John Posted July 21, 2009 Report Share Posted July 21, 2009 As a Forum Moderator responsible for the Australia Discussion and Character Actor Discussion threads I would like to support Dan . The issue of the "lover" and "haters" of various relationships on the board has been discussed among staff at great length in recent times. We are not ignoring the many complaining PM's we get. However in many cases we are being asked to support one side of the "relationship war" against the other. We are not going to do that!! All posters have the right to express their like or dislikes of various characters and relationships, that is what the board is all about. However there are a few posters who seem to feel the need to "wind up" supporters of other characters persistently and then complain when they feel they are being attacked for what they say. This is not confined to supporters of any particular character or relationship. For those who like to appreciate ALL characters and relationships it is very annoying to have whole threads taken up with discussion of just one particular character or relationship when there are other storylines happening which are important to other board members. We don't need to be told repeatedly that "I don't care about such and such a character or relationship" Once or twice is probably enough. More is spamming. It's a fact of human nature that if people adopt an aggressive stance someone will become defensive in response. One of our great Australian folk songs has a line which says that "the way to get shot is to carry a gun". Some of our "wind up" posters have persistently been guilty of that. I think we all need to understand that we all have a responsibility to word our posts in such a way that we get our point across without being unnecessarily agressive or provocative. We all have the responsibility for maintaining the friendly, welcoming nature of our Board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzannelgnz Posted July 21, 2009 Report Share Posted July 21, 2009 All I can say to your post John is ditto. The behaviour of a few is definitely ruining it for everyone else. When I first joined bttb, I regularly discussed things and most definitely respected what people who didn't like the same characters' opinion. Today, I do the same but I hardly ever post because I'm almost too scared to post anywhere that isn't to do with Tachel. I definitely have an opinion of all the other characters, but I just don't feel comfortable posting anything about it because I'm scared that someone is going to bite my head off for expressing my opinion (It's actually happened, both here on BTTB and on msn (until I blocked the user concerned)). I think that all that any extreme fans can do is, talk about things in a more formal manner, and then really go overboard in other places (ie. msn). As for me, I'm only going to lurk, as I can talk about what I want to talk about as/when I can elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slade Posted July 21, 2009 Report Share Posted July 21, 2009 All posters have the right to express their like or dislikes of various characters and relationships, that is what the board is all about. Thanks John and to you Dan as well. I really don’t see what’s wrong with criticizing a fictional character. The character discussion threads are not appreciation threads. The moderators confirmed this after they phased out the pro and anti threads towards the end of last year. As long as people state their opinions and present their arguments without attacking any forum members I see no problem saying something negative about a character, no matter how much you hate them. People should be able to express their hatred/dislike for a fictional character without being judged just as posters are allowed to express their love/like or neutrality towards the same characters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted July 21, 2009 Report Share Posted July 21, 2009 All posters have the right to express their like or dislikes of various characters and relationships, that is what the board is all about. Thanks John and to you Dan as well. I really don’t see what’s wrong with criticizing a fictional character. The character discussion threads are not appreciation threads. The moderators confirmed this after they phased out the pro and anti threads towards the end of last year. As long as people state their opinions and present their arguments without attacking any forum members I see no problem saying something negative about a character, no matter how much you hate them. People should be able to express their hatred/dislike for a fictional character without being judged just as posters are allowed to express their love/like or neutrality towards the same characters. I think this point is very important. It's not the expressing of opinions that is the issue. It's the critcism of others for holding a different view and the baiting of other members. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxy Posted July 21, 2009 Report Share Posted July 21, 2009 All I can say to your post John is ditto. The behaviour of a few is definitely ruining it for everyone else. When I first joined bttb, I regularly discussed things and most definitely respected what people who didn't like the same characters' opinion. Today, I do the same but I hardly ever post because I'm almost too scared to post anywhere that isn't to do with Tachel. I definitely have an opinion of all the other characters, but I just don't feel comfortable posting anything about it because I'm scared that someone is going to bite my head off for expressing my opinion (It's actually happened, both here on BTTB and on msn (until I blocked the user concerned)). I think that all that any extreme fans can do is, talk about things in a more formal manner, and then really go overboard in other places (ie. msn). As for me, I'm only going to lurk, as I can talk about what I want to talk about as/when I can elsewhere. If you feel like someone is preventing you from expressing an opinion then do feel free to drop us a PM letting us know who this is, as this is definitely not behaviour we condone. We do try and stay on top of it, but with the board being so big we sometimes miss things! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natasha Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 We should be able to have freedom of speech without attacking each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackieleanne Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 We should be able to have freedom of speech without attacking each other. Couldn't of said it better myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 I agree that without "freedom of speech" we haven't got a Board. BUT in the past and even at the moment some members are using that right to free speech, to abuse, intimidate and bait other board members and that is what is making the board less friendly at times. With freedom comes responsibility. In this case the responsibility not to use the freedom of speech provided to attack, initmidate or bait others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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