Mat is doing a Good Job

[Ice Man]

Looks like somebody has lost that lovin' feeling. You're not going to sing for us are you Sammy?

[Sundevils21]

Mat is tha nizuts [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[tiltboy]

[ QUOTE ]
I hear a lot of people complaining about trolls, spammers etc. They seem to think this forum is going unmoderated or undermoderated. This is not true.

If you are watching closely, Mat is killing the obvious spam (direct links to affiliates) while not strangling the discussion of sites.

He is taking care of truly offensive material. He has kept Ryan21's racism off the boards through his effective control. gabyyyy posted an offensive poll on William one day, it was deleted an hour later. Someone posted an offensive poll on ChristinaB, it was deleted an hour later. Obviously the timing depends on when he is online to do it.

On the other hand he doesn't overreact to every name calling incident, which would be awfully oppressive IMO. Nor did he ban the folks who created the deleted threads, which would have been going too far.

We have the ability to pass over threads that are obvious troll fests or spam. We can focus on what matters to us if we choose to (bonus alerts, site problems, etc.). We have to decide what we will and will not read. Mat should not be deciding for us.

I bet a lot of people who oppose the Patriot Act are the same people who are calling for Mat to impose his own Patriot Act type control over these forums.

Mat is doing it just right, controlling spam and truly wicked attacks, while allowing the mild attacks that are part of a free and open discussion board.

I say, Good Job Mat!

[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry, based on recent personal experience I have to respectfully disagree. I PMed Mat as well as 'Alerted Moderator' about two posts in another thread on this forum nearly twelve hours ago which call me an admitted con-artist. That is libel but it is still there for everyone reading this forum to see. IMO if Mat was doing a good job that post would be gone by now. I guess you consider attacks mild if they are aimed at someone else?

[El Barto]

[ QUOTE ]
Sorry, based on recent personal experience I have to respectfully disagree. I PMed Mat as well as 'Alerted Moderator' about two posts in another thread on this forum nearly twelve hours ago which call me an admitted con-artist. That is libel but it is still there for everyone reading this forum to see. IMO if Mat was doing a good job that post would be gone by now. I guess you consider attacks mild if they are aimed at someone else?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think complaints about minor attacks are part of the problem. Saying someone is a con-artist without any supporting proof is just a throw away line, like calling someone stupid or a moron. Happens all the time. To make it into an issue of "libel" is over the top.

I expect Mat looked at the posts at your request and moved on to more serious issues. He did the right thing. A request to delete a post is not a guarantee that it will be deleted. I think Mat appreciates this and has good judgement.

Draconian moderation will kill the forum quicker than anything else.

If you post in a "troll" thread, and all threads on moderation are troll threads, you must expect mild attacks and get over it. I accept any attacks on me in this thread if they come because it is a thread one would expect trolls to post in. I've been attacked, big deal, so what else is new? Should I have run crying to Mat? I think not.

The over reaction to minor attacks is what encourages the trolls to continue. Over reaction invites them to target the thin skinned, thats how they get their jollies.

You are a volumtary participant in this forum, you can't expect everyone to adjust to your view of the world because you have arrived.

The moderator is there to take care of big problems, not to babysit a bunch of adults.

I have yet to fail to find threads of interest to me every day. I appreciate the fact that even the trolls make threads with a subject line that alerts me to skip over it, unless I have time to read nonsense.

Must we all bend to the dictates of the most easily offended? or can we just allow free speech to blossom with all its warts?

(Mat does take care of the stuff worse than the warts of course, like spam and racial bigotry)

[tiltboy]

Let me see if I have this straight. Calling someone an admitted con artist is mild and minor and is protected by free speech. I am here voluntarily so asking that libelous statements about me posted on this board be removed is just my way of expecting everyone to adjust to my view of the world. Spam is a bigger problem than defamation. Yours is a funny world barto, that I think I want no part of.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Sorry, based on recent personal experience I have to respectfully disagree. I PMed Mat as well as 'Alerted Moderator' about two posts in another thread on this forum nearly twelve hours ago which call me an admitted con-artist. That is libel but it is still there for everyone reading this forum to see. IMO if Mat was doing a good job that post would be gone by now. I guess you consider attacks mild if they are aimed at someone else?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think complaints about minor attacks are part of the problem. Saying someone is a con-artist without any supporting proof is just a throw away line, like calling someone stupid or a moron. Happens all the time. To make it into an issue of "libel" is over the top.

