My thread locked? Punish the trouble makers. Not Me!

Yours is the second thread that doofus has killed in the past seven days...

Two things to think about.

1. Most important- it really didn't have a thing to do with modeling. Not even close. It is supposed to. That's what this forum is for. FSM has tried various forms of Cracker Barrel forums over the years and they generally get screwed up. The basic thing is that there are dozens of other sites about any single given topic out of thousandswhere you can go hate on just about anything you want, and folks do. So why let this one spring leaks. I've seen so many get going here with threads that are seemingly non controversial. And yours really wasn't. Right away in the very first day all kinds of talk about criticism of the movie and what the motivation for that was. I knew it would happen before I even opened it the first time. You should have too.

2. It's not really your thread after it gets aired under the guise of " what do you all think?".

So it's not you being punished.

You seem to be pretty worked up- please let it go. I'm not imagining myself to be anything other than a member, but it's really disrespectful to the mods to question how they choose to run this forum. Right from your subject line.

I agree stik.  

Don't take it personally. Obviously, the thread had to be locked. Not because of you. Believe it or not the mods just don't boot someone out on a whim or after one offense.

Cody,

We give people chances. I'm sorry we had to lock the "American Sniper" thread. However, as you indicated in your initial post, you knew this was likely to draw political responses. Like it or not, "American Sniper" has been heavily politicized, and it was only a matter of time that before it became a hot button on the Forum. It so happens that the offender is involved in the locking of another thread recently.

Here's what I recommend: Start a new "American Sniper" thread called "American Sniper: Opinions?". Don't reference the earlier thread. Just pick up and go. But realize Aaron and I are taking a chance that this will not go sideways, and we don't have time to go back through and edit threads like we used to. Let us know the instant someone crosses the line. That makes it easier for us to take action.

Tim

Tim Kidwell

Cody,

We give people chances. I'm sorry we had to lock the "American Sniper" thread. However, as you indicated in your initial post, you knew this was likely to draw political responses. Like it or not, "American Sniper" has been heavily politicized, and it was only a matter of time that before it became a hot button on the Forum. It so happens that the offender is involved in the locking of another thread recently.

Here's what I recommend: Start a new "American Sniper" thread called "American Sniper: Opinions?". Don't reference the earlier thread. Just pick up and go. But realize Aaron and I are taking a chance that this will not go sideways, and we don't have time to go back through and edit threads like we used to. Let us know the instant someone crosses the line. That makes it easier for us to take action.

Tim

Dear Tim,

Please add a "Like" button. 

Best regards,

Brad

Hi Brad,

Sorry, man, but that's beyond my control. I can tell you that the idea has been passed to the next level.

Thanks,

Tim

No sweat, I meant my post more as a substitute for a "Like" feature.  You guys do a great job administering the site.  I can appreciate it, as an IT person myself.

Here's a thought: why not eliminate the offending posts along with warning PMs to the offender(s)? Just a thought.

I have heard two reasons given, Carlos.

First, this is a really really big forum site, and playing whack-a-mole would be a full time job for at least one if not more moderators. And still wouldn't be that successful.

Second, to be fair requires not only responding to abuse reports, but also reading and understanding what it is people are trying to say. The only alternative is to have a zillion rules, and we are always told to try to be self-policing.

I will also add, having been in and around dozens of these spats and at least three major forum meltdowns here, that there are rarely good guys and bad guys. Trying to make spot decisions on who is the offender usually will lead to favoritism towards long time members, although I've seen exceptions to that too.

I support the large- fire- extinguisher-in-a-small- compartment approach. As Tim said, good ideas can live to see another day.

There is the tactic useful to participants, and I'm not pointing fingers here- don't feed it and it will go away. Or maybe learn from it's mistakes.

Yeah I understand all of the above. Like I said, just a thought. But as I said before, this is the second thread wrecked/locked involving a certain individual in less than a weeks timespan.  Don't feed him is certainly to be heeded here. Oh yeah, the departure of a valued member here (due to extensive subject knowledge in a particular area) due to apparent favoritism shown in the aftermath of the last locking.

I think we should all move on, nothing to see here.

stikpusher

Yeah I understand all of the above. Like I said, just a thought. But as I said before, this is the second thread wrecked/locked involving a certain individual in less than a weeks timespan.  Don't feed him is certainly to be heeded here. Oh yeah, the departure of a valued member here (due to extensive subject knowledge in a particular area) due to apparent favoritism shown in the aftermath of the last locking.

Stik,

I'm a little surprised by your statement. I had an extensive conversation with Rex, and this isn't the first time that he's wanted to leave; it's the most recent. And there's every chance he will be back. As for his posts disappearing, that was something he indicated he wanted.

If anything, Aaron and I have been forgiving of members' activities on the Forum. We have a history, regardless of how it might appear to the Forum in general, of working with members behind the scenes to try to preserve threads and make sure that the people censured are the ones deserving censure. Favoritism has always been shown toward those who have been here and shown, in good faith, that they are members who want to share experiences and nurture relationships surrounding scale modeling. How we are painted to the Forum overall is not our concern. A safe harbor is our goal.

Aaron and I are two editors whose job it is to do a host of other work pertaining to getting a magazine out ten times a year, plus special issues and other assignments that the company (not FSM) throws our way. The Forum is but one responsibility and, I must say, has done remarkably well in the last couple of years policing itself. Perhaps that is no longer that case and Aaron and I need to be here more often, like we were in the past. We'll make that decision in the next couple of days.

The option has been put out there to restart the thread. What happens to another member's account is between FSM and that member. That's about all there is. If you would like to continue this in personal messages, please feel free to contact Aaron and me. Otherwise, I think everything that needs to be said on this issue has been said. This thread is now locked.

Regards,

Tim