Name calling on the forum

Quote from Dr.Phil McGraw---"He who yells first,loses". IMHO,anyone who gets upset enough to go ballistic on an internet thread has more serious issues than debating inexperience. That "Ignore" list works wonders for people that deliberately troll or harass someone. It's a more viable alternative when handling a bully when you can't just kick 'em in the berries. :moose:

Odd.

I see a couple faceless, nameless monikers who at times are no less guilty of some of the various behaviours. Quick to point fingers at others, without the willingness, to first examine their own involvements and actions that start things. Me, I'm always man enough to first look in the mirror, admit my own failings, (we are all human after all) and deal with that first.

Occasionally, I've crossed "lines". And on those occasions, I'm just as quick to say. "My bad". Nor do I hide behind a faceless monitor. My names John Bennett. Who I am, what I do. I have nothing to hide, or hang my head over. If more people didn't hide behind......

Do I get into it. Yep. Because I won't take crap from people. Not in person, certainly not on the net. I will always fire back, and the more it goes on, the more intolerant I become, the harsher my replies. As with hockey, it's normally the retaliatory that gets sent to the box.....can say, that while it has happened, it's a rare day where I will poke someone. Be it trolling, be it "name calling", be it.....even PMs threatening violence.


I'd say more, cite some examples myself, but really see no point. I concern myself with myself.

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Originally Posted by fishermccann

Anyone who has been on a debating team knows, that once an attack is on the person and not the idea , you have lost.

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^^^^

This has always been my take on online interactions and discussions with differing viewpoints. Once someone has resorted to an ad-hominem attack, they have effectively lost, and any discussion by them further is irrelevant.

However, if one is going to wade onto an internet forum, one must also realize the perils of doing so.

My philosophy on this is: why bother? Why bother getting involved in such nonsense with people you don't know and will likely never meet? So far, I have never been called a name or (as far as I can recall) called anyone else a name. It is just not worth the aggravation to get involved in this type of behavior. It's the internet - anyone can claim to be an expert. It is usually best to just let these people live in their imaginary world and ignore them. The ignore feature is great, and more people should use it.

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Originally Posted by welsh

The moderators are being more than a little selective in enforcing the rules.

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I beg to differ on that but realize you have had issues with the way things are moderated so will simply say that if you feel someone has called you mentally ill or accused you of being a drug dealer report the thread. I am not aware of any coming across as someone blatantly doing this and I will check with the moderators to see if they are aware. If you feel we missed some of the obvious threads please re-report them and our team will take a look and make a decision on them.

Keep in mind that the reported threads should be obvious what is being said is offensive or against the rules. Many times reported threads are a result of members that have history and one member reads into the other member's comment (to them they may know what they are insinuating but to the moderators, who have no idea of any history, they may not see the issue).

Please keep in mind the moderators are volunteers that do their best to be fair and to balance things on here.

GunNut - the name calling is not tolerated and the moderators do their best to weed out those members that resort to it. At this time members that appear to be trying to disable a thread or chose to bicker with other members (or troll a thread) are removed from that discussion - based on the moderation teams discretion. Sometimes, if the team feels it is warranted, an infraction accompanies the thread ban.

The team does their best to be fair with the enforcement and we appreciate the help of the member base in reporting the posts/threads to us that may be of issue.

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Originally Posted by welsh

As far as actual name calling goes, as far as I can see it involves one individual, who the moderators refuse to deal with.

Apart from various name-calling ("the worst kind of quisling," "wormy little back-stabber"), he's recently accused me of being mentally ill and of admitting that my professional work is dishonest, and has slyly insinuated that I'm involved in drug dealing.

Other members have called him on his behaviour, and he simply shouts them down and suggests that if they knew what was really going on, they'd be on his side.



The record suggests otherwise. If my name was Amanda Lynn Mayhew, I suppose the threads would have been removed. The moderators are being more than a little selective in enforcing the rules.

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Like I said, where there is a history of say, subtle insinuations of sub level intelligence or both sides we tend to let some things go as bantering and rhetoric.
Comparing yourself to ALM is wrong in oh so many ways. Pertinent to this issue, is that she has never gotten into a discussion with any other member where insults were insinuated or any rabble was roused. Furthermore the post you are referring to seemed to be designed to target her and the a company she represents directly from the start. If a similar thread had been started with you as the target I assure you it would have been dealt with in the same manner.

As far as the comments you quote as having been directed at you, I do not recall those issues being reported (not to say they weren't) I agree that they not acceptable.