What Is with the Rudeness at CF ?

[Ex-Calif]

Knock, knock!
Who's there?
Interrupting cow.

Interrupting cow... (MOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

(the kids love that one...)

[Ocean Girl]

When my niece was five she loved that joke, she would go through the whole list of farm animals lamb, pig, cow, horse..she never got tired of it
OK it is a nurse joke but it is funny.

[rgscpat]

For new posters...

"Okay noob. Show us your
boat maintenance bills!"

[sailorboy1]

We have been pretty mean the past week. Must be what is currently the most interesting to everyone as other "happy" threads aren"t getting any action. Of course there were quite a few of "best boat" threads to feed on. There are also what appears to be a couple of members that once they get to posting on ther same threads it becomes a battle with each other.

Maybe CF is becoming a test. If you can read the threads and still want to sail, the MAYBE it's for you.

[Boomp]

What do you call a cow with no legs?

Ground beef!

[Ocean Girl]

He he great posts.
--this should get the grumps rolling their eyes

Most of us, swimming against the tides of trouble the world knows nothing about, need only a bit of praise or encouragement - and we will make the goal. Jerome P. Fleishman


Each person has an ideal, a hope, a dream which represents the soul. We must give to it the warmth of love, the light of understanding and the essence of encouragement. Colby Dorr Dam
Erika

[MarkJ]

2 things get me.
Polemicists jump on board and put up one of those divisive arguments and then sit back and laugh as good friends are turned against each other. That happens and I don’t like it. I would prefer to be able to ignore the thread at its outset.
Whether the polemicist is someone who jumps on with a new account for a bit of fun, or someone with an axe to grind or a misguided marketing strategy (note some anchor merchandisers!) they do seem to pop up sometimes.

Secondly the ‘Go Go Go NOW’ is seemingly being pushed as the only allowable forum response to a person that some more cautious people may think is a nutter.
I am all for the Go and Go Now. But we can’t just advise people to do that if they could very well end up dead! Or ruined: Sailing on $2 per month – its just going to end in tears – but those tears could be real tears of grief as a person puts to sea without proper equipment or boat.

Often we individually read a thread completely differently than another forum member. There is a classic thread (of which I would have put a Thread Ignore on instantly) from someone very new who to me sounds like the most conceited jerk to have fallen into here for the last year (last years one did eclipse him!) but other members think his posts are excellent.

I can hardly be described as sanctimonious by saying I’ll let others be the judge. But on that one alone. Others need to be imho swayed from their death wish. Also remember that the forum lives on till the death of Google – others (in perpetuity?) can find our advice and follow it. Do we want one-sided advice followed because people feel intimidated to give their honest advice (no matter which opinion it is?).

In conclusion if and when I am nasty I expect to be pulled up for it by a moderator. Certainly that happened a few times (with 4,000 posts some have got off... ummm, well, you know). I certainly don’t mean to be nasty. I feel its up to the moderators to guide the way they see the forum working. They have better things to do to cross reference new members and IP addresses and decipher the underlying intent of some posts.

However I think we should be very careful at turning inwards against ourselves. And that may well be what a polmacist will delight in. Perhaps what appears to one as a negative post it the one that will stand the test of time and ultimate safety whilst providing a life of enjoyment.




Mark

[boatman61]

Well I'm an advocate of 'Go For It'....
But that does not mean they should just buy a boat and sail... no knowledge/experience....

But then maybe I fall into the trap of crediting folks a similar amount of common sense as me... a fact often disproved by folks on the boat saying things like "How dya know where the winds coming from...?"

I figure most folk know their limitations and work to them... okay there's the occasional nutter... but that's inevitable and unchangeable....

What amuses me is that when a generalisation is made the amount of folks who take it as a personal slander....
I love a good verbal volley... so sometimes my posts are provocative... but rarely personal... you'll know for sure when they are...

