Flaming Of Persons Is Getting Bad

[animatic]

Personal attacks, not just to day but in general have been increasing and gang attacks on those in disagreement is also way up. While the general intelligence of the attacks has also increased, to avoid bans, it none the less does not change the fact, that the general tenor of discussions has significantly devolved to nastier and more regular level of ad hominem attack. Topics spin off into personal attacks and sides are taken, and no points can be made with precision, sensitivity or directness, because groups will take them off to some other tangent. Something seems to have changed lately, and I certainly have no power to change the situation. And it seems the report button has a different level of what is an insult and what is not. As a former 'forum moderator' on another board, I might be some what more sensitive to this than others to the variations. What are the feelings of others on this, including mods as members too of course? Discussing moderation is between the mods, not us, but forum members might have opinions about all the flaming lately. Where is the line being drawn these days. I am at a loss.

[cdnvic]

We do our best too keep up with this and are in the process of training new mods. Please use the report function on any posts you feel are out of line.

[animatic]

We do our best too keep up with this and are in the process of training new mods. Please use the report function on any posts you feel are out of line.

CD I understand the hard row you have to hoe here.

It's just after a certain number of times biting my tongue, or just walking away from the forum for a break, reporting things in an effort to generally raise the bar back to former levels of civility, more often than not for someone else's benefit, and not my own benefit, it begins to wear decidedly thin, to the point of walking away for an extended period. I do understand there are several elements that WOULD like this to happen. Along with several others of just plain trollish temperament but no divisional axe to grind.

I have noted a few new mod faces, and that is encouraging, and also discouraging because it suggest other mods might have burnt out on the whole thing. I have been rebuked at least twice for allegedly using the Report Button as a weapon of censorship, which at the time was droll, because It wasn't me who had used it recently. But it does give one pause.

Edited December 4, 2010 by animatic

[Ulysses G.]

It seems to me that Thai Visa has decided to take a different approach to both moderation and what is allowed to be discussed. Some of it I like and some of it I don't, but it is not really up to me, so I just try to roll with the punches.

[craigt3365]

Hey animatic! Noticed I turned red! A new mod now. The mods here are great folks and are doing the best they can. It's a tough job, believe me.

Please do use the report function. I am only on the General forum for now, thank goodness, but I promise to do what I can to help calm things down. Don't give up!!!

Talk to ya later...

[animatic]

Hey animatic! Noticed I turned red! A new mod now. The mods here are great folks and are doing the best they can. It's a tough job, believe me.

Please do use the report function. I am only on the General forum for now, thank goodness, but I promise to do what I can to help calm things down. Don't give up!!!

Talk to ya later...

Congratulations on the matriculation!

Happy break in period, before they throw you into the trenches!

Been there done that, and not volunteering.

Besides there are too many that would freak If I were suddenly a mod here.

I can just imagine the invective cast about.

[powderpuff]

Something very wrong here.

If you have been falsely accused of misusing the report feature take your case to the admins.

Because what you are alleging is that someone hacked your account & posted using your name.

Or there is some kind of bug in the chatboard software.

Either way this is a different issue to the tone of the board is worse.

I disagree with that.

The board is at the level of 13 year olds due to heavy handed modding.

adults need not apply. it's set up for children & all manner of minority groups.

[jdinasia]

Something very wrong here.

If you have been falsely accused of misusing the report feature take your case to the admins.

Because what you are alleging is that someone hacked your account & posted using your name.

Or there is some kind of bug in the chatboard software.

Either way this is a different issue to the tone of the board is worse.

I disagree with that.

The board is at the level of 13 year olds due to heavy handed modding.

adults need not apply. it's set up for children & all manner of minority groups.

Adults don't require so much moderation, so I think you are putting the cart before the horse, so to speak.

Other than for advertisements (spam) or a direct attacks that I can't (due to the rules) address, I have basically quit using the report button. In the past couple of weeks I have been called everything from a drunk to a visa-runner to a teacher to a monger etc etc (all by the same person!) I just point the attacks out in my reply and continue with discussing the TOPIC and not the posters!

[SweeneyAgonistes]

If it's a political discussion, I don't see anything wrong with voicing strong opinions. I hold opinions which I'm sure are pretty much the polar opposite of some on this board and if they didn't - in so many words - call me a c*nt, I'd be very disappointed. Strong opinions, strongly voiced, are surely much better than indifference.

But if someone is asking whether laab is better than goi or luu, then, yes, ten pages of name-calling is probably a little over the top.

