Open Mic Thread: Tell us your likes and dislikes of P&N

[EagleKeeper]

We need a list of websites that both the "R"'s and the "D"s accept as unbiased.

I also think there should be free flame retardant suits liberally distributed for contributing members.

Great need for an unbiased Mod in here without an Agenda too.

So many Alt Trolls who kamikaze threads in here.

Can you demonstrate where a Moderator has continually let a bias affect Moderation.

Once in a while there may be a slip up, but very very few times considering the number of troll attempts that happen.

 

[dank69]

One week vacation for each and every logical fallacy posted in P&N.

 

[Bowfinger]

Can you demonstrate where a Moderator has continually let a bias affect Moderation. ...

Seems like that would be a moderator call-out which is often cited as a grounds for vacationing.

 

[Ausm]

Can you demonstrate where a Moderator has continually let a bias affect Moderation.

Once in a while there may be a slip up, but very very few times considering the number of troll attempts that happen.

Your awful touchy.....did I strike a nerve?

Hey you have your opinion and I have mine. Just a few things I have noticed being on this forum for at least 15+ years.

 

[Lemon law]

Pardon me if I somewhat change the subject, because anand tech, as a forum is every bit as bipartisan as Washington DC. And every bit as logical. Of course, all partisan posters on any given side of any issue, can agree, we need moderators that side with our only side and that ban or vacation anyone who does not agree with our given side of the issue. Or at least in forum subsections like P&N. But on the other hand, other anand tech sub forums are places where those less than totally knowledgeable about tech issues can go to ask tech questions, and gain useful information from other users
who know more about those tech issues.

Its mainly those latter factors that make me a forum junkie on this and many other forums.

Which finally brings me around to my personal bitch about Anand tech. Namely why does this forum go down far more frequently than other forums I am on? Maybe point granted, Anand tech is by far the largest forum I use, in terms of number of members and daily posts, but still, in my mind it does not quite explain why Anand tech needs to be shut down for maintenance so much more frequently. After all, regardless if one given poster is a great humanitarian and another poster exhibits all the evil of Hitler, Stalin, and all other mass murders rolled up in one, their posts arrive at this forum in the form of ascii text. Computers and forum software can't tell any different and process them equally.

After they arrive, it may be the job of moderators to censor those especially offensive posts, but it still fails to explain why Anand tech goes down so frequently.

Of course there may be alternate explanations, maybe Anand tech attracts more than its fair share of computer hackers. Or maybe V- bulliten software is not able to process all the raw demand. And this forum may need better software to avoid the all the too frequent downtime.

In the words of Perknose, I am trying to avoid being snarky here, I am just asking the question, and worse yet I can't offer any real answers. But maybe be it resolved, IMHO, the problem of Anand Tech down time is not the fault of our forum moderators.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Your awful touchy.....did I strike a nerve?

Hey you have your opinion and I have mine. Just a few things I have noticed being on this forum for at least 15+ years.

You did touch a nerve! That personal issues do not come into play w/ respect to moderation was a golden rule.

If anyone feels that I crossed such a line by moderating based on a personal bias, I would sincerely like to know. Doing do, will make me a better person as to where I failed.

I also will state that when the language of the forum was allowed to go down hill, I refused to take the slide with it. None of that was personal against a person using such language. Standards would not be comprimised.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

Your awful touchy.....did I strike a nerve?

Hey you have your opinion and I have mine. Just a few things I have noticed being on this forum for at least 15+ years.

I don't think this is as much of an issue as it once was. I have had many many conversations over the years about the moderation here with the powers that be. I don't think there is much more that can be done considering this topic is opinion based.

*********

As to the idea things need to change or offering ideas to change - I have none. I do not think more rules or procedures need to be adopted as it will stifle conversation or diversity of opinion. Blatant trolling is taken care of as it should - the rest should be put in the category of "if you can't take the heat..."

 

[SandEagle]

can we have a separate forum for Palestine & Israel threads? You can call it P&I.

 

[Greenman]

What I like is that there is occasionally a thread with truly interesting ideas, a prospective that I had never considered, or information that I'd never run across. Those are what I consider the point of P&N.
What I don't like are posts that are purely agenda driven. What I hate are the never ending cheer leading posts. There are a few here that only care about their team winning. It doesn't matter what was said or done, how the event occurred, all that matters is that they can crow about sticking it to the other side, even if that means rewriting some history. Those threads invariably go into a death spiral with several pages of name calling and general ignorance.
The other issue that's gone on years longer than it ever should have is the use of demeaning names. Libtards, teabaggers and a host of others are used constantly. The names set the stage for the discussion, which all to often ends up being little more than a series of angry rants from uninformed individuals that are far more concerned with verbal abuse than the exchange of ideas.

