"- Political Discussion Are Prohibited, As Is Any Discussion On R

[lubidog]

I am sure with a disclaimer stating that anything stated on these boards by the members is not representative of the board owners would settle the legal issue.

To be fair to ED, I think he has made the legal argument in good faith. However, it is clear that legal concerns were not a factor in the rule change.

We have had lively discussions in the past about everything from the Iraq War to the death penalty, from Saddam Hussein to George Bush. Not to mention the infamous starwarsnerd religious threads. And no-one has been sued.

These changes have been made because certain mods believe they would make this place "nicer". However, they have failed to even take in to account what their users may want. We can't even discuss the merits of Macs, or the sense in using Bluray in the PS3 without it getting stopped without justification. The mods have gone too far and need to readdress what they are hoping to achieve.

This post sums everything up nicely and is, I believe unarguable with. For the good of the board, I would like to see a collective response from the mods taking in this viewpoint, which is pretty much the view of us all (ordinary members). A post saying that the mods will meet and discuss and get back to us would stop all these posts...

 

[Javacat]

I think that making the warn levels open so that everyone can see them may help in some small way. I've seen a few boards where peoples warn levels are shown along with there post counts, join ID's etc, whenever they post and it works quite well.

 

[NoidZ]

i think that maybe we shouldnt be allowed to discuss religion and stuff like that coz theres no point.

What?? A topic isn't started for no reason. Some are, but you notice that right away. In MOST cases a topic is started because someone is interested in how others thinks about something. And tell me WHAT is wrong with that? I really don't get the point of closing a topic because of peoples interest.

Then again, I find this very sad. Ban the people who flame (if there is any flaming), then your problem is solved. Somehow some people here can't seem to understand that. The people which just want to discuss/hold a dialogue are the ones who still don't have an awnser to their questions or are missing out something they are interested in.

So there IS a point! I don't understand you don't see it...

 

[Draken]

I think that making the warn levels open so that everyone can see them may help in some small way. I've seen a few boards where peoples warn levels are shown along with there post counts, join ID's etc, whenever they post and it works quite well.

Yeah, Guyfawkes' Zodiacgamer/emuboards has this. Quite useful, you can see your warning level + notes by the mod on why you were warned. Here you randomly hear you have 80%..

 

[NoidZ]

This discussion is heading for the Suggestions topics...

 

[daclassicgamingmaster]

Mods, I think it's a fantastic idea to make each person's warn level viewable for that person only. It's not fun suddenly hearing "oh you have a 90% warn level, so you're almost perma-banned!!!!". It would keep a lot of people in check if they knew what their level/reason for elevation was.


Also, I was watching a story on a news program about a woman who set up "dont date him girl".com, a place where women can anonymously post their horror stories about men to warn other women. Now I certainly think there are major errors with that, ie. exaggeration, made up stories, etc, but there's a point to this.

A man, who was a lawyer, tried to sue a woman who made up some crap on him having herpes. He's not going to win. You know why? There's an act in place already, that states that if you own a website, you as the owner cannot be held personally responsible for content posted by your members. I REALLY wish I could remember the name of the law, but there is indeed something in place.


Finally, here's MS's TOS:

LINKS TO THIRD PARTY SITES.

THE LINKS IN THIS AREA WILL LET YOU LEAVE MICROSOFT'S SITE. THE LINKED SITES ARE NOT UNDER THE CONTROL OF MICROSOFT AND MICROSOFT IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENTS OF ANY LINKED SITE OR ANY LINK CONTAINED IN A LINKED SITE, OR ANY CHANGES OR UPDATES TO SUCH SITES. MICROSOFT IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR WEBCASTING OR ANY OTHER FORM OF TRANSMISSION RECEIVED FROM ANY LINKED SITE. MICROSOFT IS PROVIDING THESE LINKS TO YOU ONLY AS A CONVENIENCE, AND THE INCLUSION OF ANY LINK DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT BY MICROSOFT OF THE SITE.

I would hope hando has something like that in place to begin with!

 

[TelcoLou]

Why does no one understand?

This is not your living room or basement or den. Hando owns this site and does not want these types of discusions on HIS board.

End.

 

[declaration]

Why does no one understand?

This is not your living room or basement or den. Hando owns this site and does not want these types of discusions on HIS board.

End.

He shouldn't have started a message board, allowed it to flourish, and then five years later start censoring like mad.

This site is the site of the community. The community has made it what it is. Obviously we are grateful to Hando for facilitating this, but that doesn't mean we have to accept any ridiculous rules you guys decide to impose without registering our disdain.

I don't know why you had to come into a very constructive thread with aggressive arguments like that- arguments that even Hando has not used.

If you want to have these rules, it will be to the detriment of this section of the site. Don't blame us, you have brought it on yourselves.

