112 replies to this topic

[Rich_T]

Advertisers don't just advertise to the guests. The whole site was being dragged down and I can't tell you how many people I've spoken to who used to frequent it but stopped because of the negativity. It's very true that advertisers turned down opportunities to advertise here and gave the general negativity of the site as the reason.

Bottom line: not everyone's going to agree that John did what was best. Not everyone's going to agree that we did all we could to right the ship before pulling it from the water for repairs. But I trust John to do what he thinks was best for what HE wants MyFolsom to be. While this site belongs in ways to each of us, John's the one who puts his money where his mouth is, he's the one who puts in the hours and effort for this business of his. It's his vision and he'll reap the rewards or penalties as he defines his business. Those of us who participate will make the decisions to participate or find a different forum that fits our needs. For those of us who participate, we have the opportunity to be a positive or a negative influence and we should all remember that. blah blah blah. I'm done commenting on this now.

I'm not questioning John, I was just noticing that everyone seems a little too fragile when it comes to being subjected to "negativity". Makes me think of this: http://www.barbaraeh...brightsided.htm. If the negativity spills across all categories, then shutting down one category is not the answer. If the negativity was limited to one category, as it seems, then advertisers are silly to give "general negativity of the site" as a reason. Same goes for those who stopped visiting the entire site, just because one thread had a lot of arguing. Just how fragile are we, anyway?

I'm fine with a person running his business as he sees fit. But until today, I didn't even pay attention to the fact that Folsom Forum is a for-profit operation.

I guess I'm done, too (after responding to Dave's post, that is).

[Rich_T]

Everything is in the eye of the beholder, or in this case the long term users. Stick around a little longer this year and you'll see what I mean eventually.

For those of us users who use the site and us mods who manage the site daily, this place is the heartbeat of Folsom. Myself and many others on here are out and about in Folsom all the time at places talking to people about Folsom and the site and trust me - its been found that the vast majority does not enjoy reading negative junk and seeing people going off on each other being as jerky as they can be (we've had users on here who do nothing more then kerplunk and be general asshats to people in every thread) - that's just not fun and it turns people off from both coming here and participating here - that my friend is what hurts advertising potential, I know because I sell advertising here.

Seriously, you should stick around for a while this next year, you'll learn a lot more about the friendly people of Folsom, this is a great place to live.

Now you might call it bland, but we call it being all about our great City of Folsom.

I guess I gave too much weight to the idea of this being a discussion forum. It's more a "what's going on around town" forum. Which is fine. (Then again, a quick search of current topics shows that you all are discussing all kinds of things that are going on in the news, that have nothing to do with Folsom. So maybe this isn't strictly about Folsom; other topics are fair game, as long as no one's ideology comes out.)

I've lived here 14 years, and done my share of participating in local activities, so I already have a pretty good handle on our town. But I still visit this site now and then, just to see what is going on around town, or to make sure I am not oblivious to important local topics. To be honest, I haven't found a lot of discussion topics that have made me want to participate (the thread title often says it all), but I do enjoy the friendly vibe that characterizes the site, and admire the obvious passion of those who run the operation. As for the business angle, I really couldn't care less.

I do applaud this website for trying to represent the pulse of Folsom. On the other hand, what goes on in the homes and hearts and minds of residents is as important as the external manifestations (eateries, festivals, elections, infrastructure, and more). All those things are what make Folsom tick. Which is why I didn't mind a little arguing on the site. Guess it got to be too much, though.

So good luck, and I will continue popping in, now and again.

[mylo]

I, for one, am glad it's gone and hope it stays gone.

[EAH]

I, for one, am glad it's gone and hope it stays gone.

I second this.

[folsom500]

I guess I gave too much weight to the idea of this being a discussion forum. It's more a "what's going on around town" forum. Which is fine. (Then again, a quick search of current topics shows that you all are discussing all kinds of things that are going on in the news, that have nothing to do with Folsom. So maybe this isn't strictly about Folsom; other topics are fair game, as long as no one's ideology comes out.)
.

I do applaud this website for trying to represent the pulse of Folsom. On the other hand, what goes on in the homes and hearts and minds of residents is as important as the external manifestations (eateries, festivals, elections, infrastructure, and more). All those things are what make Folsom tick. Which is why I didn't mind a little arguing on the site. Guess it got to be too much, though.

Guess I will pipe in as a long time poster and one of those that always tried to keep the political topics ON Topic with my ' attack the post - not the poster' and "think about it" ...

Of course this is a Discussion Board- but what is should NOT be is an ATTACK board allowing Ad-homien personal attacks as well as the generic once we all know about - It should be about topics and discussion about them...

Even though the players have changed in the last 5 years or longer that I have been here and I have been outspoken in the political arena - it has always pained me in that realm to see that so many posters were not talking rationally or with information about the Situation or topic- but just doing their lame best to attack anyone without their point of view- and that (point of view) even often was unknown as they would never debate an issue on facts or opinions- just try to bash the other side -

i also agree that none of the BS personal ad-homain- attacks can be considered discussion nor can they be considered as any value added to this forum...

