Discussion Posts: Blocking vs. Ignore
founder
slip a dollar in her g-string for me
Blocking members will not be returning. It was a pox on this website’s history. I am apologetic that I ever let it happen.
Here are the thoughts behind my decision:
If you post on a discussion board, you are opening yourself up to opposing views. It’s the same as standing in the public square of a town and espousing your opinion.
If the poster does not like another person’s opinion, the poster has the right to not listen to them (ignore). The poster does not have the right to silence the differing opinions (blocking).
If you post to the discussion boards, be ready for differing viewpoints and opinions. If you don't want opposing viewpoints, don't post to a public forum.
Here are the thoughts behind my decision:
If you post on a discussion board, you are opening yourself up to opposing views. It’s the same as standing in the public square of a town and espousing your opinion.
If the poster does not like another person’s opinion, the poster has the right to not listen to them (ignore). The poster does not have the right to silence the differing opinions (blocking).
If you post to the discussion boards, be ready for differing viewpoints and opinions. If you don't want opposing viewpoints, don't post to a public forum.
80 comments
I have never gotten upset with differences of opinion it’s the unwarranted and unjustified attacks that have me annoyed
(This will be my answer to 99.9999% of the posts in this discussion)
My only small request now would be to periodically move the political posts to the proper room if and when you happen upon them. It seems there are still those that would rather troll this site for politics rather than truly discuss the topic, even when you've provided a nice exclusive place for it.
Ok then
The ignore feature is largely ineffective for curtailing troll activity as it does not prevent someone from blowing up a thread. Also, using your own "public square" analogy, if someone is publicly calling 25 or another member a pedophile, he is almost compelled to respond lest others assume that the accusation is true. After all, others don't know that 25 has the troll on ignore and may mistake silence for a tacit admission of guilt.
I'm as big a fan of the wild west as anyone. But even in the wild west, if you mouthed off about someone in public, you could be held to account and maybe even shot. Here anonymity and too much time to kill turns raging pussies into lions since trolling threads has no consequences and costs nothing but time.
I appreciate your contributions here, but it earns you no special priveleges with regards to blocking v ignore
@rickdugan: I suggest you use the VIP and verified rooms more.
Also, even a blind person can spot the nonsense that gets spouted...I don't think anyone's in danger of having their reputation sullied by the ridiculous accusations or mud slinging that occurs.
Just sayin...🌞
See how well letting the inmates run the asylum (moderation & blocking opinions) has worked for StripperWeb.
A problem that I have with ignore is that people replying to users on ignore makes a thread difficult to follow. When a user (or users) really takes a thread off the rails it's like everyone is yelling at a ghost that only you can't see. IceyLoco and Nicole1994 being the most recent prime examples.
I still prefer the two-way block, but it's not my sandbox.
It’s not an opinion I don’t care how you try to present it.
Front room for widest possible disbursal of opinion, but knowing that most shit throwers work there and like to throw.
Notice he needs 2 beers now 😁
I'm not even sure why that is pertinent to this discussion.
I think that showing who made the last post gives them a target that they seem to go after over and again
I still want to know how ad hominem attacks made up entirely from a fabricated story constitute an opinion
Look for owner moderated threads. Coming soon to a discussion board near you.
You guys know I'm all about free markets.
As for blocking or ignoring....grow a thicker skin. You're an anonymous name on a web page. What do you really have to worry about. Accuse me of being a pedophile, murderer, Christian...I don't care. The only thing I don't like is getting bored....and trolls with nothing to say but who post endlessly are the most boring of all.
Much Respect to Founder!
Primo
So... really? Or was that purely in jest?
But perhaps I have it wrong.
How about if a user wants the ability to block or moderate a thread, but users have to pay like $5 a month or a one time fee of $50 or something? Or whatever $ you think is fair for compromising your anti-censorship principles?
And not just a thread, but also reviews. Some individuals tend to leave mean spirited comments in reviews too that have nothing to do with correcting the facts.
Papi, I think you're trying to portray an extreme example as the norm. Yes, if you give a group of angry, hypersensitive and burnt out females the power to decide who can say what on a board, the board will soon be dead. But I don't see that as a realistic risk here.
I think the real problem is a commercial one, which is dedicating a lot more time and resources to a piece of the site that is really just a cost center. Sure it's a place to keep some active users engaged, which doesn't hurt, but not really a core direct part of the site's revenue streams.
If what I suspect is true then so be it - we're not the ones paying the bills here after all. But from a purely functional standpoint there are a number of sites that have implemented light moderation quite effectively.
On the surface that sounds like a fancy description of blocking
😊
I don't know if he is really suggesting though that there would be owner moderated threads. In my opinion that is just another form of blocking. Most of it would be because someone does not agree with the POV of the OP. They will come up with some other reason, but that is what it would come down to. Also, owner moderated threads would just result in people starting their own rebuttal threads.
I feel that this forum works best when people start their own topical threads and continue them and welcome others to continue them. You get more topical diversity and more depth of discussion, when threads are being continued, and when people can find them.
This forum has now, for those who only want like POV's, a VIP Room. And for those who still want this like POV environment, but are too lazy to post regular reviews or articles, or to pay a fee, there is this new Verified Room.
So with those and thread ignore and member ignore, what more do they want?
It seems that many of those who want blocking are the very people who make the most attack posts, going after a member rather than engaging in rational discussion. They just want to run people who don't think like them off of this board.
This board has flourished because such types have not been able to take over.
It's a good board, Founder has done a good job.
