Taking a short break from forums...

[kat569]

I'm on the bubble in that mom forum I'm in, to the point where I'm thinking of just posting crap for the purpose of getting them to ban me. The head organization that runs the nationwide network of mom forums apparently thinks that "a**" and "b**ch" are not PG-13. They made me go in and change them. I did, then posted that I was taking a break and would be on FB where I could say whatever I like without having to bleep it ALL out. LOL. Seriously though, was what I wrote all that bad? I wrote the words exactly like I did here and they made me censor them further? Anyway, it's obvious that I'm in a mood where everything is going to tick me off to no end, so I'm taking a break from all my forums for a few days. I don't need to be banned from ALL of them...LOL. I will still be on FB if anybody wants to find me there. See ya in a few, and maybe I can use this time to determine whether or. Ot I have to sell my baby...

[bountyhunter]

It just depends on the forum. You have to know the rules and the general mood of the posters and see if you can live with that. What I find intolerable (and will blow a forum when it happens) is when the moderators either break their own rules or simply ban people for no reason. That's why I blew off the BARF (bay area rider forum). If you go there, the level of profanity is about on par with drunken sailors which does not bother me. They also have nudity in some threads. I was banned for two weeks by a new moderator who didn't know the rules, which are if you post nudity it has to be links and not direct images. I did and the moderator woman posted some irate reply about how "there are rules against SKIN here".... and I got banned. Then the head moderator defended her incorrect ruling even after I posted the rules which I did not break. BYE BYE...... The head moderator at Cal Guns forum didn't like one of the threads in the political forum and sent out a dozen bans with the note: "I made a list of people and you made the list." Nobody broke any rules, just didn't like the content. That kind of garbage makes me hit the exit instantly.

The worst was a dipstick moderator that started deleting my posts for "political content"> I asked him what he was talking about and asked him to explain what was political. He actually answered:

"There was nothing political in your post, but I know what you were thinking."

Seriously. Breaking forum rules for what I was thinking........ reminds me of when they told Cool hand Luke that he needed to get his MIND RIGHT.

Many moderators are just petty dictators running their tiny worlds with an iron fist. But, if it's their forum, they can do that. Solution is to leave and let the forum dry up and blow away.

[OTD]

Honestly.... Why go to a forum where you don't feel welcome? Forums are fun but if you let em' they can be a big pain in the behind and there are more bad than good. Best advice is stay away from political topics.

And doesn't this belong in off topic? That's disregarding forum policy and could get you kicked off.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Just kidding I could care less where you post this.

[trixter]

Originally Posted by bountyhunter

Seriously. Breaking forum rules for what I was thinking........ reminds me of when they told Cool hand Luke that he needed to get his MIND RIGHT.

The Ministry of Truth would like a word with you.

DHS does have a pre-crime division now (they are testing for national deployment) that will try to guess what people are thinking so they can arrest you before you commit an act of terrorism as opposed to waiting for proof of any crime. If the government can do this why not forum mods who by their own description have more skill than god. (no offense dodsfall or anyone else here :P )

[kat569]

Thanks guys, I feel better about stepping away from them for a while. My problem isn't that there ARE rules, it's that TMN up and changes those rules without warning. Apparently my censored words offended a couple of members, they flagged the post for moderator attention...I suspect that the real reason they were offended is because I said something negative about a nurse at our local hospital who gave my mother-in-law attitude the other day (there are several nurses in that forum).

An example of the willy-nilly rule changing: in the past, if someone did something especially nice for somebody (like when I collected donations and used the $$ to send flowers to another member whose brother died suddenly), people would come on and start a thread, something like "Thanks kat569/Lisa" then explain in the post why they were thanking that person...well, today I found out that we are no longer allowed to do that, because it MIGHT HURT SOMEONE ELSE'S FEELINGS. Excuse me if I don't give a rat's patootie...if someone else takes exception to something like that, maybe they should step back and ask themselves WHY it bothers them so much. KWIM? Someone who thinks of others and does good deeds without expectation of recripocity is NOT going to be hurt or offended by posts like that. Self-centered, egotistical psycho bi**hes, on the other hand... LOL

And sorry, I didn't know which forum would be most appropriate for this thread; at the time I had planned to step back from everything, so I thought here would be okay. If the mods feel it should go elsewhere I'm fine with that, as I always have been. In fact, now that some discussion has taken place, maybe Off Topic is a better venue... LOL

[Dodsfall]

Don't worry, having a thread moved is just for organization, not a violation of any forum rules. Unless there is a poster being totally disruptive with placement of posts (such as continued blatant thread hijacking) it's no big deal.

