purplecam said:

I'd certainly visit more often if it were cleaned up.

ThreadBare said:

seriously? someone link me in orgnote?

4 0(+> ORG

luv4u said:

Cleaning up all the posts where there are people who ramble and don't make any sense and cause people to go off track in the thread that isn't leading into anywhere. I'm all for free speech like the next person but when you have people here where you can tell they are trying to start trouble, by saying really silly or even vile things in their posts, that needs to be monitored more in my opinion. Might be harder to do but I think it needs to be looked at. I hope that makes sense. If anyone else has other suggestions, please add on to this.

purplecam said:

And that's where orgers help would be appreciated by hitting that report to moderator button. Don't think that orgers are ratting on people coz by letting the mods know helps make this site a better place to enjoy. The mods have so many threads to wade through on the org it would make your head spin But we do our best to keep on top of things

XxAxX said:

luv4u said:

Personally, I ignore the bizarre posts from certain members in otherwise coherent discussions. What I can't stand is when threads get highjacked and two or three people go off topic and start with either their back and forth bickering or a clique of people start going back and forth with their jokes that are also off-topic and only make sense to themselves.

No, that behaviour shouldn't be tolerated. It was different back in the day when we just had a couple crazies coming in the chat room, but after the forum thing really exploded they've multiplied. Internet access from mental institutions is really not a good thing...


... I should know.

I hate to say this but the Org has dropped intellectual wise. I still say that the org should be a subscription to keep the bad ass kids out.

IAintTheOne said:

Absolutely. That, and new rules that mean "no assholery", assholery equal parts meaning negativity (Even _I_ am over that ) and the kind of obsessive behaviour we're talking about here. Either coherently contribute to the site or get booted. Aaaaaand... we need your credit card ##

Teacher said:

always loved that word "assholery"

IAintTheOne said:

You should, you coined it didn't you?

Teacher said:

Yes I believe I did

Thanks for starting this thread mars. About time it gets discussed.

I think pretty much everybody knows what we are talking about here. I have seen it go much worse since Prince closed the club. That really drew everybody from there to this place. Before it was less crazy and juvenile, every now and then there were actually some intelligent indepth discussions on his music, but these days that is very hard to find. I would also add that there are too many negativos as well always bitching it everything. Makes it all a little sour to visit.

What should be done?

Prince should take his rainbow children back or they should grow up, with some moderators help maybe. In the meantime other orgers should stop ignoring the forum, try to balance the famdom out, bring back some life, diversity and intelligence.

Even though I registered a year ago, I consider myself as a newbie. Only recently I started to read and post in the Music and More forum in detail. Because 2009 seems to be a busy year for Prince, I thought the Org would be the best place to get the news and discuss that, but just like another newbie, I'm a bit disappointed. I'm all for different opinions, but what some people do in those sticky threads is too much. At first I thought it was entertaining but they are really flooding the subject with so-called "constructive criticism". They said their opinion once, okay, we got it, but why repeat them over and over and try to turn down the excitement of others? That's not how a FAN discussion forum should be, right?

The interesting info gets lost among the bashing of those who supposedly "love everything Prince does" by the so-called "objective" fans. That might be entertaining for some regulars, but I can tell someone who searches online to look for new album news, finds the site and checks the headline-threads will be more than likely turned off.

What scares me the most is that according to some replies, certain people have been doing the obsessive behavior for nearly a decade already and it seems they will be allowed to continue...

Just ignore obssessive people, they want a place to belong as well.

SynthiaRose said:

I have a very hard time undestanding why some continue to complain about _____ ( insert any word that discribes others that bother you here )

when YOU HAVE A CHOICE TO NOT ENGAGE THEM PERIOD !



in every forum

Mach said:

Best advice in the world.

Mach said:

It becomes increasingly difficult when those people choose to engage on every thread.

So, yes, one could choose to not visit the M&M forum, but how is that a solution?

Mach said:

No. I'm sorry, but you're wrong. These obsessive people make it very hard to keep a good convo going, there IS such a thing as a sound critical discussion but fanatics ruin it to the point where you don't even bother reading it. Or rather, you're right if you want to drive normal people away and let the crazies roam free. Coherence is needed, or you can shut the shit down. It's the exact same with people who constantly threadjack in the GD, there ARE serious threads in there (the one that springs to mind right off is the one dedicated to the poor people who died fighting for their rights during the prop 8 demonstrations) that get thoroughly disrespected by the same people over and over, jacking the threads and not giving a shit about the sentiments of the person starting the threads. I can jack a thread as good as anybody but there has to be some kind of respect. That jacking and flooding of the same people's posts always directed at each other is at least as obsessive as the loons this thread is originally about. That needs to be stopped too, it's driving good people away and whether some people like to acknowledge it or not, GD does contribute more than fun.

I agree Teach. A good convo thread ends up in the shitter by the threadjackers.

Teacher said:

[Edited 1/5/09 14:20pm]

People have different styles of interaction and levels of emotion. That's what makes the world interesting.

