habitus

i'd like to hear exactly what the problems are. can one of the mods explain without just referring to the guidelines? what, specifically, was the impetus for the sudden explosion in mod comments?

i have appreciated the moderation in threads were there has been overt or subversive racism, bigotry, homophobia. other than that, i'm not sure what the harm is.

spud

I dont know, maybe i have better reading comprehension than the average person, maybe not, but i can tell from a thread-title if the thread is going to potentially 'hurt my feelings' for being vulgar, off-topic, disruptive, etc. i can tell from a thread-title if the contents are going to be on-topic and informative. doing away with the whole SS/FG forum wont solve the problem; making a sub-forum FG-foo might work. how many official complaints have the mods received regarding unappropriate (to cover all rule-breaking) posts in the FG/SS forum lately (past week, past month); is it really a problem to have some off-topic threads in the forum? I can understand the mods (and Joe) wanting to discourage that and not promote it, but i think FG/SS forum readers are becoming a community, why restrict us to only talking about bike parts and equipment? it seems to me there is also a certain mindset for FG/SS, readers can usually take some ribbing without crying; sometimes it does get out of hand and needs moderation, but a lot of times it doesnt. how many other forums have had a country-wide Meet-n-Greet, i think that alone shows that we're capable of being friends and make fun of each other at the same time. maybe splitting FG/SS into SS (technical) and make a sub-forum for FG (community) with a 'your feelings may get hurt' warning would work.

edit:spacebar problem

Matthew A Brown

It might not be a bad idea to sticky this thread. Good conversation so far about what we're doing, will/might be doing, etc...

habitus

you're not the only one! there is a certain "popularity contest" atmosphere to this place. and i don't think it only has to do with the MNG. it takes a certain way of presenting yourself to really "get noticed" in here.

Matthew A Brown

The "problem" is, you can tell these things by being here for a bit and familiarizing yrself with the tone and various flameworthy subjects. This skill is not just unnecessary in the other bikeforums, its pretty much unheard of.

tlupfer

yeah. the mods should probably approve every post. we're such a lot of dunderheads that we'll never figure it out on our own.

the world really can't handle another bikeforums ss/fg debacle/creative spectacle like the last one.

dolface

i'm guilty of most of the things that joe seems to be unhappy with, and i have no problem with getting slapped down and taking my lumps. it's his forum, and i agreed to the rules when i joined.

i don't mind most the jabbing and sillines that goes on here, but i don't get to decide what's allowed and what's not.

this place is valuable enough to me that i'm happy to tone my posts/rants/whatever down if that's what it takes to keep it around. it's a small enough thing compared to everything i've gotten since i've joined.

Ira in Chi

I think some people here prefer talking to others that ride FG/SS more than talking about riding FG/SS. I think that is fine, although other posters obviously do not fall into that category. I don't think it should be an either-or situation.

Ira in Chi

Community! That's the word, not "foo".

$0.00/Gal

Maybe I should just create my own forum where people can curse each other out, talk about beer, plan rides, and discuss components all in one place without fear of being deleted.

spud

its pretty much a life skill, its a way of judging with whom and whom you do not want to associate; its not just for the internet or bikeforums.net. its the same skill you and i use for making friends, because i have this skill i know that i will not want to join the NRA, and it allows other people to know they would enjoy being in the NRA. if you look at the topics, you should be able to tell that "T-Shirt, interested?" has nothing to do with adjusting your chainline or which hubs strip easily. now this unheard of skill i posess tells me that the OP (original poster) is asking for an opinion, its all red-flags that the content is all subjective and not objective; and will likely have as much 'this design is awesome' as much as 'i made better designs when i was in grade school' its going to be all opinions. in fact most of the posts here are opinions. if all i wanted were facts about bicycles i would probably just read sites like sheldon's and manufacturer's sites. my skill doesnt take that long to develop, its pretty much just looking for keywords for whether its center topic or periphery; and i would argue its necessary for interpreting anything published (even webforums) or broadcast. this is getting off-topic already we can discuss in PM.

basically not many of us have time to read every post of every thread on every forum, so we go and read/comment in threads that catch our eyes, usually the newest.

SD Fixed

I agree.


No supprise there Koffee. No suprise there.

ZappCatt

I am a relative newb to the Fg forum(was primarily on Road before) and have learned a ton from this forum.

I am not a "part of the FG scene" and honestly have no interest in being part of the in-crowd-cool kids clique. I get annoyed when the whole front page of threads has idiotic rambling drunk/stoned postings, but have not run to the moderators to ask them to move/lock threads.