As for getting purposely banned from a forum, we have encountered that scenario a few times here as well. The way I look at it, it's better to just walk away and take a break than to burn bridges behind you. It takes a lot more energy to type up disruptive posts than to click a few 'delete' check boxes and hit the ban button.

[ScrumDown]

Here is what I send to people who get offended super easily. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fd5GkGa7WM

[cbdallas]

I purposely got myself banned from Bob Is The Oil Guy because of the b*tch that runs that forum (took over when her husband passed away) was downright vicious about punishing members when they step out of line with the smallest profanity. I got an e-mail admonishment for substituting an asterisk for one of the letters in "sh*t" and she sent me the nastiest email, so I started a new thread in the off-topic forum and told her to F*** Off and eat me.

People need to grow up and accept the fact that 4-letter words have become a part of everyday life as an adult in America, and that it's the PARENTS' job to censor what their kids see, not other forum members'.

I say if you've encountered this problem with any particular forum, leave it....it's not worth changing who you are or how you speak to keep from offending someone's over-sensitive sensibilities. We wouldn't want someone to faint and hit their head. I'm not saying that anyone should be allowed to come into a forum and just go crazy with the %&*$#@ %$&@*%$ %$&#*@, but one little word here and there is hardly grounds to belittle someone like Helen attempted to do to me. If you're that easily offended, how on earth do you survive daily life in 2011?

[OTD]

Although profanity may be commonplace I have little problem controlling myself in day to day situations. And I wouldn't really have a big problem not writing pretend profanity. Yes I'm a mechanic and I do cuss like a sailor but I make a point not to around people I don't know.

A few weeks back we met 3 other couples at a restaraunt for dinner and they were cussing like kids that didn't know better. My wife and I were even somewhat embarassed, not to mention the poor folks seated around us. My point is although I don't have a problem around friends and people I know won't be offended there are places where it isn't acceptable in public. Why can't there be places on the internet where people who find foul language offensive can go.

[kat569]

Update on the mommy forum situation. As I suspected, the edict about my post not being PG-13 did come from the higher-ups at The Mommies Network (not our local site but the group that runs it, as well as numerous other sites across the country). In a fairly hilarious turn of events, this morning I peeked in at the site (I still want to keep up on what's going on with my friends), and had this in my PM inbox:

"Hello Lisa!

It has come to our attention that you were recently asked to edit one of your posts. Upon further review, we feel that your original post was within our 'Keeping it PG-13' guidelines. We greatly apologize for the inconvenience that this may have caused you.

Thank you for understanding."

Needless to say, I had a pretty good laugh over it. I'm wondering who went crying to them about my being upset and ranting all over Facebook...I think some of the moms on there need to put on their big-girl panties and get over themselves. My friend Tonia called me around noon, she recently stepped down from position as site admin on our local forum, and wanted to make sure I wasn't upset with Emily (who is running things until the new SA is chosen and trained, she's the one who was tasked with passing on TMN's edict to me). Well du-uh, of course I wasn't, I knew it wasn't her making that call. She's a big girl and can handle a couple of edited words... So long story short, that's how I was able to confirm that the decision had come from TMN and not Emily. Those women, I swear some of them live in tiny little rainbow bubbles...

Anyway, thanks for moving this to the appropriate forum, and thanks also for letting me vent! I'm like you OTD - I can cuss with the best of 'em, but I hold back around those I don't know well. And I agree with you cb, swearing is not as taboo as it was 30 or 40 years ago, it's a part of everyday life and people need to learn to let it just bounce off them if they don't like it. Dods, you are right about burning bridges, and since I do have a lot of friends on there I felt it prudent to step back and take a break. And Scrum, LOVE the video, +1000000000!!! LOL Thanks everybody!