You have to be mature and tolerant. Now I have seen people turn a serious thread into a goofy one and then just post joke after joke after joke until the discussion is ruined.

These are popular people too who raw a herd of responses encouraging their behavior.

When that happens I just leave a thread. Such is society; the freedom is too important to squash due to annoying people (and annoyance is in the eye of the beholder). I think the forum is straitjacketed enough with too many closed threads.

You can't "solve" other people behavior. You have to live and let live. Life is chaos...and there's value in that. You have to look for it.

SynthiaRose said:

But why should you, I, or anybody else have to leave posting on a thread we find interesting because the same people over and over ruin them? Respect IS needed, for things like death (as in the thread I mentioned) - there are plenty of goofy threads these people can post on. If you say you and I can leave then, I say instead: Let THEM leave the thread. Goof elsewhere because you've got all the forums to do it on. The part of your quote that I bolded is the most important though, because that's the reason the flooding of jacking can happen. A small number of people have taken over a great deal at least in GD and it keeps people away - people like you and me, and many more valued members who just left the site entirely because of this and other obsessive behaviours. These forums aren't moderated enough, or I should say they're lopsidedly moderated. This is sad and many good old friends are missing - not banned, just left because of people taking over.

In my original contribution, I suggested that the 'textbook' way to deal with this behaviour is usually not to respond. As with spam, flaming, thread jacking, baiting, and other attention-seeking, by responding to the posters that crave attention, the attention is provided.

As you point out, Teacher, that feels very disempowering if you begin to feel that simply ignoring the behaviour will be treated as tolerating and perhaps even tacitly condoning people continuing to behave in this way.

In general, I think it is better not to respond to the posters of attention-seeking threads or thread-jacks directly, but rather, if you think the post breaks a rule, to report it to a moderator. The rules (as well as the terms of service) are well worth revisiting if anyone is unsure.

For example, they include:

"Don't make posts that are inflammatory just to get people riled up"

"Don't post useless off-topic stuff"

"Even if a silly, no-purpose post seems harmless and fun, don't be surprised if you get a warning and the message locked/deleted"

"Keep messages on-topic"

"Don't create 'nonsense' threads"

By reporting posts that you think contravene the rules, you do not - as Mach puts it - 'engage' the poster ( i.e. feed their baiting), but you allow the mod to weigh up whether it is behaviour that should be tolerated.

Of course, you have to use judgement if you decide to report and a mod will do the same when they respond - and not necessarily agree with you - and their decision counts.

But at least then, you are not just standing by watching the standard of threads deteriorate and ultimately feel driven away from what could be an interesting forum and enjojable community. It might create some extra work for the mods in the short term but slowly, and surely, any action they take will help the posters understand how the rules are applied.

Forum rules:

http://prince.org/msg/rules.html

Terms of service:

http://prince.org/user_agreement.html

luv4u said:

Thanks I shall report more, I mainly lurk and completely stopped for many months due to the trolling, general bashing & weirdness in PM&M & GD.

Thats still going on but exciting things are afoot so i'm back, I was always reluctant to report as everyone knows everybody else... I imagined a whole load of if ever I did report something, but feel less restrained now..

langebleu said:

An
excellent post. However, people have been known to get banned for reporting threadjacking, or reporting obsessive behaviour. I'm totally serious, people got warned for then objecting and subsequently banned. This happens because there's also a rule saying you can't discuss a moderation decision with another moderator, but what are you supposed to do when there's clear rule breaking by the same people over and over but reporting them gets you banned for "having a vendetta against them"?
You're absolutely right of course - of moderators once again started making people adhering to the rules (and no this would not apply to goof threads because they're made for that, and I don't think anybody anywhere has a problem with people having fun and blowing off steam. But, people also need to be able to discuss serious issues without wading through bullshit of all sorts, such as the absessive/excessive behaviour we're talking about here.
I agree with your completely.

So you all want Stepford posters?
Where's the tolerance for the sake of freedom?

Report enough and there will be so much moderation it will be like talking to robots.

JOYJOY said:

You illustrate my point exactly, and you don't seem like an obsessive person of any conviction, so I'll say: Keep at it! Perhaps if more people bother/dare report offensive things, the moderators will realise that quite a lot of people feel a bit bullied or despairing. If you seriously want to discuss, for example, Prince's latest venture, you shouldn't have to refrain from raising issues because somebody overdosed on Prince drugs, or somebody joking about Prince's assless pants from a gazillion years ago, quickly followed by 7 people saying how much they love the ass of the people who posted about the pants. Both things are equally bad to experience, if you have passion to discuss something you should be able to.
Keep it up!

cheers Teacher!! goes off to 'report stuff'

Teacher said:

You may be sorry and that's fine

And you may think I am wrong - that's your opinion Ben can run his site how he feels and he does - he can shut it down - he can add new Mods , or not

I mean you no personal disrespect but each of us help to make this place exactly what it is. GOOD and Bad

Perhaps you should write Ben - Offer to Mod - take all the actions you suggest that you think will make this site a better place

I think peoples lack of respect for threads and others is a huge reflection ON THEM