WARNING to Odds & Ends regulars

[pantablo]

I am speaking both as a moderator here and as a member.

The moderators here at gstwin.com have always been very hands off. Llimitations have been few, expecially relative to other forums. Some might call them lax and they may have a point.

I am personally getting very tired of reading yet another nasty tirad from one of a handful of regulars on this O&E forum. The moderators are getting more complaints lately about it as well.

I dont think a personal message warning would be beneficial in the long run because IMO simply HAVING this forum opens up that kind of debate and discussion, which often turns negative and personal. So later on they might start up again. I've never been a fan of this forum.

If it were up to me I would completely remove this forum. It isnt up to me but I have influence in that regard.

If the regulars here dont clean up their f.cking act I'll do everything in my power to make sure this forum disappears. I'm sick of it.

[ollie357]

THE SOUTH SHALL RISE AGAIN!........ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS!.........YEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!


Man, this forum is sure hoppin' since I last visited. If this were the zoo then monkey turds would be flying all over the place. Mostly Messrs. Ed's and Wilson's.

[CasiUSA]

Well if we could just eliminate all that RACISM, BIGOTRY and Asinine Name Calling, I think we'd be A-OK...  :dunno:

editage: Not to say I'm not guilty of throwing a name or two her and there, but I (IMO) don't believe I've ever done it other than in defense- not that lowering myself to the other person's level is OK

[Cal Price]

I enjoy this forum and I value it. I go off on one now and again, point taken.
Let's try and make our points, robustly when required, without personalising issues or getting into abuse. For my two-penny worth I think that should be achievable.
Be Lucky people.

[Blueknyt]

Shrug

mud slinging is fun at times, but there are always lines that shouldnt be crossed. but then, lines do move. :mrgreen:

[pantablo]

but I (IMO) don't believe I've ever done it other than in defense

You've got to be kidding.

You are not alone in starting a thread with the sole consequence (if not intent) of directly attacking a member. Like ->this<- thread.

I can find other similar threads started with the same intent by others. I only single this one out to make a point. All are culpable.

[jake42]

Go Pablo. You've got my vote brother.

Jake

[CasiUSA]

Well, I'm not going to defend myself on namecalling or being inflammatory there, but bigotry is bigotry, and If I want to defend against that, than sue me...
ghey bashing is what it is.

I don't promote my being a duck here, but if you are against my standing up for a group of people being discriminated against, then believe what you will.

Secondly, you can't even come close to singleing me out with the amount of racist hate that Wilson has spewed:

oh nooooooooooooooooooooooooo.........shhhhhhhhhhhh.................
don't say anything about the zionists jews....................
you can say ANYTHING about Whites, Southern Whites, Rednecks..

but don't say ANYTHING about the queers...........coloreds..........
unbridled immigrants..............muslims............rainbow coalition.......dumb women..
ignorant savages.............dumbass welfare recipients on welfare for decades at taxpayers expense.......axe murderers that were victimized by whites...........communists/socialists/marxists out to destroy our country..
shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....................

lick my underarms

[vtlion]

and in a supreme example of how out of control this forum has become....  yet another argument is springing up in a thread before the posts reach double digits...        FInger pointing and name calling has begun.  In fact, the person or people being attcked hasn't even posted to the thread yet.... sadly, this is becoming too common around here... at least I applaud the combatants for keeping it to the O&E threads.  Maybe this forum DOES serve a purpose after all :dunno:

still, I'm with Pablo.  I haven't messaged the mods or really gotten involved in most of the argumentative posts except to put my 2 cents in then drop it.  I abhor censorship, but to use an old addage...

eveybody's got the right to be an a$$ now and then... some people abuse the privilege.

[pantablo]

Secondly, you can't even come close to singleing me out with the amount of racist hate that Wilson has spewed:

I ONLY singled you out because you said this:

editage: Not to say I'm not guilty of throwing a name or two her and there,

. I also said I could easily find similar threads by others, which I have.

you're all guilty of it. The matter of degree isnt an issue here. THe fact that it happens at all is getting out of hand. I'm sick of it and you arent helping your cause at all.

[john]

Way to go Pablo.  I support your efforts in the matter of cleaning up this forum.   I am also glad you aren't singling out any one person.

[octane]

Kill O&E. This is a motorcycle forum.

