My Vote: No Off-Topic or Way Off or Totally Off

[woodshopdemos]

I suggested this to Matthew in a PM a week or so ago. Now I want to formally propose this now. If the post or thread or reply doesnt have woodworkng in the writing, it gets deleted.If it sounds like someone is berating another just for the sake of harm, the post can be deleted not moved. That there are no forums other that the main woodworking forums and that the TOS is written to include these guidelines. And that Matthew refrain from starting threads for the sake of explaining his actions. Period. All in favor, say "AYE!"

 

[woodshopdemos]

"AYE"

 

[Dan Clermont]

Double "AYE"

 

[Ron Dunn]

Looks like a good suggestion.

 

[ROb McGilp]

Aye

 

[alanz]

It would work for me. 

 

[Bob Childress]

Can I put both hands up?  Aye, aye.  

[The recent issues on here have made me tired.]

 

[Matthew Schenker]

John,
For a long time, I have moved non-woodworking stuff to the off-topic region.  And I am now beginning to delete posts, or whole discussions, that are designed to berate someone or stip up trouble.  Yes, the time has come for that.  So your idea is already in motion!

But I need some help from the forum community on this.  We have a couple of individuals who make a huge issue every time I delete a post for any reason, or even if I move something from one board to another (I'm not going to get into the motivations here).

With the new policies in place, I need people to not feed the controvery when I delete or move something.

Thank you John for starting this topic.  And thank you to everyone who is raising his or her hand in support!

Thanks,
Matthew

 

[bellchippy]

AYE

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Good Morning,
One more thing I should add...don't forget that everyone can use the "Report to moderator" function.  It's located at the bottom right-hand side of every post.  Clicking on it lets you send a message directly to me.

Often, members see a problem post or discussion before I do.  In other cases, problems appear after I go to sleep, and when I wake up I have a list of reported posts!  That helps me pinpoint where trouble is brewing.  It also gives me a read on what's bothering or upsetting members.  It's like instant polling.

If you see a post that you think should be moved or deleted, just report it.  Most people know about this already, but I wanted to make sure.

Thanks,
Matthew

 

[Woodenfish]

Put me down for a Nay vote for the same reason as guns don't kill people. people kill people. No matter what we try to do to make life civil, people are people and eruptions of human emotional garbage will appear wherever anytime. Besides, none of the recent laundry has ever appeared in "The Far Side" where some of it may have belonged.

We need effective moderation to place issues in their proper categories and members to not over-react to what they feel is incorrect. One of the best things about this board has been a collective resiliency to overcome disruptive conversation and quickly move forward to the main goal. Let's not make so many rules the forum becomes unlike our typical daily existence in life towards someone's bleached or pasteurized ideas of heaven on the internet. No offense toward anyone.

Make a personal adjustment, learn the location of your delete key and don't feel the need to read each and every posting from each and every category. Finally, ask yourself before hitting the "Post" key, is my statement needed or helpful?

 

[Len]

Aye

 

[CharlesWilson]

Aye

 

[Jay Knoll]

Aye

 

[Frank Pellow]

I observe that this is not the most valid way to conduct a vote.  A poll on the topic with YES / NO / UNDECIDED choices should be set up if anyone wants to obtain a meaningful answer to the question.

I see valid arguments on both sides of the issue, so I woul sit on the fence and cast an UNDECIDED vote.

 

[Matthew Schenker]

I observe that this is not the most valid way to conduct a vote.  A poll on the topic with YES / NO / UNDECIDED choices should be set up if anyone wants to obtain a meaningful answer to the question.

I see valid arguments on both sides of the issue, so I woul sit on the fence and cast an UNDECIDED vote.

I have no problem with the way this is being conducted so far, since members have an opportunity to express more than just a simple "yes" or "no."  There is nuance to this discussion that is difficult to express in simple poll choices.

However, if John wants, I can put a poll on this discussion, to have as addition material beyond the discussion.  What would the poll questions be?

Thanks again everyone,
Matthew

 

[slb]

I agree with Frank - almost...  Unfortunately, any vote or poll like this suffers from "self-selection" bias.  That is, the people who respond (or refuse to respond) usually do so because they have strong feelings.  Moderates seldom respond.  That skews the results.

That said, I think that the prolonged flame wars just clutter up the list of posts, making it harder to find the interesting ones.  So given there are stated guidelines I would be happy if Matthew just deletes the junk.  The difficulty is that a flame war can suddenly erupt in what was previously an interesting thread, and the offensive material can be interspersed with on-topic info in the same post.  Moderating/editing is harder than it might at first sound!  I'm amazed Matthew can devote the time he already does to this site, and wouldn't want to make his load heavier.

Steve

 

[Frank Pellow]

I observe that this is not the most valid way to conduct a vote.  A poll on the topic with YES / NO / UNDECIDED choices should be set up if anyone wants to obtain a meaningful answer to the question.

I see valid arguments on both sides of the issue, so I woul sit on the fence and cast an UNDECIDED vote.

I have no problem with the way this is being conducted so far, since members have an opportunity to express more than just a simple "yes" or "no."  There is nuance to this discussion that is difficult to express in simple poll choices.

However, if John wants, I can put a poll on this discussion, to have as addition material beyond the discussion.  What would the poll questions be?

Thanks again everyone,
Matthew

You will get a lot more people who do not have strong opinions or who are reluctent to express their opinions to participate in vote than you will get if they have to type a response.  Thus, the sampling will be more representative of the membership.

 

[fidelfs]

So no more "Computer, Gadgets, Technology", "Photography","Classifieds"  I will miss them.  

I don't think this will work.  I remember some other postings about people getting mad because Matt did that, did this, did whatever and now we are asking him to just delete posts, that will be a declaration of war for some.  I don't think this is a good idea.

Keep the far side forum and visible for people requesting access. Give it a rest about this.

 

[Jesse Cloud]

I don't want to sound undemocratic, but I'm gonna sit this vote out.  Let me tell you why.  I have seen so many forums go down in flames over 'off-topic'.  I've never seen a good resolution.  My personal answer is to just say no, and not read the stuff.  I'm much happier.  ;D

After all, we are here to learn about Festool and share what we know.  If some want to let off steam about other stuff, let them, but don't get drawn in.

So, in my book, Matthew should do whatever he wants with 'off-topic' and we should get back to woodworking.

One exception, though.... please keep the 'classified' board - its the best place I know of to buy and sell used Festool stuff!