" lately a few users have taken it upon themselves to use the General Conversation forum to attemopt to shove their political viewpoionts down the throats of others."

so if someones views make folks angry, they are banned? btw, i know waxy wasnt banned, he was suspended.


sorry,(no im not) but General Conversation is just that, why not rate the whole damn site G for general audiance and then you'll have your squeaky clean site?

truth is.......people disagree and somrtimes violently so. certainly violent words are better than violent actions.

 

Unfortunately, some of the postings where not G rated. Why can't discussion in this forum be squeaky clean? As Ken has posted, kids look at this site and there is nothing wrong with this site setting a example. Start bending the rules, and the whole thing could tank.

 

ultramagdan - I agree with you on that point. Without structure there is chaos.
There is no need for people to get violently rampant about political issues and such here - this is a site devoted to Ford Trucks, Truck Culture, and the people who drive them.
There are LOTS of other sites out there geared for ranting and raving.
We've got a good thing going here (thanks to Ken and all his helpers), so lets keep it going in the right direction.
Keep on Truckin' y'all!
My Two Cents

 

Here's an idea, if you don't like this site, go somewhere else.

 

I have been warned on a few occasions, and while I may not have agreed with the reasons why I was warned, I always understood that my use of this forum is bound by Ken's guidelines, and that I must respect those guidelines.
And Ken really isn't asking that much...all he wants is for the discussions to be free of garbage (I've been guilty, and I have made efforts...) and to remain CIVIL and free of suggestive, vulgar and derogatory discourse.
It's not tough to tweak your language and presentation to meet the criteria; choose your words, phrases, and confrontational style wisely and you will remain happy, and more importantly, so will our man Ken. This site has been good for me AND my truck (neither of us curse and swear as much ).
BDV

 

Some of you guys make some real good points.

First off, icelander is right, but you don't want a G rated sight because political correctness will eventually shut that down anyway. If you want to run a thread for children and to set a good example for them, tell them to follow you to church on Sunday and quit blaming me/us for the websites they visit, raise your own kids, control the content in your own home, or only show they the thread on shock absorber removal.

Secondly, cuss/curse words are never okay here. Some want vulgarity eliminated as well, but vulgarity is different to everyone that logs on here. Words used in Church are not okay here. Does that make sense? Sure, whatever the owner wants, it's his list.

Third, the General list IS the list that people want to read and partisipate in. The message count is often 10-20 times the other categories. Why?

And, if we can't talk about our feeling in general, get closer as different states, countries, what's the point? You may as well shut it down. I give Canadians 'whatfor' when they deserve it and expect it back. If people that have been friends for over a hundred years can't openly discuss problems, let's all go home and let it fester some more.

And, some vulgarity in a post is wrong. It would be more effective if the moderators locked a thread because of a vulgar word, and left it there and locked. (like the kids don't know the word) That way people would know WHAT crossed the line.

Changing your view point from conservative to liberal or back because of posting rules is silly, only a frightened person living in Iraq could be made to repeat things they knew were a lie. I have a toy parrot that will do that.

We took a word out of common use that started with 'B' and ended in 'D' which meant a child born out of wedlock. Using the common word with a common meaning was put on the PC hit list because some weenie didn't like that one. (it never was a cuss word or vulgar) What has happened since, everyone thinks the practice of having children out of wedlock is just great and so new age. Society tells us that it doesn't work out for society or the kid very well and it's not great. We need a derrogatory word for that to teach people from an early age to keep their pants on.

Let's not talk about it, I think it's going away

As far as this being a Ford Truck thingie, we don't do that here. Go post in the correct area (righty tighty, lefty loosy, you know the thread I'm talking about). If you want all adult conversation to cease because children might read it, increase your vocabulary, use a spell checker and think about what you are writing. We will elevate the child’s mind or bore them and they will go somewhere else.

