"Trimming"

[Soundslikejosh]

This thread is meant to be respectful and I hope that any else who feels compelled to comment will act likewise. I am sure that the moderators have a time consuming and tough job, so I do not want them to take this as a personal slight, but I do not understand the "trimming" that occurred on the "PCR @ MCFG" thread.

http://ingunowners.com/forums/genera...html#post68496

I read it as it developed, and unless I missed something, it was entirely civil. Plenty of politics, but nothing mature adults can't stomach. Short of inappropriate or hostile comments, I have trouble understanding a need for censorship. At the end of the day, an individual person is held responsible for what they say. Plenty of us have had disagreements on the board and they generally end amicably. This board is not GT or any of the others and seems to be respectable, so why clear out threads? I apologize if there was something inappropriate that I missed (and would explain these questions). It seems that the PCR thread in particular should be of interest to readers because it was talking about how gun owners are restricting gun owners, and thats a big deal to some folks.

Again I do not have what it takes to be a moderator, and so I feel a bit sheepish giving constructive criticism, but it seems their job would be less tough and less time consuming with a laissez-faire attitude. As a parting shot, I have in the past always been impressed how Fenway would stay in the wings and let people banter, as long as it didn't get hostile.

I am aware you could block my IP for this but I felt compelled to write.

Regards,
Josh

[W9ZEB]

I was asked to remove the thread all together.
I figured leaving at least the announcement about the new calibers that are allowed to be more beneficial than getting rid of it all together.

I tend to agree, and am not a real strong believer in censoring posts. I'm obviously not opposed to a little argument even when directed at me. Obviously not going to be banning anyone. That's just silly talk.

Regarding why I did what I did.....

From the "Report This Post"

Mods, please delete this entire thread. It has turned into an ugly monster. Thank you

[Soundslikejosh]

Ugly monster? I suppose each are welcome to their own opinion, but the "report this post" person needs to read more threads here and elsewhere to get a better prespective on how ugly some threads are. Again, unless I missed something, there was nothing wrong with the thread. Just because a thread says something you don't want to hear, or something you want swept under the rug, doesn't mean you have a right to request it gone. If the person who has made the request is willing to point out my error, feel free to PM me. I am curious, but not trying to be rude. I just hate to see this discusssion be thrown away, this stuff is important to the members and potential members of MCFG. Every organization has its squabbles, I'd like to know about them before I invest my money.

Thanks for replying Lars.

Josh

[bwframe]

Sorry, I'm late to this thread. It's not second nature for me to look in the comments section, although I did check a few times directly after "the trimming" looking for someone to post. Yes, call me gutless.

I agree with Josh, with the possible exception of maybe an individual post trimming. Some comments were made that could be taken as personally destructive about individuals. I think that could have been handled privately with the poster.

Essentially by the major trimming that was done and the closing of the thread, I think that the baby was thrown out with the bathwater.

I also agree with Josh in my respect for the moderators. A job I couldn't do and wouldn't want. I just wanted to get in my 2 cents and hope it is taken as constructive criticism.

[melensdad]

From a different perspective, and take it for whatever it is worth, I'm a moderator on a fairly large forum and we have some well established policies that are known by all, or at least posted so people can find them.

1 - We will not delete a thread.
2 - We only allow users to edit their own posts for a limited time (I think 20 minutes).
3 - We forbid direct insults to other members (act like an adult rule)

Those policies make people think about what they write. There are a lot of young hot heads here on this forum, instituting rules like the two above will make them think a little bit when they write a flaming post. After all, they won't be able to go back an undo their words after they sleep on it for a night.

We have strict moderation policies in some forum areas where it is posted that the topics are supposed to be serious discussions. We have almost no moderation in the political area because we want free discourse of ideas.

The moderators here may want to consider coming up with a set of user guidelines/rules for civility and posting them in the FAQ area? If rules are set up and known then the people have a code of conduct to live up to when they post. Just a suggestion.

[Fenway]

We will work on that. We are about 5 months old so we are just getting set up here and trying to do the best job we can. Thanks for you patience.

[W9ZEB]

*throws self under bus*

clearly that's where I belong.

[bwframe]

Originally Posted by W9ZEB

*throws self under bus*

clearly that's where I belong.

No sir!
You did your job. You had to make a decision and you did just that. I appreciate you listening to my opinion of the outcome.

[VUPDblue]

I'll go ahead and say that I started the thread and I also asked that it be shut down. If anyone would like details of my actions, please send me a PM or email me at my user name here at aol dot com. And, again, thank you to Lars for shutting it down upon request. Don't give the mods too hard of a time. They were just helpin' a guy out...-Nick

[bwframe]

Originally Posted by VUPDblue

I'll go ahead and say that I started the thread and I also asked that it be shut down. If anyone would like details of my actions, please send me a PM or email me at my user name here at aol dot com. And, again, thank you to Lars for shutting it down upon request. Don't give the mods too hard of a time. They were just helpin' a guy out...-Nick

Damned if this isn't a soap opera, kinda like the original thread.

Good for you for stepping up. It does shed a little light on actions of the mods, who hopefully didn't perceive anything as a hard time. This is a good lesson to one and all that a lot of eyes are on anything that gets posted.