Trolling and Off-topic disruptions

[Marblehead]

If the crows in the first video had been Jays there would have been a totally different ending.

[Mal]

So is there any way, apart from the reader skipping over posts, to keep TTB on topic - 15 pages later it doesn't seem to be so.

 

Back to discussions! I've got nothing on birds or squirrels but De has to buy those $500 glasses. Without that thin lenses technology her normal glass lenses are as thick as coke bottles! (those old green glass ones, not modern plastic, or even that middle period where the bottoms of the bottles were round with a black plastic base)

[Apech]

i think this sums up the thread so far -

 

 

 

[ralis]

i think this sums up the thread so far -

 

 

 

I am curious about your avatar cat. How did you get it to pose? LOL! Edited February 5, 2013 by ralis

[gatito]

Hehehe. Nope. Wrong again. I have nothing against Jesus. Crucifix? Nail? You are getting a bit poetic here, aren't you?

 

Did you know that even Hummingbirds are omnivours as most of the species will eat smaller insects whenever they can?

 

This is the song of the South Gate Holder,

A silver man, but his song is older: -

 

I am the Gate that fears no fall: the Mihrab of Damascus wall,

The bridge of booming Sinai: the Arch of Allah all in all.

O spiritual pilgrim rise: the night has grown her single horn:

The voices of the souls unborn are half adream with Paradise.

To Mecca thou hast turned in prayer with aching heart and eyes that burn:

Ah Hajji, whither wilt thou turn when thou art there, when thou art there?

God be thy guide from camp to camp: God be thy shade from well to well:

God grant beneath the desert stars thou hear the Prophet's camel bell.

And God shall make thy body pure, and give thee knowledge to endure

This ghost-life's piercing phantom-pain, and bring thee out to Life again.

And God shall make thy soul a Glass where eighteen thousand aeons pass,

And thou shalt see the gleaming Worlds as men see dew upon the grass.

And son of Islam, it may be that thou shalt learn at journey's end

Who walks thy garden eve on eve, and bows his head, and calls thee Friend.

[Marblehead]

I think we see here a perfect example of what I spoke to earlier. One thought leads to another and we mention the thought which ends up taking the original opening post way off topic. That's the way real conversations happen in "real life". Casual conversations. We are not in a classroom studying a single topic, math, for example. We are having conversations in almost all threads on this board.

 

Sure, if we are engaged in a study of a particular topic it would be very helpful if we all stayed on topic throughout the study. But as soon as we start reflecting our own personal understanding of the topic there will be the likelihood that the thread will go off topic because we will have moved from a study to a conversation.

 

And I still think that it would be a shame if any member (even those I disagree with) were denied to present their thoughts resulting from previously posted words.

[Marblehead]

 

This is the song of the South Gate Holder,

A silver man, but his song is older: -

 

Way too much religion in that for me to deal with. Self-reliance, not reliance on some unseen power.

[gatito]

Way too much religion in that for me to deal with. Self-reliance, not reliance on some unseen power.

 

Show us the Self on whom you rely

Show us the the life that animates your lifeless body

[GrandmasterP]

i think this sums up the thread so far -

 

 

 

......

MOTHER!!

Can it truly be you?

[Marblehead]

Show us the Self on whom you rely

Show us the the life that animates your lifeless body

You gotta come see it. That's the only way you, or anyone else, can see it.

[gatito]

You gotta come see it. That's the only way you, or anyone else, can see it.

 

Atheistic, Pseudo-scientific Materialistic, Libertarian Socialism seems to be the most damaging belief system here on TTB

 

Worse even than (in no particular order ) Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity and Neo-advaita

[gatito]

Forgot "Carnivoristic" LOL

 

[Marblehead]

Any wonder why they used a pig as the narrator? The pig didn't want to be eaten.

 

I would surmise that half the people on this planet would starve to death if everyone became a vegetarian as I doubt that there could ever be enough plant food grown to feed everyone.

 

And, as I have mentioned before, it is likely that man would still be living in the trees if it remained vegetarian as it is accepted by the scientific world that it is the eating of meat, more protein, that allowed man's brain to develop to the point where it was able to make and use tools.

