fas·cist (fshst) n.
1. Often Fascist. An advocate or adherent of fascism.
2. A reactionary or dictatorial person.

Why are threads being closed and not answered? I thought the whole post of a discussion forum was to discuss things!

Admittedly, not all the closed posts are directly on topic, but in most forums people are given the benifit of an explaination.

Misha? What's going on?

I swear if one more thread gets closed un answered, I will leave and not be back. Perhaps I will start my own forum.

[Kozmik]

Please do.

[wlonh]

they are closed in one forum and transferred to an appropriate one.

all the moderators go to some trouble to see that all questions get answered if possible.

you can check this, all the closed threads are transferred threads. AND ARE NOTED AS SUCH, AS TRANSFERRED, RIGHT ABOVE THE CLOSED THREAD AND IN PLAIN SIGHT.

like this one is going to be transferred.

and RULE ONE is: the moderators are always right.

RULE TWO: if you think a moderator is wrong. see RULE ONE.

watch who you call fascist, pal.

[This message has been edited by wlonh (edited 03-24-2000).]

[Feathers]

I have to agree with Marlond, a number of threads have just been closed, NOT transferred, " all the closed threads are transferred threads " I think wlonh missed the point a bit on that one.

[wlonh]

funny but no one gives an example of a closed thread that has not been transferred, but just closed.

i am not saying that there aren't any, i am saying i know of none that have been closed for a reason and not transferred.

again RULE ONE: the moderators aren't wrong, etc

RULE TWO: see RULE ONE

[ThinkInsane]

I think this was closed without being moved. Maybe not, but I couldn't find it anywhere else http://forums.macnn.com/cgi-bin/Forum5/HTML/001853.html

[mkbhatia]

I think the wlonh is right. Most are just moved to the appropriate forums (and closed in the previous one).

ThinkInsane's example is poor, as that thread shows a closed thread to something that degenerated to something off topic. Moderators are just doing their job and most of the time it seems obvious why some threads are closed.


Please email me with any specific questions, but i think the moderators are doing an okay job of keeping things on target.

m.


[This message has been edited by mkbhatia (edited 03-25-2000).]

[Feathers]

I didn't want to have to dredge this up but here's an example:
http://forums.macnn.com/cgi-bin/Forum5/HTML/001928.html

Now, I'm not even suggesting that there maybe weren't reasons for closing this thread, BUT it was closed NOT transferred, and after only ONE reply too.

PS - I was really starting to enjoy the thread that ThinkInsane refers to. I know it wasn't totally Maccentric but it certainly gives an insight into some of the common ground in Movies and other things that MacUser's share. A thread that isn't just "... my 'puter broke 'cos I done sumthin' stoopid and won't admit to it..." is refreshing once in a while.

PPS(?) - I do think fascist is a tad strong though! (And what's the correct spelling anyway?)

[This message has been edited by Feathers (edited 03-25-2000).]

[wlonh]

oh, that... well i very nearly deleted it completely.

but i figured let both sides have a shot and then i closed it. really not appropriate stuff, i think

and BTW... gee i am so flattered, now slboett has decided to launch a vendetta against me for whatever reason, i do not know...

so now i have marlond who, without checking the facts, determined that i am a fascist and now slboett is poised to do the same it seems.

coupla nice fellows i am sure. more like TOTAL jerks who have NO clue!!!


[This message has been edited by wlonh (edited 03-26-2000).]

[ThinkInsane]

I'm sorry if you misunderstood my intentions mkbhatia. I agree that that topic had strayed quite a bit from the original post. It was getting kind of stupid. I was only trying to provide an example of a closed thread that was not transfered.

I also see feathers point too. The boards have always been a way to create online 'communities'. I think this requires a little more than just sharing the same computing platform. I think if a topic has been beat to death (which I think that one has), I don't see the harm in letting people have a little fun with it. But I digress, it's not for me to decide. I'll just play by the rules. By nature I am a smart-ass, and often will post joking replies. I mean no disrespect by this, just trying to be humorous.... I guess I just THINK DIFFERENT.

And just for the record, so there is no further misunderstanding, I really feel that the moderators are doing a good job. Every technical question I have posted has gotten at least one response from wlonh or Misha, usually with the answer or suggestion that I need.

[namannik]

I usually don't reply to stuff like this, but I just totally disagree with wlonh's attitude here. In fact, wlonh is actually disagreeing with him/her-self. See the "Deleted Topic?" thread which I posted, and notice wlonh's reply:

a thousand pardons... chalk it up to moderator error...

Notice the two words, "moderator error"! Now, that is quite a contradiction to, "the moderator is always right," isn't it?

Let me say that it really doesn't bother me if a moderator moves a thread, or even if he/she "accidentally" deletes one, but wlonh's superiority-driven comments are inappropriate.

[This message has been edited by namannik (edited 03-27-2000).]

[This message has been edited by namannik (edited 03-27-2000).]

[wlonh]

ah yes, lovely day isn't it?

i would like to take this opportunity to thank all those thoughtful people who have nothing better to do than to give me a hard time after all the work in put in trying to help people on these forums!!



HAVE a NICE DAY

[markhers]

I don't know about anyone else, but I think this thread is getting out of hand. Why the heck are you people giving wlonh such a hard time for doing something he does out of kindness? He doesn't get paid! He has no stake as deeply rooted as you all make it sound time to time.

