Have you ever alerted the moderators about a thread? What

was the issue? Personally,I haven't.

Have no one on "ignore"

I take the good with the bad around here.

It just might have been better.

For obvious freepage, vulgarity and profanity directed at someone else's fairly thoughtful post. Other than that, nope. Don't hide threads or people, either...

Actually, not a thread, but a poster.

;)

:D

Other than that, I don't really care what people post.

I'm a live and let live kind of person, but there's a line where cultural mellow becomes apathy or downright social atrophy. Ask the citizens of pre-war Germany, who were just going along and trying not to make a fuss. You participate in these boards, you have an obligation to be a good citizen on them and sometimes that means paying taxes and calling the cops.

I alert on threads which blatantly violate the rules of the board and especially when those threads seem to be produced by repeat offenders. If someone is divulging personal information or the contents of e-mails, -you bet I'm going to try to get the mods to shut that down. Those things walk and sometimes cross a fine line of invasion of privacy and vigilante justice and I'm not personally in favour of either of them.

If a poster is blatantly trolling for a flamewar and has done so in the past, I will alert on their posts. I get tired of watching good posters banned or chastised because they've lost their temper with a troll, and shutting down the source is easiest and most equitable solution.

This is supposed to be a haven for liberals, not a forum in which conservatives can sharpen their wits and their tongues. If I've even a whiff of Freeper in a post, I'll hit alert and let the mods keep an eye on "Whosawhatsis," bless their overworked, underpaid hearts.

I alert on copywrite infringements, because I believe that behaviour to be unethical and just plain wrong as well as against the rules. And yes, people at the lower ends of the food chain can be hurt or damaged by it. I know, I'm one of them.

And some days, I'll even alert just because I think a series of posts are in the wrong forum, or duplicates, or whatever. Because they need the attention of a more appropriate audience, or conversely, because they needs to stop sucking up the page space in the wrong forum.

because you alert so much. Kinda like the boy who cried wolf or the guy who always complained. After awhile no one believed the boy who cried wolf and soon enough the guy who always complained got ignored.

Just curious...Who knows...maybe that doesn't happen at DU.

I personally never alert on posts (or haven't yet). I highly value my right to freedom of speech, and yes I know this board is privately run, but I still stand by my opinion that you should have the right to say whatever you want, whenever you want. That is the wonder of America!

I haven't indicated at any point in my post what the frequency of my alerting might be. So, thank you for showing me your remarkably inaccurate assumptions.

I don't, quite frankly, think it the least bit frequent. I believe the mods do an excellent job by and large and simply acknowledge that they cannot be everywhere reading everything at once, and need our help from time to time. I'd be surprised to learn any one moderator had seen enough of my alerts to recognise my name, much less be tempted to ignore it.

This isn't an issue of Freedom of Speech, as well you know. This is an issue of people's personal responsibility for their speech and good behaviour. What I read when you indicate you feel people should be able to "say whatever you want, whenever you want," is that you don't personally give a damn whether you offend someone or someone else offends you. I willing to bet that really isn't true.

I really don't have much respect for folks who condemn this activity. I consider it part and parcel of good citizenship just as I would consider that seeing drug dealers outside my home engaged in a sale requires alerting the police. It's not enough to say I think that selling drugs should be legal; or that since I'm not personally involved in the sale it's none of my business. It is unlawful and invites an element, a lawlessness, an abrogation of the social contract that I cannot and will not condone.

If the law is wrong, there are appropriate ways to go about trying to change it. If the rules don't meet with your approval, you can try to petition the Administrators in their forum.

written in your post along with a comment about if you get "even a whiff" of something (don't remember what) you will alert. Also, all of the seven reasons you posted for alerting are things that happen on an hourly basis at DU, probably 100 times a day, at least. This being the case, it would stand to reason that you alert often.

I wasn't personally attacking you, as you seem to think, I was merely asking a question out of my own curiosity.

As for comments regarding Freedom of Speech, yes it is the case. It is censorship. Now on this particular messageboard they have the right to censor what is posted, but standing by the liberal traditions and my firm beliefs I choose not to take part in this. I respect the wishes of the Admin., but I do not feel obligated to tell on everyone who makes a borderline comment. It's just not my style.

I do agree that people need to take personal responsibility for their speech and good behaviour, but I also believe that this personal responsibility should come from THEM, not out of fear that someone is going to tell on them etc. Of course I believe people should be able to say whatever they want, whenever they want, however I would hope that they would have the compassion and understanding of how their words might effect those hearing them.

I would say that probably every comment that someone makes in this world would offend SOMEONE. I could tell you that my shoe is blue and if you disagreed, well then you just might be terribly offended. Should I be held responsible for that?

I guess my theory on the whole shebang is that unless something is hurting (and I mean REALLY hurting someone else) a person or a group of people (and I'm not talking about the drama kings and queens of our society who wish they had a real live alert button because everything that is said offends them), I personally do not choose to tattle on them.

Lastly, I don't see the relevence of your jibe about "if the rules don't meet with your approval...petition the Admin in their forum." I have made my views about this issue clear to all parties involved. In addition, just because I don't agree with the "rules" doesn't mean that I break them. But it also doesn't mean that I am going to tell on every person who might.