[Zarathustra]

is the o&e forum messy at times?  sure.  is it an abusive place where things get out of hand and people get mad and hurt?  yep.  the thing is, as i see it, this is all consequencial.  i think the real matter at hand should be if it serves a purpose or not.  in the strictiest sense the purpose of it is very limited on a motorcycle forum.  we don't talk about bikes here that often, and more often than not fights errupt.  however, in a gathering of any amount of people, where people discuss things (motorcycles here), some people are going to want to talk to people who share common interests with them about other things.  in a group so varried as people who rides gs500's you're going to have a lot of disagreements on important issues, and on top of that, by statistical chance, you'll have a portion who is very vocal about their views, and at times lets their anger/frustration get the better of them and take things out of control.  i'm one of these people at times, and i think if you look at daily life, anyone who cares about anything gets upset at times and doesn't act quite like they would have hoped they would.  it just so happens that for some people these talks happen here, and not at coffee shops and bars.

i guess all i've got to say on the issue is that this forum does provide a useful purpose for this board, even though it gets out of hand at times.  i mean, that's life; life gets out of hand.  you can't just pretend people don't care about issues, and that people arn't asses at times.  well i guess you can, but i just don't know how constructive that is.  and from another light, should this forum be removed, do you really think the problems will go away?  i would imagine that they would get brought up somewhere in a thread hijack on the main forum, and then problems would just be there, which is precisely where they don't belong, and this forum exists and was created in the first place.

should people be nicer in here?  i think so.  i just don't think that you can somehow make this happen, unless you have a plan of rewiring people and changing who they are; or just start deleting threads and posts.  i guess you could create certains rules of discourse, explaining that things of religous, and political nature are not allowed.  i don't know if i like that approach, but it certainly is one that could be taken.  i can see it's a problem, i just don't see what can really be done about it that will help, and i don't think it should be shut down.  but hey, that's just the opinion of a guy who likes posting here and discussing things, nothing more.

[ollie357]

You have a point there, Z.

If there's any mess to be made, then at least the O and E forum forms a trough where the crud can safely spill over into, instead of flaring up in the other forums. And hey, at least we get to learn about everyone's TRUE personalities. That way, when I plan a group ride with some of you guys I won't end up being too, uh, surprised.
But at the same time, yeah, some of the ethnic slurs, foul name-calling etc. etc. isn't at all conducive to getting your points across. It justs gets everyone more pissed off and defensive. The opposite of what you all hope to achieve. It also makes it appear to new members that this place is populated by psychotics.

my 2 cents.  :nana:

[Ed_in_Az]

 

[Zarathustra]

it just seems to me that another "thunderdome" forum would create more admin work, and just make an unnecessary forum.  the odds and ends forum is exactly what it should be, odds and ends.  yeah stuff gets heated here like i stated before, but is it really hurting anyone?  if you want to make the argument that it is, and it is on account of the topics and language, isn't moving it to another forum just condoning at as long as it is out of sight?  wouldn't this also cause problems eventually when one whole forum on this sight is full of odds and ends that the odds and ends forum can't handle because it's too nuts?  and then you get into all the fine lines between what's really offensive and should be moved, versus someone who has a knee-jerk reaction calling an admin to move a thread that seems just fine to everyone else.  for example, i personally find some of the things wilson says a bit ignorant, unnecessarily cruel, and bigoted; should every thread he posts in be moved to the thunderdome whenever he says the least inflamitory thing?  that won't solve the problem at all.  i think people should converse more civiliy, but another forum just so people can converse like children and biggots seems kind of unnecessary.

[john]

For now moderators will toss offensive/annoying threads into the Tard Farm where people can reply to them till their hearts content.

[jake42]

good one john!  

The problem is, it's the same 4 or 5 people that are always bitching back and forth.  And they'll defend themselves as being in the right every time.  Maybe  they should just stfu.

Jake

[Ed_in_Az]

 

[pantablo]

NO THUNDERDOME FORUM.

TRY THUNDERDOME.COM INSTEAD. GET THE F OUT.


I disagree with Zarathustra when he said," this forum does provide a useful purpose for this board, even though it gets out of hand at times." In fact, I would like to bring up the fact that before there was a O&E forum there were OT posts in General, but it never got out of hand like it has here. It just wasnt tolerated.

LAST winter the OT threads got out of hand (quantity, not quality). There are always more of them as less people ride in the season, but last year they were too many. Well, I think the wrong thing was done then to address it. If you want to discuss politics there are any number of websites dedicated to left/right/center politics. If you want to insult people, dozens of websites to go to.

I DO agree with Z when he says, "should people be nicer in here? i think so. i just don't think that you can somehow make this happen". I think the only way to get us back to civility is to abandon the O&E forum. This kind of trash talk was never tolerated in General, nor will it in the future.

You want to talk gs500 or motorcycle stuff? Here we are.
You want to buy or sell gs500 or motorcycle stuff? Here we are.
You want to ride with people who share a love for the gs500? Here we are.

Everyone else STFU and get out. I cant tolerate it any longer.