CE Forum

[Toby]

There has been a growing trend in the CE forums that is about to come to a head. I'm sure many have noticed this, but much of the "discussion" that takes place is reaching levels of browbeating, general nay-saying, insult slinging, and the like. It is nearing a climax, and this is easily exhibited in the thread on Jerry Falwell's death.

Many members were happy to see him leave this plane of existence, others celebrated, and few remained quiet. Those who were more the ready to party were making comparisons that have become standard fare on the board.

Yeah, like Hitler.

RIP and good riddance, you bigoted little ####

Others echoed these sentiments, and would give "reasoning" to it.

You know what's "beyond classless"? To bash gay Americans for 3000 people dying in 9/11.

Falwell deserves every bit of bashing we can muster.

See you realizing the "moral majority" was neither

In the community guidelines, it is stated that we are not to insult members and non-members of DCP. Does this hold true after death? When is it right to go and trash someone?

The Current Events forum is now dominated by general nay-saying with very little "discussion" going on. The most vocal members are the ones who are in this ring. It is from both sides of the aisles. There is no discussion as to possible repercussions of world events, national events, or local events. It's all a blame game from one side or another with playground insults veiled in bigger words.

The CE board needs an overhaul in moderation, enforcement, and the like. I'd propose that a merry-go-round of members in the forum moderate themselves, but you'd run into power plays. Enforcing guidelines more harshly on blatant guideline violations, adding another member to the moderating team (or Community Admin). There is something in the software that prohibits people from entering certain forums, use it on repeat offenders. Discussion should not involve people having to defend their name from child-like insults.

I thank you for reading so far, but, I must continue.

I have been a member of this community for a few years now, I've been through all the crackdowns and whatnot, but I feel like this needs to be headed off before it gets any worse. I enjoy this site, the people I have met here have helped me when I needed it, and I'm sure it is the case for others. I have met these people before, in person, and they are not like this. I don't even know what would drive them to this point, but we need to curb this problem.

Thank you,

William "Toby" Sakalaucks

[Lance]

In the community guidelines, it is stated that we are not to insult members and non-members of DCP.

There are special guidelines for the CE forum. It's at the top of every single page you open in CE. The heavy emphasis is on self-moderation. Whether people want to believe it or not, we pretty much only close threads or delete posts, or even EDIT posts, when they're explicit personal attacks on members or bad language through language filter circumvention. That's the simple truth. Please, read the CE forum guidelines, and feel free to compare and contrast them with those of the regular boards. I bolded some areas that I felt were most relevant here.

http://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/forums/inde...ct=SR&f=222

After careful thought and discussion amongst the Drum Corps Planet™ administration team, we have decided to make some changes to the way in-which the Off-Topic forums (Bored-Current Events-Entertainment and Related-Sports and Related-Tech Talk) operate. These forums provide, for those DCP members who specifically request access, an opportunity to discuss subjects that are outside the normal scope of the DCP forums. We believe there is value in providing the community with a place to venture into and express their thoughts on those issues, outside of the ‘normal’ constraints of the general community structure.

Effective immediately, the OT forums will be "self-moderated" by the members who choose to participate in the OT forums. Believing that most members that participate are interested in presenting their thoughts and opinions in a way that is respectful of others, we think the majority of the participants in these forums will have no problems living within this new environment. The DCP support staff will continue to monitor posts/threads in these forums on a daily basis, but will take a more "hands-off" approach and rely on participants in the forums to act responsibly. Given that members of these forums span a wide range of ages, inappropriate language will not be acceptable and any circumvention of our word filters will be dealt with accordingly.

While we support and encourage lively discussion, passionate representation of one another’s opinions, and contributions from the many different perspectives our members have, we will draw the line for acceptable behavior at any form of personal attack(s) towards any member. The only way this forum can continue is if all members exhibit a minimum margin of respect and refrain from personal attacks against another’s political, religious, or personal views. If a member has a ‘personal issue’ with another, it will need to be addressed via PM, E-mail, or any other means outside of these forums.

