I'm still a newbie...I guess (My one year anniversary is here now). The personal attacks are what's out of place...Although I haven't been attacked, to my knowledge. Maybe someone needs to start a permanent thread listing the attacks by quote and PM's should be automatically sent to those listed on the thread asking the posters to politely refrain from attacking others. We can all get out of line once in a while. I've publicly apologized once or twice myself. So maybe the PM's could automatically get sent on the second listing. It's the personal attacks that are distasteful to me...not the negativity.
As usual, Brett has a sensible outlook on things related to TigerForums. The kids want to be crazy, the angry people want to be angry, the adults want to discuss things civilly, and the trolls stir the pot. It's impossible to be all things to all people. I've always been against them as elitist, but I'm beginning to understand why many boards have Premium forums. I'd be willing to pay $$ to go to a civil football discussion forum with no single-digit ranters and a zero-tolerance policy on insults and flaming. It's not the criticism of the team or the coaches that upset people, TF has always been a no-censorship zone. It is the vehemence, denigration, inflammatory rhetoric, and vulgarities that have increased in scale and in tone. Anonymous login-and-post forums bring out the worst in people sometimes.
THIS. In my time here I have been on the wrong end of many of peoples opinion the most heated envolved J Russell and J Lee but even as heated as it got it never degraded to the point of me or anyone else wanting to take it outside. Are just spiral towards name calling because someone didnt agree with me. I think a rant board that could serve as the penalty box would come in handy right about now.
Definitely something that is under consideration. There are several ways to go about it. One thing I've been thinking about is a Premium/Private forum that is by invitation only. Start with a core group of regulars and allow them the power to invite friends or other people they know. I'm not sure yet but it's something to consider. Again, personal attacks and other venomous behavior is not allowed but we don't have the manpower to monitor every single post. We need people to use the "report post" button when they see something that is inappropriate so we are notified. On the flip side we also have people reporting posts that say things they just don't like or that might be a little harsh and we won't delete every post just because it's reported. I know things don't always move as swift as people would like but know that I and the mods are listening and we're always in discussions to make things better.
I think having a private forum here is a mistake. It takes away from the overall quality of the main forums. Also, you end up with a clique mentality that makes new members and outsiders to the private forum feel unwelcomed. There have already been private forums in the past here that have had a negative effect on the forum in general.
this is why i had suggested the "timeout forum" a few weeks ago. Mods can just stick the retards in a penalty box for a few days. When they can't act like attention whores for a few days maybe they will learn the common coutesy rules of the place.
i think one thing that is coming out of all of this that is positive is that brett and the mods are discussing different options and looking at ways to make the forum better. it may not be happening as fast as some (including me) would like, but at least options are being discussed and members opinions are not just being dismissed. i have faith that things will work out and a solution will be found.
if anyone feels like they are being threatened/stalked/harrassed via pm, the pm can be reported. there is a little sheriff's badge icon at the top of each pm to click on to report a pm.