Again, just my two cents.

never get alerted and dealt with?

Your calculations presume that I spend vast quantities of time at DU doing nothing but scanning articles for an occassion to alert.

That would be inaccurate.

I may have, from time to time, sent two or three alerts in an evening, but typically I don't even send one every day. Not even as often as once a week. Heck, whole months have passed in which I've not sent alerts. Hardly enough to make myself tedious to the moderators. This is because first and foremost, -the mods do an excellent job. A bit of patience and faith in them proves they usually resolve the issues themselves. And second, because I actually have a life and an interest in participating in these boards, not just sitting around scanning for other peoples' infractions.

No, it's not censorship; it's discretion. There is a difference. If they put in place automated software that would eliminate certain words and phrases from our posts, that would be censorship. If everytime a homophobic phrase appeared the thread automatically locked and disappeared into the archive, that would be censorship. Expecting you not to yell "Fuckin'A" during the prayer service at church lest you be escorted out bodily is not censorship, it's an expectation of behavior and discretion favouring the sensibilities of others who attend the service. It's moderating for behaviours of the individual favourable to the many.

Additional presumptions:

"I wasn't personally attacking you, as you seem to think, I was merely asking a question out of my own curiosity."

I had no such thought. What I think is that you're judging me, and not very favourably. You're still doing it. Words like "tattle" give it away. Words like that indicate that thoughts and behaviours are not favourably interpretted. Whole passages about what gives offense as though that were the motivation behind alerts. Trolls, potential Freepers, - those I alert on. People with opinions I find disagreeable, nothing in the rules prevents. I wouldn't waste my own time or that of the moderators if it were just a simple matter of offense. (Complex matters of offense perhaps, but that's another story for another time).

Fine if you want to judge me. I won't be weeping over your poor opinion. But don't let's pretend to ourselves that a value judgement isn't happening.

And the final presumption is in that "if you've a problem with the rules," comment... It wasn't a jibe. It was sincerely meant. There are appropriate ways to protest the rules and laws and to seek to change them. Ignoring the rules you don't agree with is not an appropriate way to seek change. It's Anarchy at best and Fascism at worst. That's a George Bush/John Ashcroft technique; ignore the parts of the constitution you don't agree with or that get in your way.

This final comment: I suspect we have to agree to disagree. I will continue to send alerts and feel that it's correct and appropriate and the better part of valour for participants in these boards to do so. I cannot find myself respecting your position in this matter, and implying I'm a 'tattler' isn't likely to encourage that.

In the past year and a half I've seen many a poster to this board boast that they never 'put anyone on ignore,' they never bother to hide threads, they never send alerts, all stated in a condescending tone that tends to imply there's a moral failing in those of us that do. Significantly more than half of them have gone down in flames a short while later because they were unable to resist a bit of flagrant trolling. I hope for your sake, you defy the averages.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

there's little need to inform them. That said, being relatively new here, I haven't seen a thread I thought worth shutting down yet.

JK. :) :hi: :evilgrin:

We've had a few, some of whom were long-time posters, but they're almost all gone now, thanks mods. The only other time I've ever done it is when a poster states a blatant and debunkable lie about someone.

Alert??? ;)

I want an elected head of state for Canada, not the bloody Royal Family. :D

(turns away, all Fez like)

that hurts. But I love Fez so it's totally cool. Like totally. ;)

You are still cute as a kitten ;)

usually trolls; I think I'm pretty good at spotting them. A couple of times I've alerted on racist stuff. True, I alert on the trolls but if they don't get banned I put 'em on IGNORE. IGNORE is my friend.

because it helps the mods. They can't read it all and it helps them know where a potential problem is. I know an alert just means that the mods will look at the thread or post and determine if it is a problem.

But many many many times.

--- Allen

A few times- blatant freepers or personal attacks.

Same reason every time: Holocaust Denial. Few things get me really angry, but that does the trick each time.

Not that the two are usually inclusive. Usually it's for stuff that I think should be removed quickly, like obvious disruption, or particularly vicious personal attacks.

He was tombstoned later that day. Every single post was freeper ship.
Worse than that...sarcastic freeper ship.

I alert whenever I feel like a post personally attacks another poster, is obvious flamebait, or is morally repugnant to me. I don't do it often and I leave it to the mods to decide whether to do anything about it.

It doesn't hurt to hit alert.

.
.
.

and more than happy to post a "bye - bye" message with their "new" profile!



:bounce: :evilgrin: :bounce:

:hi:

I finally added a single person to my ignore list. *shrug*

Freedom of Speech; over at the Doors board; there is censorship aplenty and on a site started by the Poster Boy for Free Speech during the 60's; Jim Morrison......

Crawl out of your grave, king snake and see all the steps back that have been taken since 9/11 and then truly you will know of THE END OF OUR ELABORATE PLANS.

The subject of the thread was about Cuban Americans and why they are supporting shrub. It got a little ugly with racial slurs and stuff like that. It got locked but the person who was making some inappropriate comments imo, didn't get banned as far as I know.