Forum behaviour and common sense?

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Milo Mitt

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Jul 21, 2014
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First I would like to say that this forum (DR1) in general is a great source to get information about DR and to exchange questions answers and debates. I also think in general that most moderators are doing a good job to moderate the conversations.

However I have noticed things that is not common sense for me and more importantly does not represent good behavior. For example some moderators comes across as bias towards certain people at times. Like in all societies I can understand that to some extent and all of us are guilty of it from time to time but sometimes it goes beyond what is ok.

All these sub-forums are great also and some have restricted access like residents, off topic etc. I buy that/like that also. Great!

What does confuses me is when a forum is designated for a - specific group of people only - to post in but the opposite group of people have read access only . This is especially strange when an individual belonging to the "write access group" decides to continue the discussion of already started topic (or closely related) from the open forums in the restricted forum and to put a twist on it. In addition the individual is also referring to other posters in the "restricted" thread whom have no possibility to respond!

Maybe the situation I am describing above is improving the ego for the individual or the person gets excited/turned on in some way and if so I guess something was achieved for someone :). What I do wonder though if this represent good behavior?? In my eyes it does not.

For me it makes much more sense for restricted forums to also remove read-access for the group of people who is not allowed to take part. Then the discrimination strategy is harmonized at least :) :) :) !

I did not mean to be this lengthy in my post, sorry about that. For the ones who wants to read this you may want to hurry because it can happen that a moderator friend (could be bias :)) will remove this post quickly.

Have a nice day everyone./MM
 

judypdr

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Jul 23, 2011
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I agree...didn't like the idea of the women's only forum from the start. I assume that's what you mean. It should go in my humble opinion!
 

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
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I agree...didn't like the idea of the women's only forum from the start. I assume that's what you mean. It should go in my humble opinion!

If everything stayed the same, then it would get a little boring around here.
If it remains active and used, it stays, if not, it gets closed.

Remember, DR1 is not a democracy :)
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
13,370
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Wow, the Women's Only Forum probably makes up 0.5% (made up number, but probably correct, lol) of DR1 and some people are already complaining about it!

We men have 99% of this forum. Leave the women alone! lol
 

drstock

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Oct 29, 2010
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I can't see the need for the restricted forums at all, but when I mentioned this previously about the "Residents Only" forum I was told very rudely by Robert to "Stop whining" (something I doubt he would say to my face) and my thread was closed, so be prepared, Milo Mitt.
 
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Cdn_Gringo

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Apr 29, 2014
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I can see the need/desire to have specialty forums that contain DR related content. I can appreciate that some of these have a focus for a specific segment of the DR1 population. We all can see how difficult it is to keep the entire DR1 user base from straying off topic or bickering, a primary reason to have a narrowly defined specialty forum.

It may be the shortcomings of vBulletin that pose the greatest issue. Personally, I am of the opinion that the Ladies only forum should be be unavailable to those who are not Ladies. I do not think vBulletin can easily allow/disallow posting at the user account level - if you can see it you can post type of thing. For some this seems to be a problem but the ladies are doing all they can to ensure that anyone reading knows to check their junk to see if posting is allowed.

I think for forums that are restricted access, it is difficult for Robert to assign the privileges needed to grant user access to the moderators of these specialty forums. I suspect, that to do so, admin access to global account options within vBulletin might be needed and I can see why Robert doesn't wish to do this. Completely restricted forum access requests need to go through Robert and I am sure he has better things he wants to do than field requests to edit individual user accounts on an ongoing basis.

So for now, being able to read a specialty forum and having to exercise self control before firing off a reply remains in the hands of the individual users, allowing for the occasional mistake or intentional disruption. Is the specialty content something that can be of benefit to all who choose to read it? Should specialty forums be accessible only by those who have been granted access? Is out of sight out of mind the operational philosophy that would work best? These are things for the individual user and Robert to decide for themselves as I do not think it is easily possible for the software to accommodate public read only access or restricted access to the fine degree that would make such offerings easy to administer.

Substance over quantity or style is one area where specialty forums can excel if one accepts the premise that less is better for that particular forum.
 

Kipling333

Bronze
Jan 12, 2010
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As Robert has said it is not a democracy here . You may find some women who will want to hide behind the walls of ladies only and you may find some moderators who appear desperate to issue an infringement against certain people .There is nothing that can be done about it as it is not a democracy . So you just have to take the good parts with the not so good parts and just hope that occasionally a thread of some substance is initiated and that you can comment,positively or negatively , on it with some freedom . That in itself can present a challenge .
 

judypdr

Active member
Jul 23, 2011
558
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Separate is not equal. I disagree. Either make it women only -- as in private -- or get rid of it. As it is, it just rubs the wrong way. If I see something, I should be able to post about it. And I'm a woman, by the way. I don't like it. I just won't participate in it anymore and suggest that other women not participate either. It will die then, as it should.
 
Apr 10, 2014
168
5
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First I would like to say that this forum (DR1) in general is a great source to get information about DR and to exchange questions answers and debates. I also think in general that most moderators are doing a good job to moderate the conversations.

