When does a thread get so out of bounds...

[Theophylact]

...that it requires closing?

I'm of two minds on this, but with a strong inclination in one direction.

On the one hand, we do have rules about avoiding deliberate insult or offense, and also about sticking to the point , and I think people should follow them.

On the other hand, I hate censorship more than I dislike being offended or bored.

If I can't stand the heat, I will, without any shame, get out of the kitchen. If I think a thread is getting out of hand, either because it's getting filled up with insult or irrelevancy, I'll stop putting my tuppence in.

If I should ultimately decide that the community is too full of bigots, bullies or bores, I'll leave that too.

I don't think the TechIMO Community is anywhere near a crisis, and on the whole I'm easy about letting people flap their lips.

How about you?

The homosexual thread did get very heated at times. I don't understand why people would go off and say well I want my account deleted because this person thinks this way. Or visa versa

When you have a community you will NOT have people with the same views. Respect them for there views whether there right or not. Everyone is entitled to there opinion. Not everyone is right or wrong. That’s what makes this Land so great. Freedom of speech.

[daveleau]

You will not behave in an abusive or hateful manner, and will not harass, threaten, or attack anyone, whether implied or expressed. This is strictly enforced.

You will not post messages that are outside of the stated topic or subject of a forum nor will you disrupt, cause mayhem or otherwise abuse or misuse a forum in any way by deliberately posting repeated irrelevant messages or copies of identical messages (also known as "flooding" or "spamming").

Objectionable or Questionable Material is any post, or any content contained within a post, which violates any of our policies as stated above. Such violations should be reported to a Staff Member.

More at the FAQ

It was the first of these quotes that was put to the test recently. It was broken and we did have to do some editing. In the past we have had some threads that discuss controversial topics like this without a problem...a nice professional discussion between differing opinions. Other threads of a similarly heated tone got out of hand. We usualy do editing of specific problemed areas instead of closing, since we do not want to silence people. But we take things a they come and make decisions as needed. gladly it does not happen often.

I think people can have differences of opinions without getting angry. When attacks become personal and when people begin speaking through anger is when we usually need to edit and contact the poster. We don't necesarily want a sterile forum, nor do we want one on fire. There are children that visit the forums, so we keep it clean. TechIMO is a family environment.

Dave

[capybara]

Some forums - not this one - it is considered ok
and normal to insult and threaten each other.
im am so glad we can usually avoid this here.
im usually amazed how hot topics - with blood and peoples lives on the line - like the mid east
or gay parents - usually can be discussed civilly
here. its also amazing how even low key topics
(amd vs. intel) or (windoze vs. linux) or
(nvidia vs. radeon) gets reduced to trading
of insults at some other forums we all know.
However, i must say, windoze is 5h17 and its
users are gay parents from the middle east.
NOT! JUST KIDDING!

[originel]

lol. true, i prolly do get heated at times, but i really try not to insult people during the process. something i learned a long time ago was that if you want to try and change someone's mind (which, let's face it, is why we really have discussions), it's best to professionally show logical points intsead of yelling insults. all that does is anger the other side and close them off even more to your point. oh and btw, just out of curiosity, what thread got closed, i don't think i was participating in that one (you don't have to answer of course).

[Warthog]

bah.....old news....heated threads like that nearly always get out of control. Theo I'm surprised you even need to bring this up, seeing you've been with us since Oct. or before.

Unless it's an interest of mine, I usually get bored with the constant back and forth-ness after awhile....I haven't been to the gay thread since the...4th page I think? Whatever.

Warthog

[originel]

yeah, your prolly right warthog, i just haven't been here this long (2 weeks maybe).

[osprey4]

A thread should be closed when it's a riddle with no answer.

John

[Warthog]

whoa.

That's deep.

Theo, I agree with your post. TechIMO is not in crisis because of one "heated" thread. And I don't think it was particularly heated.

I am a simpleton and look at the world in very basic terms.

Everyone has an equal right to their opinion.

While I can express my own position to others, it doesn't necessarily follow that they will agree with me.

Just as I don't agree on many issues with them.

Bottom Line: Each to his own. This is an awesome community and it is everyne's responsibility, not only Scott Wainer's or the Mods' , to work at improving it further. While there will always be bigoted people in the world, I think most of the members here are very liberal and broadminded. And that is the strength and raison d'etre for the Forum in any case.