Moderators are to guide discussions, and to correct the incorrect. He is also empowered to guide discussions by correcting, deleting, or in rare cases, flame (idiot) people who act as a detriment to the fora.

[This message has been edited by markhers (edited 03-27-2000).]

At the risk of having my posts flamed and disparaged elsewhere on these boards, I'm going to say this:

wlonh, markhers, mkbhatia, Misha, and the rest of the MacNN staff perform a valuable service and a thankless job here in these Forums. My hat is off to them. Thank you, one and all.

I come to these boards for a certain amount of camaraderie--almost everyone who visits any forum regularly does, even if it's veiled under the guise of offering troubleshooting and how-to support to our fellow Mac users. But we can't let that camaraderie stand in the way of why these fora are here: to assist other Mac folks and get the latest Mac news!

When a thread wanders as far afield as what the links above point to, it's not an asset to the thread/topic. The moderators and administrators have every right to exercise their duties to the *rest* of us in any way they see fit.

Per the Terms of Service when we all registered: "You agree...that you will not use this BB to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law....we at this BB reserve the right to delete any message for any or no reason whatsoever."

I've read knowingly false, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, and profane stuff here. The moderators do a great job of keeping it in check.

These boards, like any others, are just cyberspace and bandwidth. There are thousands of online communities scattered across the Web. The sun will come up tomorrow if someone *here* doesn't "like" you. It ain't the end of the world if a post gets deleted. Try to keep some perspective.

It's the way of any forum, as members get to know one another, to digress from topics at hand. Quark Inc. got around this by starting "Sofa Threads," where members who wanted to yack and blow off steam could do so without cluttering the troubleshooting forum. Macfixit started a "Troubleshooting Talk" forum where just about anything goes (Ilene works hard to moderate it well). That also helps keep that kind of chatter out of the technical threads. Maybe it's time for MacNN to start a forum, an "enter at your own risk" kind of thing, for the in-jokes and the people who want to have discussions that aren't necessarily of the Mac or technical in nature.

That said, it doesn't mean I agree with everything the moderators/administrators say and do. I am sometimes put off by authoritatively-worded posts that "diss" my Web browser of choice. However, I know that it's impossible for everyone to agree on all things all the time. I also recognize the difficulty of the job they're doing and believe we members should let them do it. Not many of us would be willing to put in as many hours as it takes to do a moderators work, for no compensation. Without them, quite simply, these forums would not be here.

peace,
Linda

---
"When the trees are made of plastic and there's no more oil to drill
When Africa is empty and the zoos are finally filled
We've sacrificed our children at the alter of the god of fossil fuel."
--Stuart Davis

[Feathers]

How 'bout it being a condition of membership that people post a valid e-mail address, that might pour cold water on some of these spineless flamers.

PS - Er Linda, speaking of bandwidth, does the word "edit" hold any meaning for you?

[wlonh]

jeez... i'm lovestruck, Linda... your words were like... like... well, i am lovestruck.

whoa that was nice.

leave it to a woman to find the right words administered just the right way.

Well, I said I would not return if one more post was unsurreptitiously (note spelling) closed.

Well, here I am anyway. I want to keep liking this place. My real reason for posting my first message was to see if anyone would take the time to answer.

I never called anyone a Fascist. I added question mark to my posts title as if to say "Are my eyes deceiving me, or is this behavior which can be attributed to a fascist". See any headline in the National Enquirer or New York Post and you will get the idea.

Yes, moderators have a tough lot in life. But if it were not for the grace of a magical mixture of topic, user interest and timing, there would be no forum for a moderator to moderate.

As Linda said, there are thousands of forums out there. Most are empty. A few have regular active discussion. Some are a super-heated din of debate and banter.

Not once have I seen a forum abruptly cut off a post and shuffle it away. That, to me, is like the person at the DMV who let's you ask your question and then rudely cuts you off to tell you what other line you can wait in.

Yes, I did go back and see the fine print. Yes, even my post was given the grace of a forward to this forum. Do I feel any better? No.

I don't think I am alone in saying I start reading where the opinion, question or answer starts and not in the message header. Why read the header? I just read it on the link I clicked to open it.

I think that many of the topics whose growth was stunted could have had long and useful lives in the iMac forum. After all, people come here for answers. Are they wrong for going to the most populous topic which could (conceivably) provide an answer?

Also, the 'filtering' of posts seems almost arbitrary. Why are 'Outlook express' and Airport and iMac' filtered, while 'MP3 Music' and 'Let's talk about Earthlink' allowed to flourish?

That my friend is the definition of fascism.

Marlon Deason
marlond@earthlink.net

------------------

[wlonh]

why read anything? why read which forum you are posting to? hell, they are all active links, just click one. why read any instructions? why read the manual? why pay attention to anything but your own needs and agenda?

posts will be sorted according to content. they will be duly noted as transferred. there is nothing surreptitious about it.
and, if there were no forums anywhere, i'd still be helping people with their Macs by foot, car, train, and plane.

i still strongly resent the use of the word fascist in this instance, you do not know the meaning of fascism. as one who has lived in South America i have had very close brushes with it, and you playing fast and loose with that word is obscene.

[This message has been edited by wlonh (edited 03-29-2000).]

[markhers]

Ok children. Case closed.