Navigating Our Growth

[Andy R]

As many of our longtime members know, our community has grown leaps and bounds in the last couple of years. We have grown 300% to 400% since mid-2008 and such rapid growth can be tough to absorb. We have been blessed with thousands of new members and with that comes thousands of new opinions. Although this increased knowledge pool is a huge asset to our community it also presents one of the biggest challenges we have to face as a group. Along with more opinions comes more differences of opinions which can sometime incite verbal sparing about who is right. This is where we need your help.

We remain 100% committed to our vision of fostering a respectful community. Friends don't always agree on everything or even on most things. They can agree to disagree. When that happens, they try to keep their discussions logical and free from name calling and so forth, or more often they just spend their time on other topics. They don't take every opportunity to express their disagreement, incite argument, insult each other, and fan flames. When they are incapable of avoiding this sort of thing, they become much more disruptive than welcome.

Most of us, while we welcome perspectives on all sides of any issue, would not invite a frequently and apparently intentionally disruptive or rude person to a gathering of friends at our homes, nor to any other gathering of friends that they are hosting. With this in mind please remember we have some Community Rules that everyone must abide by.

Be Courteous!
We aim to ensure that the forum is an enjoyable place that you want to visit time and time again. Our underlying philosophy is that the strength of the member relationships we build here is what sets us apart from the other boards - we are friendlier, more civil, more insightful, more mature and more fun.

• Our rules extend to all sections of the website including messaging functions, galleries and any other public or private posting.
• Personal attacks on others will not be tolerated. Challenge others' points of view and opinions, but do so respectfully and thoughtfully.
• Do not post unsubstantiated gossip, libelous remarks or directly misleading information.
• Stay on topic by keeping discussions relevant and on track.
• Do not post the same discussion more than once or in many forums.
• The language of this forum is English. If you are not a native English speaker, do your best. We are glad to have you as a member and will be supportive and polite.
• Be mindful of yourself and others. This forum is not a democracy; it is privately owned and we make the rules. If rules are violated we retain the right at our discretion to remove, edit or delete posts and if necessary ban or remove members. Any abuse toward our staff may/will result in immediate suspension of your account. Complaints about moderator decisions may not be made in posts; instead send a private message to a moderator, administrator or use the Contact Us form to reach the owner Cruisers Forum. If a moderator deletes or edits one of your posts and you disagree with the action, contact the moderator concerned. Do not repost deleted material.
• We take the "be nice" rule VERY seriously! We do not tolerate ANY rudeness.

Be Appropriate!
Please don't post it here if you wouldn't say it to your grandmother. Posts containing explicit, obscene or vulgar language, images or links to websites with adult content/images or punctuation marks designed to "trick" our obscenity filter will be removed. Discussion of politics and religion is permitted only in association with the topic of this forum.

Be Welcoming!
Welcome newcomers to our growing community. Many of our community's members have a wealth of knowledge and much to share. Please help new members learn about how to find information and resources and how to get involved in the Community.

In the weeks ahead we will be posing some tutorials on how we can all work together to make sure our community remains the respectful place we have worked so hard to create. In the meantime, if you see any posts which you don't think support our mission of creating a respectful place for sailors to chat then please report them. To do this simply click image that looks like this which can be found on the bottom left of every post (under the username/avatar area).

Thanks in advance for helping us keep our community as respectful as possible. This is one big group effort and together we will ensure that Cruisers Forum remains a place where massive amounts of knowledge are transferred in a fun and respectful environment.

[PamlicoTraveler]

Why is "Catamarans suck" one of the tags?

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Andy R

... In the weeks ahead we will be posing some tutorials on how we can all work together to make sure our community remains the respectful place we have worked so hard to create ...

...This is one big group effort and together we will ensure that Cruisers Forum remains a place where massive amounts of knowledge are transferred in a fun and respectful environment.

Thanks Andy.

I look forward to learning more about how we can engage in lively & collegial discussions (and even mature debate); while avoiding discord and bickering, which tend to suck the intelligence out of the Forum.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by PamlicoTraveler

Why is "Catamarans suck" one of the tags?

Because they do..... suck up de miles..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlBiLNN1NhQ

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by PamlicoTraveler

Why is "Catamarans suck" one of the tags?

It isn't . . . now. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. The members create the tags, and one member thought he / she was being funny, I suppose. It was put on this thread, in fact, as you probably observed.

This serves to illustrate Andy's point perfectly. The members create the content, but the members must also monitor the content. It is impossible for the site staff to read every word of every post, link, photo, profile comment or, as you've discovered, thread tag. We rely on conscientious members to bring items such as the "funny" tag to our attention.

Thanks, Pamlico Traveler.

TaoJones

[gettinthere]

How do we, the members, "create the tags"? Is this a feature I've missed? Do I care?

[Bash]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Thanks Andy.

I look forward to learning more about how we can engage in lively & collegial discussions (and even mature debate); while avoiding discord and bickering, which tend to suck the intelligence out of the Forum.

I thank you as well, Andy. GordMay's observation that some of our more discordant members tend to be sucking the intelligence out of the Forum is well taken. This is something we've been discussing privately among the Board of Advisers--how two or three individuals are able to sour the entire tenor of the forum. We have hundreds of cruisers on this forum who are eager to engage in collegial discussions about our boats and our lifestyles, all ready to extend each other assistance and friendship. But our two or three most problematic posters seem to want to make a game of it all, always pushing the envelope to see how much they can get away with. The result is that it sometimes becomes difficult to have a meaningful conversation. This thread has already provided evidence of that trend.

I myself have asked why we keep these members around. The moderators, in response, point to any number of members who were problematic posters when they first joined the site but who, over time, have evolved into constructive contributors. On the other hand, we know of other internet forums that have crashed and burned because the tone of their conversation was hijacked by a few angry clowns.

