What happened to this board?

[tyrfing]

What happened to this board? When I started a few months ago, it was a cool forum for people to discuss things civily. You could post your mistakes without being called a names normally reserved for the hallways in junior high schools.
It seems to me that there are a lot of people who hide behind the anonymity of the internet and use language they wouldn't have the decency or guts to use if they confronted people face to face. It makes for an unpleasant experience and an uncomfortable situation when people start tossing labels around concerning someone's sexual affiliation, political affiliation, intelligence or experience; some of the threads aren't even discussions or forums, just juvenile diatribes.
I'm all for free speech, but this is suppose to be a help forum where people share their successes and failures and in order for it to be productive, it needs to be free from personal insult. I've seen threads where people have taken offense at the most insignificant interpretations, and also seen posts that were beyond crude and rude.
Sharks, at what point does this board draw the line between healthy disagreement and insulting, unproductive commentary? It would seem that name calling doesn't benefit anyone nor does it necessarily sell more product for SWF.com.
It seems to me that if people want to insult others and make themselves feel superior by taking pot shots, they can do it in some chatroom in the nether reaches of cyberspace. The most amazing thing is, many of the insults come from people who have a relatively few number of posts or just recently joined, and many times they are insulting some of the most knowledgable and respected members of this community.
I'm sure this will draw the ire of the crowd who have an inability to intellectualize their arguements rather than name call.
I just thought I would bring it up for (healthy) discussion.

 

[beth]

Tyrfing: We've had more of our share lately of disrruptive people who come on here to BS around with our BB and our community. If you see something that needs Shark attention, please post or email us.
beth@saltwaterfish.com

 

[mike j]

although not a veteran of this board by any means, the increased volume of registered users and the constant number of sharks monitoring it, is certain to make for less thorough filteration of threads. I guess we will just have to make do.

 

[kev]

Why can't we all just get along!

 

[fshhub]

i agree wiht newb, although i am not completley innocent, i have been in a squabble or 2, whcih i have tried to refrain, and sometimes it is not easy,but he slang andinsults really could be curbed a bit, this is as has been mentioned before, and open board, open to all, sexes-religions-ages-and cultures
PEACE ALL, and hope i have not upset too many others, who were not involved <img src="graemlins//angel.gif" border="0" alt="[angel]" />

 

[tyrfing]

Actually, no one has offended me personally. It's just disheartening to see the lack of intelligence in some comments. Makes it hard to get involved in discussions. I'm more concerned with new people getting turned off because their first introduction to this community was from someone calling them rude names or labeling them.
I've learned alot from (mainly) the people who have posted here, but I probably wouldn't have stuck it out if everytime I asked a question, someone who recently joined jumped all over my post by hurling insults. I thought this was a really cool community when I first joined, and by and large I still do. It just seems that in the last month, new people can't even make mistakes without getting flamed. Unfortunately, the flames are more juvenile and destructive than some of the comments I use to see when I would drop in on some of the political chat rooms.
At any rate, I appreciate everyone's comments can concerns. I haven't personally been afronted, my concern is for the community everyone has contributed to. If is wasn't for the info on this board, there would be fewer stewards out there and more failed hobbyists. My thoughts are that the way to get more people involved is get them more educated. It's tough to educated people when they get shouted down due to their lack of knowledge or due to immaturity of others.
That's all...

 

[jacksonpt]

It's the nature of the beast. I'm a memeber of a lot of different message boards, and only 2 of them are free of the garbage you're talking about. One of them is a public board, which has been very fortuante thus far. The other is private, and only open to new members by invitation.
This is a public board which anyone can join. With that comes the possibility of flamers and bashers... it's the nature of a public BBS. Sure, no one likes it when they are bashed for asking a question of for making a mistake... but why get so worked up about it? We all know there are a few bad apples out there... but for the most part, everyone who participates on this board are knowledgable and polite.
Just ignore the poeple who feel the need to rip into every post and be grateful for the hundreds (thousands maybe?) of people who make this board great. It's not worth getting all worked up because some goofball decided to trash your post.
Just my $.02

 

[bluto]

As a member/participant of other boards I've seen this phenomenon before. As you said...someone feels emboldened by the "facelessness" of the internet and takes a juvenile potshot at someone else because they don't actually have to confront them. Hence, there are no consequences for that person.
The mature thing to do would be to let it slide/die. But we're only human. I personally can't stand what I call the "message board toughguy" syndrome...because like you said, 99% of the time these people would never have the guts to say such things in person. Although I personally haven't been targeted, I have at times made an attempt to come to someone's aide (not that anyone needs it on a message board). Doing that probably just escalates the situation, but it's human nature. There are several recent/current threads on the aggressive board where this scenario has played out.
The obvious solution is for people not to namecall, instigate, or "bait" others. But I'm not sure that's going to happen, because there will always be people who like the internet's ability to transform them (in there own minds) into something they're not.
Bluto

 

[jumpfrog]

As a relatively new member, my 2 cents. I think the moderators do an excellent job and I just wanted to say "thanks" for your efforts.

 

[bluto]

JWTROGAN44,
I agree.
I've spent a little time on a Raging Bull board which at times gets pretty vicious. But you can almost understand that because money's involved. Here the purpose is to exchange knowledge and foster the inteligent, "concientious", growth of the hobby.
Unfortunately there are times when people get criticized for a comment or practice ("hey, I've got 6 triggers in a 20g long and they seem fine to me"). Nobody likes to be criticized and it should be kept to a minimum or done in a polite way...but sometimes it's justified and nescessary.
The problem is it then tends to escalate. If everyone could just act like adults it would be manageable...but IS that possible???
Bluto

 

[wildblue4]

i am new to this board but not the hobby. in saying that i am learning from peoples posts everday. some of the things i read i dont allways agree with but in turn some of the things i say im sure others dont agree with. thats how we learn. read and read some more. then make your best educated guess. if someone fells they must flame to post then just dont, leave that post and go on. and remember no question is to stupid to ask, because someone has asked that same question before you did or know one would know the answer. everyone keep up the good work, i wish this would have been here in the 80's when i started this hobby, would have cut down on all of the trips to the lfs. good luck to all.