Community or snakepit?

[PortWine]

I think I have to agree with NIHI on some level.  Bringing up the facts (or at least one person's understanding of them) is not necessarily an unproductive attack.  This thread has been a debate.  If we all wanted to talk about what a Utopian FIBs would be like, well thats great.  IF we want to talk about what is wrong, some specifics will need to be given.

Everytime someone has mentioned a name or specific problem they have been called some variant of unproductive.  If it leaves it out of shout and on a thread that you have to seek out, isn't that a better thing?

I think so long as no one is outright abusive and unproductive why not let the conversation take its course.  Otherwise people will not be able to speak their minds and nothing will be resovlved.

[webrunner]

I agree..
It is what i did in the very first post on this topic, although i mentioned that it was an example of behaviour i disslike.

Anyway..NIHI you are not being banned for posts like this. Especially not in this topic. I am not in favor of banning at all actually. I see it as a last resort action.
There are some other tools that can be used to help someone understand the rules of a forum.

This is not ment to be a thread. Reading it i knoiw it looks like one but it actually isn't. I only want to make clear that i am not keen on keeping a tight leesh on this board, but it has to be enjoyable for all of us.

A board full of flamewars is not something we all are looking for and i will prevent that from happening. Until then.. go ahead and continue the discussion in this thread, as long as you keep the language clean.

[NIHILIST]

Very good, someone, at last seems to grasp the concept of free speech.

I agree with Diane that FIBS has become more participatory because of innovations like Tourney Bot, but this thread was started to discuss bad behavior by certain individuals, and, if you bother to look back at the very first post, my name was mentioned prominently in about the 4th sentence.

It's fair to say that the subject has been beaten to death. Whether you like it or not, at the end of the day, THAT part of FIBS won't change. Patti has stated repeatedly that she has no interest in refereeing mudfights between disagreeable children. Learn to love the gag command.

On the other hand, I have no quarrel with a tourney director banning someone from playing even for the most arbitrary of reasons. I have no trouble with Alef banning anyone from posting his thoughts here simply because they conflict with his.

The bots and FIBSBOARD are their toys. They can pick them up and take them home any time they like.


NIHILIST

[alef]

I was clearly seeing a nasty war errupt here as it has done before so many tiresome times on FIBS and r.g.b., so I jumped in to stamp it down. However, I concede that this thread is specifically about these sorts of problems and didn't take that context into consideration before. webrunner's stance of letting this thread go completely free is one I that I now in hindsight agree with.

There isn't any set FIBS Board policy, I guess that might develop as precedents get made, who knows? webrunner has given me the role of global moderator and I'm wearing that hat and figuring out what to do with it as things go along. I also agree that bans should be last resorts, though I think early warnings are sensible. But I'm wandering a bit off-topic, so let me ask...

What is FIBS, community or snakepit... or both?



By the way, burper, your FibsCompanion is sounding very cool

[Biggles]

Fibs is, always has been and will continue to be complete and total anarchy.....


Keep your grubby little hands off...........



Biggles (The most popular Fibster)  

[burper]

What is FIBS, community or snakepit... or both?

That's easy. FIBS is the snakepit  , fibsboard is the community .
It's kind of a ying yang thang brother!  

Had it all figured out back in '93
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=beautifu...t.CV.COM&rnum=1
This discussion is soooo last century    

[NIHILIST]

I apologize in advance, Alef, but your last post is just too hillarious to ignore. I've heard Don say plenty of overblown, pompous, self-important stuff in the time I've observed him, but you take the cake.

"  webrunner has given me the role of global moderator and I'm wearing that hat and figuring out what to do with it  "

GLOBAL MODERATOR Not European, or some other paltry title, but GLOBAL MODERATOR You make it sound like you got appointed to some high executive position with Microsoft or General Motors.

For God's sake, man, it's an insignificnt chat board, get over yourself. Lest you think this is just another unconstructive flame, I'll help you figure it out.

Put a topic up for grabs and ask for comments. No hat required.

NIHI

[alef]

Apology accepted?  

The term "global moderator" is part of this board's inbuilt design. Here's the "moderation team":
http://www.fibsboard.com/index.php?act=Stats&CODE=leaders

[burper]

Maybe it's NIHILIST's first internet chat forum.
Or perhaps his first moderated one? Let's give him the benefit of the doubt.

[webrunner]

It is indeed a standard name that is used in the forum software and loads of forums all over the world.
It means that Alef can moderate in all forums, whereas other moderators can only moderate some specific forums.

So.. your apology was appropriate.

Next time don't judge before you know what really is going on.

 

[PortWine]

I am king of my house hold and master of all I survey!

[adrian]

hystory keeps repeating..

[deanlikeafrenchman]

Wow. Its not possible that anybody read this far, so I can have just as much fun as I want.

     Congratulations to Don for his ability to alter the very fabric of space and time.
This will serve him well in some future endeavor.

      The phrase "psychologically damaged" was used in  one of the early posts.
That concept is part of what's involved here, but its hard to say which walnut has the pea under it. If you think you have located a candidate, remember that Allah said to honor the psychologically damaged - its good for community show business. Well, the syntax may have been a little different.  But there are lots of
reasons to sidle around such individuals, rather than giving a portion of control to them.