[Mal]

I think we see here a perfect example of what I spoke to earlier. One thought leads to another and we mention the thought which ends up taking the original opening post way off topic. That's the way real conversations happen in "real life". Casual conversations. We are not in a classroom studying a single topic, math, for example. We are having conversations in almost all threads on this board.

 

Sure, if we are engaged in a study of a particular topic it would be very helpful if we all stayed on topic throughout the study. But as soon as we start reflecting our own personal understanding of the topic there will be the likelihood that the thread will go off topic because we will have moved from a study to a conversation.

 

As everyone had different ideas about what they want from TTB what if the thread creator had "nominal" control over the thread.

 

People could talk as usual but if the thread creator asked "could we stick to xyz I'm not into abc" then it would be a bit insulting to ignore them especially if they were sort of leading the discussion.

At the moment once a thread is"out there" you have no options if the thread goes in a direction you have no interest in.

 

?

[Marblehead]

Atheistic, Pseudo-scientific Materialistic, Libertarian Socialism seems to be the most damaging belief system here on TTB

 

Worse even than (in no particular order ) Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity and Neo-advaita

Hehehe. You will never sway me with that kind of stuff. I am too secure in my life. BTW I ate some Summer Sausage yesterday. Good stuff!

[Marblehead]

As everyone had different ideas about what they want from TTB what if the thread creator had "nominal" control over the thread.

 

People could talk as usual but if the thread creator asked "could we stick to xyz I'm not into abc" then it would be a bit insulting to ignore them especially if they were sort of leading the discussion.

At the moment once a thread is"out there" you have no options if the thread goes in a direction you have no interest in.

 

?

I have no arguement with this. However, personally, I have almost completely stopped reading posts in anyone's Personal Practice threads. If a person only wants to talk at me I simply ignore that person's post. If a person wishes to talk with me then I will freely engage them.

 

There are already too many institutions trying to control how I live my life - I will not allow individuals to do so.

 

So sure, I understand that individuals have their favorite concepts they want to talk about. Go ahead on. But if a person speaks to me, in a post on a forum or in real life, and denies me the opportunity to respond to what they have said then I find no reason to listen to them.

 

Different strokes for different folks.

 

But this is a nice place to hear yourself talk if that is what you need.

[Apech]

As everyone had different ideas about what they want from TTB what if the thread creator had "nominal" control over the thread.

 

People could talk as usual but if the thread creator asked "could we stick to xyz I'm not into abc" then it would be a bit insulting to ignore them especially if they were sort of leading the discussion.

At the moment once a thread is"out there" you have no options if the thread goes in a direction you have no interest in.

 

?

 

How would we ever get to squirrels in spectacles if this rule was in force?

 

I don't see the problem to be honest ... if people want to get back on topic all they have to do is start posting on topic and ignore the others ... these little detours don't always last that long.

 

the problem only is serious if someone deliberately and repeatedly derails the topic for no purpose other than to distract and make mayhem ... then a potentially interesting subject gets' swamped ... in this case the mods can split and pit of whatever ...

[templetao]

How would we ever get to squirrels in spectacles if this rule was in force?

 

I don't see the problem to be honest ... if people want to get back on topic all they have to do is start posting on topic and ignore the others ... these little detours don't always last that long.

 

the problem only is serious if someone deliberately and repeatedly derails the topic for no purpose other than to distract and make mayhem ... then a potentially interesting subject gets' swamped ... in this case the mods can split and pit of whatever ...

 

I call bs people have derailed my threads over and over again. Ive sent reports to the mods and the people never get banned or punished. Its just favortism and doing whatever the hell you want.

 

The whole point of moderating topics is to protect the quality of your content for the user experience to thus enhance hits.

 

Moderating your content is a vital part of owning a website. Also it is important for many many other reasons and no quality webmaster can ignore this.

 

If this is ignored then the quality of the content goes down and the amount of quality visitors and contributors goes down and liability and risk goes up.