If a vulgar word is never again seen here, why in the world would you entice a child to engage in conversations of war, killing, torture, fragging your own tent mates, and many of the conversations w/o vulgar words. Small children should not learn about things like that too early and not from some guy/gal that lies about their real name and agenda.

Am I ousted?

 

You're free to have your political discussions here. The problem is when users start calling people names because they don't agree with their view point or they start calling the oposing side ignorant. For example, telling Canadians you disagree with them over something rather than telling them they suck.

FYI, Waxy was not suspended for his political postings. He was suspended after he posted on three different threads that I banned him from the General Conversation section, which I never did. And his suspension only lasted until he contacted me about the issue.

I'm asking users to discuss topics in a mature manner without degrading other users and to disagree without being disagreeable. That's not being "G rated", that's being considerate.

Please spare me the sarcastic posts about being ousted -- it only serves to prove my point.

 

A follow-up.... why is it that every time I try to maintain the site standards I get stones thrown at me and people second-guessing my motives?

When you go to your friends house you follow his rules. If they don't smoke in their house, you don't whip out a cigar. If they take their shoes off at the front door, you take yours off. Sure, your standards may not be the same as mine but when I am your guest I'll abide by your standards. I don't argue with you about it and ask you if you're going to throw me out.

If I let it be a free for all where users are ill-behaved I get stones thrown at me for tolerating the behavior. Likewise, here I am trying to maintain a civil environment and you throw stones at me.

There are sites out there with little moderation and I guess some people like them if they enjoy pop-up ads, 2-3 ads per page, constant gimmickry and post padding (dozens of "you're cool" and "me too" replies).

Frankly...... it's getting really old.

 

Three cheers for the Republic of FTE!

 

I'm no puritan by any stretch of the imagination, but in these times of education by boob tube and R-rated movies, some people seem to forget that profanity is still viewed by a majority as the speaker having a limited vocabulary. There are plenty of non-profane or non-sexually oriented words to use as conversational emphasis, verbs, adverbs, adjectives and nouns that your children can read and most likely get more out of these discussions than if they deteriorate into illiterate , name calling, profane exchages.

Ken provides us with one of the better forums and the best Ford Truck Forum on the Internet. It is his house, so remembering that manners cost nothing extra seems like a small consideration.

 

A note to the Webmaster

I like this site very much (Ford entousiast...) and I thank Ken very much for that site.
When I take part to the forum "USA-Arrogant Empire...", I thougt that I was able to express my opinion....foreign opinion (I'm Belgian)...but I repare a lot of intolerance to other opinions that USA opinions. Sorry, but the world is not only USA. Have I do something wrong? Have I do something wrong buying a F150 4x4 in Belgium? Am I wrong having my own opinion?
If that Forum is on the Net, it's to let people express their opinion, and tolerance is the first step of democracy!

have a nice day

 

I'm with Ken. I support the moderation of these forums. Take a look at Usenet if you want to experience non-moderated Internet discussions. They often end up with eight or ten people cursing and disparaging one another.

Ken, you are probably giving the negative posters too much weight. Most of us out here like the way you run this site and just don't talk about it. Stay with it.
jor

 

If I didn't like the way this site was maintained....I would not come back....good going Ken.

 

I think all Ken's saying is think before you post. Maybe type it up in Word and spell check. Go out for a walk and come back and look it over. Ask yourself, "would I send this post to my Mother, Dad, daughter?" In a way, you are.

The days are getting longer-cabin fever will soon be over.

 

I think Ken is right in trying to maintain integrity on this site.

I don't think he is saying that you can not have an opinion.

I believe he is trying to ask people to put thought into what they type and try to present their view point in a non-slandorous way - especially when you don't really know the person to whom's point you are posting a rebuttal. (I know that some of you out there know each other, but those are exceptions).

Debates are great - they are what makes conversation interesting some times.
I know I would miss reading some of the great debates here on what is better and why.

You just have to think about what you are typing.

I once saw this sign hanging on a wall:

THINK!
THINK!
THINK!
SPEAK!

I think it holds true for postings here.