    A technical note: repbot is a frail tool. A certain, uh, anonymous, fibster recently said in shout "Biggles taught me that - you vouch for me and I'll vouch for you." Some unregulated markets should not be trusted.

    The most useful posts have been about the nature of anarchy. Its an abstract
thesis topic, not a lifestyle. If you have a whole bunch of anarchy in your life,  the
phrase "short, nasty, harsh and brutal" is only the beginning. But small doses of
anarchy can  show you a lot. Thus we have the gloriously dysfunctional fibs, with
fraudulent ratings, bellowed nonsense, oafish boasting, authority figure looking the other way, shocking language, and everything.  Visit it,  learn from it,  be glad its a
good window, in at least some ways, on how not to be.

    Have I told you about dailygammon?

[jinnate]

dean, i really liked your post.

[Biggles]

LOL....Dean........get a life

It's a free BACKGAMMON server, not some stuffy pipe-smoking group of high class snobs waxing rhetoric.......  

FIBS was fine before you came, and it will be fine long after you're gone.....Don't let the door hit you in the behind on the way out.

Biggles
(The most popular Fibster)

[PortWine]

To be honest, I like the way FIBS is run currently.  When there are too many micromanagers, things get stupid in a hurry.  So every once in a while someone says something they shouldn't......it's regretable, but that is life.  Put a group of people in a room in real life and tell me if they will all agree about everything and get along.  It is the nature of people to behave like this and add in the benefit of being annonymous and look out!

The arguing, fighting and name calling is probably no more or less brutal than what goes on in school yards, families and offices.  Why does anyone expect FIBS to be any different.

People like Don may have been the focus of this thread, but I would honestly miss them if they were gone.  Just like I want to kill my relatives most of the time, you get used to them and would feel empty if they are not around.  And just like I put my brothers in a headlock or hang up on them them, I can gag and blind people when I have had too much.  I think everyone adds something to FIBS.

Long live the glorious backgammon server that is FIBS and two weeks of diarhea to all the droppers!  (Wishing death on droppers is bad for my karma)

[alef]

It's a free BACKGAMMON server, not some stuffy pipe-smoking group of high class snobs waxing rhetoric....... 

Hey, is there a pipe going round? I missed out on that      Someone let me have a toke please...

Many of the best things in life are free. Comparing FIBS to GamesGrid or other pay servers is silly, but I think DailyGammon is a great role model backgammon server: it's a labour of love of a talented programmer and a few of his family and friends. Sadly, FIBS has lost its once enthusiastic creator, but why should that stop others from helping out?

[souptree]

i'm getting tired of preaching. mostly because it doesn't seem to be getting anyone anywhere.

Hi, jinnate, and welcome to fibs!        

[souptree]

What I cannot figure out is how jinnate justifies her own kindergarten behavior, starting a flame war here, with her general musings.Ã,  It seems to me she is tracking up the floor, not mopping it.Ã, 

This is both a personalized attack and unconstructive. don, this is a public warning: please use the FIBS Board sensibly or not at all.

Was there an election for "sensibility monitors"?  Who decides what is constructive and what is not?  What's the deal?  If you can't impose your morality on fibs, it will be imposed on the fibsboard?  Respectfully, this so-called moderation you guys are attempting to enforce here is pretty weak, and more than unnecessary, sayeth I.

It is quite legitimate for don to hold the feeling he expressed, and he did it in a non-rude manner, so what exactly is the complaint here?

Holy crap, now the sensibility police are going to come for me.  First they came for don, but I wasn't don so I STFU..... excuse me, I'm late for my train.

[souptree]

I concede that this thread is specifically about these sorts of problems and didn't take that context into consideration before. webrunner's stance of letting this thread go completely free is one I that I now in hindsight agree with.

There isn't any set FIBS Board policy, I guess that might develop as precedents get made, who knows? webrunner has given me the role of global moderator and I'm wearing that hat and figuring out what to do with it as things go along. I also agree that bans should be last resorts, though I think early warnings are sensible.

I didn't see this post before I replied to the last one.  The whole beauty of FIBS is that in spite of all the petulant whining about who is a flamer/abuser/whiner, nobody can do anything about it.  Any attempt to reign in the so-called anarchy of fibs 1. WILL fail, and 2. SHOULD fail.  But the point is, it WILL fail.  So who cares if it SHOULD or not?

Personally, I think if this fibsboard is supposed to be an adjunct to FIBS, the same dynamic should be allowed to persist.  I agree with NIHILIST, that it is well within the rights of the owners / moderators of this message board to play petulant and pick up their ball and go home, but with no disrespect to alef, webrunner, or any TDs, nor indeed to anyone who is offended by free expression, FIBS requires neither moderator, nor profanity filter, and neither does this board.  Adults ought to be able to handle a little discomfort.

I realize your best intentions are at work, alef, but the good Lord has not provided you with the divine ability to determine what is a flame, and what is "sensible".  If this experiment is going to turn into free speech rights interpretation via the Supreme Court of Alef, it's going to be less successful in the long run than it otherwise could, would, and should be.

For the record, this post is intended to be constructive, not a flame, and I appreciate the time and efforts of those who are attempting to "improve" FIBS functionality-wise.  I prefer, however, that the nice-police routine be remanded to alt.moral-majority, where it belongs.