 

[shortylickens]

One week vacation for each and every logical fallacy posted in P&N.

That would fix a lot of problems. With no one to post there would be no flaming.

 

[Whiskey16]

What should certainly not be tolerated:

• general threats and/or inciting to extreme violence and crime
  • ie. they (a religion, ethnic, sexual-persuasion, and/or geographical group of people) must be "killed," "deported," "pissed-upon," etc.
    [*]ie. "I'm armed and ready. If I ever meet up with you..."

Those are an extreme of the extreme on internet forums and all too common here upon AnandTech.

I have seen threads locked that have involved charges of blacks increasing crime rates, insidious blame upon Jews for pick-your-conspiracy-theory, yet as Muslims or Arabs are a common target for similar generalised hate, threats, and condemnation, it unevenly seems those offending posts get a free pass of apathy by the moderation.




...Onto relatively minor quibbles, but easily obvious for moderator critique:

• link-and-runs
  • a new thread with a link but little if any comment nor even a quotation
• full cut-and-pasting of external content
  • if one cannot edit down what their point is and comment upon it, why waste the forum's time?

...finally, the more difficult judgements:

• repeat offenders who regularly misquote fellow members
• regularly and repeated immature name calling (yes, sticks and stones...) and thereby a clear intention to provoke and instigate anger from another member, all for the sake of raising the temperature of an argument
  • ie. "you are a coward" ...with that, most of us ought to know what particular unpopular, new, and prolific member I am referring to :hmm:

 

[J-Money]

I think here is a good example of what needs to be moderated.

This thread linked here: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2219391

Was going along pretty well, decent discussion (of course minor jabs etc.) and Craig234 makes a valid post with zero attacks. Valid posts all the way up.

Then along comes post #14: http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=32847563&postcount=14

I'm not so much pointing out the person as the behavior. That is pretty uncalled for even in P&N. Not sure if that's within the rules currently. As is said, attack the opinion not the poster. I'm not saying someone who calls another guy "dumb liberal" is that bad, but when it's constant and for zero reason it's a bit much.

This is where I give a guy like spidey07 credit. That behavior is good. One of if not the most hard lined opinionated guy here, and he goes off sometimes, but as I can think of it isn't any real (bad) personal attacks and he knows his stuff and pays attention. Attacks and disputes the post not the poster.

 

[shira]

Straying Off Topic and Personal Attacks should be a Warnable/Vacationable offense.

Would require a level of Moderation that I suspect no one wants to do though.

Many members are so obviously trolling or so obviously unwilling to engage in an honest debate (preferring instead to repeat groundless ideological pap ad nauseum) that they're richly deserving of all the insults they attract. I don't have to name names, but most of us are aware of members who add virtually nothing of value to threads. It's infuriating when posters clearly invest nothing in their posts except the desire to stir the pot. And frankly, I think such behavior - when consistent and not counterbalanced by valuable posts - is ban-worthy.

 

[boomerang]

All I know is that this is thread is going to be justification for changing something. I already know what direction that's going to take and anyone that has hung out for any period of time here knows too.

This is an internet forum. This is not serious business. Discourse done anonymously is virtually worthless. This subforum has been and should continue to be a place to blow off steam. In that respect it functions very well. Changing the basic nature of the forum (which is going to take far more moderation to accomplish) will result in the type of posts made here spilling over into OT - for starters. Corral and contain it here or live with it elsewhere.

I like the level of moderation being done right now. I don't like that from time to time the forum dusts off and trots out some persona's to bring it back to the left. But those incidents are few and short-lived. Once you recognize them for what they are, you can learn to live with them. After all, it's an internet forum - why so serious?

 

[Ausm]

You did touch a nerve! That personal issues do not come into play w/ respect to moderation was a golden rule.

If anyone feels that I crossed such a line by moderating based on a personal bias, I would sincerely like to know. Doing do, will make me a better person as to where I failed.

I also will state that when the language of the forum was allowed to go down hill, I refused to take the slide with it. None of that was personal against a person using such language. Standards would not be comprimised.

You must think I am referring to you? My suggestion is you need to step back and take a deep breath. The only people who would get pissed by my statement obviously think they are guilty of my observations.

Like I stated before these are observations garnered after being on this forum 16+ years.

