Are there sun spots affecting Fchat?

Amen my capitalist brother. Oh wait, that was poitical and religious. Seriously, thats why I stay mostly in our regional area board where everyone knows and respects each other.

DMAX

 

I agree. Maybe it is just that people are getting in a bad mood with all the political turmoil.... Wait that should be said in the P&R but it goes against my beliefs to post it there... Okay so maybe people just need to lighten up a lot. I mean, hey we are Ferrari folk here - That translates to "Life is good". I'm paraphrasing of course, the Italian literal translation of Ferrari folk is "To enjoy the moment and pursue the future...In total darkness due to the short circuit in the main fuse box"
Listen to some Reggae people.

BT

 

I completely agree.

This sort of sites is supposed to bring people with a common passion together, but it seems there are always extremes within every subgroup which just cant get along. I consider myself to have a pretty long fuse, but I'd be lying if I said I havent occasionally participated in just this sort of thing myself. Nobodys perfect, and I for one am far from it. Once the flame starts to spread..its pretty hard to put out sometimes. Even usually sedate fchatters get sucked into the BS sometimes.... its a shame.

However, it seems to me, that there are a core group of people who are involved in almost every dispute/flame-op available. Reminds me of the old Allan Lambo days....some people just love to stir the pot. I wont name names, but it seems the legacy of allan lambo lives on at Fchat to some degree...at least in a few of his "spiritual children". Im sure a few names will spring to mind when considering this paragraph.

What can be done about it? Well, the internet, America, hell, the whole free world, are all about free speech...can/should this sort of thing be censored/punished? In some ways, the flame posts are some of the most passionate ones on Fchat, lol. But there should be a limit as to what any poster can get away with in a grouping such as Fchat...every community has laws regarding the abuse/provocation of one member by another...hiding behind "free speech" is a poor excuse, IMHO.

How about instituting a sort of California-like 3 strike ruling...administrated by Rob/moderators. What about a "vote for ban/bring to the moderators attention" button on posts.Can something like this even fly considering the number of members/posts?

With all due respect to a number of intruiging and thought provoking posts in the P&R section, from what Ive seen, the whole section is more trouble than its worth. To have a section regarding the 2 things you should never discuss amongst strangers seems like leaving tons of dynamite lying around and wondering afterwards what caused the explosion!?! After all, I (for one) come to Fcaht to relax and read about ferrari stuff, not rehash alot of the "real world" crap that we have to deal with every day. Isnt OT a section for non ferrari stuff?

Any ideas on how to solve this recent trend? I would love to hear them. Anyone think theres not a problem? Id love to hear your perspective.

forward to the comittee to "keep fchat beautiful"

 

remember, there is an IGNORE USER feature on the board. if someone is an idiot, put them on IGNORE and you'll never have to look at their silly posts again.

it's a STELLAR feature of vBulletin - and one i avail myself of frequently!

your freedom of speech also includes my freedom of ignoring you

stop whining about annoying people and start ignoring them. if enough people do this, those folks will either leave or clean up their act. imo, if you don't ignore them, you end up encouraging their inane behavior.

doody.

 

I am also a big fan of IGNORE USER - it works well and keeps blood pressure low! .

 

Nice reminder. I forgot about that feature and will have to enact it.

BT

 

no clue if vB supports this behavior, but it'd be fun if the member list included stats for how many ignore lists you were on. then you could sort it by that number and everybody would know who the clue-challenged were a priori

doody.

 

Nice thread, Daniel.

You know, I think Rob had posted a feedback thread a while back, and at that time I had recommended some things to prevent the masses from getting out of control.

Now I say "the masses" because effectively FerrariChat has been bombarded with masses of new users and masses of new and useless posts. As a consequence, the true function and nature of this forum have been diluted.

I think that posting should be restricted in some way, and especially for new users.

I defer you to that thread for more on the subject. The only problem is I can't find it in a search. If anyone remembers reading what I said or remembers that particular thread, please post the thread.

 

Remember the ever loving, peace activist, humanitarian Rodney King once said---"can't we all just get along"

 

Will all due respect Doody, you wouldn't ignore a virus would you? Trolls will spread through out the FChat community if they aren't challenged, just like a virus.

 

no, i wouldn't ignore a virus, but i fail to grok the metaphor. a virus (or an oncoming car or a fire) can cause me grief or worse.

ignoring a moron in a crowd doesn't cause me any grief at all. there's virtually no downside, in fact.

the users here at fchat have virtually no tools at their disposal to manage the community. the moderators and operators do, but the users do not. one of the few arrows in each of our quivers is the IGNORE USER feature. is it a panacea? probably not, but it sure works for me!

doody.

 

OK, I respect your opinion.

BTW, I guess i'm not on your ignore list. That's good to know.

 

Mr. Doody is one of the last of the Grey Beards here, listen to him!!

Mine was grey too, so I shaved it to help me with the younger babes.......LOL!