 

Quality of the content(threads) comes first. If this was a video site then you would want quality streaming videos if this was a music site then you would want quality sounding mp3s but this is a forum so you should want quality threads and posts that keeps the members coming back.

Edited February 5, 2013 by templetao

[ChiDragon]

This situation is quite frustrating but eventually things will be back into balance. It is just one of those things that Nature has to be taken its course.

[三江源]

templetao

 

There never has really been a quality control rule for moderating in place here. It is under discussion currently for the first time really, because of the amount of off topic chat going on and the way so many threads are distracted by trivial chatting and it is frustrating those who wish to discuss more actively.

[Mal]

How would we ever get to squirrels in spectacles if this rule was in force?

 

Well if it was my thread you could post whatever you want I'm mostly in the "don't see a problem boat" I like the cross thread chatter and (usually) humorous community feel, like Marbles if someone wants to "soapbox" I just try my best not to "react" and move on to the next post.

 

The whole point of moderating topics is to protect the quality of your content for the user experience to thus enhance hits.

 

This is a key point, and basically (IIRC) why Sean went for moderation in the 1st place, to improve TTB. While many of us are happy to just ignore, attempt to refocus the conversation, or just move on to something else. A "significant" ? number of others here seem to feel differently, and the only way I can think of to accommodate the individual differences might be to give the creator “the call” on what’s derailing a thread.

[Apech]

Well if it was my thread you could post whatever you want I'm mostly in the "don't see a problem boat" I like the cross thread chatter and (usually) humorous community feel, like Marbles if someone wants to "soapbox" I just try my best not to "react" and move on to the next post.

 

 

This is a key point, and basically (IIRC) why Sean went for moderation in the 1st place, to improve TTB. While many of us are happy to just ignore, attempt to refocus the conversation, or just move on to something else. A "significant" ? number of others here seem to feel differently, and the only way I can think of to accommodate the individual differences might be to give the creator “the call” on what’s derailing a thread.

 

There may be a significant number who think this but there's also a vocal minority (?) who want more or less no moderation. When I used to do it I tried my best to moderate as little as I could ... to let things flow ...

[gatito]

Very difficult job (moderating) - I wonder how many people here are aware of just how difficult it is to moderate in person - let alone in writing?

[gatito]

Any wonder why they used a pig as the narrator? The pig didn't want to be eaten.

 

I would surmise that half the people on this planet would starve to death if everyone became a vegetarian as I doubt that there could ever be enough plant food grown to feed everyone.

 

And, as I have mentioned before, it is likely that man would still be living in the trees if it remained vegetarian as it is accepted by the scientific world that it is the eating of meat, more protein, that allowed man's brain to develop to the point where it was able to make and use tools.

 

Your surmise is scientifically incorrect. There would be more food to feed the world (and a significant lowering of greenhouse gas).

 

That's the basic food chain - there a fewer apex predators. It's secondary school (11-16 years old) science.

 

Most food chains are quite short, and they rarely consist of more than four steps. This is because a lot of energy is lost at each step. After about three steps, very little energy is still available for use by living organisms. This also explains why there are few organisms at the top of food chains, compared with those lower down.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/edexcel_pre_2011/environment/populationsandpyramidsrev1.shtml

 

Can you point to the scientific research "that proves that the eating of meat, more protein, that allowed man's brain to develop to the point where it was able to make and use tools" please?

 

Even birds with tiny brains use tools: -

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tool_use_by_animals

[gatito]

And....Aaron....I've just changed my vote from "No" to "Yes"....although you should of course continue to ignore my posts - in the interests of consistency. Unless, of course, you're only interested in having your own opinions reflected back to you, in which case you can delete my vote,

 

Although that wouldn't work because you're ignoring me. So............I'll go back and delete my "Yes" vote myself......unless you stop ignoring me and tell me that you want it.

 

Although.....God only knows how you will write the rule and enforce it.....

 

Perhaps someone could come up with a draft for comment? Although, I suppose that Aaron wouldn't be interested in hearing my comments.

 

AARON!!!!! LOL