Wall of Mouths

I must say I enjoy this message board much much more than others, it’s nice to have a place on the web where people are actually tolerant towards each other and people with whom you can have a decent conversation.
I do think however that the guidelines are taken too seriously sometimes, especially regarding staying on-topic. But then again, there are so many posts that it’s probably necessary to keep seem order in topics.

Michael wrote:

[..]

thats my opinion too, though i was on of the freaks teethgrinder was talking about :)

Teethgrinder wrote:

I didn’t call you a freak tatty, I’d have to see a photo of you first to judge that :p

*gggggggg*

No my pics are something of a horror really *g*
i know you didn´t call me a freak … i called myself a freak *g*
but in a positive way i think :)

Citizen Erased wrote:

8) Insulting Limp Bizkit doesn’t count

this line should definatly be added to the guidelines :)

Citizen Erased wrote:

6) Critisising other people is allowed;
7) Insulting them isn’t

I always see criticism of my opinion as an insult. :)

Quote (author unknown):

8) Insulting Limp Bizkit doesn’t count

Add Coldplay, Starsailor and Travis to that list.

Quote (author unknown):

9) Discussions on marzipan never count as off-topic

The most essential guideline to be added.
What do T? think about marzipan?

zero nero wrote:

However i do sometimes feel on this site that its okay to talk about the good things about t? but as soon as any critism starts then its shut up time on this site.

i totally agree with you…i had this impression to a couple of times

i also think, as long you say anything good about T? and always yes and amen to everything they do then you’re “welcome” and everything is fine, but as long you have to critise s.th. then certain people feel immediately attacked and offended…but i think in life it sometimes happens that people are not always agreeing with what you are saying and doing and it should be aloud to say it loud then…

zero nero wrote:

However i do sometimes feel on this site that its okay to talk about the good things about t? but as soon as any critism starts then its shut up time on this site.

Well, I’ve said recently that I didn’t like SP-YF and that I saw a bad T? show once (out of many) and didn’t feel unwelcome afterwards. There was some reaction, but all in good spirit of people disagreeing.

And for most people on these boards, there is much more good to say about T? than bad.

Anyway, I think the current guidelines are not that bad.

RobbyVDH wrote:

And saying yes and amen is almost impossible for you right :p

yeah well…it’s against my nature…:D
you know i’m a notorious “Nein-Sager”…

CE - cheers for number 12 ;-) And Teethy has a nice ring to it, although I think the infamous johnnyboy already went before you in calling me that!

Some insightful points there, and two things I really like about your post, which I would like to incorporate in the guidelines (where should I sent the check?) is that (at least part of) the guidelines should be formatted as a bulleted list to make for easier reading and also to provide ‘what’s good’ and ‘what’s not’ examples.

As for the fact that one’s not welcome here when criticizing T?, as mentioned by zero nero and rocking roxy… huh?! I’m sure there are members who defend T? when someone is criticizing them, which is perfectly ok, as is criticizing them in the first place (as long as no other guidelines are violated, obviously). In your case, zero nero, I can totally understand that you’re not happy with the fact that you bought those plane tickets only to find out the show has been cancelled.

However, there is absolutely no guideline to rule out criticism on T? and, as this thread is about moderation, I would be seriously offended if any of you are implying that we edit or delete negative comments on the band for the reason of being negative! We have never done this and we never will. Period.

Finally, regarding staying on-topic, I do agree with this…

zero nero wrote:

diversity and changing subject matter is neccesary for conversation to retain its vitality and dynamic

…but that does not mean that every thread about a certain subject should be able drift off in any direction. Especially as that currently regularly means that it turns into a ‘chat’ between two people, which can lead to other people feeling ‘left out’ and no longer commenting on the actual subject of the thread, while there may have been lots more interesting stuff to be said about it.

In the analogy with real life this would mean that in a group of people having a conversation, two people go off-topic and start to talk louder and louder, overpowering the rest of the group, leaving them sitting around staring at eachother, which is not very polite.

zero nero wrote:

Thus i would encourage a little loosing of implmentation of guidelines, it would be boring if all we ever talked about was which T? item is the best? which is your favorite, polls, favorite gigs etc…

I already commented on criticizing T? in relation to this, but just one more thing in response to this comment. The stuff about Fyfe was not deleted from the Again and Again thread because it could be perceived as negative towards Neil (for example).

It was deleted because it was off-topic AND the fact that it had been brought up several times before in other threads. The other threads didn’t return to the original subject but turned into ‘no, he’s the better drummer… no, he is!’ conversations for which we already had (an)other thread(s). That’s why I felt I needed to ‘make a point’ this time, so to speak.

Cheers to everyone for all the insights so far :-)

I’ve moved your comment to Roxana to the new I love Roxana! thread, Robby. You were proving my point on going off-topic one on one I made earlier just a bit too much ;-)

Two other things:

Citizen Erased wrote:

3) Going off-topic is less of a crime on ‘Chit-chat’ topics than elsewhere

I agree completely, and this is something I have mentioned previously as well. We don’t moderate the Chit-Chat board (with the occasional exception that proves the rule), or any board in the ‘Non-Therapy? Related Topics’ section for that matter, when threads go off-topic. We will make this more clear in the revised guidelines.

Knives wrote:

Well, I’ve said recently that I didn’t like SP-YF and that I saw a bad T? show once (out of many) and didn’t feel unwelcome afterwards.

Well, then you should count yourself lucky I haven’t noticed your comment, as it’s obviously the best T? album ever! ;-) But seriously, I’m pleased to hear that you felt comfortable in offering your criticism, which is the way it should be.

That would be one of the exceptions I was talking about :p

I’m a bit late, due to phoneline troubles this weekend, but thought I should say something here.

Myself and Rene work really hard to make this a cool, happy place to be. We wrote the guidelines together and I don’t think there’s anything in them that is unreasonable, or could be called censorship.

I think Rene has said everything that I would want to on this subject so I won’t reiterate but consider that as I’m writing there are 1,221 members, 3,949 threads and 48,180 posts - we’re doing our best to keep some semblance of order and navigation, make this a welcoming place for the newbies and somewhere that the older members want to stick around.

Please do give us as much feedback as you can (positive and negative, preferably constructive) and I really hope we can all make this somewhere everyone wants to be.

So yeah…

(and no, I’ve never met Rene in person :))

I have no objections to you being rude about Srah, whomever they may be. :p

its probably best if i stick to the chit chat board then.

Teethgrinder wrote:

One more thing, I know CE didn’t mean it this way (or? ;-)) but the way he quoted me might give someone scanning this thread the impression that we don’t moderate the ‘Non-Therapy? Related Topics’ section at all.

Gives Sarah something to do, keeps her off the streets… But you’re right, I didn’t mean that there’s no moderation on chit-chat (all things in moderation, that’s the key to a happy life), just that there’s less stringent conditions on use, so to speak (bit like the difference in police reaction if you wave your knob at a granny or the Queen).