Will everyone please freaking CHILL!

[piste off]

Originally Posted by peet

I'm an intense fencing mother...
-p

Shut yo mouth.

Or I'll give you the Shaft!

R-

[VorpalCat]

Originally Posted by piste off

Shut yo mouth.

Or I'll give you the Shaft!

R-

Not being one to resist a straight line like that... (With apologies to WBowman and his cat. )

[Redblade]

Originally Posted by Capt. Slo-mo

By the way, this board is FAR from even a shadow of the dearly departed fencingsucks.com.

Then we're not trying hard enough, dammit. I'm not seeing enough commitment to the cause. We can become much, much worse than FencingSucks.com if we put our minds to it! And I'm not talking about just "trying" a little harder when you show up to argue on the board a couple times a week; occasional, recreational b****ing will only take us as far as mediocrity. No, it's gonna require constant training at home, refining your vicious insults and ad hominem attacks to a razor's edge, getting angry at the slightest provocation with people you already know and strangers on other message boards. Every moment of every day you should be thinking, "I'm going to kick FencingSucks.com's scrawny butt!"

We're going to need some training schedules and season-long periodization plans drawn up. Anyone wanna step forward? ...

[Frater_Frag]

Originally Posted by Capt. Slo-mo

Not for some folks I know...sadly. By the way, this board is FAR from even a shadow of the dearly departed fencingsucks.com.

Hey! That board is still online!

[Guymelef]

I blame the elections (both of them).

[mdstasinos]

Originally Posted by Redblade

Then we're not trying hard enough, dammit. I'm not seeing enough commitment to the cause. We can become much, much worse than FencingSucks.com if we put our minds to it! And I'm not talking about just "trying" a little harder when you show up to argue on the board a couple times a week; occasional, recreational b****ing will only take us as far as mediocrity. No, it's gonna require constant training at home, refining your vicious insults and ad hominem attacks to a razor's edge, getting angry at the slightest provocation with people you already know and strangers on other message boards. Every moment of every day you should be thinking, "I'm going to kick FencingSucks.com's scrawny butt!"

We're going to need some training schedules and season-long periodization plans drawn up. Anyone wanna step forward? ...

Is there going to be a fee for this training?
MD Stasinos

[peet]

Originally Posted by Frater_Frag

Hey! That board is still online!

In name only....


-p

[peet]

Originally Posted by mdstasinos

Is there going to be a fee for this training?
MD Stasinos

You offering to lead the training sessions, or looking to take a few lessons???



-p

[mdstasinos]

Originally Posted by peet

You offering to lead the training sessions, or looking to take a few lessons???



-p

Hey Peet! Either or. Not so, I would not want to boast to have the skills to teach such a course, nor would I care to help others to become more of something that is not so desirable anyway. I believe talents and efforts could be put to a better use. I can think of a few who just might fit the bill but it would only feed their egos.
MD Stasinos

[tbryan]

Originally Posted by Guymelef

I blame the elections (both of them).

I don't see the connection. How are the elections in Zimbabwe and Mongolia related to the tone of discussion on fencing.net's forums?

[Delta]

peet, while I think this a relevant thread to bring up, I was wondering if anyone knew why the moderators weren't being more proactive about this. Then again, I suppose it's easier to let people try to sort it amongst themselves as responsible people who might be able to humor their way to a solution.
I've experienced some very nasty flames that would otherwise have been more productive for myself and others if phrased constructively. I think it's sad to a community that is not as big as some other sports be resort to throwing dirt across the net at each other when we really should be helping each other as much we can in a sport that has lots of pockets for obscurities.

[Empty Wallet]

Originally Posted by tbryan

I don't see the connection. How are the elections in Zimbabwe and Mongolia related to the tone of discussion on fencing.net's forums?

No, the Henley election in the UK and Gippsland in Australia.

The governments were both told to go shop-foco

[mrbiggs]

Originally Posted by peet

We've got a few threads with some really vicious feuding going on these days. What the h**l? When did we turn into the evil mutated re-incarnation of fencingsucks.com? I don't expect the whole world of fencing to have a big hippy love-in or anything, but WTF?

I thought your post was silly until I read some of the political threads on this board. WTF indeed.

