Forum - general thoughts

[MikeH]

Hi all

I'll try to keep this short...

Having received a few PMs about the Ping S57 thread in the F/S section and also a few PM's about bad language on the forum in general I wanted to post a few thoughts..

Banter is great and a key ingredient of any forum. And, the reality is that as we all get to know each other better (be it in person via forum meets or just virtually on here) then it's natural that we'll feel more inclined to be free and easy with the banter. That's fine so long as it doesn't overstep the mark.

What constitutes overstepping the mark is of course a personal thing - what one person finds acceptable, others will be offended by. As such the final decision on what is OK and isn’t has to rest with me, my staff and the moderators who, its worth reiterating, generously give up their time to help out on this forum.

I absolutely don’t want to strip out the personality and humour out of this forum (its one of the reason that this is such a good place to chat about golf, life the universe etc) but I cant have the forum descending into chaos so GM staff and/or the mods will have to step in and pull threads if we feel they are not in the spirit of the forum.

At this point it's worth reiterating that the reason we get so many of the manufactures wanting to work with us to offer forumers great opportunities to test new kit etc is because they look on here and like the fact its a thriving community of people who love golf.

If they log-on and see a load of bickering, name calling, swearing and general chaos they won’t want to know. It really is as simple as that.

Bad language
I've posted plenty of times on this before - there really is no need to use overt bad language in posts. You're all more than capable of making your point without resorting to swearing.

Going forward if anyone has a problem with a thread, please press the notify button, that way the mods can sort it out quicker or else email me direct (michael_harris@ipcmedia.com) and I'll sort it

Thanks for listening

 

[Philm]

i conclusively concur with your pantomime of recurrent reiteration.

the forum is great and the GM staff and moderation team deserve a pat on the back.

Keep the language down and the banter up.

Phil

 

[Losttheplot]

I didn't know we had a notify button...

I'd of pressed it on all of Aztecs threads if I knew it was there.

 

[Fyldewhite]

I fully agree with your comments Mike but I don't see a big problem here.

One or two threads, particularly in the oob section can get a bit distasteful mostly when you get into a political "discussion" which is always going to bring very opposite views to the table. References to people being "shot in the face" etc are not banter, just down right offensive comment in any civilised discussion. Thinly veiled racism is also present at times with all the stereotypes and clichés in full flow. The golden rule is to avoid politics and religion and that usually holds true.

As for swearing it's just not needed on any forum or any real conversation for that matter. I've only ever done it on here when quoting a story where the context is the key to the humour but then it will be 'effin whatever not the real word. We are mostly adults on here and the juniors all seem mature enough to know the difference between a funny quote and gratuitous use of bad language. To be honest I don't see a general problem with language apart from the odd post which I'm sure mods could deal with as suggested.

 

[PhilTheFragger]

Wise words as always Mike

Somehow I missed the thread that caused all the kerfuffle

I must stop slacking

Fragger

 

[Aztecs27]

I didn't know we had a notify button...

I'd of pressed it on all of Aztecs threads if I knew it was there.

Knob!


Wise Words Sir Michael of GM.

 

[StuartD]

Mike

A couple of points

1) The forum is now bigger than when the moderators were selected by yourself. Is it now possible that we might need a few more mods? It would also appear that some of the original mods are also less active on the forum as previously. I may be wrong in this though as they could be just in the background

2) There are a lot of requests appearing for links to illegal streams of sporting events that are televised by subscription channels and many users posting links to these sites . I was a mod for a very short time on a forum where we were “advised” by a large pay television company that they would seek to close down the site if the practice continued. I am not even sure if it's illegal to post these links but IPC Media/GM may want to avoid providing free advertising space to these sites

 

[GOLFER1994]

Perfectly agree...
I know i was part of the s57 thread so i apologise for that...
I think that maybe some people take comments the wrong way or feel like certain comments are aimed as a personal dig when it is all intended as a joke. Personal comments that do actually cause offence are not neccessary and if they are seen they should be notified and removed straight away!
I also agree that maybe more mods are needed in order to prevent bad language and offensive posts?

Jordan

 

[0]

Mike

2) There are a lot of requests appearing for links to illeagal streams of sporting events that are televised

I had no idea these were illegal, I was going to use it to watch from work at lunchtime/breaks etc however if its illegal I'm staying well away

 

[Alex1975]

2) There are a lot of requests appearing for links to illeagal streams of sporting events that are televised by subscription channels and many users posting links to these sites . I was a mod for a very short time on a forum where we were “advised” by a large pay television company that they would seek to close down the site if the practice continued. I am not even sure if it's illegal to post these links but IPC Media/GM may want to avoid providing free advertising space to these sites

WOW!! Maybe we should cross that bridge if it ever happens???!!!... WOW

 

[Alex1975]

I think it would be seriously bad form to over mod this forum that for the most part is very peaceful and self policing.

I totally see why this thread was needed but what a shame there are already a few of that old school type of golfer who is DESPERATE to dumb things down and use it as a platform for something they don't agree with.

 

[Aztecs27]

I'm just upset that I missed all the drama in the s57 thread

 

[USER1999]

Can I ask where is this notify button of which you speak?

 

[john0]

I'm just upset that I missed all the drama in the s57 thread

That's cos you only read threads on Mizzies

 

[GOLFER1994]

Can I ask where is this notify button of which you speak?

Look at the bottom of each comment next to extras, hover over the 3rd one

 

[SwingSlow]

Agree with the sentiments Mike, although missed the thread in question.

 

[0]

FS section should be comment free unless directly related to the actual purchase (if you want to tell someone where else they can buy said item send a PM), any transgression gets a warning and temp ban for repeating the offense (works well on other forums.
Forum software should filter out swear words and anyone getting round it deliberatly (like spacing out the word or inserting period points to get past the software) gets a warning them temp ban for repeating leading to full ban if done again.

Glad to see things tightening up, I nearly didnt come back here after a few malicious comments I got when I first joined

 

[HRC99]

2) There are a lot of requests appearing for links to illeagal streams of sporting events that are televised by subscription channels and many users posting links to these sites . I was a mod for a very short time on a forum where we were “advised” by a large pay television company that they would seek to close down the site if the practice continued. I am not even sure if it's illegal to post these links but IPC Media/GM may want to avoid providing free advertising space to these sites

WOW!! Maybe we should cross that bridge if it ever happens???!!!... WOW

I was surprised to see the links posted too. It is pretty much a huge no-no as it links to copyrighted material.

Another forum I frequent won't even permit linking to YouTube in case it is copyright material on there either.

Overall, well said, Mike. On threads like the one which got a bit out of hand, it shouldn't just be up to the Mods to police our postings. A bit of common sense and courtesy on our own parts should see everything back on track.

 

[Aztecs27]

I'm just upset that I missed all the drama in the s57 thread

That's cos you only read threads on Mizzies

I knew my fanboy loyalty would come back to haunt me

 

[USER1999]

Nope, no 'extras' either.

I think I must be running the budget version of the software.