SJG
https://www.reddit.com/r/stripclubs/
I know that you do not do this.
SJG
This is a great forum. Even though SJG posts here, he can't distract enough to make this place unenjoyable for me.
The Verified Room is a great solution. For some reason SJG and his personal firewall (or some other stupid reason) prevent him from posting there, and that allows me to move away from the Front Room (or Thunderdome - as I call it).
Even though I realize there was a post after yours, the ignore button allows me blissful ignorance while conversing only with those I choose...
If someone replies to someone I don't see, so be it. I can still respond to the title of the post or the last post I care to acknowledge without caring where the derailment has gone... We are all masters of our own destiny, no?
Life is too short, guys! I'm offering free therapeutic lap dances to anyone who needs one after engaging in this thread...😋
And this shit posted above is good for your websites history that poster is your proudest protectee.
Shame on you for allowing this, I don't blame that POS for doing what barnyard animals do, I blame you for allowing the animals to think they actually have some standing.
If you are talking about Txtittyfag, I have had him on ignore for a long time. He is kind of an extreme case. But Ignore does the job.
The trolls I more object to are the ones who post false or speculative stuff about people, and then get some people to believe that it is has some basis in fact. These types of trolls do a great deal of harm, because some do believe them.
SJG
I am brewing a solution.
Side note, I'm in Vegas all next week if anyone wants to get drunk and look at titties.
Sometimes if you just let it run its course, you can eventually bring it back to more what you wanted.
I mean, if you want total control you could make a blogspot on a gmail account.
SJG
And it will mean people making rebuttal threads, dueling threads.
I have never seen any message board where replies are narrowly constrained to be in agreement with the OP.
TUSCL has done well because it is open. So it has encouraged differing POV's.
And also in the VIP and Verified Rooms there is a smaller pool of people. But here in the Front Room is where you are most likely to find alternative POV's.
The OP gets to set the title, nothing else changes that, and most people will read the OP.
SJG
As far as I'm aware, you are mainly talking about txtittyfag right?
Nobody takes him seriously. I mean how can anybody take somebody with a name like txtittyfag seriously lol? I don't think I've seen anyone else taking his accusations seriously.
But I can understand why it frustrates you. I just thought I'd mention that.
If you can implement a solution to derailing of threads as well as post / topic flooding, that would be fantastic.
Rick, it's this "forum as a cost center" that I always have trouble with. Taking a look at the bigger picture for a moment -- in smaller specialty markets, the site with big active forums, are also the biggest sites. Pick some obscure thing -- car detailing, say -- and you'll find the biggest sites, autotopia and autogeek, also have big, active forums. I could go through example after example of how these types of sites use high quality forums to draw eyeballs to their site, and reap the commercial benefits from it. Closer to home, when sfredbook.com so dominated the SF sex industry that backpage, TER, etc. basically had little to no presence, it was on the back of two things: a fantastic review site, and active high quality forums.
In short, there's no such thing as high quality forums being a cost center in this type of niche. A lower signal-to-noise ratio forum, that is not a draw in itself, due to trolls, more off-topic than on-topic conversations, a disgruntled core of quality contributors and a small group of active trolls who can easily take any conversation off base? Well yes, cost center. I'm not surprised that, given when a newbie sees when he comes onto the front page, that our rate of active new contributors is low.
The thing is -- and again, this is proven a zillion times over -- all it takes is some light active moderation. This site absolutely could be *the* US-wide SC forum, easily. I don't push the big active cadre of SF PLs (who are currently on yahoo groups -- YAHOO GROUPS!) to here, because I know they wouldn't stay in this environment. Tuscl could easily be sucking them in.
I'll do the usual disclaimer here -- I appreciate what founder does, recognize his absolute right to run this site as he sees fit. But the forum as a cost center is small minded thinking; it just doesn't work that way anywhere else, when a forum can sustain enough quality to hit critical mass.
Rant over. Phew!
But, I'll also mention, on none of those other sites is the founder doing all the moderating. Whether big or small, there's a site admin that basically does what you do (look in now and then, address big topics and issues and otherwise stay above the fray) and a few handpicked mods who have volunteered to enforce the admin's rules. And that model, in turn, is why autotopia is one of the biggest auto detailing sites on the web. You as sole moderator is not a model that works anywhere.
Anyway, well run forums drive revenue, they are not cost centers, unless that's how the site owner chooses to to run the forum. That's all I'm saying.
It's gonna be fabulous 👌
does that mean live-streaming latina strippers stomping and abducting the autistic shit for brains psycho pussy from San Jose and dragging his stupid ass across the border to TJ where he is publically beheaded and his naked rotting corpse is hung upside down from a freeway overpass while local school children play soccer with his empty head?
hell yeah, i’ll pay to watch that!
Been like 2 years...and I wasn’t even here then
What exactly are you asking him to do? Ban people if you can't settle your fights by yourselves? Isn't that babysitting?
There is no such thing as"hate speech". There is, however, speech that you hate to hear.
Use the damn (Not godddamn, as I prefer not to use that word) ignore button.
But that's a whole other thing. And not on topic.
I'm okay with waiting for founder's upcoming mods to see if they address the problems with the discussion forums. If the mods turn out to be better than two-way block, then this debate is a moot point.
Deny all you want it won't make me wrong, it just makes you look stupid.
Such difficult decisions.
2. Plus 1, no make that plus 2 for Nidan111 comments , nipples rule
3. It's okay for the asshole (you know, the other guy) to be wrong, it already stinks. No need to keep inhaling.
SJG
I like your decision, Founder.