Political Correctness on TBN?

[LRTX1]

I visit another website about land surveying and they don't moderate it as much as this website, and it suffers. People will get in personal arguments, on topic threads end up talking about politics and religon, and at times it will look like a drunken internet brawl. This forum is much better for the fact that the moderators keep track of it, and control it much tighter.

Being a Surveyor myself this doesnt suprise me. Sounds like a normal day at work.

As for the censorship and brand bashing, as long as it is valid with reason, i.e
I don't like the seat on "brand X" tractor it makes my butt sweat, that should be fine. When valid opinions start to get censored that is when I will no longer participate in this forum.

For now, I have not seen any valid opinions removed. So far, I think the moderation has been ok with me. I may not have seen some of the things others have though.

 

[MikePA]

When valid opinions start to get censored that is when I will no longer participate in this forum.

How can an opinion be valid or invalid? Everyone who posts their opinion believes it to be valid and they are justified in what they say. As Muhammad said, valid/invalid isn't the issue, the fact such threads tend to be one sided is the issue.

Legal issues aside, there are two sides to every story and when brand, product or dealer bashing comes up I don't think it's particularly fair; discussions typically look at just one side of the story, and people jump to conclusions, opinions and statements based on what ultimately is merely one person's version of a story. While level-headed members may speculate that there could be more to the story, that doesn't stop potentially damaging messages from being posted. And it's my decision that those will be removed. That's been the law of the land here since 1998, and it's a rule that is enforced consistently. Doesn't matter which brand or which company (or dealer).

 

[Tig]

Politely Considerate.

I like that. Too many people excuse poor behavior by labeling it "not politically correct. So consider this the poorly behaving pot talking to the not PC kettle.
I like the way this site is moderated. Any less and we would loose valuable members.
I think we can see our challenges in the following two subjects.
We struggle to discuss oil. I'm sure the moderation stats would back that up.
Also it's not possible to mention the weather without the same old lame comments.
As much as I would enjoy those threads, I avoid them.

 

[MossRoad]

I like that. Too many people excuse poor behavior by labeling it "not politically correct. So consider this the poorly behaving pot talking to the not PC kettle.
I like the way this site is moderated. Any less and we would loose valuable members.
I think we can see our challenges in the following two subjects.
We struggle to discuss oil. I'm sure the moderation stats would back that up.
Also it's not possible to mention the weather without the same old lame comments.
As much as I would enjoy those threads, I avoid them.

For what its worth, I cannot recall the last time an oil thread was moderated or a TBN member even reported a post in an oil thread.

When I first started here on TBN back in 2001 I could easily read all the posts every day in about half an hour. Today, that is all but impossible. I read the Other Forums section with Rural Living, Photos, Related Topics and those things, and I read my Power Trac Forum and that is about all I have time for any more. About once a week I get into the General Forums just to keep up on stuff.

Moderators don't go looking for things to moderate. Once in a while they stumble across something but I'd say 95% of the posts that get looked at by the moderators while preforming moderator duties were reported by TBN members who push the Report Post button and that alerts them to just take a look. Most of the time it is for duplicate posts, incorrect forum, things like that. Most of the moderated messages are SPAM for Nike Shoes. Very, very few posts get removed and we always try to send a PM when it does.

Sometimes, however, there are comments that have to be removed for obvious reasons (language, insults, etc...). And sometimes before the moderators remove them, those comments are quoted, so the quotes have to go as well. And sometimes things go unreported for a couple days and then a whole mess of stuff has to get pruned. Sometimes the thread is just closed. Sometimes after attempting to prune a thread you go back and read it and it makes absolutely no sense at all. At that point, threads are usually just removed. The mods attempt to PM the original posters regarding their posts being edited, relocated, removed, etc... but sometimes there are too many people to PM.

Please just remember that the mods are all just regular TBN members like anyone else. They have just been asked by the management to help out by assisting other members as best they can and keeping the site family friendly. If there is ever a dispute with the moderation practices, the management has always been willing to listen and the mods have always agreed to abide by the management's decisions.

I am very happy to have this place to discuss some of my interests with so many people.... and the price is right, too.

 

[LRTX1]

How can an opinion be valid or invalid? Everyone who posts their opinion believes it to be valid and they are justified in what they say. As Muhammad said, valid/invalid isn't the issue, the fact such threads tend to be one sided is the issue.

The definition for the word Valid includes, well grounded and justifiable. If I said "When a well grounded and justifiable opinion gets censored" would that have been better?

I understand the brand bashing and the censorship that goes on here, and I am not against any censorship I have seen.

 

[MikePA]

If I said "When a well grounded and justifiable opinion gets censored" would that have been better?

No. As I mentioned, everyone who posts thinks their opinion is valid, i.e., well grounded and justifiable. Whether it is or not is a subjective determination. Validity, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

I understand the brand bashing and the censorship that goes on here, and I am not against any censorship I have seen.

Even the people who engage in brand bashing think their opinions are valid.

My point is (and to add to what Mossroad said), except for the clear cut tasks of deleting dupes, SPAM removal, moving a thread to the right forum, etc., most of what moderators do is subjective. Occasionally, someone will report a post, we'll read the post, not see anything wrong with it and take no action. If there's doubt, we'll 'discuss' it. Again, a very subjective process.

 

[LRTX1]

No. As I mentioned, everyone who posts thinks their opinion is valid, i.e., well grounded and justifiable. Whether it is or not is a subjective determination. Validity, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.



Even the people who engage in brand bashing think their opinions are valid.

My point is (and to add to what Mossroad said), except for the clear cut tasks of deleting dupes, SPAM removal, moving a thread to the right forum, etc., most of what moderators do is subjective. Occasionally, someone will report a post, we'll read the post, not see anything wrong with it and take no action. If there's doubt, we'll 'discuss' it. Again, a very subjective process.

OK, I guess we just don't see eye to eye on this. I will try to explain once more , after this I am done. Maybe VALID is not the right word, I don't know. When an opinion gets censored that is not malicious in nature....

When a poster cant say he doesnt like something thats wrong. Again, I agree with the censorship that I have seen.

 

[2manyrocks]

TBN isn't a drunken internet brawl in part because the quality of the people that post here and also because the moderators don't just sit and let things get out of control.

If I cross the line, delete away and thank you for doing so.

 

[Muhammad]

When a poster cant say he doesnt like something thats wrong. Again, I agree with the censorship that I have seen.

We have no problem with opinions... including negative opinions of companies. But when they cross a line into either libel, defamation, etc, or are presented in a manner that is likely to start trouble in brand-specific sections, we step in. Some people take a "tone" that tends to lead to arguments and others remain "PC" (I like the new definition of PC... might just have to adopt that for our posting guidelines).

 

[two_bit_score]

How can an opinion be valid or invalid? Everyone who posts their opinion believes it to be valid and they are justified in what they say. As Muhammad said, valid/invalid isn't the issue, the fact such threads tend to be one sided is the issue.

So then, some of us shoud take up the cause and present to opposite side just to keep things balanced?

There are probably several who would accept that challenge.