I look forward to our own conversations about these matters. We want to maintain our diversity and the broad breadth of experience that our membership currently represents. We have recently lost the participation of a few members who simply won't tolerate the lack of civility that we've begun to experience. In the future I would rather see us lose those members who can't learn to be civil.

[boatman61]

Sorry for having a sense of humour.... seeing as there's only 2 other members posted on here... apart from the Ad's n Mod's....
I rather suspect I'm the one on Bash's radar

[gettinthere]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Sorry for having a sense of humour.... seeing as there's only 2 other members posted on here... apart from the Ad's n Mod's....
I rather suspect I'm the one on Bash's radar

Or is he referring to the "catamaran's suck" issue?

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Sorry for having a sense of humour.... seeing as there's only 2 other members posted on here... apart from the Ad's n Mod's....
I rather suspect I'm the one on Bash's radar

I doubt it. We all have options etc. and some just get one fired up. To me some of the members seem to be "flamers", but mostly it is on a certain thread and topic and not a given across all areas. We all sin here, even a fair amount of times in my mind it is the mods and advisors.

Always interetsing how emotional one can get reading something; and later read it again and wonder why they were so upset the first time.

[Andy R]

The Catamaran Sucks tag being added to this thread is an example of something we don't really need. Although someone is getting a kick out of that and fanning the flames on the Cat vs Mono discussions it adds little value in the long run and is not really that funny. Although I understand that it is kind of funny to some people and understand why it's being done, we have to try and keep the peace and our community level on middle ground, this is hard enough so those little things just make it harder. When we have people who get a rise out of seeing things tip either way then that make the job of our volunteer staff considerably harder. As we grow we are going to have to nip this stuff in the bud so we can stay focused and keep our community sailing in smooth waters. Some might cry foul about over moderation but at least we are communicating what our intent is through threads like this. If members want a place where anything goes there are plenty of other forums.

I'd like to ask all our members to help us keep our Community as respectful as possible. If you read posts where it's obvious someone is just trying to fan the flames, report it . If you see a post where someone is being rude or demeaning, report it . If you read posts where a member is not being courteous, please report it .

We work very hard to communicate with members when we are aware of issues. Often it's a misunderstanding between folks from the opposite side of the pond. Our goal is to make sure members are aware of our rules, if they have violated them then provide suggestions on how to handle a situation a differently in the future and if they continue to violate them then take more stern action. 99% of our members never violate our Community Rules. 80% of those who do, don't do it again when they are made aware of the rules. The last 20% are repeat offenders who are aware of what they are doing will be dealt with in a consistent and fair manner. Some will understand our position and save the baiting, flaming and other non-sense for other boards which are more lenient and those who persist will loose their ability to participate here.

Once again, we need our members to help us keep our community as respectful as possible. Reporting posts is critical to bring issues to our attention. Just as important is helping diffuse tense situations in heated discussions with humor or encouraging members to move on. We all have a choice in how we interpret things and being laid back and brushing things off really helps instead of taking the bait and feeding the flames. One of the solutions I plan to outline this next week (need to get the system fixed) is to encourage more members to use the ignore system. This way when someone is replying who you don't like or seems like a know-it-all who's opinion you might not respect just add them to your ignore list. This way you won't have to interact with them and that will help increase your experience here on the site.

[David_Old_Jersey]

I dunno if me has also been given the black spot (to keep it nautical )...........

But anyway, I look forward to the tutorials / re-education

[boatman61]

So basicaly I hit the ignore button and their posts don't appear on the thread I'm reading....? is that how it works... thats a bit over the top...
Whats wrong with old fashioned just not rising to the bait... being a man about things
Methinks thats a button I'll never use...

[TaoJones]

In my experience, every active member has "two or three individuals [who] are able to sour the entire tenor of the forum," but there's no unanimity about who these members are.

Since each member seems to have a different list of those who rub him / her the wrong way, it is pointless for the team of moderators to do more than apply the Rules and Terms of Service to the situation / post, not to the individual. In that regard, the identity of the member is down the list of facts we consider when determining a course of action in response to something.

Preemptively banning members for anticipated offenses is not something we do, nor will we ever consider doing something like that. A member has to "earn" expulsion by violating the Rules, repeatedly, seriously and with no indication that he or she is receptive to the message that the violation(s) may lead to banishment.

It happens only rarely . . . but it happens.

TaoJones

[Andy R]

Originally Posted by boatman61

So basicaly I hit the ignore button and their posts don't appear on the thread I'm reading....? is that how it works...

Essentially, that's how it works.

Originally Posted by boatman61

Whats wrong with old fashioned just not rising to the bait... being a man about things

In an ideal world that would be great. Unfortunately with thousands of sailors from all over the world it's not that easy. If it were, we could just dismiss our moderation team and we would have a community just like Sailing Anarchy, that's not what we are try to foster here.

Originally Posted by boatman61

Methinks thats a button I'll never use...

To each there own.

I think of our community as a big virtual bar. Lots of great passionate people getting together to chat about their journeys, vessels, gear and life. Like any gathering of people, some just don't like to hang out together. Someone might rub them the wrong way, might have advice they don't agree with, maybe they just have a loud personality that others don't enjoy. What ever the reason it's just a fact of life and we need to tools to allow people to go to the other end of the bar and hang out with the people they want to hang with and not be disrupted by people they don't care for.

If enough members in the bar express their distaste for someone, at some point the bouncer asks them to leave. It's just how things go and we will make every effort to encourage members to get along so we don't have to show anyone the door. It's good to ignore people you get into arguments with because it helps keep the tone of our community more polite and respectful.