If the cool kids feel they need a place that they can do whatever they want, maybe a foo/cool kids/community sub-forum would be good...though from some of their posts, I would expect them to continue posting in the main area, just to try to piss off "the man"

ostro

I dont want to feed the flame here, but we are all overlooking that the atmosphere of this forum. It is dependent on the quirkiness of many of the posters. The forum is popular and it is becuase of the batty and off-witted posts. Call me crazy but i would be willing to wager it is one of the closest communities around, and it was the forum that fostered this community. To say there is something wrong here, is to completely overlook the things that have evolved from it. What could be so wrong about bringing people together.

honduraz10

I second that motion

it's not that i dislike this forum, but I also dont feel any allegiance to it and think it would be cool to have a fixed oriented forum where asterisks dont appear when someone let a "bad word" slip and threads arent deleted/moved/locked because theyre not directly related to fixed/ss

sillygirl

Do you expect to be respected when starting out by saying "I dont like you?!?" I feel this is inciting drama on its own because people are offended and likely will be defensive. In other words, this amounts to "harrassment" as defined by the guidelines.

Koffee, I understand you are frustrated with this forum as a mod. For many of the same reasons I am frustrated by this forum too. However, I think it inappropriate as a mod to put this forum down both in this forum and in threads in other forums (like womens and road).

Please, moderate by setting the correct example and dont consider yourself above the rules.

pitboss

Sometimes we should look to our own advice before giving it to others.

I didn't think being a moderator meant your personal preferences were to be taken into consideration. This has always been the problem - YOU don't like this forum and have always had it in for this place and a good deal of the people that post here. Being a moderator is not about what you do or do not like - it is about facilitating a community. And before you spout off again about rules and the like, know this: facilitation includes guidelines and enforcing them, but also includes being helpful. In a forum of this size and with the level of exposure Joe has been able to create (via a condusive environment), some rules are needed. And of course, there will always be those that bend or break them. Moderators were chosen for their abilities to see through situations, not churn through numerous threads to see who should be banned and what should get deleted without stating why. Hell - Rev.Chuck took the time, even though he was annoyed with whatever was going on in the "brake/(word)" thread. If you cannot have fun in ALL aspects of what you do, maybe you should re-consider the last sentence of the first quote I have posted.

ps> Bikeforums is a proper noun, meaning it should be capitalized. I have taken the liberty to correct this deficiency.

$0.00/Gal

My favourite board is unmoderated, has probably quadruple the amount of members that this one does, and moves 10 times faster and it's the best forum I've ever been on.

hyperRevue

I second that.
Times like last night are really frustrating.
That said, I am ususally a big proponent of "don't read it if it doesn't interest you."
Constant hipster rants, drunk trolling, 8 pages *****ing about grammatical errors...the past week or so has been pretty lame.

Ira in Chi

Didn't I mention this a page ago? When I suggested that "we" need to chill out, that included you, Koffee.

pitboss

fair enough - keep in mind that as easily as we all found this place, we can all leave too. That is yet another right we have as citizens of the internet.
No dig here, but if you don't like it - don't stay. I have cut back before, and turned in my blue star. Believe it or not, I like this forum, meaning the FG/SS portion of Bikeforums. I can deal with the "rules" as they really aren't all that bad. And if they ever get to be too much, I guess I'll just move the **** on. Ya know?

youth

on a note not really connected with this thread... was that schwinn a 10 speed? a continental? if so, doesn't the frame weigh a ton? and do you think it possible to convert a 1975 schwinn continental frame to fixie? or maybe just ss. i mean i have the whole bike but it literally weighs about 50lbs and is hard to carry. input on this would be great, from anyone.

yonderboy

Chattiness != substance. Signal/Noise is a real problem in the FG/SS forum right now. There is a wealth of knowledge and experience in this forum, but you'd never know it from the amount of whining and moaning about the moderation.

Loosening the moderation isn't going to solve anything, because people can't be bothered to post their topics in the related forum. The 8-hojillion threads about wheel building or converting a threadless headset to threaded could live in the mechanics forum where the actual experts post. I'll admit that I post here more often for variety, because the other forums' "Which is better" threads get old really fast.

And I'll second that the Advocacy forum is way more vitrolous than the FG/SS forum. I don't even go there.

Matthew A Brown

This is what PMs are for, or perhaps a new thread.

$0.00/Gal

I hear you. I might try my hands at my own board. We'll see.