Matt and Ben,

I just wanted to say that I respect the work you both do on this site and your committment to the site. You have given us a place in which to discuss Prince and his music, as well as other artists. I respect your rights as the owners/moderators of this site to do as you choose. It is not up to us to say how this site should be run. I know that when dealing with the public that sometimes choices have to be made that others will not agree with, or even like for that matter.

Having said that, I myself would have responded differently to the Shausler thread and other threads. Perhaps a warning that threads of that nature would not be allowed in the future would have been more appropriate. But what is done is done. We have no choice but to stand by your decision. And I'm sure that we will all be glad when this is behind us.

Many people are upset bcause Shausler's thread was locked and yet other threads that were basically throwing flames at other members to your forums were allowed to remain open. I'm sure that you can understand their frustration over an innocent nonsensical thread being closed while threads about Penis size and let's flame whoever were allowed to remain open to comments. None of those threads contributed to the site, and many of those threads actually hurt the integrity of this site in that new people coming to the site built a very negative first impression. And as we know, first impressions are important.

One thing to keep in mind is that you are basically creating a town, or city, on the web with this site. You are the mayors and attorney generals. As such, objectivity is a must. However, even mayors and attorney generals have assistants. My suggestion is that you choose those people that you feel would maintain objectivity to help you moderate the boards. You cannot possibly moderate all the boards alone and still maintain the integrity and objectivity of the site. There are too many posts for only a few to moderate. When you choose those individuals to help you, set up guidelines of what is permissable and what is not. Also in creating other moderators to help you, you in essence would then moderate the moderators to ensure that objectivity is maintained. For instance, a moderator must report to you why they have deleted a response or locked a thread. If they are able to give you an objective reason, then it should stand as such. If they cannot give you an objective reason, then you have the power to overturn their decision. (However, I would set it up that before they can delete the post or lock a thread, that you receive the reason prior to it actually occuring so that there not be the need to apologize for doing so if you choose to overturn their recommendation.)

Also, I would leave the general forum open with guidelines in place. General Discussion means just that: general discussion. Anything tends to go in General Discussion forums. It is a place for people to get to know each other, to discuss topics that are of interest to them. If you do not wish to allow nonsense topics, then state that in the guidelines, and give examples of what is or is not allowed.

It is your site to do with what you will. And I respect any decision that you make. But I do believe that we all want only the best for Prince.org and that we all feel we have found friends here with a common interest. It's only natural to want to get to know those friends better.

Love and Light to you both and I pray this will all be resolved soon to everyone's benefit.

InfinitiesHeaven
[This message was edited Wed Jun 19 9:39:09 PDT 2002 by InfinitiesHeaven]

princebonics


AHHH!

CarrieCee said:

You need to download the new spellchecker from micro$oft.

www.microsoft.com/spellch...onics.html
[This message was edited Wed Jun 19 9:26:35 PDT 2002 by GoldiesParade]

CarrieCee said:

CARRIECEE

NO NEED TO SHOOT PRINCEBONICS

JUST VOTE THREAD ZERO STARS FIFTY TIME

THAT WHAT AVERYONE ELSE DO

POOK said:

:LOL:

Hahahaha!

I love it when people do that! Do they actually think that it means anything?

No Prince.org should not have to set out specific guidelines - you should have enough common sense not to use the org for any foolishness that pops in your head. Some people used the org as a launching site for a prank against okay.player. So if okay.player decides to attack back who is the target? Prince.org is the target. Doesn't matter to you who gets attacked because you decided it was all fun & anyone who didn't agree was a loser. And threads devoted to each other are not discussion. You want to write love notes to each other use e-mail. This type of garbage went on daily. I think shutting down general discussion was a mild reaction.

I've corrected the "princebonics" as I did not write this thread to create any kind of controversy. Sorry if it caused anyone any distress.

ZaZa said:

Mild...?

What would you do... send someone out to beat up posters that you don't agree with?

InfinitiesHeaven said:

No controversy... princebonics are just hard to read.