They said I was looking like Mark Twain, for awhile, there!

It WAS a Full Moon last night, or close to it.......we did a lil' naked dance around the fire.........maybe that's it.....

 

I would love to see that stat. There are people on here that have posted thousands of posts yet I have yet to see anything positive come out of their key boards. Nor do they own a Ferrari! I would say if 100 people have you on their ignor list maybe they aren't really welcome here.
I added 3 people to my ignore list this week...
Life is good!

Rick

 

Ignore list?

...........and keep your ememies closer.

 

wow, didnt even notice we had an ignore button, I'll definately keep it in mind for future use...

How does it work?..other than the obvious. I mean, can you still see quotes from people you have ignored (used in posts by others) ...or how do you follow ceratin "debates" when you cant see some of the responses from people youve set to ignore?..can you un-ignore someone?

Ranking "ignored" users might be useful, and would certainly be entertaining..."look honey, our local/regional troll is in 3rd place overall!..how exciting!"

 

one of the other arrows available in vB (if memory serves, which it doesn't always) is the user rating feature. people can rate individual users and over time in theory there's some statistical relevance to the rating.

i don't think vB support automatic-ignore based on rating - that'd be a useful tie-in though!

but if this was turned on (and i think this has been debated before) we could at least test it out in concept. the user's rating may displays with the user info, so you could tell at a glance whether someome might be a troll.

HUGE opportunity for abuse of the system - so people would have to be encouraged to vote on everybody they see (at some point) so there're enough data points. otherwise rob will have to deal with fifty people per hour *****ing about "somebody gave me a zero rating unfairly!".

fwiw,
doody.

 

I've noticed it too... I don't know if it's a result of the turmoil going on in the nation right now, or if it's the result of P&R being moved, or if people are now just being more "standoff-ish" to one another (noobs in particular) after the Concorso keying incident that seemed to really get this community up in arms. Who knows what it's a result of, but I know it doesn't look good.

 

As Rob himself said in a recent posting, do you not have enough self discipline to NOT voluntarily enter a P&R section and NOT read things that will upset you? Just DO NOT GO THERE if it bothers you. Don't try to stop everybody else's discussion.

Some of you guys sound just like the little old lady who called the police because the old man next door was exposing himself. When the cops arrived, they looked out her window and couldn't see anything. She said, "Of course you can't see anything from here. You have to climb on the step stool so you can see over the fence."

 

Please re-read my entire post...not sure youve focused on the critical points...

As I did mention, some of the posts are very interesting and thought provoking...but most of the flaming/sour grapes/name calling goes on in that section...I dont bother going in their much, but thats my choice (as stated, its not why I visit Fcaht). The reason I dont go in more often isnt because of the big, scary issues...its because those big, scary issues seem to incite people to rudeness and flames. My point is those reactions arent neccesary...and for me at least, sour the F-chat experience to a degree. Seems like others feel the same way, therefore, this thread was created for discussion.

Your suggestion of not going into P&R does have some merit, but why should people who have a legitimate interest in those subjects be turned off (and away) by a minority of blowhards and flamers? Some of whom offer nothing of intellectual value to the discussion...just steam for the burn.
I feel fchat is like a community, a city if you will...P&R is like the slums (pardon the illustration).Granted, if you dont want to get raped/murdered/shot at...dont enter the slums. Does that preclude my desire to "beautify the city". Those whom have subscribed have "payed their taxes", so to speak, why cant they walk in certain parts of the city?...is it because the "police" cant do their job...or is it even possible at all?

Dont confuse being upset with trying to offer/solicit ideas for mature discussion of divergent opinions (in whichever section of fchat). It is possible....but for the most part, aint happeneing in P&R. Being told "dont go in there if you dont like it" seems like a cop out to me.

 

Maybe the danger of making P&R a "subscriber only" forum is that now it will become inbred. Like those Talotian guys on the Star Trek "Menagerie" episode. They had been mulling their own thoughts back and forth for so many centuries that they needed some new intellectual blood in their society. So they kept a few stranded astronauts in their "zoo" to supply them with new thought material.

Another point: If you bulldoze the slums (close P&R to non-subscribers) then where do the bums have to go to? YOUR neighborhood. Crack houses do serve a purpose. The give the crackheads a place to go AWAY from your neighborhood.

 

How did you know? I just cant say no to a good Star Trek analogy (especially an original series one!)...but are the blowhards/flamers really adding anything new to the intellectual mix? In keeping with the Star Trek analogies, Im all for infinite diversity in infinite combination, but whens the last time you saw a Vulcan flaming someone whos opinion he didnt agree with? Sure, they might get a little snarky, but maybe thats what happens when you only get laid once every seven years.....

As to your second point, well taken...but what is the real problem here? A place for the crackheads to go after the demo?...or how do we cure/deal with crackheads?

Dude, I NEED an Saurian brandy right about now....