I did not put words in your mouth, sir, nor did i imply conspiracy/mind control.  I simply implied that you do agree with the stricter policy.     Please do not put words in MY mouth.  tyvm.


Yes, you did tell me all that.     I still like all the old abusers who contribute much to Fibs shouts as well.  I think you can use gag just as well as I or anyone else and that shouts should be a free speech area.  However, I also think Patti certainly has earned the right to run Fibs as she sees fit, and I will respect that.

socksey



Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence, and I learn, whatever state I may be in, therein to be content. - Helen Keller

It's not your job to punish people for rants.

I didn't say it's my job. I just asked is it included in the 'new stricter policy' package that the people are talking about here or not.

Sometimes taking the cotton out of your ears and putting it into your mouth will definitely help you towards fulfilling your stewardship commitments regarding FIBS.

Good.


I didn't ask 'why'. Thanks for your eloquent elaboration though.

PL

You can bet your sweet ass that it's going to change something.  I'll pull the plug on FIBS before I'll let it keep up the way it's been going recently.

If I may just add my comments.

I applaud Patti for her stance on this issue.

When I joined this site, I joined to play backgammon in a friendly environment. I'm not really that interested in chatting in the lobby, or shouts, as they seem to be called, but when I did venture in, it was not a friendly place at all. Too many people with chips on their shoulders and needing somewhere to vent their rubbish.

I think Fibs will be a much better place for newcomers to come and play BG if Patti's more stringent application of the rules takes effect.

If people want to chat, let them chat. If they want to be seen to chat and have their opinions seen in public, let them go to a chat site to spout their vitriole. To me, this is a backgammon site - and a very good one.

Power to Patti

I think Patti has been pretty good at identifying ongoing problems and addressing them.

The only current issue I see with the cleaning up of the server is that at least for one person (I'll leave the name out because that would likely cause a flurry, but if you're often on the server it should be obvious) it has somewhat created an environment where he has been using the scare as a lever to attempt to exert his own policing. From my personal experience, this is creating as much or more 'drama' than there was previously.

Another thing is that a completely free and open environment does have it's merit as well as a controlled one. Although the more thin skinned suffer at an elevated rate in an environment where there are no rules, it did seem to bring out the best in creativity and often seemed to stabilize in modes of real harmony, so the experience was not all bad without rules ...  I tended to appreciate this because it was so rare, seemed like an experiment in freedom, and the rarity therefore seemed valuable even though it was hard to bear at times. So in that sense it seems sad that fibs appears to be tightening up, but if we can get past the recent issues of people creating more drama through 'justified acts' and personal policing, it will likely be a nicer environment all together.

I do however think that the higher the level of policy you are trying to achieve, the more effort needs to be exerted to sustain it, so, If Patti experiences this in action, and finds her workload is ever increasing because of interpersonal problems, I would hope that she doesn't get overwhelmed and pull the plug, but rather realize that there is always the option that we can go back to a  'free' environment and she can step back and let everyone go nuts until it stabilizes.

Either way FIBS a nice community, with or without the drama. I see most of the issues as lying more within the individuals who use the server rather than the server policy itself, so any policy change that is not 'incentive based' seems somewhat futile in my eyes.
 

The only 'stability' it ever had was those who could be the nastiest and most vile, and had unlimited time to sit around saying the same things over and over and over, got their own way...and anyone nice left, fairly quickly.

The free environment does have merit as donzaemon points out. However, I think that it is necessary to distinguish between freely expressing a point of view, always good and freely saying what you like in order to hurt and upset another human being, always bad.
There are fibsters whose views and language I find repugnant, for them the gag/blind/villain options work fine. There are also fibsters who set out to annoy others, with a range of harrassment techniques that will be familiar to all. For them g/b/v doesn't work so well, because to let people attack you or others without challenging their behaviour is not tolerable. You can't allow repeated lies, slanders and distortions to circulate for example, nor can bullying go unchallenged. IRL such behaviour risks sanctions designed to protect the individual, but in their absence on fibs, shouts can be and often has been a bullies' playground.
Fibs shouts is still a place where one can express views of any colour, but the loss of the freedom to jeer at, wind up, insult and slander other users is no loss. There will be those who mourn the passing of the bear pit, but for every one who does it's my guess there will be ten who applaud its demise. I am one of them.

If it is a joke, the point of it isn't clear.
If it isn't a joke then it should be removed, partly because of its anonymity, partly because it purports to speak for an unnamed group. Every other poster in this thread has the balls to add their nick to their post and speak for themselves.
Contemptible and as is probably fairly clear I hold no brief for anybody on the list.