ZaZa said:

ZaZa I rarely ever post here. I do read it when I can. However, I realize that the General Discussion has created a lot of controversy over the types of threads that were being created. But the fact is that General Discussion is just that, it *is* general discussion. Granted many people used it for nonsense, but we each have the ability to discern whether we wish to post on nonsense threads or ignore them. Many people didn't ignore the nonsense threads for their own reasons, some because they like to create controversy or to argue, others because they found them humorous, and I'm sure there are reasons that I will just never understand. Those that create controversy by going to other websites and creating havoc, enjoy the drama. Just because they enjoy the drama does not mean that everyone else has to join the bandwagon. I don't know anything about the okayplayer.com thing. So can't comment upon that particular incident. However, I do feel that the General Discussion Forum was important to prince.org in that it allowed people to gain more understanding over topics that they may not have thought about. It allowed them to think about subjects and learn what their own opinions or ideas were about those subjects. It also allowed others to find support for issues or concerns that they may have felt no one else understood. Granted there was a lot of nonsense, BUT no one had to read it. The subject line generally said it all and if someone chose to read that particular thread, then it was on them, not on the originator of the thread. This is just my opinion and I'm not trying to start any kind of controversy with my opinion. I just feel that we each have something to contribute and to learn from each other.

IceNine said:

Nope I would just shut down all the forums completely. I would put up an announcemet saying you are all pissing me off & I'm shutting down the forums until after Xenophobia. No discussion just shut everybody down. You abuse it now lose it for a while.
Thats why I think the moderators reaction was mild.

ZaZa said:

Well... I gotta hand it to you... that would be less mild without actually beating anyone up or killing anyone.

Well, you are not Ben, thank god. Shutting down the org in the manner you have described would not only alienate everyone but also cause a permanant mass exodus in my opinion.

ZaZa said:

Infinities is a wonderful person, and I mean this with all my heart. Take it easy on her.

Why not just deal with the abusers? instead of tarring everyone with the same brush.

Nicely stated, Infinities... I even like the idea of appointing members as moderators to help cut down on the on-hands responsibilities...although I doubt it would erase the complaints when threads are either locked or deleted...everyone would assume that this member/moderator or that member/moderator was only acting out of their own personal likes and dislikes, instead of acting on Ben's wishes...

Zthe9s said:

OK FIRST WE DEAL WITH NAME JOCKERS

THEN MOVE ON OK

POOK said:

IF THE ORG KILLS POOK FOR INVADING US WE WILL LEAVE YOU ALONE IF NOT THE 40 PEOPLE WE HAVE INFULTRATED WILL CONTINUE TO BRING THIS SITE TO IT'S KNEES. REALPOOK'S DREAM LIVES ON!

revenge said:

You are so sad. I'm realizing that you are probably about 13 years old so I won't call you any obscenities anymore. Grow up and get a life, it's the internet buddy.

sag10 said:

I second that. Great points, Infinities, I like the idea of the moderators, too.

I wasn't picking on you Infinities...I just cringe when I see "eye" in use of "I". Sorry if I hurt you.

CarrieCee said:

Awe CarrieCee that was nice of you, then again that is you!

revenge said:

Do you talk like that on OkayPlayer?

Just a thought...
There are currently 98 pages in the GD forum; maybe instead of keeping every thread that is created, after say 24 hours, those new threads that have been started but have less than 20 replies are automatically deleted.
If ppl knew their pointless threads wouldn't last long, maybe they wouldn't create them. And if ppl knew offensive topics would be gone, they wouldn't reply to them.
And would this save HD space?


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[This message was edited Wed Jun 19 12:37:55 PDT 2002 by randomduck]

I love to come to this place to get my daily dose of comedy in the GD section.
It's so sad that it's over.

It's just words on a computer screen.

I feel that we take this place way to seriously.

randomduck said:

Just another thought: Finish your thesis!

Revenge I don't know you but there are certain people at the Org. just like OKP that are pretty nice peeps and CarrieCee is one of those...she doesn't just speak to be mean, hateful. Some of your comments are not called for.

9s hi hun

2the9s said:

I've finished it, just some proof reading to do.



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[This message was edited Wed Jun 19 12:47:19 PDT 2002 by randomduck]

Carrie it's okay. You didn't hurt me. At one time I had a reason for using Princebonics on the org, but I no longer have that reason. I just didn't want to offend anyone, so that's why I edited my post.

Sag10, Azure, and Wellbeyond, thank you. :-*

Revenge I wasn't aware of whatever took place on OKP. But one thing that I have come to realize in life is that once you allow something negative to affect your actions negatively, then the first negative act did what it was intended to do, and you thereby lost the battle by default. You win the battle when you negate the first act by showing that you are above it. Calling others names only shows that you cannot handle things with maturity and grace. I'm sure that is not the case with you and that you just got caught up in the moment. I hope that you are able to apologize and show that you are mature.