I would like to hear the Doc way in on this, but it seems to me that when the Asylum started up, there were no conditions that would cause a thread to be locked. The Doc wants this to be an open place where people can feel free to express ideas without fear of having someone come along and shut the thread down because someone or other took offense.
I still can't think of any situations when I think a thread should be locked. Just for example, assume that two people in the Asylum start trading insults and just can't keep their disagreement off line. What harm are they doing to the rest of the Asylum? It seems to me that everyone else will go to other disucssions and talk about Photoshop or HTML or Javascript, or Philosophy, etc. Basically these two will be left on their own to hash out their differences in an adult or immature fashion as they want.
If however these same to people keep barging in on other threads, disrupting the conversation and side tracking other discussions, maybe it's time to consider ristricting their access to the Asylum (another practice the Doc was definitly against). I'm not suggesting banning the people. Maybe it would be possible to make a Playpen forum that would be the only place they could post for a while until they learn to play nice with others.
As far as locking threads, I can't think of any reason to lock one. When we lock a thread, we are punishing everyone because a few can't behave themselves. I think we should find a different way to deal with ptoblems than by locking threads.
When a thread goes banana, MadScis could move it to a place where search engine bots won't crawl it. As pointed a few days ago, such name calling threads can be harmful as they might show up in the first results of a search though the keywords should have lead to a more informative thread.
True. And I guess we don't really need strict guideline to know when to react about a thread. MadScis and inmates are big enough to move/close/ignore a thread when it's derailing.
reisio and Blacknight nailed it. If it's spam/abusive/racism/name calling/... it's bad.
Tyberius Prime
Maniac (V) Mad Scientist with Finglongers
From: Germany Insane since: Sep 2001
posted 07-20-2006 22:47
Yeah, Moving to the Lab is usally the better idea, since there it won't be picked up by the spiders.
If threads are closed rarly, I believe it also serves as a measure to show the involved that they're way out of line.
What would you recommend the guidelines to use when deciding if a thread should be closed?
I'm in the minority here. Where many members have stated they can't find reason to close a thread, I can't find a valid reason for allowing these "fights" to continue. These forums were created by the Doc to promote learning and intelligent discussion, not as a tool for Ini to lose his temper and spew a mess of garbage along with their resume. Allowing these outbursts to continue only exacerbates a situation that has driven away many good members of the Asylum. It's one thing to allow these threads to stay open if intelligent debate is going on around the "fight" but I think if the discussion has run its course or the "fight" has hindered all intelligent discussion, we need not allow it to continue. Strike that, we should not allow it to continue. There doesn't seem to be a point.
It's not as though I advocate a Gestapo-like system. The amount of locked threads we have should be an indication to how infrequently threads need to be closed.
Jestah, as far as I know, you often close threads without a warning, at least I can't remember an occurence
of you locking a thread after having warned people. The problem is not the amount of threads locked, the problem is the practice itself.
What about issuing a warning - and a crystal clear one, for dummies and foreigners, like "this aspect of that thread will lead me to close it if there is no better
way to deal with it".
To adress issues where they belong, I won't reply to your personal attacks for the... 1000th time. You got my icq, my email, I even apologized for insults directed at you,
frankly, if you feel like going on a rampage, you have ways of adressing my problem - since you seem to think I have one - constructively and outside the forum.
Currently, I think it's getting as old to me as it is to the rest of the bunch. Get over it or deal with it, eg. me, but stop trying to sell ideas about how to punish me,
you end up sounding dull.
-------------------------
quote:
When we lock a thread, we are punishing everyone because a few can't behave themselves. I think we should find a different way to deal with ptoblems than by locking threads.
That's an excellent point. I suggest - discussion- as in real world conflicts, because locking practices hinder the quality of this community as much
as... no, no, no, a lot more than discussions drifting actually. A discussion that drifts is just that, an unresolved tension is much heavier and "core"
to the forum spirit.
My 2 cents: some of you tried insulting me, some tried putting me down, some tried banning, some tried demotion, and I still am posting.
What about trying new ways - indeed. "jackpot": why wouldn't you try -talking- and -actively listening- for a change.
And this is special directed to Jestah: I haven't been around in weeks, I come back, and I find you trying to snicker ideas about punishing me
here, and there, and there again, and once more.... You almost seem to be missing closing my threads. Something to think about - in the vein of *you are here
to keep things running smooth* emphasis on the word smooth.
...What's up with the 90% of my texts being calm and...
...What's the exact reason you want to prosecute and lock me down so badly? What's the crime?
