December 15, 2008

MonkeyFilter redo And no, I don't mean a site facelift. I'm going to start cracking down. If you are a member here, or you are thinking of becoming a member here, please read this.

These are things that are not open for discussion. 1) Stop the damn bickering. Keep your tone respectful. If you disagree, then by all means state your disagreement. Pretend you're on the debate team in high school going for the regional champs and save the personal insults and combative tone for elsewhere. 2) I'm getting fed up with the misogynistic comments scattered over the site. I've been letting them slide and they're getting worse - the relatively recent post on Peaches Geldof is horrific. Think about your comments about the opposite sex and how that person might feel if you actually said that to their face. Yes, real people have real feelings. Comments on the internet are accessible to all. Don't add to the vast ocean of existing sexism. 3) If I feel you've overstepped one of the above, I'll give you a warning in a comment. If you continue, in that thread or elsewhere, in the same vein, I'll remove posting and commenting rights for a day. If, on your return, you continue in the same vein on that thread or elsewhere, I'll ban you for a longer period, or indefinitely. This is my attempt to, first of all, be a better mod. I've let too much slide and I don't particularly enjoy checking in when it becomes a chore. I'm concerned that the overall tone of the site is putting off potential members meaning we're swirling down the drain. Secondly, the recent post about Down Wind Faster Than the Wind technology was a bloody trainwreck by the end and I was embarrassed by it. If you like drama and feel the need to create it, this is not the place for that. Take it elsewhere. If you like writing poetry, sure, we have a place for that and we like it. If you want to rewrite Macbeth as a bodiceripper, then omg please do, we have a place for that too. If you just want to share cool links and talk about them, well then, go ahead. That's what the site is meant to be about. Let's get back to that, eh? I'm going to open the site up to some extra mods too, to help keep the reins a bit tighter. You might see me putting out a lot of warnings at the beginning because I've been lax and you may not be aware of my personal boundaries. It's not a total dictatorship. I'll listen. But I have the site and its members' best interests at heart. If someone is insulted or treated badly by another (and that includes the aforementioned misogyny - general terms are still insulting), I'll be sure you know it's not okay.

posted by tracicle 15 years ago
  • hear hear. good for you 'Bashi. enforcing the rules does not make you a bad person, and keeping community standards makes this a better place for us all. everyone should feel welcome and comfortable here. i'm not afraid to point out an egregiously out-of-line comment, like i did in the day without a gay thread, and i think everyone else should do the same as well. you, as the admin, have the power to do more than snark, tho.
  • Okay, now I find this here. I"m going to copy and paste from what I put in your blog, it belongs here. In that thread, I tried to apologize for becoming combative, but the thread was closed. So I’ll do it here. I’m sorry that I became upset, and started using words like “moron”. I apologize to everyone.
  • Thanks for that, Mr K. I appreciate it.
  • Well, hell. I was quite enjoying the thread in question that generated a lot of "heat". I was expecting to log in this morning and catch up with what I missed over the weekend. Ugggh. It's a bit sad to see such a thread with a lot of potential nose dive. I'm not skilled at scientific-based debating - - I'm quite slow at processing that stuff and making sense of it - - but I will add that I was surprised at the near condemnation of those individuals who brought their discussion here. I tried to avoid confrontation of any kind, and just wanted to enjoy the discourse (I was really taking excellent points from both sides). That said, I think you've taken a much-needed step, tracicle, in outlining your policy above. I've duly noted of your points, and will be sure to keep them in mind when I post any future comments.
  • It's exactly like living in Nazi Germany!
  • It's exactly like living in Nazi Germany! But in a good way! Thanks for this tracicle. I think you have the Monkeys' full support.
  • Hear, hear.
  • First Wench: Thrice the bodice strings wave ripped. Second Wench: Thrice and once the garter snapped. Third Wench Harpier cries, 'tis bombazine! First Wench: Round about the lavishly draped four-poster bed go; In the naughty bits of frilly underpinnings throw. Thou, that under exquisitely ambroidered counterpane, Blissful days and long, enchanted nights has thirty-one, Swelter'd heaving bosoms sleeping sated and replate, Boil thou first within the charmed and rumpled silken sheets. ALL: Double, double toil and trouble; Ardor burn, and passion bubble. Second Wench: By the pricking of my... er, thumbs, Something wicked this way comes. Open, locks, whoever knocks!
  • [Enter: Cable repair man]
  • Is this a dagger I see before me, or art thou just gad to see me?
  • Goddamnit, I miss all the excitement. I'll vote for Quiddy now. I want a recount!1!
  • Tis no dagger, but a collander To strain the quality of mercy And spaghetti.
  • I, for one, welcome our new old Monkey overlord.
  • Hey, Tracy - as long as you're rebuilding, is an edit function out of the question? As much as I joke about the absence of a preview button, I do use it, sometimes several times. And I even proofread professionally IRL. But in the haste of a good discussion, more typos slip through than I would like. No big deal if it's a big deal; just seemed like an opportune time to mention it.
  • If we get an edit function, I am going to edit all my replies so that I look like a saint.
  • I don't know that an edit function is in our future. When the site upgrade eventually happens it'll quite likely be to ExpressionEngine, and I don't know that editing posts/comments is an option. But that's a discussion for another time, really. Go and post something!
  • Thanks tracicle. I had almost totally given up lurking, let alone posting. I might just come back.
  • Hey Trac - this is great. I've stopped 'filtering lately but when time permits in the next while, I'm going to try to get back here more often. :)
  • There was a time when we sort of followed the MeFi self-policing example to keep things from getting to extreme. Lately no one seems to complain about ugliness like the Geldorf thing. For me, theat wasn't even so much misogynistic as it was hateful. But, that's seemed the way the site was headed, so I 've backed off on expessing opinions on that sort of thing, since no one else seemed to mind. I had signed off the site until I heard that Capt. Renault's dating thread had reopened. Since it was one of my favorites back in the day I came back - problem was that it dithered off into silly puns and the like , convincing me that MeFi's theory that comments which don't address the question are useless is spot on. This may not be a popular opinion, but I'll stick my neck out, anyway. We are, for the most part, adults who understand the parameters of normal, social conversation.It strikes me that we shouldn't have to rely on Mom to keep things under control. Tracicle has a full plate, so maybe we can think before we comment?
  • I think "hateful" is a much better description than "misogynistic", path. That's what I got from it, too.
  • "Extra mods"? Like... uh... does this mean that there's actually a possibility that Quid could *be* a mod? Holy god. Shit just got real.
  • Actually, I think that Quid's more of a rocker than a mod.
  • Yeah, whose the new mod(s)?
  • Still working on that, Mr K. I need to contact a few people first.
  • Thanks for being the benevolent and helpful leader, tracicle. I've logged in for the first time in a marmoset's age to show my support.
  • ::flings one last pawful of monkey poo for old times sake, then sighs and retreats to corner for more furious masturbating::
  • I think actually having quidnunc as a mod would be brilliant. I'd also vote for tracicle taking the power away from him after a day or so while pointing and laughing, because the "wailing and gnashing of teeth" combo is usually fun.
  • Heh. GET OUT OF MY HEAD.