Moderation & Board Issues

[judas69]

Instead of closing it, perhaps you could have lowered yourself and started the dialog in a different direction? Or was that too easy?

All it would have taken was a single post, or maybe your motives were more of a personal nature?

 

[Norsemaiden]

Instead of closing it, perhaps you could have lowered yourself and started the dialog in a different direction? Or was that too easy?

All it would have taken was a single post, or maybe your motives were more of a personal nature?

It's ok Judas I don't think Justin was deliberately being mean - I will reattempt the thread with the more philosophical slant and we'll see how that goes (if it goes anywhere!).

 

[Justin S.]

To all regulars,

I grow tired of the red theme for this fourm. Is there any way one could change it to something darker and easier on the eyes? Does it bother you all? If so, could we get an admin to change it?

 

[Horus]

Maybe a deeper shade of Blue, or another Cool color? I like the nice Navy Blue theme of the Symphony X forum.

 

[speed]

To all regulars,

I grow tired of the red theme for this fourm. Is there any way one could change it to something darker and easier on the eyes? Does it bother you all? If so, could we get an admin to change it?

Call me crazy, but I love this burgundy-crimson color.

 

[Έρεβος]

To all regulars,

I grow tired of the red theme for this fourm. Is there any way one could change it to something darker and easier on the eyes? Does it bother you all? If so, could we get an admin to change it?

Black, grey, and white would do great for me; this red is a bit irritating to my eyes as well. Though more natural, and not-so-damn-bright-and-deep colors would work as well.

 

[infoterror]

Exterminate the people who are not ready to debate. Please. They are provoking ire among those who do know something.

 

[Norsemaiden]

Why was the thread I started "Should Eugenics Make People Superior to Yourself?" closed? It was VERY philosphical. This forum is being murdered.

I note that no explanation, even a lame one, was offered at the time it was closed. The reason was surely due to the subject matter offending the kind of liberal mind that finds truth too terrifying to contemplate.

 

[derbeder]

there have been numerous threads on eugenics. if there was anything new in the present one, i would have merged it with a previous discussion. the same thing has been done to the metal and philosophy thread.

if anyone thinks i'm murdering the forum, they are welcome to assume this position.

 

[Justin S.]

I closed the thread primarily because, as derbeder stated, there have been multiple eugenics threads covering very similar ground (as i see it, espousing the same half-digested [even by this board's "standard"] notions).

As a close second, my liberal mind was overwhelmed by the terrifying truth of its VERY philosophical content. Thus, I had no choice but to lock it down and continue my personal vendetta against you.

 

[derbeder]

i thought i closed the thread. :amnesia:
i did think about whether i should merge it with an earlier one, though.

 

[OldScratch]

I closed the thread primarily because, as derbeder stated, there have been multiple eugenics threads covering very similar ground (as i see it, espousing the same half-digested [even by this board's "standard"] notions).

To put it bluntly - so what? This board has been dead for months.
There are periods of days or even roughly a week were nothing at all has been posted here one way or the other. I fear your own standards are unrealistic and possibly out of step with just where this Forum is - which is on a Heavy Metal website. It is obvious many, if not most here are not in fact Philosophers or PhD candidates - that level of discussion can been found in other places I am sure.
It is fairly clear which threads(for better or worse)people respond to and which they do not. Restricting discussion only to that which goes entirely over most members collective heads, or is simply of no real interest whatever isn't really accomplishing much is it?
Justin, you know damn well you are well beyond the level of sophistication of nearly everyone on this Forum when it comes to philosophical acumen, education, etc. That which is "half-digested" to you is tangible reality to others, no matter how underdeveloped that reality may seem. I just don't know that this Forum can always live up to such lofty expectations - is it not better that some intelligent discussion take place(so long as it does not ultimately degenerate into complete nonsense)than to shut-down a few alleged redundancies and the like?(particularly without explanation)

 

[Justin S.]

OldScratch,

Your points are well taken. Certainly, "strangling the forum to save it" is not effective... but--are the expectations the central issue concerning this forum's vacancy and redundancy?

