vader wrote:
Example in point...
Goosebeak wrote:
Sex, religion, and politics:- keep them locked away in (a) separate section(s). There are plenty of forums/sites catering for whatever fetish/taste/prejudice anybody could possibly ever dream up - why allow them to taint your website with it?
You have put forward your point of view which I don't agree with and I find your statement offensive and think that you are stirring sh1t among the members who enjoy the Seatcover section so by your reasoning you should be BANNED from the forum for stirring sh1t... Hmmmm??? Its a double edged sword....
Actually, you (I think intentionally, to make your point - you DO have a habit of that!) missed my point completely - the bits and pieces that may be offensive to some (like your beloved seatcovers) are in actual fact already KEPT in their own sections... There's nothing wrong with the way things are currently happening.
Note: I don't personally find pictures of the female form offensive. But I have 'lost' several colleagues who unsuspectingly opened a web page with graphic content in "full" view of a female colleague, and who lost their jobs as a result. YOU try explaining to your wife and children that xmas just isn't happening any more because daddy happened to open a web page on a motorcycling website with the heading "Check these piston rings!" showing a close-up of some porn-star's piercings... I am NOT kidding you - feminism is alive and well and living in corporations all across this country: discount it at your own peril. But lots of the members here work in offices - which is why the seatcover section is where it is, I should think.
If the site owner is having a problem with any members, then it is completely within his rights to remove those members, no questions asked, no pack drill, no nothing. But if something like that is going to happen, then there should at least be a certain framework around which things are done - not just a "today I don't like you any more - you're banned!" kind of attitude like you get on some websites. It's just common courtesy and good manners.
If you want to fight about something, the 3 big starters are the Sex, Religion, and Politics topics. Hence, if you're not cruising for a dust-up, and unless the site is dedicated to one of those, you steer clear for the most part - have you had a look on the News24 forums lately? Peace isn't going to break out there any time soon, that I can guarantee you...
I have seen enough forums self-destruct to know that an individual who is capable of making good contributions but who uses that ability as a pretext to stir sh1t is just not worth having as a member - such individuals will destroy your website for you by creating unhappiness and dissatisfaction and laugh in your face for allowing them to do so while they do it. They're the poor, sad little people who are unable to create something of any value for or by themselves, and therefore dedicate themselves to destroying everybody else's efforts.
As Muds and several others have said, we have a very wide spectrum of people/professions/personalities here - it's inevitable that there will be SOME friction. The trick is in minimising that friction so that you don't destroy the spirit of the forum, and in allowing people to say what they really want to say while at the same time ensuring that it is done responsibly and in a manner that doesn't make everybody on this forum look like a horse's arse.
Sambabus said it best, I believe: "
I think if we have any level of social decorum,and keep others in mind when we post something,we can keep the peace fairly easily."