I expect Mat looked at the posts at your request and moved on to more serious issues. He did the right thing. A request to delete a post is not a guarantee that it will be deleted. I think Mat appreciates this and has good judgement.

Draconian moderation will kill the forum quicker than anything else.

If you post in a "troll" thread, and all threads on moderation are troll threads, you must expect mild attacks and get over it. I accept any attacks on me in this thread if they come because it is a thread one would expect trolls to post in. I've been attacked, big deal, so what else is new? Should I have run crying to Mat? I think not.

The over reaction to minor attacks is what encourages the trolls to continue. Over reaction invites them to target the thin skinned, thats how they get their jollies.

You are a volumtary participant in this forum, you can't expect everyone to adjust to your view of the world because you have arrived.

The moderator is there to take care of big problems, not to babysit a bunch of adults.

I have yet to fail to find threads of interest to me every day. I appreciate the fact that even the trolls make threads with a subject line that alerts me to skip over it, unless I have time to read nonsense.

Must we all bend to the dictates of the most easily offended? or can we just allow free speech to blossom with all its warts?

(Mat does take care of the stuff worse than the warts of course, like spam and racial bigotry)

[/ QUOTE ]

[El Barto]

If we all considered every insult to be "libel" or "defamation", we would all be in court all day. Life is too short for that.

Do you seriously think anyone thinks any less of you because some troll threw out the words "con artist"? I doubt it.

That is why I think expecting Mat to delete an inane post like that is an overreaction. What do the rest of you think on this point?

[Oski]

[ QUOTE ]
Let me see if I have this straight. Calling someone an admitted con artist is mild and minor and is protected by free speech. I am here voluntarily so asking that libelous statements about me posted on this board be removed is just my way of expecting everyone to adjust to my view of the world. Spam is a bigger problem than defamation. Yours is a funny world barto, that I think I want no part of.



[/ QUOTE ]

Damages is a required element of defamation. Aside from the fact it is doubtful even one person believed the accusation that you are an admitted con artist, nobody knows who "you" are anyway.

P.S. Yes, it is not nice to be called an admitted con artist or the artist formally known as con; on that we agree.

[thomastem]

Tilt,

You are making a big deal about being called an admitted con artist?

Imagine if I called you a drippy or limp?

Anyway those that watched the Pink Panther movies remember Clouseu driving his boss nuts. His boss Dreyfus eventually got sick of it and broke out all of the mastermind criminals from jail and they made a doomsday machine.

Once the machine was complete they made a building disapear and told the world to give them Clousue or they would destroy the world.

At this point Dreyfus got a tooth ache and Clouseu penetrated his castle by being an under cover dentist. After both took laughing gas Clouseu pulled the wrong tooth and escaped the castle.

Tilt, don't let this sort of thing happen to you.

[tiltboy]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Let me see if I have this straight. Calling someone an admitted con artist is mild and minor and is protected by free speech. I am here voluntarily so asking that libelous statements about me posted on this board be removed is just my way of expecting everyone to adjust to my view of the world. Spam is a bigger problem than defamation. Yours is a funny world barto, that I think I want no part of.



[/ QUOTE ]

Damages is a required element of defamation. Aside from the fact it is doubtful even one person believed the accusation that you are an admitted con artist, nobody knows who "you" are anyway.

P.S. Yes, it is not nice to be called an admitted con artist or the artist formally known as con; on that we agree.

[/ QUOTE ]
You are correct. I'm not a lawyer so I did a quick study on written defamantion (libel) and found the four cornerstones: the false written statement, publication, malice, and damages. Three out of four isn't bad though. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

You are slightly in error however in that there are a number of posters of this forum who know exactly who I am and where I live. I know this about them too.

Perhaps I am being too sensitive about this but if I just let it go and do nothing I feel the trouble makers have won somehow. I think perhaps a hiatus from 2+2 is in order until I can decide whether this is the kind of place where I want to be an active participant. I appreciate your position and that of el barto on Mat and perhaps upon reflection I'll come to agree with it.

[Bump-en-Stein]

[ QUOTE ]

Perhaps I am being too sensitive about this but if I just let it go and do nothing I feel the trouble makers have won somehow. I think perhaps a hiatus from 2+2 is in order until I can decide whether this is the kind of place where I want to be an active participant.

[/ QUOTE ]

So, you are going to quit? Are you saying its over? What? Over? Did you say over? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! And it ain't over now! Cause when the gong gets tough...the tough get going! Now who's with me? COME ON!