This is a forum period whether a mod personally agrees or disagrees with a poster's statement should be irrelevant. With that said, I think the overall job of being a mod on a huge forum like this is not an easy job and I think the mods on the forum do a good job in general.

 

[dmcowen674]

All I know is that this is thread is going to be justification for changing something.

I already know what direction that's going to take and anyone that has hung out for any period of time here knows too.

Of course, time for an election so must muzzle the liberuls.

 

[spittledip]

As someone who likes to read more than post, I would like it if personal attacks were toned down. I say this to point out that I am not complaining b/c I am attacked. I don't appreciate the atmosphere of general hostility that festers here. I do not think it is healthy for anyone here.

I know some people get off by pretending that there is a difference between themselves on the Internet and "RL", but a jerk acting like a jerk is just a jerk being a jerk no matter where they are. It is just that the consequences of being a jerk on the internet are a lot less severe. Instead of getting fired or getting sued or thrown in jail or beaten, you just get a slap on the wrist and an occasional temp ban. It would be nice to weed out this cowardly behavior from among us and try to cultivate a more respectful culture. Even adults need to learn how to treat each other with respect, no what their differences are. You also have to consider that kids come in here and read this stuff. I don't think anyone wants to influence a child in such a way that leads them to believe that it is ok to treat people like crap.

Also, to say that people attack each other to "let off some steam" or something similar, is foolish. You cannot attack someone in "RL" to let off steam without some form of consequence. Of course, there are consequences for this type of behavior no matter what the mods do- just think of "The Picture of Dorian Gray".

 

[CADsortaGUY]

All I know is that this is thread is going to be justification for changing something. I already know what direction that's going to take and anyone that has hung out for any period of time here knows too.

This is an internet forum. This is not serious business. Discourse done anonymously is virtually worthless. This subforum has been and should continue to be a place to blow off steam. In that respect it functions very well. Changing the basic nature of the forum (which is going to take far more moderation to accomplish) will result in the type of posts made here spilling over into OT - for starters. Corral and contain it here or live with it elsewhere.

I like the level of moderation being done right now. I don't like that from time to time the forum dusts off and trots out some persona's to bring it back to the left. But those incidents are few and short-lived. Once you recognize them for what they are, you can learn to live with them. After all, it's an internet forum - why so serious?

Exactly. This place is WAY better than it used to be and overall I think it's not bad here - just some (myself included) take it close to the line at times which some of the thinner skinned folk do not like. see my kitchen comment and you'll know how I feel I seriously hope nothing "changes" as the election comes closer and things become heated. Consistency is what works so changing now will solve very little.

 

[Jhhnn]

This is where I give a guy like spidey07 credit. That behavior is good. One of if not the most hard lined opinionated guy here, and he goes off sometimes, but as I can think of it isn't any real (bad) personal attacks and he knows his stuff and pays attention. Attacks and disputes the post not the poster.

Not sure if serious... I'm tapping my sarcasm meter, but the needle hasn't even twitched...

My only issue with the forum is that whenever we pick up a new troll, they're allowed to continue long past the time that it's obvious that they are, indeed, a troll.

I have never initiated contact with the mods about anything, btw.

 

[Infohawk]

#1 There is not enough done about posters who ALWAYS derail legitimate topics into a discussion over their (crazy) pet hangup.
#2 Certain nonsensical / crazy (whether intentional or not) trolls can sometimes get away with flooding the forum for too long. And by nonsensical / crazy I don't mean people with extreme or unpopular views.

Also, see my sig for a range of opinions that would be made if not for certain bans.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

You should not focus on making P & N better but, on making it more secure so as to keep it's inmates from spilling into other forums.

Multiple threads on the exact same topic need to go. Having a different opinion does not constitute a new topic.

 

[Infohawk]

You should not focus on making P & N better but, on making it more secure so as to keep it's inmates from spilling into other forums.

If P&N is the prison perhaps there needs to be a special wing for the worst of the worst. I think having a monarchy thread was a great move by Hal9000 for example.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

I think its fine the way it is. Freedom of speech and everyone has the right to state their points. Personal insults not a bother cause its normally a sign of defeat

 

[RabidMongoose]

I think that there are a lot of people with very questionable racial issues (putting it mildly) here in P&N, but I'm not sure if that's something that moderators would like to involve themselves in. Perhaps it's a free speech issue. There are also lots of threats of violence or wishes of death made by certain people.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

I think some people would see something as hate speech or it might appear like it but is the truth hate speech. Especially if people had the wrong idea or way of thinking about a thing.

I agree there's no place for blatant racism.