[CDNinKS]

I find TV very civil compared to another forum I used to frequent (based about 2 hours south of BKK )

There the mods flame you

Edited December 5, 2010 by CDNinKS

[jdinasia]

If it's a political discussion, I don't see anything wrong with voicing strong opinions. I hold opinions which I'm sure are pretty much the polar opposite of some on this board and if they didn't - in so many words - call me a c*nt, I'd be very disappointed. Strong opinions, strongly voiced, are surely much better than indifference.

But if someone is asking whether laab is better than goi or luu, then, yes, ten pages of name-calling is probably a little over the top.

If it's a political discussion based upon events/facts then why would insults be needed? Then again .... If you don't understand the culture or the history ....

[JUDAS]

I must say that flaming doesn't actually exist, for me anyway. If someone wants to use bad language, call me a tw@t or whatever, simply for disagreeing with him, I find it amusing. If I know the flamer is young, 20 ish, then I can almost relate as I was a bit hotheaded in my younger years. Thankfully, in my 40's I've matured.

The thought of a middle aged or elderly guy giving me a mouthful of abuse is at best amusing but, more than likely I just feel sorry that they have such a lack of control.

I guess my point is simple. Flaming only happens if you put value on the rude posters opinion of you.

[SweeneyAgonistes]

If it's a political discussion based upon events/facts then why would insults be needed? Then again .... If you don't understand the culture or the history ....

If you think that you can have a political discussion based solely on facts, find and read any recent introductory text in philosophy. One aimed at high school students should suffice. If you have problems with it, feel free to PM me and I'll guide you through it.

[craigt3365]

If it's a political discussion, I don't see anything wrong with voicing strong opinions. I hold opinions which I'm sure are pretty much the polar opposite of some on this board and if they didn't - in so many words - call me a c*nt, I'd be very disappointed. Strong opinions, strongly voiced, are surely much better than indifference.

But if someone is asking whether laab is better than goi or luu, then, yes, ten pages of name-calling is probably a little over the top.

Strong arguments are fine...name calling is not. Big difference.

I find TV very civil compared to another forum I used to frequent (based about 2 hours south of BKK )

There the mods flame you

Quite civil for sure. I tried another forum here in Pattaya...I lasted one day. It was nothing but bad language, name calling, etc. Maybe some are into that, I'm not. And pretty much all they did was discuss soi 6 and walking street....

[jdinasia]

If it's a political discussion based upon events/facts then why would insults be needed? Then again .... If you don't understand the culture or the history ....

If you think that you can have a political discussion based solely on facts, find and read any recent introductory text in philosophy. One aimed at high school students should suffice. If you have problems with it, feel free to PM me and I'll guide you through it.

No need to go backwards in time nor education for me

However, if you can't manage to have a discussion without insults then you may have chosen an appropriate starting point for yourself (with your suggestion to me)

[BoonToong]

There was a case very recently where someone posted something that I found insulting. I replied within the topic, still trying to keep it within subject but the poster's reply was still (in my perception) insulting.

So, I took it off the forum and sent him a PM but he didn't reply. I sent a few PM's asking him to back up his views with facts but he didn't reply. Instead he had a rant on the forum about personal attacks (not just from me). I confess to eventually calling him a <deleted> in one of my PM's but I consider that to be okay because it was not public (he still didn't reply).

In some cases I can see that someone's comments might fall within the guidelines of the forum but still offend a small minority of people and I think they have the right to confront the person who makes those comments, as long as it is by way of a PM. What does everyone else think about this; is it OK to do this by PM?

I know I may sound like I'm trying to justify my actions when I say that he is the only person I have had an issue with. I'm generally a very laid-back guy, moderately intelligent and with only balanced chips on my shoulders :-)

[whybother]

I wouldn't get into a PM discussion over a heated subject unless I knew it wouldn't get over heated.

The best response to a ignore it or respond with something in a joking manner. The less offense you take, the more it annoys them.

[jdinasia]

I wouldn't get into a PM discussion over a heated subject unless I knew it wouldn't get over heated.

The best response to a ignore it or respond with something in a joking manner. The less offense you take, the more it annoys them.

I think if the person you are responding to looks in the forum rules ... it the rules for posting are still in effect for PM's

[whybother]

I wouldn't get into a PM discussion over a heated subject unless I knew it wouldn't get over heated.

The best response to a ignore it or respond with something in a joking manner. The less offense you take, the more it annoys them.

I think if the person you are responding to looks in the forum rules ... it the rules for posting are still in effect for PM's

Yes, but I think a poster is more likely to flame when it isn't going out on the public forum.