However I have noticed things that is not common sense for me and more importantly does not represent good behavior. For example some moderators comes across as bias towards certain people at times. Like in all societies I can understand that to some extent and all of us are guilty of it from time to time but sometimes it goes beyond what is ok.

All these sub-forums are great also and some have restricted access like residents, off topic etc. I buy that/like that also. Great!

What does confuses me is when a forum is designated for a - specific group of people only - to post in but the opposite group of people have read access only . This is especially strange when an individual belonging to the "write access group" decides to continue the discussion of already started topic (or closely related) from the open forums in the restricted forum and to put a twist on it. In addition the individual is also referring to other posters in the "restricted" thread whom have no possibility to respond!

Maybe the situation I am describing above is improving the ego for the individual or the person gets excited/turned on in some way and if so I guess something was achieved for someone :). What I do wonder though if this represent good behavior?? In my eyes it does not.

For me it makes much more sense for restricted forums to also remove read-access for the group of people who is not allowed to take part. Then the discrimination strategy is harmonized at least :) :) :) !

I did not mean to be this lengthy in my post, sorry about that. For the ones who wants to read this you may want to hurry because it can happen that a moderator friend (could be bias :)) will remove this post quickly.

Have a nice day everyone./MM

I wish I had your free time
 

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
20,574
341
83
dr1.com
Robert to "Stop whining" (something I doubt he would say to my face)

LOL! We are a little touchy today. I guess years of running this forum has made me immune to insults, threats, comments about me etc. So feel free to PM me and I'll happily send you my address and number. Bring cash, you can also buy dinner and a beer :)
 

chico bill

Dogs Better than People
May 6, 2016
12,573
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What about non-gender identifying individuals - should there not be a forum for them also ? Do we need to have photos to prove you do posses the correct "equipment" ? What's next a Hispanic only forum or Haitian only, or German only or heaven forbid a French Canadian only ?

Look if you can't participate without needing to be separated by your genetic equipment or other pigeon hole slot I suggest a DR1 forum is probably not the space you should be.
 

Milo Mitt

Member
Jul 21, 2014
250
2
18
Wow, the Women's Only Forum probably makes up 0.5% (made up number, but probably correct, lol) of DR1 and some people are already complaining about it!

We men have 99% of this forum. Leave the women alone! lol

Not complaining about the forum itself but the signal it sends - for a certain group to have write access and others not. Why do not make it completely invisible for the rest then? I was also making a point of a certain behavior I have noticed which you cannot logically be fully ok with. (referring to certain posters in a restrictive thread when they have no possibility to respond)
 

drstock

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Oct 29, 2010
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LOL! We are a little touchy today. I guess years of running this forum has made me immune to insults, threats, comments about me etc. So feel free to PM me and I'll happily send you my address and number. Bring cash, you can also buy dinner and a beer :)

I wasn't suggesting a threat to you, but that you wouldn't be so bad-mannered as to tell me to "Stop whining" to my face. I regret to say that I won't be buying dinner and a beer just to find out! And I still object to having to produce proof of Residency to have to participate in that forum - I'm sure most of the honoured participants haven't had to do so!
 

jstarebel

Silver
Oct 4, 2013
3,330
333
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Not complaining about the forum itself but the signal it sends - for a certain group to have write access and others not. Why do not make it completely invisible for the rest then? I was also making a point of a certain behavior I have noticed which you cannot logically be fully ok with. (referring to certain posters in a restrictive thread when they have no possibility to respond)

Please explain what type of signal you believe the woman's only forum sends. I'm just interected in your reasoning for this post.

Personally, I have no issue with the women of DR1 having their own restricted thread. The "signal" it sends to me is that they as women have certain topics that they would like to discuss amongst themselves. There are times that the threads can and do get heated between genders, and I imagine that this is at least one of the reasons that the women wanted their own thread in the first place.

Last is that I offer you a piece of advice. Read the women's thread and enjoy it. Think about what they are saying, and you might find that you learn something from reading and not interacting. Kinda like the old saying "open your ears and close your mouth".
 

jd426

Gold
Dec 12, 2009
9,513
2,783
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Not that my opinion means squat up in here..
but at FIRST I thought the Ladies only Forum was a VERY Nice idea..
Let the ladies have their own forum, where they can freely discuss Female Issues , etc

but, what I see now, is Threads with Titles that seem to be BAITING Men to dare to post, and one can only assume then get infractions
Straight up TROLLING , imo..

and don't bother responding Ms Matilda .. cuz i dont really care what you do up in there, any more than I care what you know or don't know about Sankies..
Us men, we have our very valid theories , but we will bite our Lips.
 

Me_again

Bronze
Nov 21, 2004
901
2
0
81
Years ago when my travel tastes were more varied, I spent time on the Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree. There were at the time forums for LG (now LGBTI), ladies, older travellers and travellers with disabilities. But none of them were restricted to the eponyms-only. It seemed to work fine then, however I did just check the site and the ladies forum seems to have gone. Perhaps it's only visible to posters registered as women.

But Thorn Tree posters were always more restrained, polite, less abrasive than some dr1-ers.

wbr
 
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