If it was up to me the threads would be closed and the purely name-calling posts would be deleted until the posters figured out how to discuss something without attacking people personally and without reason. This isn't youtube, nor fencingsucks, nor any other website highlighted by everyone acting like they're 13 and calling each other names. In general, I view fencing.net as a rare oasis of rational discussion on the internet, and I think we need to keep it that way.

[Gav]

Originally Posted by Delta

peet, while I think this a relevant thread to bring up, I was wondering if anyone knew why the moderators weren't being more proactive about this. Then again, I suppose it's easier to let people try to sort it amongst themselves as responsible people who might be able to humor their way to a solution.
I've experienced some very nasty flames that would otherwise have been more productive for myself and others if phrased constructively. I think it's sad to a community that is not as big as some other sports be resort to throwing dirt across the net at each other when we really should be helping each other as much we can in a sport that has lots of pockets for obscurities.

If you feel something is out of line at least report it. The more reports that are seen the better picture the mods will have.

I also think that there is a very fine line that needs to be tread here. Too much censorship and you risk justifiable censure from the community and risk squashing the debate. I actually think it's quite a healthy sign that this community is willing to debate their sport's politics so openly. Reading all of the rubbish on the recall thread, latterly the USOC intervention and post-election threads I have to say that if the mods had squashed the debate earlier then a lot of our USFA membership might not have known what was going on.

As a general note: the trick with dealing with "flames" is not to rise to them - no matter what your gut tells you to do. In addition; one man's flame is another's frank-comment. A lot of tone can be lost in words if you are not careful. This is a general problem with communication over the Internet (imo).

In the interim I invite member's who think that particular member's are out of line to report the posts.

[Greybeard]

Obviously I need to post pictures of my twin grandsons who just turned two over the weekend and of course my Scottish Terriers

[noodle]

Originally Posted by Delta

peet, while I think this a relevant thread to bring up, I was wondering if anyone knew why the moderators weren't being more proactive about this. Then again, I suppose it's easier to let people try to sort it amongst themselves as responsible people who might be able to humor their way to a solution.
I've experienced some very nasty flames that would otherwise have been more productive for myself and others if phrased constructively. I think it's sad to a community that is not as big as some other sports be resort to throwing dirt across the net at each other when we really should be helping each other as much we can in a sport that has lots of pockets for obscurities.

the most sure-fire way to get a post looked at is to report it. there aren't many mods here, and while they do try to read everything, there's a lot of stuff said on here and some will slip through the cracks. if you don't like it, report it. all that'll do is ensure the posts in question get attention.

[Craig]

What noodle and Gav said.

Man, my home DSL goes down and all hell breaks loose on the weekend.

Craig

[peet]

Well, I dunno 'bout the rest of you all, but I feel better already. Any thread that gets three icanhascheezburger's, two motherf**kers, Sam Jackson, Shaft!, and Zimbabwe all in two pages can't be all bad...


Teh kitteh epay wayt 'specially made me lolz...

-p

[Delta]

point taken, I had hoped a PM would do the trick, but I suppose not. Thanks everyone.
As for responding to flamers, often showing people a new perspective reiterating and/or rephrasing a point works as well. Ignoring flames can leave everyone blind. Both parties walk away without learning anything constructive.
I agree a fine line exists between moderating and letting two people debate (even if one or both parties transgress the line of courtesy) and it's not an easy job. Not everyone here comes to the boards with the same standards of manners. I don't have a solution beyond that moderating means not only shutting a thread down, but redirecting posters' perspective back where it belongs. I think it's a solid way to balance conflicting views without hindering its flow.

[jjefferies]

Preemptive Elegy
by Paul Guest

Another future I don't want to believe in:
my body filled with me dabbed in ice,
victim of comic book conflagration
involving great powers and
absurd scheming and
slights darkly nursed over the years and
monologues refined and
refined for the day that had to come
when Fate evened things out,
made right or bearable the wrong and unbearable,
brought low the high and mighty,
raised up the low and once weak
and me stumbling in on it all,
looking for the bathroom or the gift shop,
blasted northward to the Pole.
------------------
For some reason I thought this fragment appropriate