better yet, i will use your comment to underscore my point that "forum help, feedback, etc.", is not a good title for those looking for the Terms Of Service, so frequently cited in that manner or as TOS:

 

Well, welcome back. I was wondering where you'd got to.

I can call off the search party now.

 

It's supposed to be a sticky at the top of EVERY section, i.e. Latest World News, Current Events... etc.

Would you like it if it was directly accessible from the main page?

 

Make it the first thread on the forum index, even before the general political chat. And put it in BIG BOLDED RED LETTERS. That should do it.

 

This is what misguided tolerance leads to.

 

Fine, the letter do not have to be red...

 

Where is it addressed in the rules that a title may be edited for the political view as it was in changing the title of a poster's thread?

 

Can you show us where, exactly, that happened?
Not just the accusation, but the reality of it?

 

Oh please go away!! It is nonsense like this that makes the mods ignore real criticism when it comes along!! The title said Biden said something!! Biden did not say that!! The title was changed!! This is very, very, very, very, very(I could really continue on saying very forever) easy stuff to figure out. So please drop this nonsense!!

 

Frodly---One Thunder---lemme ask you two something.

You are both from different sides of the aisle.

You've both been here awhile and both of ya know my posting history and my style somewhat.

Am I being a complete naive tool thinking even trying to explain the "backstory" is worth it?

 

I am leaving right now for fathers day lunch, but I would say it is self explanatory!! Don't make dishonest titles(or flatout lies) and it won't get edited!! Can't be much simpler than that!!

 

I dunno. In RL I hardly ever give up on anyone. But here, it just gets sssssssssoooooooooooo monotonous when this happens.

 

Aye yep.

On the one hand---I don't really care how many or how few posts someone has.
*shrug*

I loathe the idea of losing someone or them feeling like policies here are designed to squelch ideas based on political whims of the Mods/Advisers.

But---I'll be ding-danged if it's gonna do any good to yell at a wall---
I dunno.
Made I just need more java.

Egads!
The Screwit household is outta coffee?!