_Mauro, from friend to friend, which bit in this thread actually states that Jestah - or anyone else for that matters - are plotting to close YOUR threads? Stop taking everything so personally for the sake of a healthier/clearer discussion.
You have, of course, the right to express your opinion about the question that has been raised - What would you recommend the guidelines to use when deciding if a thread should be closed? - note the nuance: not _Mauro's threads, but a thread.
Please, you are not discussing anything here, you are picking on someone - Jestah - to fight back against something you feel is an attack against you for no evident reason (read again, if you don't believe me). This thread has been opened and the discussion has not been carried on in the other thread for very good reasons: start on clear basis and open the discussion - again, feel free to express how you feel on the matter, rather that stick your claws out and start biting.
A good example of some - not to say "the only" - relevant piece of contribution you have made in the above post regarding the subject:
quote:What about issuing a warning - and a crystal clear one, for dummies and foreigners, like "this aspect of that thread will lead me to close it if there is no better way to deal with it".
... although I have never come across any dummy around the Asylum
Kimmy, darling, open those blue eyes of yours and READ, Jestah more than entices, suggests, and directs things at me quite explicitely.
Example:
These forums were created by the Doc to promote learning and intelligent discussion, not as a tool for members of this community to lose their temper and spew a mess of garbage along with their resume.
Who do you think "spew a mess of garbage along with their resume" refers to? The only thing missing there is my name, all the rest says Jestah was thinking about me.
I appreciate your gentle efforts for guidance, but in this case, give it a second read.
Notice I am not overdoing it, not getting overly emotional, not getting defensive, nor agressive, just taking the occasion to express my very different views.
This is not "paranoia" nor defense on my side, it's a real concern: if people here are stuck on negativity to such a degree they cannot help mentionning me,
it also hinders theyre, my experience of the place and PREPARES ground for misunderstanding and outbursts.
If at least it's out in the open, it can be adressed better.
...It's sad babe because I know you want to help me with posts like that, somehow, but you're making the same confusion and assumption
made before by others.
I am not "biting" Jestah for free: he has "called" for me, I am answering, A) And I do think a key success factor to conflict resolution, tension,
and threads drifting control is discussion B).
This is difficult, btw, because some people think the opposite and are uncomfortable with solving conflict in the open,
they prefer leaving things to evolve. Here, this doesn't work, and hasn't worked.
And you, better than anyone else, should understand all this: we've shared a deep bond for years, and something of that bond clearly remains.
But at some point, we had to determine each party's responsibility and both admit our good and our bad to remove tensions of the past. And look, we can "talk"
about virtually anything nowadays.
Debate you said, discussion you said: my most important point here for the WHOLE, not for me, is that discussion must preceed and prevent misunderstandings.
Because 90% of web-tards flame wars are consequences of communication issues.
---------------------------
Side-note: it's ok for you to be a challenger, that's what I like from my acquaintances, but don't challenge over nothing, I am not in the "me against the world"
mood, I am here as an... expert in conflicts? And more and more, in resolution of those.
Just one thing, which relates to what we have been discussing this this week, somehow...
You said in you other thread something I would like to express myself about here because it fits this conversation better:
quote:I also believe I am a huge problem to some persons around
In relationships, most of the problems one may encounter are based on something one let become a problem. I do not believe there is any "virtual" relationship problem as the ones people have over the Internet which cannot be solved - and there are certainly many ways of avoiding problems with any type of relationship, unless it is desperate, in which case the only answer is separation, imho. Discussion is the key, yes, but only if you drop the weapons: anger, hatred, vanity, etc. Discussions in which people fire at other people - "yes but you said this, you did that" - are bound to end up bad.
You have nothing to prove to anyone, you know it, I know it, apart perhaps to yourself, so be confident and do rely on the fact that people will see what you are capable of. Confidence is not about telling other people what you can do, it is about showing, or proving to them what you can do. This is what I called humility the other day.
quote:Kimmy, darling, open those blue eyes of yours and READ, Jestah more than entices, suggests, and directs things at me quite explicitly.
I do agree, implicit attack stink, as well as explicit ones.
I hope you understand my point.
On this note, I'm off for the week-end. Have a good one!
Who do you think "spew a mess of garbage along with their resume" refers to? The only thing missing there is my name, all the rest says Jestah was thinking about me.
Sorry about that. I edited my post to refer to Ini specifically by name. What's the point in beating around the bush here? If we're going to have a serious discussion about locking threads for fighting we should at least acknowledge that there really is only one member who seems to have a problem with fighting. I can't recall even a single thread within the last few years locked for fighting that didn't revolve around Ini.
posted 07-20-2006 17:35
Something to think about - in the vein of *you are here