[jdinasia]

I typically just click on the PM block option when someone gets nasty (or authoritative) with me via PM. It works wonders.

[pipo1000]

When somebody flames you a jerk or whatever when you stay in a bar or anywhere in real life you also go cry about with the police?

[473geo]

When somebody flames you a jerk or whatever when you stay in a bar or anywhere in real life you also go cry about with the police?

You must understand in the endless spherical discussions of the politics forum, there are many to whom being accused of holding a wrong opinion is worse than being shot... .

[WarpSpeed]

We do our best too keep up with this and are in the process of training new mods. Please use the report function on any posts you feel are out of line.

CD I understand the hard row you have to hoe here.

It's just after a certain number of times biting my tongue, or just walking away from the forum for a break, reporting things in an effort to generally raise the bar back to former levels of civility, more often than not for someone else's benefit, and not my own benefit, it begins to wear decidedly thin, to the point of walking away for an extended period. I do understand there are several elements that WOULD like this to happen. Along with several others of just plain trollish temperament but no divisional axe to grind.

I have noted a few new mod faces, and that is encouraging, and also discouraging because it suggest other mods might have burnt out on the whole thing. I have been rebuked at least twice for allegedly using the Report Button as a weapon of censorship, which at the time was droll, because It wasn't me who had used it recently. But it does give one pause.

Yes I just had a recent example of this myself and my take is allowing one member to come into a thread and demean or sarcastically throw the thread into a tizzy with a completely off topic comment and not nip it immediately.

If a post serves no other obvious purpose or value except as a sarcastic response or demeaning to another member it should be deleted and if any response from the targeted member they should be PM'd privately and not chided openly but considerately and respectfully with an explanation and understanding of their frustration displayed instead of berated openly and the offending party getting away without so much as a mention nor their offending post removed. That type of response encourages more of the same from the offenders not discourages it... They know they can throw out those remarks with impunity and the target gets the punishment and the berating instead of them if responding in defense so it becomes an endless cycle of member abuse..

Edited December 5, 2010 by WarpSpeed

[CDNinKS]

View PostCDNinKS, on 2010-12-05 18:41, said:

I find TV very civil compared to another forum I used to frequent (based about 2 hours south of BKK )

There the mods flame you

Quite civil for sure. I tried another forum here in Pattaya...I lasted one day. It was nothing but bad language, name calling, etc. Maybe some are into that, I'm not. And pretty much all they did was discuss soi 6 and walking street....

I should have said southwest of BKK and yes, the same sort of petty crap goes on in that forum as well....

[Ulysses G.]

One of the reason for the increase in flaming is the World News political threads. The anarchist type posters that dominate it rarely post anything more than one line taunts or inaccurate propaganda from loony websites that add nothing to any discussion and do nothing but provoke anger.

They sometimes get thrown off, but since they seem to have numerous nicks and post exactly the same stuff it is hard to tell them apart when the return in ten minutes with another name and start up again.

At least when they were in Outside the Box, they had to have a bunch of posts before they could return. Their posts are so similar, I am really not so sure that it is not a single poster with a bunch of sign-in names.

Edited December 17, 2010 by Ulysses G.

[Tywais]

Posts commenting on moderation/moderators have been removed. If you have specific issues or question then either take it up by PM with the moderator or contact support[at]thaivisa.com.

[jdinasia]

Did UG mention "one-line" posts?

I agree though (in principle). I rarely look into the "World News" section. I get my world news elsewhere and use Thai Visa Forums ... for .... Thailand related things

[andrew55]

I wouldn't get into a PM discussion over a heated subject unless I knew it wouldn't get over heated.

The best response to a ignore it or respond with something in a joking manner. The less offense you take, the more it annoys them.

Quite right. First thank them sincerely for their reply. Ask them if there is more. Answer their query if indeed there is one. If not, ignore. They'll go nuts and you've not lowered yourself to the lowest common denominator. Discourage by showing an unemotional response. Don't give them a reason to respond further in an inappropriate manner. Pray for them to learn tolerance. You win.

Suggest having a Mod.(like a 'grown-up) intervene is a last resort.

My bob's worth.

Edited December 19, 2010 by andrew55

[andrew55]

Posts commenting on moderation/moderators have been removed. If you have specific issues or question then either take it up by PM with the moderator or contact support[at]thaivisa.com.

Saddened to see that some posts needed to be removed.

Mods perform a thankless task. If you don't like 'em, join 'em.

[WarpSpeed]

Not true, I thank them when necessary..