[quote user="jonathan" post="103452"]If I only was a Moderator or even an Administartor .....

Is there anybody who wishes to encourage me to keep posting here?[/quote]

Yes Jonathan! You definitly are an enriching part of thsi comunity and have valid points in most subjects.

It's not easy is it? (Rhetorical, for those who care.)

"...Because you haven't been replying to people with an aggressive/degrading tone, right?

About the sources; some members post -factual- news, rather than opinions by a religious & political zealot."




RSA, I choose to ignore the first part, however, regarding the sources, you're having a laugh aren't you?

[quote user="RSA" post="103454"]
About the sources; some members post -factual- news, rather than opinions by a religious & political zealot.
[/quote]

Just a clarification question Rauf. Who is the religious and political zealot you refer to?

[quote user="geordiedave" post="103459"]Personally i feel the site would lose an appealing edge if it turned into either a "lets love everyone" atmosphere like Couchsurfers website (i know a very different sort of site to this) or into the sludge of My Merhaba, where conversation is a mindless circle of spam and idoicy.[/quote]

you know... i dont think there is anything wrong with being nice to people and "loving everyone" - i mean... perhaps this is the hippy granola canadian coming out but i usually prefer to hang out with people that i like and are nice to me ... rather than people who mouth off to me and treat me like #$^t because it makes them feel better. is it just me? i mean.. here we are .. foreigners in a foreign land and instead of helping people out, making them feel welcome, and all that sort of stuff you seem to despise... we slag them off and make alot of people unwilling to come to the meetings and make friends. well perhaps because its not a very helpful and friendly place lately.
and as far as slagging cs... i dont know what your problem is with it... but at least there are a group of people out there who believe in the common good of people and accepting people into their lives and their homes on the basis of doing the right thing for people who need some help and companionship
lordybejesusby.... what a bunch of callous grumps you guys can be..
now.. who needs a hug?

[quote user="banana" post="103476"]
now.. who needs a hug? [/quote]

Me! I am giving my car over to Customs today.

you can have a hug from me anytime starman
and gecmis olson.

Well there is nothing wrong in being friendly and nice and people on this forum are. Most of them are helpful when replying to posts. There might be a few sarcastic replies/ irrelevant posts but there again this is an OPEN FORUM and everybody is entitled to his/her opinion. But what one should understand is that if the reply is offensive then it is only that particular person's opinion and not that of the forum collectivley. No point in staying away from an active forum which most of the time makes an interesting / informative read cos of few irrelevant/sarcastic posts. It would make it easier if people just avoid/sidestep offensive/irrelevant/sarcastic posts and continue their thread with just the relevant posts.

to put my 2 pennyworth into the pot..... it is only a forum and points of view put here, are not going to alter the wrongs in the world; so it does not necessarily warrant the outrage that some feel here, newbies and all alike should take some of the postings with a pinch of salt and simply ignore some of the more alleged outrageous ramblings.

That being said certain contributors do get irate, which is one of the problems in not having a face to face discussion, akin to email rage, which I'm sure we've all experienced and perhaps regretted. Perhaps taking a time out prior to punching the submit button would be appropriate?

Me, I would not post anything here, that I would not be prepared to say face to face to whomever.

[quote user="GBSahne" post="103481"]
Me, I would not post anything here, that I would not be prepared to say face to face to whomever.[/quote]

I would wholeheartedly agree with this.

In a forum like this, people say what they think - unlike in reality, at parties or meetings, for example, where everybody is much more socially adjusted and maybe even artificial to a certain degree. And that’s the charm of a forum like this: It can have much more reality in it than reality itself. People can, for a change, be who they are (or think they are).

One thing I have noticed on EiT though is – and this also reflects reality – the way of how female and male members communicate with each other. My impression is (and I think that’s why especially female members are not very actively posting plus are the ones that complained in this thread more than the men) that posts by female members are often being run down, mocked and commented arrogantly by male members. A recent example from Sadie’s post:

[quote user="ch" post="103194"]Why do you want english interpreted to English? Dim wit[/quote]

I very much doubt, that a male member would have replied in the same way to the post of another male member. And I have seen it happening in the past with posts from LAT and AG for example. We can all have different opinions on topics, and we should tell them, but pitching into somebody for the sole reason, that the other person is female is very much below any line of civilised communication – if that is what this thread is about.

Utabe, I'm not sure that this is really the case. Arikan is / has been very equal opportunity in his use of 'moron'.

Uta

I dont think it has anything to do with the sex of the person too. I think that RSA summed it up pretty well. If someone has a different opinion or point of view from him or certain others they must be corrected because they are stupid or misinformed or whatever frankly (even religious zealots got thrown out there as well - which is a pretty large leap to accuse someone that they have never met of that). It seems to be a firmly held opinion as well and is provoking even more rage when it is questioned.

A public forum is not there for open abuse but it is there for civil discussion. Calling people that you have never met morons, dimwits, zealots, etcetera is not conducive to any kind of open debate. Reminds me of pissed angry people with a glass in their hand going nuts at someone who has looked sideways at them in the pub.


It seems pretty clear that quite a few posters have been turned off by this behaviour. Is this not enough evidence that toning down the insults to people that have not personally interacted with these people might be a good move? I certainly dont think this kind of behaviour is acceptable to people who are not friendly with these others. I can take crap as well as I can give it but not from people I do not know from a bar of soap.

It makes the people flinging the abuse look worse than anyone else on the forum no matter how much of a hero they think they are being when they give the insults.

Calling people every name under the sun is not going to win you any friends nor influence anyone to respect your opinions. Not sure why I have to be telling thinking adults this to be honest.

Of course it is only a Forum and a public forum also. And supposedly it is as the Moderators (and eventually the Admins) want it, or at least close to.

There seem to be people here who think that there is room for improvement and also that the activities in the virtual parts of the forum as well as the real world are less than used to be.

If that is so, may be we, and more over the Administrators and Moderators, should know why that is. The proposal here in this thread was that it might have to do with the tone used in some of the posts by some of the members. This tone certainly leads to some members not posting in some sections or not replying to some specific posters and I do think it also leads to Newbie’s deciding carefully where and what to say in order not to attract some harsh comments.

This may be neither good nor bad, but it is reducing the activity by some “nice” people. If this is how all together we wish to continue, then so be it. If not, it is up to the Moderators to take some actions.

I can live with either way although of course my own pattern of participation will be influenced.

I've got a great idea. Why doesn't everybody with a grudge sign up for the paintball and then if we all wear namebadges you'll get the chance to shoot the shit out of everyone you don't like.