I have said before that the concern at the heart of any standard here (and I absolutely agree, it must fit the context of UM—perhaps a change of forum title would be appropriate) is to weed out common knee-jerk sensationalism to allow a clearing for attempts at something thoughtful (which is really all one can ask for on a message board of this sort). There are no expectations for all posts to be of the specificity and argumentative form of, say, some of derbeder's posts, nor contain the "literary" scope of Nile577's.

What is, and I think should be expected (and at some point enforced) is a progression of thoughtfulness (whatever the starting point), as obvious as that sounds. Take the topic of eugenics, for example. If, over time, the considerations and arguments put forth in such a thread were dwelled upon and deepened, there wouldn't be a problem. Instead, the same condescending bombast is wheeled out every few months by the same posters, sealed off from discourse and questioning. That is not thought provoking, let alone "philosophy", but cheap propaganda.

If blatant ideological affirmation is what draws activity here, then there is little life to "kill" with a set of expectations.

If people are convinced it is a problem of moderation, than I (and likely derbeder) will gladly move along...

 

[derbeder]

i agree completely

 

[Norsemaiden]

Eugenics is a vast subject and very important to philosophy. There are a number of aspects to this subject, and I wanted to narrow the thread in question down to concentrating on the effect on EGO of the idea of eugenicism. I don't believe this specific subject has been discussed previously AT ALL.
Any thread can be categorised as: oh that's just about (for example) happiness; religion; aggression; metal. Just because it is possible to categorise something doesn't mean it is going to be a clone of a previous discussion. And I did not expect that this would be.
However some seriously ignorant remarks regarding an assumption of the inevitablity of progress really showed that this is not a subject that has been thought about anywhere near enough.

 

[speed]

Things are getting quite dead around here. There's really very little to comment on, and Im going whole months without a single post. I agree with OldScratch, that much discussion has drifted over to pedantic scholasticism. I dont know why this has happened, but it would be nice to seem some interesting threads.

 

[derbeder]

bye folks. i'm out. go on with eugenics or whatever else suits your taste.

 

[speed]

bye folks. i'm out. go on with eugenics or whatever else suits your taste.

Ah you've done a fine job. Its not your fault that no one is making interesting threads. Perhaps we've run out of things to talk about?

 

[Norsemaiden]

Ah you've done a fine job. Its not your fault that no one is making interesting threads. Perhaps we've run out of things to talk about?

I could think of many threads to start that I think are interesting, and my track record was good - until some moderators came along who only tolerate threads that meet their unreasonably strict criteria.
If I was a moderator, I would let nearly everything pass. Only offensiveness, in terms of personal flaming or excessive swearing, should be clamped down on. Other ideas should be merely challenged effectively if one disagrees with them. Merging threads is another technique that has its merits, but many threads may be wishing to explore a narrow aspect of a subject and so merging such an attempt with a previous thread may be inappropriate. All threads on religion are not neceassarily the same, for eg.
Such an attitude would stand the greatest chance of reviving activity here.

 

[speed]

I could think of many threads to start that I think are interesting, and my track record was good - until some moderators came along who only tolerate threads that meet their unreasonably strict criteria.
If I was a moderator, I would let nearly everything pass. Only offensiveness, in terms of personal flaming or excessive swearing, should be clamped down on. Other ideas should be merely challenged effectively if one disagrees with them. Merging threads is another technique that has its merits, but many threads may be wishing to explore a narrow aspect of a subject and so merging such an attempt with a previous thread may be inappropriate. All threads on religion are not neceassarily the same, for eg.
Such an attitude would stand the greatest chance of reviving activity here.

Its difficult though. One wishes to get better quality threads by clamping down, and ends up killing all threads or isolating people. Balance in Moderation is hard to achieve. Maybe subforums should be created?-- 1) serious philosophy (for serious philosophers or philosophy students); 2) life oriented philosophy; 3) political oriented; 4) conspiracies; 5) miscellaneous.

I still think the issue for me is we've discussed many things over and over, and few people seem to be willing to post an interesting thread or idea. While I totally agree with you Norsemaiden that similar topics can go different routes and be wonderfully interesting, I suppose personally, I feel a strange case of deja vu and boredom. Honestly, thats the reason I've stopped posting threads, as I think I've made threads ad infinitum about the few topics I'm interested in. I suppose many of the former posters I used to see on here daily, share the same dilemma, as I see most pop in for a minute or two, then leave without posting anymore.