Topic closed - Rant

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Dragginourbedaround

Dragginourbedaround

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Another interesting topic was closed yesterday. Lots of good information was exchanged until it either got personal or political. Other topics have been closed because people who have no interest in the discussion put in their two cents or start asking the staff to close the topic. There has to be a better way than closing and locking a topic that is interesting and informative to many forum members. It's an old cliche "many suffer because of a few." I certainly don't have the answers. I'm just frustrated with topics I enjoy being closed. There are lots of smart people on this forum, surely someone has a suggestion. Sorry, rant over!
 
Understand your frustration, but for clarification ...

A topic isn't locked because a forum member asks us to close it. In the 25 years this forum has been around, forum staff can usually sense when a topic is headed downhill and, on some subjects it's a precipitous fall. In any event, it's a judgement call, and we don't always get it right.

We don't enjoy locking topics, but when they get personal, heated, or political, we're left with no choice. The vast majority of folks come here with no desire to read some of that stuff, although they may have an interest in the original subject. We have a set of rules that we all agreed to when registering for an account here, and they specifically prohibit posts like the ones that cause a topic to be locked.
 
Gene, I agree with your comments.  Why not start a new topic?  Change the heading a bit to reflect the issues/concerns you have.  I'm sure there are others who would welcome getting back to the basics.  When threads go off topic, it's pretty hard to get them back to the original question or subject matter. 
 
Just my two cents - As soon as someones comment includes "Constitution", "Rights", "Amendment", etc... The topic "for this Forum" is off the rails.

I just want to know how you fixed this, how you did that, what worked and didn't work.  I need your experience with "RV" issues.  I definitely do not come here for my political dialogue.

All we can do is ask each other to stick to the original question and help the person asking the actual question.  I think that is why we are all here, and I for one love this place.  Its okay to let one off topic comment slide and not derail or take over the entire question  - not every comment needs a reply.

I will add that I actually laughed out loud reading the whole gun question topic - and I knew exactly the moment it went off the rails and was going to be locked, as it needed to be.
 
[quote author=ClickHill]All we can do is ask each other to stick to the original question and help the person asking the actual question.[/quote]
To your point, we used to consider this to be a self-moderating forum, i.e. when someone stepped out of line, other forum members would give them a gentle nudge and things would quickly return to civilized discussion..
 
Tom said:
To your point, we used to consider this to be a self-moderating forum, i.e. when someone stepped out of line, other forum members would give them a gentle nudge and things would quickly return to civilized discussion..
Click to expand...

Key words being gentle and civilized and that does not always happen unfortunately... either the nudge or the response becomes too colorful (for lack of a better description), things get personal, and the likelihood of thread spiraling and future lock becomes greatly increased.
 
The folks on here are a lot like the marlinowners forums. For the most part, pretty nice to each other.
If you want a ear full, eye full, getting booted off, and all kinds of bashing, go to IRV2.com. ;D ;D
 
Just  one thought.  It takes a moderator to lock a topic.  In some cases where only one or two posters are off the rails could not the moderator just delete those posts and put up a standard reply  such as - "Comment deleted as not in conformance with forum rules."  This would also block the poster  from continuing to participate in that topic.  That may not be possible.  The recent gun topic that was locked went off very quickly and if a couple of posts at the end could have been deleted it may have been able to continue.  By the way, mention of guns is not inappropriate on this forum as many of us carry them for protection and often have questions on their legality in certain places.  Thanks for ranting - it has helped open some eyes.

Bill
 
Bill N said:
In some cases where only one or two posters are off the rails could not the moderator just delete those posts and put up a standard reply  such as - "Comment deleted as not in conformance with forum rules." 
Click to expand...

To a degree that is what is happening behind the scenes. Posts are moved, then you'll see a mod post a gentle warning, then finally when it becomes clear that the topic has become an irresistible magnet for posts which violate forum rules, and the warnings are being ignored, the topic is locked.

One may return to a locked topic and read it thinking it seems OK, and wonder why it was locked. It will be because of the process above, where the offending posts have been moved out of sight.
 
I would posit I am one of those that occasionally post a reply that is counterproductive to the OP?s original intent. It wouldn?t hurt my feelings if my post was deleted and I was barred from replying to that particular topic. Sounds like a good way to keep reply?s on topic.
 
Oldgator73 said:
...if I was barred from replying to that particular topic. Sounds like a good way to keep reply?s on topic.
Click to expand...

That's asking a lot of volunteer moderators. As Tom has mentioned, we like to think of the forum as self moderating to the greatest degree possible. The best way to keep on topic is... stay on topic and simply follow the forum rules. Think carefully before hitting the enter button as to whether your next post is really appropriate, rather than trying to see if you can squeak under the wire with a marginal post.
 
[quote author=Bill N]... could not the moderator just delete those posts and put up a standard reply  such as - "Comment deleted as not in conformance with forum rules."[/quote]
Thanks Bill. As Scott said, that's essentially what we do, or a variation of it, and have been doing so for years. A public comment may or may not be left in the discussion.

This would also block the poster  from continuing to participate in that topic.
Click to expand...
It wouldn't stop them coming right back into the discussion. In very rare cases we might ban the individual, or maybe just limit the ban so they can't post (aka we'd 'gag' them). In these rare cases, there would usually be some separate (private) communication with the individual.
... if a couple of posts at the end could have been deleted...
Click to expand...
We don't normally delete posts per se, but will move them into the back room for staff information &/or comment. In this case, two such messages were removed from the (public) discussion.
 
Being one that is a bit crass on occasion I really appreciate the examples of the Staff in their postings and the policies in this forum. I am sure that my posts have received a raised eyebrow or two from the Staff. Thanks for the great job you do.

 
Thanks John. Most folks are not aware of the stuff done by forum staff behind the scenes, seeing only their public actions & posts. We try hard not to over-moderate, while trying to keep things on an even keel.

Being one that is a bit crass on occasion
Click to expand...

I've been known to (unintentionally) step out of line, or come close to it, and forum staff have carte blanche to whack me with a baseball bat if/when they see that. Fortunately, they do it in private  :-[
 
Tom said:
We don't normally delete posts per se, but will move them into the back room for staff information &/or comment. In this case, two such messages were removed from the (public) discussion.
Click to expand...
This practice is what may be leading to some of my confusion on the locks.  The topic looks pretty mild and all of a sudden it is locked but the offending posts that got it locked are gone so the reason is unknown to the general reader.  Now I understand a bit of the why and, like Old Gator, I had my share of disagreeable posts so I try to take it to heart when I get swatted down.....lol

Bill
 
[quote author=Bill N]This practice is what may be leading to some of my confusion on the locks.  The topic looks pretty mild and all of a sudden it is locked but the offending posts that got it locked are gone so the reason is unknown to the general reader.[/quote]

Good point Bill, duly noted. In this case, when I saw the lock and the offending messages, I made a mental note to leave a comment on why it was locked. But, for whatever reason, I didn't.
 
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