When reviewing any possible violation of the guidelines, reported by a member or not, the post(s), content and context of the offending material will be considered. To ensure that this policy is adhered to by all, we will uniformly enforce the following penalties for any such violations of the OT guidelines:

1st offense - 3 day suspension (account)

2nd offense - 7 day suspension (account)

3rd offense – access to all Off-Topic Forums will be permanently revoked

After a 3rd offense, any violation of this or other Community Guidelines in any of the DCP discussion forums – PERMANENT BAN from ALL DCP forums.

All suspensions will be reviewed and acted upon by the Community Administrator – to ensure the highest level of consistency and fairness.

We hope that with this new approach to the Off-Topic Forums, our members will be encouraged to express their ideas and positions in a lively, passionate, and constructive way – while allowing all sides of the debate to be heard, without the discussion turning into a demeaning shouting-match of insults and belittlement.

Thank you for your support and participation.

Rich Kleinman

DCP Community Administrator

[LegalEagle50]

and i can think of more than a couple EXPLICIT personal attacks where the comment may have been removed but nothing was said or done to the poster.

and yes, Jami will back me up on this one.

so please don't give me that list about what offenses equal for "vacations" because honestly, it's become quite clear that it just isn't a priority to some people here to deal with the problems at hand.

[Toby]

Lance, do attacks against non-members of this forum bring about any sort of suspension? It seems like there is a double standard. Do these standards stop applying to someone who is dead?

I don't mean that we should be all "kumbaya" when we post over there, but halfway respectful to the other side's opinion when they present it. In a word, civil.

That forum has become much like "Lord of the Flies" with this lack of oversight. And both sides are trying to treat the other like Piggy.

[MikeM]

There are special guidelines for the CE forum. It's at the top of every single page you open in CE. The heavy emphasis is on self-moderation. Whether people want to believe it or not, we pretty much only close threads or delete posts, or even EDIT posts, when they're explicit personal attacks on members or bad language through language filter circumvention. That's the simple truth. Please, read the CE forum guidelines, and feel free to compare and contrast them with those of the regular boards. I bolded some areas that I felt were most relevant here.

http://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/forums/inde...ct=SR&f=222

I call ######## here.

There have been times where not only were BLATANT personal attacks ignored, the offender wasn't even given a stern talking to.

But, if other members so much as peep out of line, here, have a vacation.

Its smacks of a double standard, and I, for one, am sick and tired of it.

Self-Moderation HAS NOT WORKED. It is a failure as a policy. The way the CE forums are now is a direct example of how Self-Moderation has not worked.

Time to fix the problem. And, IMO, fixing the problem would be 2 fold:

1. End self-moderation of CE and the OT forums.

2. Revamp the staff. I can think of 2, maybe 3 FSTM's who are worth anything. Can the rest, along with the invisible community administrator and start over.

But what do I know.

[LAMystreaux]

I call ######## here.

There have been times where not only were BLATANT personal attacks ignored, the offender wasn't even given a stern talking to.

But, if other members so much as peep out of line, here, have a vacation.

Its smacks of a double standard, and I, for one, am sick and tired of it.

Self-Moderation HAS NOT WORKED. It is a failure as a policy. The way the CE forums are now is a direct example of how Self-Moderation has not worked.

Time to fix the problem. And, IMO, fixing the problem would be 2 fold:

1. End self-moderation of CE and the OT forums.

2. Revamp the staff. I can think of 2, maybe 3 FSTM's who are worth anything. Can the rest, along with the invisible community administrator and start over.

But what do I know.

Hmmm, this sounds like the mod team is Bush and the rest of us are the Americans griping about the war and Bush not changing course.

FWIW, I agree on the moderation style. I as recent as last night got a PM from a Mod reprimanding me for something that. . .well, was nothing. Its become a joke around here.

[tmignemi02]

wait - so the "rules" for CE are different than the rest of the OT forums?

[Jami]

Yes - and the self moderation approach for the CE forum has been in place for quite awhile.

[tmignemi02]

Interesting.

[JMS0527]

I'm not trying to be flippant at all here...but one of the best solutions is just to not go into the CE forum...

I've had threads that have interested me (very, very few these days)...I may take a gander, and if I start to see the posts taking a bad direction, I just stop

It's not worth it

As for the other forums (that aren't in the non-topic group), I can't help you...once the season is underway, that may change