Board Courtesy

[Downtown]

One of the things that appeals to me about our sport is the courtesy that is supposed to be a part of it.

I just read a couple of the newer post. The name calling and bickering is truly appalling.

(It is not even clever name calling and bickering.)

True this is a message board and there will always be those that will be rude. It can't be helped. However I recently read a post that was obviously from a young person. He made a mistake. He missed something and it seemed to me he was reprimanded for it.

Patience is a part of fencing. Would it hurt to be patient with young people?

Control is a part of fencing. If you can't control yourself on the boards, how can you control yourself on the strip?

[cherubknight]

*claps for this post*
well said

[keropie]

/cheer /cheer /cheer

[MyrddinsPrecint]

everyone on this post seems to have "just joined" under their names....

and, i understand that sometimes the board goes overboard....

but is it, perhaps, the case that maybe there was more going on in at least one of the bickering posts than you could have known?

i, for instance, have been known to make fun of certain people. this knowledge is better understood if you've been around for a while, and know that i know the people in person.......

yes, some of it is over the top, but other things are reactions to poster who have historically shown one way of viewing the world........ and ... yeah.

[ReverseLunge]

I think you new guys should stick around and watch for a few weeks before you decide to start running things.

[guiltyspark7750]

*shrug* I'm new and I didn't notice anything unusual.

[mrbiggs]

Originally Posted by Downtown

One of the things that appeals to me about our sport is the courtesy that is supposed to be a part of it.

I just read a couple of the newer post. The name calling and bickering is truly appalling.

(It is not even clever name calling and bickering.)

True this is a message board and there will always be those that will be rude. It can't be helped. However I recently read a post that was obviously from a young person. He made a mistake. He missed something and it seemed to me he was reprimanded for it.

Patience is a part of fencing. Would it hurt to be patient with young people?

Control is a part of fencing. If you can't control yourself on the boards, how can you control yourself on the strip?

I have never, ever seen another internet forum with the respect here.

And spelling and grammar. Those are also good.

Sure, there's the occaisional thread that goes overboard, but that happens.

And what RL (Reverselunge, since you're new) said is right.

[Gav]

Originally Posted by mrbiggs

IAnd spelling and grammar. Those are also good.

Sure, there's the occaisional thread that goes overboard, but that happens.

Mostly good. There are some people who I would happily beat to death with a large dictionary or grammar guide.

This is one of the better behaved (non-technical) forums I've ever used.

[RebelFencer]

Originally Posted by ReverseLunge

I think you new guys should stick around and watch for a few weeks before you decide to start running things.

quoted for truth.

[Mr Epee]

Snagged this from another thread.

Originally Posted by ReverseLunge

HAHA! whatever Dude. Do you realize that you are in a room full of expert fencers and you want to go force your unsuccesful advice on us. There are fencers here who have been to the Olympics and World cups. You need to learn more before you start teaching us. If you want to fence me then see you at the next DIV1 NAC.

This is the source of most of the "bickering".

[RITFencing]

Originally Posted by Mr Epee

Snagged this from another thread.

This is the source of most of the "bickering".

It's half my fault anyway; I should have known better than to respond.

[chiz]

Downtown,

And just who on this board is a retiring, non aggressive, non assertive person? If you can’t stand the heat…

A large part of the discussion is sharing information, most of the advice has great merit, the bad advice gets shot down quickly.

But my advice is to damn in private and praise in public, the private message is great for correction and clarification.

Chiz

[keropie]

Originally Posted by ReverseLunge

I think you new guys should stick around and watch for a few weeks before you decide to start running things.

It doesn't take any particular experience in any forum (be it digital, paper, or agora) for people to recoginize incivility and rudeness. Now, maybe there's some history between RITF and RL that I'm unaware of, but the fact was that thread was ridiculous, and it started out with a simple request for advice. And while I'm new to the board, I'm not new to the sport, and know a fair number of people associated with it (hell, I knew Craig before he moved down to ATL and fenced with him when I was in high school... though he beat me like a red headed step child >< ).

I will also admit that I do think it is reasonable and indeed valuable for people to debate the advice given, and have done so myself. Some of the advice given will certainly have counterpoints, and some of the advice given is just bad.

But you don't have to attack the messenger

^^

[Fencergrl]

Originally Posted by RITFencing

It's half my fault anyway; I should have known better than to respond.

Ah... no worries... I saw the spat.... it didn't get that ugly... trust me we've all seen uglier.... RL likes to argue... no one (especially RL) takes it seriously. If some new people are bothered by it, they'll soon realize that disagreements get heated at times, but in general F-Net is a pretty friendly fun place.

I do want to remind people to take it easy on the new people, until they get used to the characters here.

[RebelFencer]

Originally Posted by keropie

It doesn't take any particular experience in any forum (be it digital, paper, or agora) for people to recoginize incivility and rudeness. Now, maybe there's some history between RITF and RL that I'm unaware of, but the fact was that thread was ridiculous, and it started out with a simple request for advice. And while I'm new to the board, I'm not new to the sport, and know a fair number of people associated with it (hell, I knew Craig before he moved down to ATL and fenced with him when I was in high school... though he beat me like a red headed step child >< ).

I will also admit that I do think it is reasonable and indeed valuable for people to debate the advice given, and have done so myself. Some of the advice given will certainly have counterpoints, and some of the advice given is just bad.

But you don't have to attack the messenger

^^

The point though is that you don't come into a community which you know very little of and start telling people how to act. Period. A lot of our antics towards each other do look a little hostile to outsiders since they don't know the relationships and how they work on this board. I give people crap sometimes, it doesn't mean I don't like them or that I'm serious about it. So chill.

[Zilverzmurfen]

Originally Posted by RebelFencer

The point though is that you don't come into a community which you know very little of and start telling people how to act.

Although there may be some point in what your're saying here, RF, you have to keep in mind that -- registration date aside -- they may have been lurkers for ages.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

ok, i think i'll try to reword my earlier response.

Hello to everyone new to the board----

Reverse Lunge is our current major Troll. He/she tends to make a few thousand inflammatory posts followed by one or two nice, decent, insightful posts. personally, i think s/he has another sn, and that s/he forgets to log out and log on again sometimes. We are rather impatient with RL, and RL can say some pretty horrible stuff.

then there's Alan, who is very anti-Roche, anti-new timings, anti-new masks. he has posted a great number of threads on those subjects. the general population tends to groan and think "oh look, another thread from Alan"..... some of them are informative, some of them are a centralized location to complain about whatever, and some are just annoying.

i know quite a few of these people in person, and inside jokes from things that happen in person carry over to the boards, and vice versa.

things like this are the things you might not know if you've only been around a short while. things like this also make it difficult to know what's really offensive and what's past history.

there are a few individuals here who show a regular and systematic utter lack of respect for everyone and everything. those people are a small but vocal minority. it works best to ignore them, especialy initially.

there will be threads that start of rediculous, and threads that end up rediculous. just don't read them.

but if you're so unhappy here that you feel the need to chastise the entire board for it's conduct, and you're under 30 posts into your career here..... you may not ever adjust.

[Fencing Jesus]

I too find things rather combative.

The world is too beautiful a place for this type of behavior.

[RITFencing]

Originally Posted by Fencing Jesus

The world is too beautiful a place for this type of behavior.

YOU'VE never been to Jersey! But then, God had nothing to do with the creation of my home state anyway, so it shouldn't surprise me.

[RebelFencer]

Originally Posted by Zilverzmurfen

Although there may be some point in what your're saying here, RF, you have to keep in mind that -- registration date aside -- they may have been lurkers for ages.

Touche'. One light, touch goes to ZZ.