This is my last post on TBN

[Muhammad]

I am asking for open and equal authority.

Do you punish your child without explanation?

If I'm wrong, publicly punish me with open explanation. I'll accept it. And those observing will know where the fence is.

Everything is political. Everything. Including tractor brands.

Those observing know where the fence is. They just choose to not respect the rules.

If somebody starts a thread and mentions the administration going to war with the energy sector, that is political and they know it.

Then when it gets deleted they call it heavy handed or one sided?

Our moderators have done a good job of being unbiased about the definition of politics over the years. Some members mistake inconsistent moderation with biased moderation, but in reality the inconsistencies are due to awareness, not a fluid definition of what constitutes a political remark.

What I think has changed is the accusatory tone that moderation here is some how linked to political preference or targeting users based on their political affiliation, beliefs or some kind of social pressure to censor specific viewpoints. That, I can assure you, is total garbage.

Could we do a better job of providing notification of why a post or thread is deleted? Sure, but why, to what end, and at what cost? There are very few posts deleted and it's almost always obvious why and moderators have consensus. I've floated ideas of creating systems for review or soft moderation that would flag posts but not delete, and we've even had notification systems in place (we still do). That hasn't magically made everybody happy or rule-abiding. If your post gets removed, you get annoyed, I understand that. But at the end of the day it's not a big deal.

Unrelated political commentary being injected into posts is not be allowed and never has been. Why would that drive somebody away after 30,000 posts? Once again I shrug.

I reached out to James and asked him to stay. I explained why covid-19 topics are now banned. I've polled the membership on rule making. I've continued to evolve rules and try to improve our moderation guidelines in an effort to make the community better. I've extended the olive branch to be inclusive of every member from day 1 with no interest in bias or personal beliefs entering the conversation.

If that's not enough, and people are still upset and want to leave, then so be it. We'll probably never find the perfect balance that makes everybody happy all the time but I'll continue to take feedback seriously and continue to improve the site.

 

[ovrszd]

You are bringing baggage into the discussion. If you separate the posting from the poster, it reads differently.

An issue with hanging out on a forum for a good long while is you build this persona of what you believe a poster to be.
Over time, we categorize and label posters in our thinking. The reality is quite different when one meets face to face.
Or NOT. LOL.

IMHO, no slight intended or implied.

I in no way have built any type of persona concerning SR.

I simply have read both of his posts on this thread. Both insulting toward James.

If they were pointed toward you, you would be insulted.

Now, here's the problem. If he added "typical behavior from a Conservative", he would be punished. So he can be insulting as long as he doesn't color it political? Of course not.

 

[ovrszd]

You didn't come to my defence when it was said I'm naive with a big ego and implied I have a small *****.(it's ok it make me happy) lol

I missed that one!!! Maybe because it's so small???

 

[Fixastuff]

Lol.

I missed that one!!! Maybe because it's so small???

Lol.

 

[prichard]

The problem is not politics nor moderation of "offending" politics.

The problem is posters on this forum insulting others in posts.

Even this thread has insults directed to other members (some who are not even currently active on this forum).

What does that tell you?

I took a hiatus from TBN. Nothing to do with politics, etc. I just got busy with other stuff.

Upon returning I noticed a big change regarding attacks on each other. There were always political arguments and these were usually stopped, deleted, whatever. What I see now is more personal attacks in all kinds of threads that have nothing to do with politics. These somehow seem to remain.

Regarding C19, some of these have been interesting and informative. For instance I was quite interested in Eddie's experience.

FWIW, I have no problem seeing the occasional political post and just ignoring it. I get really bothered by personal attacks.

 

[workinonit]

Could we do a better job of providing notification of why a post or thread is deleted? Sure, but why, to what end, and at what cost? There are very few posts deleted and it's almost always obvious why and moderators have consensus. I've floated ideas of creating systems for review or soft moderation that would flag posts but not delete, and we've even had notification systems in place (we still do). That hasn't magically made everybody happy or rule-abiding. If your post gets removed, you get annoyed, I understand that. But at the end of the day it's not a big deal.

I have an idea. Just limit all conversations to tractor talk. Why should we be allowed to discuss anything else on a tractor forum? What the moderators and you do is a thankless task but that's why you get paid the big bucks.

 

[ruffdog]

If we act like adults in present time, a thread can be informative. Once some ego states turn to being a "rebellious child" or "controlling parent", then it becomes a competition or fight and people battle to prove a point.

One simple idea to work with ‘difficult people’.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I in no way have built any type of persona concerning SR.

I simply have read both of his posts on this thread. Both insulting toward James.

If they were pointed toward you, you would be insulted.

Now, here's the problem. If he added "typical behavior from a Conservative", he would be punished. So he can be insulting as long as he doesn't color it political? Of course not.

IF, they were about ME, I sure wouldn't be...

I wouldn't come in here, if my skin was that thin.

SR

 

[Snobdds]

Does anyone (besides me) sometimes wonder why human beings simply cannot get along together; never have and never will. From Biblical times throughout history, quarrels, fights, wars, etc. have always happened, and I'm sure always will happen.

The issue is right now in history, every social media platform is trying to corral speech. It's not just TBN, it's everywhere. So some of that has spilled into the TBN discussion. But yeah, people are pushing back.

With COVID, everyone has been effected by it. Is there another topic that has such far reaching impact on people at this time? Has it become politicized, yep. Another history lesson is to hear from all view points to get a consensus. If we don't question thinking, and listen to first hand accounts...our time in the barrel of this get longer. Questioning things is good, this quarrelling will pass once there is a consensus and the truth settle in. Proof of concept below.

Keep the topics open, put the topics in a place that shield the topics from people that just want to figure out how to deal with cold tractor. It can be done.

 

[Buppies]

James used to read a lot of your posts very helpful long before I ever posted. Sad to see you go