Community Dynamics

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They call that "trolling".

Aspyoz - I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Neither have i ever received a complaint about you so I think your self-identification as a trouble-maker is misplaced.

Allegations of a "witch-hunt" are very interesting and I ask again for evidence. So far a thread that refused to stay on topic was locked. Is anyone alleging that the thread was on topic? Is anyone arguing that 10+ warnings and a suspension is not enough heads up that this would happen? If so, speak up because otherwise the base assumption is that everyone understands why that thread was locked down.

A couple of rhetorical questions: If a certain group of people were not dominating that particular thread, then why is that thread being locked now categorized as an attack on said group and a witch-hunt against its members? If the intention of closing that thread was to throw those members into a tailspin and persecute them then why did a moderator provide an alternative location to do the exact same thing, even renaming said location upon request of one of the members?

Is anyone actually trying to argue that no rules were broken, or is the argument that rules don't apply to this group? Is this just an exercise in taking offense? Let's move past the rhetorical statements and actually work with fact.

Oh! Is that what this is all about? Because that thread got locked?

This is the question I keep asking. That is the event that took place 30 minutes before this thread was created, and no other actual allegations have been made, just implication and rhetoric.

No see 'ums topic

I avoid emo-ismic fora as a rule, though I do submit in News and occasionally respond to some in Gen Aut. Some of the other fora have become too trivial for me to follow now. PPR is the best!:hail:

This is what I understand the issue to be.

Problem: The Hot Aspies Thread was locked.
Mods Position: Warnings were given. It was too chatty and isolating others.
Frequent Posters Position: Pictures spark conversation and sometimes we get carried away. We weren't purposely excluding anyone.
The Consequence: One sticky thread was made for pictures and chat. It felt like frequent posters were being outcast into a single thread. Feelings were hurt.

*I should also note that there are members with disorders that make bright colors and picture viewing hard at times. Since we are now stickied to chat and view pictures in one thread, this is a problem. (As a medical concern, I think it is fair for that to be addressed by the Mods)

Problem: The Adult Issues Forum dynamic
Mods Position: Infrequent posters need to be able to breath. There have been complaints. It's too chatty and too frequently off-topic.
Frequent Posters Position: We are just trying to have fun and support each. We weren't excluding anyone on purpose. We welcome newcomers. We wish someone spoke up.
The Consequence: We now know that we make unknown people uncomfortable which makes some of us uncomfortable and sad. Some no longer feel they belong or are welcome. It also doesn't help that we hear it from Mods, so it does feel like being reprimanded (though obviously this isn't the case, in reality).

Maybe this helps.

There are 7 other threads dedicated to pictures at present, including another one in the adult forum. The name of the "WP chat room" was changed to include the word "pictures" at the request of a member of the group who felt that people would not feel they were allowed to post pictures otherwise. If members of this group do not feel that enough threads exist for their needs why are they not simply creating more?



I do appreciate someone actually addressing the issues at hand. That thread was over-run by off-topic conversation that made others feel that they could not use the thread. This gave the general community the feeling that this group had taken ownership of the term "hot". Despite this, it was allowed to stand after months of complaints and was only closed after moderators were brushed off for bringing up repeated violations of the TOS (spamming with off-topic posts) continuing despite 10+ warnings and a suspension.

It was not closed because of complaints that it was too cliquish. If that were actually the case it would have been closed weeks ago.

deleting because subsequent conversation makes me feel it is inappropriate for this point in the evolution of the thread

Last edited by DW_a_mom on 27 Apr 2011, 12:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

deleting because subsequent conversation makes me feel it is inappropriate for this point in the evolution of the thread

Last edited by DW_a_mom on 27 Apr 2011, 12:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Cliques.

So there seems to be lots of confusion of what people are arguing about anyway. I'll just state my opinion on "cliques" for what it is worth.

It seems perfectly natural to me that as groups of people get to know each other that there will be a certain dynamic form between those people. It is called friendship! Some could be described as core "clique" members and some skirt the fringe participating less often in the exchanges. This is normal human behaviour.

There are lots of different cliques all over WP! Due to the different personalities of the members, some are drawn more to one forum than another. There are different cliques in the Adult forum, Parents forum, PPR, L&D, Random, even in Off The Wall! Sometimes these "cliques" can seem intimidating to penetrate to newcomers. I remember when I first joined and nervously posted in the Random clique centred around the thread "Thread killers society".

I think most members on WP are generally welcoming to newcomers and many of us make an effort to interact with them. However, sometimes members could be so engrossed in exchanges with other members of their particular "clique" that a newbie's post is not noticed (rather than deliberately ignored or excluded). This is unfortunate but nobody's fault. Surely the way forward is for everyone to make that extra little effort by saying "hi" or making nervous new posters feel welcome or their existence acknowledged. It isn't rocket science.

Erm.... Why are we even having this discussion?

I love the PPR- its my home . I have nobody around here (IRL) interested in discussing the kinds of things we talk about there. I find it funny when people claim it is overly heated- I guess that does happen- but its just part of the PPR game. I've got thick skin so I don't mind, and I enjoy meeting honorable opponents

Okay, I can see both side but here's hypothetical question for you:

If I were to start a thread of a similar type and didn't mind people going off topic but other forum members complained, would the same action be taken?

I'm not actually going to do this but I want to establish the rules here as the impression I'm getting is that it wouldn't matter if we made our own topics, people could still complain and get them locked.

Did I miss when "stay on topic" got added to the TOS? Thread drift is a fairly inevitable feature of the online forum format, policing it really does seem like a colossal and pointless exercise for the moderators.

This whole conflict started on my thread .

What on earth has been going on?

I had a break from the forum for a while, and it seems to have become even more full of anger and bitterness while I was away.

Pistonhead got banned...well, it's not like I couldn't see that coming.

Some of his so-called "compliments" to people about their pics, along the lines of "that face is worthy of having a dick shoved in its mouth" were quite frankly obscene. It made me want to PM a mod. But, guess what? I didn't. I don't want to be accused of being a "whiner" like when I quite legitimately reported people for attacking me.

I guess while I was away Pistonhead got reported by somebody else (or maybe the mods just read what he was saying for themselves).

Nope. It's been festering.