How to Play Nice on the Internet
 

I copied and pasted this from another forum that I am an active member on and tried to edit it for BF - just my thought

Well for those who may or may not know me I am pretty opionated so here goes with another.

With all the recent issues with some of the members and their desire to leave as well as all the posts of members who have stated that they no longer spend much time here due to the direction that the forum has gone I believe that the time has come for someone to say something. Though not a long time member and limited posts most of which are somewhat legit) I believe that I may be able to offer some constructive advice on how we can improve this forum. Some of us ride, some do not, some have ridden for 20+ years some are just starting, some race, some tour, some just ride for fun but all do it for the same reason – the freedom that comes with it.

First off we all share a common love, that being the love to ride/clean/talk about cycling, many of us have similar likes/dislikes outside of riding itself. It is due these personal characteristics that we are a ‘family’ of sorts. Naturally within any family there will be disagreements or differences of opinion – that is perfectly acceptable and healthy for any family. What are not are the personal attacks that some members chose to take at each other. This is nothing but destructive to the overall direction of the forum.
As I continue I will stay away from profanity as I don’t want to offend anyone and believe all should read this.
If you have nothing positive or constructive to say, choose to say nothing at all.

If you are going to dispute what another forum member has posted, support it with empirical data of real world results – don’t just come into a thread take a cheap shot then leave.

Don’t knock another person’s bike/gear/kits because YOU don’t like them – beauty is in the eye of the beholder. If a person asks for an opinion please offer it but remember it is often HOW it is stated that causes issues. Before you hit submit think about how you would feel if someone wrote what you have written and it was directed towards YOU. Just because YOU wouldn’t do it that way doesn’t mean it is wrong – it is simply different and that is ok.
If you take a shot at someone be sure to check back in that thread for responses from opionated guys like me who frown at negativity.

This is a forum there is nothing to prove due to the fact that in most cases you will never be able to prove it (case in point I got into it with a member of another forum one time when he questioned my abilities – I offered to trailer my bike to his town and run him on the discipline he wanted street/strip/track and he never responded - this was a motorcycle related forum).

The more positive you can be in presenting your life/personal experiences the more positive this forum will become, therefore the more members will want to join. I have heard other forums mentioned many times, further to that others have said that we don’t want bf to become like that. If some of the BS continues we will continue to lose good members thus we will be in the same boat.

Get off the mod's backs – I can only imagine how tough it would be to wade through countless BS threads to act as a referee to a bunch of grown adults acting like children. I am not saying that they are always right but neither is the court system – as a whole they accomplish what they are supposed to do and that is maintain order.

If a newbie Fred starts a new thread looking for info answer his question and let him know that there is a search function. Giving a sarcastic answer in detrimental to the forum’s continued forward motion. They may chose NOT to come back based on the answers of a few.
Watch the sarcasm – besides being a form of sideways aggression some members do not speak English as a primary language and may misunderstand/misinterpret its meaning and it could then be seen as negative/insulting rather than a joke.

Remember everyone’s pocketbooks are different – some can’t afford to support their hobby the way others can, but in an effort to be unique they try something that doesn’t hit them in the wallet quite the same. If we never challenge our current system things will remain the same. Ponder how many failed experiments Benjamin Franklin had YET we credit him with so many successful inventions.

In summary I enjoy this forum, the discussion about bikes among other things and want to see it succeed. I have no dog in the hunt regarding the forum’s success; I am not a site sponsor, mod, owner etc. I just enjoy a place where I can freely discuss the things that interest me.

Now I just can’t help myself:
If you have nothing positive to say, can’t offer some positive constructive criticism or simply want to demean another member “shut the **** up” and go to another forum, in my opinion this is NOT the place for you and your negativity.
Thanks for taking the time to read my rant.

Cliff notes version?

If you having nothing nice to say STFU - how is that for an abbreviated version?

Based on the sig, is this just way too much sarcasm for me to handle before I've had my coffee?

"...............As I continue I will stay away from profanity as I don’t want to offend anyone and believe all should read this...................."

Before you hit "post", think to yourself "would I say this directly to a person's face?"

How to Play Nice on the Internet

Maybe not the best example. Just sayin......

You thought this forum is about you, don't you?

My answer is always yes.
I had a phone call from a buddy the other day wondering why he no longer gets invites to rides. I told him and though it hurt for him to hear he wanted to know and has made some changes so that he can get back in.

relax, sarcasm people..... read his sig.

We are all Freds. Every one else is just visiting.

Boring posts are more damaging to a forum than mean posts, IMO.

Actually in my op I wasn't being sarcastic just to share something.
Too often I read different threads and ask myself if the poster seriously just wrote that.
I am not perfect but try to be positive to others.

Thanks - your input was valuable (yes that was sarcastic)

Then again isn't it the nature of the "internet"? "Never before have so many had so much to say about so little"

One problem is we all have varying degrees / tolerances of "nice".

Anyway the most important advice I would add is:
Read the stickies. Read the stickies. Read the stickies.

I would also recommend reading the stickies.

This post is stupid.:innocent:

I fell asleep after the first paragraph......

I Pretty much agree with the OP's post, and also the "say it to their face standard"

Only thing I might differ on is the issue of the moderator's. I agree that it's a difficult, thankless job. However, I think less moderation would be a good thing. Every time that there have been problems on BF in my experience, its usually been too much instead of too little moderation.

So if you don't like a poster, ignore them, rather than whine to the moderators.

Word.

This is a lame response.

This thread reads like a backhanded way of slapping people you don't agree with around. I think the beauty of a arena like BF is that I can choose for myself whether I want to read a comment or not. I will agree that it is hard to unread something but I think a number of the comments in BF are more intended as humorous provoking comments as down right mean. i have seen self deficating posts that are also quite funny. The group I ride with is a very quick witted and fun group and would not want to change it. i think it is about the individual person to decide for themselves what is appropriate and monitor their own behavior not to be taken to the this is only for this type of forum.

If we can't talk trash on the Internet, what the hell else are we supposed to do?

Yikes!

Play pro baseketball

That just plain stinks!