Those that endlessly fluff their stuff without value on the political forum ( some but not all ) are not discussing anything local to this city, county or most times state and in fact are not really covering much ground nationally at all-

If the "some' were gone - then the political forum could actually be a cross communication of issues and counter issues...

Keep the bashing out of it and it might just survive...

Cheers
F500

[FrankExchange]

I second this.

3rd

[supermom]

I understand that this is John's website but I don't understand why the people that weren't following the rules just banned? I found it refreshing that people were actually talking about what is going in the world. Also if you didn't want to deal with the political section you never had to click on it.

uhhmmm---Gaelic--not to put a humdinger in your stocking or 'nothing--but kerplunking was just outlawed by CW.

[cw68]

uhhmmm---Gaelic--not to put a humdinger in your stocking or 'nothing--but kerplunking was just outlawed by CW.

Wow. Didn't realize I had that much power. Geez.

[john]

I understand that this is John's website but I don't understand why the people that weren't following the rules just banned? I found it refreshing that people were actually talking about what is going in the world. Also if you didn't want to deal with the political section you never had to click on it.

this I can definitely say was my fault... I really gave far more second chances to people than I should have. Someone would be an asshat, I'd IM them, they'd promise to be cool, and about a week later they're being an asshat again.

I've banned a few of the more prominent posters who don't seem to add value to our discussions, which should help. In the future, when I start noticing a trend, I'm going to just remove members who don't add value.

Something had to change. The old process wasn't working.

[SacKen]

Sheesh. Fine, I'll play along. I only do it for the children. Look kids, this is how two adults can disagree and debate a topic with actual thought.

... exactly who are you refering to when you say, "closed minded people that just want to reguritate crap from their favorite talking head rather than actually discuss/debate with real thought"?

Anyone who argues for the sake of arguing and has no intention of having an adult conversation, learning anything new or changing their opinion.

Is it possible that the people who were active in the political forum, didn't really listen to talking heads, maybe they could think on their own, formed their own philosophies and applied those principles to the topic being discussed?

Where is your proof that people did what you are claiming?

Yes. I never said that everyone discussing politics fell into that category nor did I imply a specific person. So if you wanted to get picky over semantics, my statement was a general "I dislike this type of person" and not necessarily directed at anyone specific.

No specific proof. See previous answer. However, you could probably easily correlate the timing of certain posts to something said on the radio or TV if you were really bored or were my defense attorney in a libel case. Not to mention the high volume of posts that were simply links to articles and a regurgitation of what they said with no added analysis or value.

If people didn't do what you are claiming wouldn't you be guilty of name calling?

No, since a) "closed-minded regurgitator" (CMR) is more of a descriptive term and not a name, and b) I just said I dislike that type of person and did not label a specific person a CMR.

I'm curious if any of the moderators on here read your post and are willing to admit they agree with what you said?

I'd bet on "yes". Moderators are just one of us and are not some super being that isn't allowed to participate, have an opinion, or take a side. Even when they need to delete a post that broke the rules, it's still possible that they also agreed with the post.

The above is an example on how things start to get sideways. My contention is that some of the moderators on here selectively enforce the name calling when it offends their side and look the other way when its against the other side.

There were examples given about this many times when the political forum was opened yet it was never addressed.

I'll encourage John to either ensure as best as you can equall treatment to all or keep the political forum closed. If not you'll be right back where you were.

My contention is that some people maintain a perception that this is true because they think their side is getting moderated the most since they obviously don't perceive what they said to be very bad or they probably wouldn't have said it. It's like in sports, nobody ever fouls and the other side always gets away with fouling.

That said, much like rookies versus veterans, some people probably do have a little more leniency when it's an edge case and some are probably on a tighter leash. Personally, I think that somebody that knows the moderators personally, is usually a friendly person and doesn't get anywhere near the edge most of the time should be given the benefit of the doubt in edge cases. Trolls that are constantly inciting riots and calling people names should get smacked across the mouth for doing anything that remotely looks like they are even thinking about breaking the rules.

There are many moderators and the chances of them all agreeing and conspiring together is pretty slim. Even if your concern was true, I suspect it would mostly balance out as moderators on both sides selectively enforced the name calling. In any given season, moderators will get blamed for leaning more to one side or another, so my guess is that they do a pretty good job of being neutral and enforcing the rules.

Frankly, John has the right to make this a conservative bible thumping right wing wacko come to Jesus speaking in tongues and kissing snakes site if he wanted to. All the progressive bleeding heart left wing mentally ill nut job liberals can use their freedom of choice to visit another site if they don't like it.






See what I did there?

[john]

PS, discussion is fine and Gaelic is not out of bounds for her comments at all. Kerplunking is only a problem when the user (like DarthVader) seems to do it all the time, and is just a negative poster in general.



(PS - "kerplunking" is when someone throws a turd in to the punch bowl)

[tgianco]

Wow. Didn't realize I had that much power. Geez.

All hail, CW! Long live the Queen!

[eVader]

Think it is time to reopen the Politics thread if only to move this topic there.

[mylo]

Wow. Didn't realize I had that much power. Geez.

There's a new sheriff in town!

*queue tumbleweeds*