 

[daclassicgamingmaster]

Just a note to mods:

Please add in the rules that requesting a PM with information is WRONG and NOT ALLOWED. I was informed that I'm not allowed to do such things through a PM from another mod.


This is ridiculous.

 

[Vimacs]

you asked for a warez link in a public thread, not via pm, are you really that naive?

 

[daclassicgamingmaster]

you asked for a warez link in a public thread, not via pm, are you really that naive?

EXCUSE ME?

You DELETED my post, and now you're lying? I know what's against the rules here, why would I request a rom link in public? I asked that he PM me the link.


what's going on lately?

 

[Draken]

Speaking of which, there was nothing illigal on that site yet.

 

[NoidZ]

what's going on lately?

That's what I ask myself too. What's up?

 

[Vimacs]

your post was not deleted, only hidden, we will talk about that in the mod forum.

 

[sam fisher]

your post was not deleted, only hidden, we will talk about that in the mod forum.

To the Extreme Team Forum!

 

[daclassicgamingmaster]

your post was not deleted, only hidden, we will talk about that in the mod forum.

Discuss away.

 

[WarmFluffyUK]

Folks be patient, we have a lot on our plate at the moment and we are going to make a "little big" change soon. We really have taken on board what you have suggested and possibly come up with something.

Also I realise my attitude since the Klown incident has been a bit bitchy so I am going to mellow a bit and I am taking a week away from things next week: Gonna chill, cook ace food, drink wine and participate in a bit of retail outlet support. So from Monday I may be quiet for a few days. No doubt a select few of you will be very happy at this but don't worry, I will be back :rolleyes:

 

[prairiefire]

how many people click "view new posts" when they sign on? i do that these days and assume that the mods do too. When ED mentions that it takes a long time to view all threads, I totally sympathize with the mods. It takes me about 1 hour to go over most new posts when i get up (and i only read about 25% of the posts). Even though discussions can be reported, I don't think the mods can depend on that, the consequences are too risky (regardless of whether or not you think a rom link wouldn't be in a political discussion or not, you have to make sure... and there are so many threads on this forum that change topic, even the titles of a topic don't tell the full story these days). Assuming the mods divide up what forum they're responsible for moderating, it would still take an hour i bet for them to do their volunteered job (wait, do mods have lives too??)

i'm all for free speech too, and i know even though i can talk about political views on other forums, this forum is one i'd rather talk about anything with because i've become familiar with this community. however, if it makes the mods' lives easier to not have us talk about religion or politics, i'll refrain because more importantly, i'm here for news/help on my favourite handheld of all time.

 

[saehn]

how many people click "view new posts" when they sign on? i do that these days and assume that the mods do too. When ED mentions that it takes a long time to view all threads, I totally sympathize with the mods. It takes me about 1 hour to go over most new posts when i get up (and i only read about 25% of the posts). Even though discussions can be reported, I don't think the mods can depend on that, the consequences are too risky (regardless of whether or not you think a rom link wouldn't be in a political discussion or not, you have to make sure... and there are so many threads on this forum that change topic, even the titles of a topic don't tell the full story these days). Assuming the mods divide up what forum they're responsible for moderating, it would still take an hour i bet for them to do their volunteered job (wait, do mods have lives too??)

So you're saying that the mods need to review 100% of the messages posted on the forums to make sure that there are no ROM links or other illegal material? I doubt that they've ever done that (it would take far too long), but I'll address your example scenario. I feel like it's a safe bet that religious/political posts make up less than 5% of the total messages on these forums. That means that the mods would still have at least 95% of the total messages left to review. You can't tell me that this was the reason for banning religious/political discussions.

i'm all for free speech too, and i know even though i can talk about political views on other forums, this forum is one i'd rather talk about anything with because i've become familiar with this community. however, if it makes the mods' lives easier to not have us talk about religion or politics, i'll refrain because more importantly, i'm here for news/help on my favourite handheld of all time.

Ignoring controversial yet non-abusive threads would make mods' lives easier. There's no reason to shut down a controversial thread unless it becomes abusive. At that point, you can very likely depend on the person being abused (or helpful bystanders) to report the thread.

Edit: WarmFluffyUK states that there's a change coming up, and I'm sure those of us concerned with recent developments are eagerly anticipating it!

 

[prairiefire]

So you're saying that the mods need to review 100% of the messages posted on the forums to make sure that there are no ROM links or other illegal material? I doubt that they've ever done that (it would take far too long)

A question to the mods: How much time do you spend moderating these forums? How are modding duties divided?

@saehn: I'm not sure if they check 100% of the threads, this is a good question. If I were hando though, i'd be rather concerned about EVERYTHING that goes on in my forum. Wouldn't you?