I've been pulled up a few times by the 'Mod's'... mainly for the Joke's but occasionally for responses to Threads... and some of the editing has left me scratching my head...
I've allegedly been insulting but the only bit that could have been a borderline 'insult' is still in the post... its the rest that's wiped.... unless the person I was responding to is an alloy boat designer.... Lmao.

Also folks I'm sorta flip in real life and it extends to this forum....
Flip = Casual... not irresponsible
if you cant handle my posts ignore them.... many do.
But one thing I do know... this member is never gonna go crying to the 'Mod's' because they got their little tootsies stubbed...

[Bash]

Originally Posted by boatman61

if you cant handle my posts ignore them.... many do.
But one thing I do know... this member is never gonna go crying to the 'Mod's' because they got their little tootsies stubbed...

this member reports all posts that seem to be attacks on other members. It's not crying to the mods--it's demanding a tone of civility within our community.

if anyone can't manage basic civility I'm happy to recommend a forum that thrives on bullying. PM me.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Bash

this member reports all posts that seem to be attacks on other members. It's not crying to the mods--it's demanding a tone of civility within our community.

if anyone can't manage basic civility I'm happy to recommend a forum that thrives on bullying. PM me.

Ahah.... its the 'Lone Stranger'..... or are you 'Tonto'.....
"How"....

[sabray]

Is there light at the end of the tunnel

[osirissail]

The best way to kill a good forum is to allow flammers or polemicists to run rampant. Moderators cannot be everywhere all the time which is probably why this forum went to the trouble of programming in a "report post" button. Look at Cruiser Log for an example, they even had moderators actively participating in such polemic activities.
- - One down side of being one of most frequented, if not the most popular, Cruising forum is that it attracts the evil doers like flies to honey. And I would suggest they need to be swatted as quickly as possible before seriously inquisitive folks get turned off and flee to somewhere else. The evil doers are getting no satisfaction on the minor, less frequented forums and are trolling for a "large crowd" where they can feast and wreck havoc.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Ahah.... its the 'Lone Stranger'..... or are you 'Tonto'.....
"How"....

I'm a member of this Cruising Forum's board of advisers, and I am especially attuned to cyberbullies who swagger into this forum with an attitude. Matter of fact, I reported such a post last night.

Like I say, there are other forums who cultivate that sort of discourse. I'm happy to recommend one where cyberbullies who struggle with the "Be nice" rule on CF should feel more comfortable.

[Dockhead]

I don't recall ever once being offended by a post on an Internet forum. Internet fora are nothing but people jawboning over the Internet, people who can't even see each other. And I like a good argument; I like to be challenged and I really appreciate it when someone disagrees with me and is able to forcefully argue the point, forcing me to reexamine my ideas, which end up being either stronger, or being abandoned. The line between forceful argument and incivility can be thin, I think it's important not to confuse the two.

I apologize to anyone I have offended with what was intended to be forceful argument, not incivility. Sorry! I have certainly never intended any incivility to anyone. I tend to write the way I like to be written to; I have to remind myself that it's not everyone's cup of tea.

I was also chastised by a mod a couple of days ago for suggesting that one post was a troll. I will be more careful in the future; I honestly didn't know that calling someone on trolling is considered a violation of the "be nice" rule. I consider clever trolling to spice up a forum; it's fun and I admire it, and calling someone on it for me is just part of the game. Other people have different attitudes, as I found out, so I will be more careful. I would certainly never report a troll to a mod -- why? Trolls perform a valuable function in my opinion. If the troll is clever, then it's fun. If it's lame, then ignoring it is the best approach, in my opinion.

In general of course, civilility is vitally important here as in any human community. I still believe, however, that the best weapon against "cyberbullies" is to simply ignore them. "Sticks and stones may break my bones . . ." They don't bother me at all.

[osirissail]

"In general of course, civilility is vitally important here as in any human community. I still believe, however, that the best weapon against "cyberbullies" is to simply ignore them."
- - That sometimes works, but I have seen too many cases where the attacks only intensify until someone does not ignore them. And in the meantime, a lot of new folks looking for some serious information get turned off and go elsewhere.