another board i frequent...well it's suppsoed to be a "family" forum. A while ago some girl made reference to her drug use and people complained and her post was deleted...yesterday someone made a thread linking a website..and people bashed it..

people complained to delete the thread and it's gone. This is the explanation given:

The thread "Just goes to show us!" has been deleted.

The forum is at a crossroads right now. A lot of threads lately have brought up issues of censorship vs. free speech, honesty vs. flattery, fact vs. opinion, and constructive criticism vs. cruelty. We don't have this forum for the sake of the moderators, we have it here for the forum members — and it's time for you to decide what you want to make of it.

The forum is in danger of losing some of truly valuable members. In the past two weeks, I have received multiple e-mails from forum members who have serious concerns about the direction the forum is currently taking. I have heard from people who say they deliberately spend less time here, as well as from people who don't know if they want to stay at all. The common thread that I'm hearing from everybody is that this forum has become downright negative.

I don't want this forum to become a place for flattery; that wouldn't be at all contructive. But what is constuctive about making personal attacks on a woman who isn't here to defend herself? Who learned anything from reading that thread? Who gained knowledge from reading that thread. I certainly did not.

We don't want to censor you. We have to keep this forum appropriate (hence the restriction on what kind of language you can use), but you all still have your freedom of speech. My questions is, what are you going to do with that freedom? Are you going to use it to make cruel comments about people who aren't even here to defend themselves? Or are you going to use that freedom to create a positive community that shares knowledge, advice, and ideas? The choice is yours — the moderators can't make it for you. No amount of deleting, e-mailing, or wrist-slapping can turn this forum in the right direction. Only the forum member can make that decision.

As a final point, it's a personal belief of mine that all freedoms come with the price of responsibility. Please act responsibly with the freedom that you've been given.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

doody shit fat booger dickstand bush is a fucking dyke@

rusted angel, feel free to bump that thread from a long time ago..

ok so i posted a comment about my disapproval of the thread getting deleted and the mod replied:

Hi Carina,

I can understand your point about the benefit of looking back at past mistakes, but some threads seem incapable of stopping. If the moderators didn't remove them, the sniping and criticizing would go on endlessly. When the "Scapegoat" topic came up last week, I posted a message when the thread was on its fourth page. Things seemed to be getting better, so I left it up because people wanted to learn from it. Two days later, the thread was up to eight pages and there were still rude, nasty comments being made. When threads get to that point, they begin to overshadow the rest of the forum and the focus isn't even on jewelry anymore.

I'm sorry that you feel the forum has been overly PC lately. However, please note that I didn't search the forums for the posts I deleted — I was contacted by forum members who found them offensive. If somebody contacts me about an inappropriate post, it's my job to assess the situation and act accordingly. If the post uses crude language, refers to offensive activities, or is unnecessarily rude, then I delete it. Honestly, I don't understand why any of those things would add value to a discussion about jewelry.

Thanks for the feedback on the forum. If you ever have any questions, please let me know.

who would have thought that people make rude, nasty comments on the internet?

The Rev is the only cool mod I've ever come across on a board.

that a load of woogabooga.
I support people's rights to be complete dicks.
just as long as they don't fuck this site/board up.

dftg not at home said:

Exactly! I'm glad we're on the way to having a smut-free and decent internet, complete with ball pits, Raffi, and potluck dinners.