Forum Etiquette

[Nick]

I hope people just take a breather from this. And I don't think it's prudent to ban anyone either. I really disagree with nasa sometimes but I'm glad someone offers counterpoints to mine. It would be very boring around here if all we hear is "Cool building!" "Yeah, I like it!" or "Nice pedestrian experience!"

I hope that people go back to what they learned in kindergarten about how to play nice.

The issue isn't disagreement, the issue is someone being needlessly incindiary and insulting without contributing anything other than that to conversation for, I don't know, several years? A secondary issue is people wandering in here with a post count of 3, not realizing that it's a troll, and consequently getting into their own overheated argument over whatever was said. That ruins threads.

So just take it as a warning. Read your posts outloud for a little while and doublecheck if that's really something you need to be putting into writing.

[spectre000]

Agreed. I like that we can disagree about things. I wish folks on this forum would disagree more. It'd liven up the discussion. But we're all pretty much pro-development people. So the discussions can get a little stale.

Disagreement is fine, but no one should be getting called a "bigot" here.

[nasa35]

Agreed. I like that we can disagree about things. I wish folks on this forum would disagree more. It'd liven up the discussion. But we're all pretty much pro-development people. So the discussions can get a little stale.

Disagreement is fine, but no one should be getting called a "bigot" here.

However, It appears the pot shots at suburbanites are perfectly okay.

[spectre000]

Agreed. I like that we can disagree about things. I wish folks on this forum would disagree more. It'd liven up the discussion. But we're all pretty much pro-development people. So the discussions can get a little stale.

Disagreement is fine, but no one should be getting called a "bigot" here.

However, It appears the pot shots at suburbanites are perfectly okay.

There are pot shots, and then there are insults. The term "bigot" falls under the category of insult in my book.

If you feel insulted by someone's comments about the suburbs or suburbanites, please try something less offensive in your retort.

[dumberGuy]

I would appreciate it if you refrain from deleting my posts. That's uncalled-for. thanks

[Nick]

Then increase the amount of substance in your comments in relation to the amount of dramatic negative things you're saying.

I really don't feel like I'm making any brash decisions with the moderating here.

The problem with trolling generally isn't the troll him or herself. It's the 50 year old Internet user who doesn't know what a troll is and tries to have a conversation with someone who pops into a thread and calls a bunch of things garbage with no supporting information or commentary and then leaves for a week.

[Nick]

I half-jokingly, half-seriously put this together after consulting a panel of experts. Emphasis on the half-jokingly.

List of words and phrases that maybe make your Internet commentary not the best:

1. Pathetic
2. Disgusting
3. Truly
4. Truely
5. "Look,"
6. "I find it interesting that..."
7. "seems like" (If you're using it in a way where you'd be like "Well it seeeeems like" with an eyebrow raise if you said it out loud)
8. Libtard
9. Teabagger
10. Anything in all caps that isn't sarcastic
11. Anything like "you need to educate yourself" where you can tell it'd be an unbearable tone if it was said out loud
12. Somehow, anything about "...the facts..."

[mattaudio]

Why so much pruning today? Some people thought there was trolling going on but it wasn't really trolling.

Honestly I have found it rather annoying that some people project their understanding of the scope of a forum topic onto how other people ought to approach the topic. Some people wish to be pragmatic and avoid unrealistic hypotheticals, and some people wish to be visionary and imagine what could be if certain constraints were overcome.

[Nick]

Why so much pruning today? Some people thought there was trolling going on but it wasn't really trolling.

Honestly I have found it rather annoying that some people project their understanding of the scope of a forum topic onto how other people ought to approach the topic. Some people wish to be pragmatic and avoid unrealistic hypotheticals, and some people wish to be visionary and imagine what could be if certain constraints were overcome.

Yeah sorry that was an accident in the Green Line thread, all I saw were a handful posts arguing over who is and isn't trolling and I didn't realize that it cleared up on the next page. The mobile version isn't great to moderate from.

[beykite]

Look, Sometimes it might truly be best to split threads. For example one thread could be about current updates and news on the Southwest Corridor LRT, and another could be for bickering and arguing about how terrible and pathetic the design is. Cause it seeeeems like to me it gets increasingly hard to sift through the incessant arguing amongst the various Libtards and Teabaggers to find the actual FACTS. Some of the comments are just truely disgusting and I feel like if people would just educate themselves we could avoid a lot of this mess.

Honestly though if I knew the market was this good I would have invested in some clubs and a dead horse awhile ago.

[mattaudio]

Oh np, also the second paragraph there wasn't directed at you, Nick.

[mattaudio]

I think some people's interesting discussions were irrelevant at best or trolling at worse to others.

Look, I agree, seems like it might be wise to split threads, so then I don't have to waste time with pathetic updates about soil boring and things like that when all I want is pure unadulterated visionary plans that will not come to pass in our lifetimes. I AM SERIOUS HERE. The facts? The facts are irrelevant!

Is it fair to say "Look, truly the food at Spill The Wine is pathetic and disgusting. It's just a fact, and libtards and teabaggers alike can agree." ???

[Nick]

Honestly though if I knew the market was this good I would have invested in some clubs and a dead horse awhile ago.

Right? The thing I'm trying to keep in mind is that we actually do have a lot of new users, so while we may have extensively talked about this in, say, 2010, a lot of people don't know that and no new user is going to start at page one of a twenty page topic.

[Shawn]

Look, Sometimes it might truly be best to split threads. For example one thread could be about current updates and news on the Southwest Corridor LRT, and another could be for bickering and arguing about how terrible and pathetic the design is. Cause it seeeeems like to me it gets increasingly hard to sift through the incessant arguing amongst the various Libtards and Teabaggers to find the actual FACTS. Some of the comments are just truely disgusting and I feel like if people would just educate themselves we could avoid a lot of this mess.

Honestly though if I knew the market was this good I would have invested in some clubs and a dead horse awhile ago.

Touche sir, touche.

Compared to other forums I have been part of, Nick seems quite liberal in his moderating and would prefer to post in a productive thread than to moderate an unproductive one.

[Nick]

Liberal like too much freedom or too much moderating?

[MSPtoMKE]

No, Liberal as in "Hates America".

[Shawn]

No, Liberal as in "Hates America".

Mostly I meant that. But also in terms of being 'hands off' a fair amount. There are obviously things that get annoying reading day after day, but I think think more often than not we try to let things sort themselves out.

[Nick]

Maybe I'm in a heightened state of awareness due to all the cold medicine I've been chugging for the past three days, but I get the feeling there's been a lot of arguing over arguing in the past week or so. Just keep in mind that you don't necessarily have to post in every thread all the time for the sake of doing so. You don't get a prize at 1,000 posts. Except maybe leftover cold medicine.

[VAStationDude]

I've been wondering if Nasa's opinions re six story versus high rises and light rail have changed recently. Thanks for reminding me, I almost sent you a PM.

[Nick]

I've deleted several of the posts...I mean if we want to entertain other proposals, I'd love to stop feeling like Neville Chamberlain.