Thinkpads Forum

I got this PM today:
__________________________________________
Subject: Impolite new users

There seem to be a bunch of new users here.
Some of the comments lately seem to be bordering on impolite and are of the "flaming" variety.
Perhaps new users are not aware of how extremely polite we are here on this forum, which is what I really and truly love about it, as much as the sharing of information.
Perhaps a general comment from you or another admin about being respectful?
Otherwise, I just leave it in your hands.

Thanks as always!
__________________________________________

I am torn on how to respond. On the one hand, this is an Open Forum. On the other hand, the poster is right. This Forum has a great legacy of help, support, and respect for others. We continue to grow, adding new members daily and the number of posts are growing greatly. Like a growing city, diversity and growth is both a blessing and a curse. Yes, we can make more rules, structure, and Moderate it more carefully. But it's better for each of us to reflect a little, use the preview key, and THINK before we post.

Our little Forum in the wild of the Internet is not going to singularly solve the issues of how to manage diverse posters in a growing Forum. BUT, I DO think we have something special here. I have been in the IS Industry for over 20 years, and have never spent as much time in any Forum as I have here. I have never "met" a group who I have had more respect and admiration for (as well as the enjoyment of interacting with). I have learned much, and have done my best to impart the small amount of knowledge that I have.

Anyway, to both old members (who are the foundation of this great Forum), and to new ones who are it's future (and always welcome, as long as you put Location and other information in your Profile ), let's try a little harder to focus on the purpose of this Forum (to learn, solve problems, and expand the capabilities of our Thinkpads WHILE HAVING FUN), and do our best to treat each other as comrades and fellow pioneers in this wonderful journey.

P.S. The author of the PM (a prolific poster, who has been a member for for over a year), spends most of his/her time in this (T42) Forum, and directed the comment here. So, although this is not T42 specific, I am going to post it here for a time, before moving to an appropriate resting place. Your comments are welcome.

I got the same message and have been sitting here thinking about how best to answer it, so I'll play.

I'm old and cranky and not as warm and fuzzy as you are (you can stop laughing now, James!!!). I have little patience for fools, nicey-nice tends to make me gag, and the only thing that gets me going INSTANTLY is even a whiff of an OS-war (note to self: get estrogen rx refilled). A brisk argument with opposing views can be entertaining and enlightening as long as the flame-throwers are set on low.

On the other hand, if I notice a "discussion" getting out of hand, I don't hesitate to tell the participants to knock it off, lock the thread if need be, and to delete posts that I think are completely out of bounds from the public forums, move them over to the moderators forum for review and then ignore the irate PMs that come my way.

Not sure if that's the response the OP was looking for.

BTW, I'm going to move this to a more appropriate forum, however I will leave a trail of breadcrumbs.

nonny wrote:I'm old and cranky and not as warm and fuzzy as you are (you can stop laughing now, James!!!)

Can't......stop........HELP........can't........breathe........

Ow, I think I hurt myself.

James

(Ducking and running!)

Very simply: if someone is rude, newbie or not, tell them that's not how we behave here, and ask them to please be more polite in the future.

My opinion: these forums are way to sensitive and allows too much waffling from members. Bandwidth is wasted on niceties, most of us are here for techno stuff. Go BLOG somewhere else, and when will it be enforced that member location is a MUST!?

I did not reallze 'techno stuff' included being rude, flaming and posting vulgarities. I did not realize that aspect of it.

Unfortunately, this behavior is a side effect of a growing community.

I watched a few years ago as the BeOS community transformed from the friendliest group of people on the internet into a name calling, flame throwing, hair pulling band of conspiracy theorists who never had anything good (or technical) to say to each other. After a year of participating in that I woke up and left. I went to the Linux world where the opposite was happening.

Maybe if you can stem the tide of this belligerent behavior this forum won't have to suffer the fate of so many other communities that broke up after everyone picked sides and started fighting.

I would rather waste bandwidth on niceties than vulgarities.

I don't think there's that much of a problem. I've noticed (and participated) in some flame wars over the future of the ThinkPad, but other than that, I haven't seen an inordinate amount of rudeness.

"Future of the ThinkPad" aside, people here are generally very helpful.

My post above is on the 'sarcastic' side. I think 'techno stuff' does not have to inlcude flaming or vulgarity or fowl language.

most of you are moderators..

so, moderate the crap out of naughty behaviour..

i WILL support your decision..

it seems that much of this "heat" emanated from the OS/2 community with emphasis on a couple of passionate OS/2'ers..

so the next time a thread descends toward chaos, please use your veto power..
or let me know and i will stop the wars..

I had actually never visited the OS/2 forums... I never expected that many flame wars in OS/2

morrow wrote: it seems that much of this "heat" emanated from the OS/2 community with emphasis on a couple of passionate OS/2'ers..

I am very polite

Thinkpad wrote:I am very polite

I hope I'm at least partially civilized...

I have not really noticed that many flame wars in the OS/2-eCS forum. There are other OS/2-eCS forums that I am part of. Very little - if any - flame wars goes on there.

http://www.os2world.com

http://www.ecomstation.com/forum

http://www.os2.org

and a variety of Yahoo Groups.