My response

[DavidJP]

Clearly I offended people on here. I have to conclude that it is due to their sensitivity.  Which I find unfathomable.  And therein lies my difficulty.  I cannot appreciate how I have done this.  I am not habitually offensive and try to be very tolerant of other peoples behaviour and beliefs.  Unfortunately I often find this is not reciprocated.  Some would consider an apology from me should be forthcoming in the hope this will make amends.  Well, after some thought I have concluded that there was nothing wilful in what I have posted on the Cecil Lewis topic.  So there is no necessity for me to apologise.  If people cannot be courteous enough to tell me why they have had to take offence then so be it.  I shall sleep at night.

I find there to be a curious contradiction here.  We have a society that is dangerous, violent, immoral, indisciplined and where young people can behave more or less as they wish sometimes displaying extraordinary cruelty and insensitivity and disrespect to their peers.  And only excuses are made encouraging them to believe none of it is their fault.  Don’t try to tell me it it is due the pressures of todays life.  People today have it pretty easy with a huge abundance of outside help. Not so in my day.  So maybe this will help those concerned to consider why I hold my point of view.  You may be surprised to hear that I am concerned for the future of our society; although I am unlikely to be there to witness it.  It seems the aim is to spend hours discussing things and then to come up with nonsensical cures.   Which are aimed at avoiding offending any one. And certainly not which may involve the parents.

How then can my ravings, which were intended to be lighthearted, have had the effect on seemingly sensible and intelligent people who it seems choose to ignore the real threats and horrors manifesting themselves.  Too challenging than?

One thing I should perhaps have included I my biog.  I  was privileged as a youngster.  I was brought up in a home where I was a product of the affection of two people who were committed to each other, and demonstrated that by the old fashioned method of marriage.  Further I did not have the complications of feeling obliged to consider what sex I wanted to be at any age.  The guidelines for the way in which I should conduct myself were very clear.  I knew exactly where I stood in all respects.  I had to take responsibility for my own actions. All pretty straightforward really.  And so generally I feel pretty secure.

So I will not be posting anything on here unless it exclusively relates to making and flying model aeroplanes. And as currently I am not doing anything other than building them in the conventional way, and therefore of little interest my posts will be rather scarce. 

No hard feelings on my part.  Please be as sensitive as you wish.  But it would help if you shred your reasons with me so I can respect them.

A glass of port now I think.

[PeeTee]

Well, I'm the first to reply 

I've been with SFA and HPA virtually from the first and frankly if something does not agree with my thoughts I just ignore it, end of message!! I have come to the conclusion that today people respond to everything whereas 5 - 10 years ago one would ignore it.

Cheers

Peter

[Ratz (Bruce)]

Greetings all

The post in question is still up, I can still unlock it, it has not been unpublished. How should I handle some of these situations? At the moment I have done the best I could and like I said, PM me with opinions and if persuaded can change my course of action. I don't have the luxury of conversing about moderating issues with Brother Ratz anymore.

As things go.

Bruce (Ratz)

[DavidJP]

Nothing wrong with that attitude PeeTee - each to his own.  I enjoy a good discussion even it is develops into a mild tussle.  Just the way I am.  Maybe that is why I ended up in the legal profession!  There you could argue the toss most enthusiastically and then enjoy a glass or two of wine together.  A lot of people today are not robust and so take things far too personally and too quickly.

Oh dear - there I go again.  I must take a tablet!

No complaints on what you have done either Ratz!

[Rekitus]

my first post here...
I have been on a number of forum type web sites over many years.
I have not yet read the thread the OP is referencing.

For the moderator... it does not take long to know how some common discussions will run,
(a post is also an argument. two posts is two arguments, in the same thread,
time they are a discussion or a debate.)
as a moderator, lock those when you recognize them as a problematic thread.

clear violations should be easy to handle.
the stuff that makes you sigh because you think the post is out of bounds
or just did not convey the intentions of the author, remember this is your forum.
You decide. it is not going to remain a post... or get moved... or remove the poster.

another set of eyes may help.
one of my favorite forums has about 3 or 5 moderators to decide the hard calls.
They do not let any threads of U.S. Law or politics.  the forum is better for it.
one moderator said "grow up and make respectful posts"  or that is how I understood it.

I suggest when a thread needs moderation and it is a close call... move the thread.
perhaps a limbo category, or a tete-a-tete space.

the hard part is a 5 page thread with a lot of good in it.
throw a lock on it and remove the fight?
this idea does give the first post in a thread the honor of defining the thread.

moderating is hard and thankless...

victor


 

 

 

[Ratz (Bruce)]

I just lost my big response (raunt) to this post... perhaps I really was not meant to publish it.
I have been moderating this forum for 16 years.....
Many many posts later...

This is a builders forum....

I have now locked the thread. I thought that I had long ago...

PM me to discuss more if needed.

Bruce (Ratz)