General [This forum is for non-technical general discussion]

Hi,

General (33 Viewing) This forum is for non-technical general discussion which can include both Linux and non-Linux topics. Have fun!

The tile of the General forum is misleading. You can post here as long as the mods are not offended by the discussion.

I understand the reasoning for moderators but not dictators that close things when healthy discussion is on-going. Sure there are people that make pointless and threatening statements. Those can be extracted or edited by the mods. Not close the whole thread.

It's like certain mods want to stick our heads in the sand not moderate a discussion.

My query to the mods and other members is 'How can a healthy, intelligent debate be allowed?' Especially when someone makes a misstatement or derogatory one that doesn't reflect the drift of a thread. Then the whole discussion to be cut off in the middle by a heavy handed mod.

This belongs in LQ Suggestions and Feedback.

That aside, General needs some new rules and maybe a new charter. Meanwhile, I support "Rule #0"

Hi,

Well I don't!

It's as if the mods want to treat us like a First grade student. The members here on LQ do have knowledge along with intelligence and don't deserve to be treated in this manner.

The Rule(0) is not moderatorship but dictatorship! As a mod you can edit or reject a post instead of cutting off a healthy on-going discussion.

That is wrong to do such!

Moved to LQ S&F.

LQ is not a democracy---it is a service to the members. The only fundamental freedom here is the individual choice as to whether to participate.

The real answer to your concern is to try and have responsible moderators---I think LQ does this quite well. I am a relative newcomer, but my impression is that it is hard to find people willing to spend the time moderating according to LQ's standards.

I see threads being closed for good reasons---almost never just some whim of a moderator. This said, several of us are discussing disallowing certain kinds of topics completely.

As this was also sent to me offline, I'll copy my response here.

Thanks for the feedback. There was a consensus that the General forum was getting a little out of hand. The "Rule #0" that you're referencing is a temporary measure we've put in place and one that pertains to the General forum only. Keep in mind that LQ is meant to be a technical forum and therefore the main focus should not be General. The alternative was simply getting rid of General, which is something I'm strongly against unless it becomes absolutely necessary. I'm certainly open to any feedback you have on the topic.

The invitation for feedback extends not only to onebuck, but to the entire LQ community.

--jeremy

Hi,

"LQ is not a democracy---it is a service to the members. The only fundamental freedom here is the individual choice as to whether to participate."

No one said anything about democracy but over handed mods.

Continued actions of this sort will just cause most to leave. Since you say you will dictate to us as members what will be allowed then your charter will restrict members to lock step to the mods mindset not the members thus not servicing the members but that of the mods. In my mind that is dictation.

As for the Rule(0), my opinion stands. Childish!

As for the Rule(0), my opinion stands. Childish!

Is your opinion that we should allow General (which as stated is not part of the core content of LQ) to become a free for all, filled with arguments, vitriol and aspersions? To reiterate: this is a temporary measure that only applies to the non-technical General forum.

--jeremy

Originally Posted by onebuck Continued actions of this sort will just cause most to leave.

I doubt it. People who are here in order to ask and/or answer technical questions (the "majority") will not care. People who relax in General will most likely end up not responding to flame-bait posts/threads and trolling attempts.

P.S.: I'm a "proud supporter" of Rule #0: You do not talk about Fight Club! No wait, that's not it.

Also note that we make General very easy to completely avoid, so that's always an option.

--jeremy

Hi,

Originally Posted by jeremy As this was also sent to me offline, I'll copy my response here. The invitation for feedback extends not only to onebuck, but to the entire LQ community. --jeremy

Thanks for the feedback. There was a consensus that the General forum was getting a little out of hand. The "Rule #0" that you're referencing is a temporary measure we've put in place and one that pertains to the General forum only. Keep in mind that LQ is meant to be a technical forum and therefore the main focus should not be General. The alternative was simply getting rid of General, which is something I'm strongly against unless it becomes absolutely necessary. I'm certainly open to any feedback you have on the topic.

I appreciate your involvement and opinion.

I for one am involved in more than just technical things in my life. [General] does provide a avenue for members to converse about issues of today. Sure some venting should be moderated but heavy handed mods who just close a on-going intelligent discussion because of a errant member is just plain wrong. One mods bias, community or background should not dictate nor moderate what can be presented. Healthy discussions, be it technical or not can get heated but should not be abusive nor derogatory. I know we are members of a 'LQ World' but that too should not restrict our discussions nor limit the open presentation of information.

Originally Posted by jeremy Is your opinion that we should allow General (which as stated is not part of the core content of LQ) to become a free for all, filled with arguments, vitriol and aspersions?

Obviously not. A line has to be drawn somewhere, but too heavy-handed censorship is just as bad as a free-for-all.

Originally Posted by onebuck Hi, I for one am involved in more than just technical things in my life. [General] does provide a avenue for members to converse about issues of today.

As am I, which is why I added General to LQ in the first place. I think it's important for LQ to have a place where non-technical topics can be discussed and debated, but not if that comes at the detriment of our main focus.

Originally Posted by onebuck Sure some venting should be moderated but heavy handed mods who just close a on-going intelligent discussion because of a errant member is just plain wrong. One mods bias, community or background should not dictate nor moderate what can be presented. Healthy discussions, be it technical or not can get heated but should not be abusive nor derogatory. I know we are members of a 'LQ World' but that too should not restrict our discussions nor limit the open presentation of information.

You don't seem to be addressing the fact that I explicitly mentioned that this is a very temporary measure to cleanup the activities in that forum. There is absolutely no long term policy change in place here, nor in one planned at this time.

--jeremy

Hi,

Originally Posted by jeremy Is your opinion that we should allow General (which as stated is not part of the core content of LQ) to become a free for all, filled with arguments, vitriol and aspersions? To reiterate: this is a temporary measure that only applies to the non-technical General forum. --jeremy

No, I don't think it should be 'free for all'.

The moderation team has been having frank and open discussions about the quality of posts and threads in General. And we're not happy. In fact, we're more than a little disgruntled. There have been far too many posts that are clearly braindumps and are not constructive. That is what your LQ blog is for. To make life easier on everyone EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY we are adding another rule to the LQ Rules. The new rule will only affect the General forum and we do not want to see leakage into the real forums as a means of circumventing this rule (see also LQ Rule #10): Rule #0: your post may be closed without warning and for good reason by a moderator.

'braindumps' as the above statement is where I agree. But the Rule(0) is not even adhered to by the mods. They just close it! Reasoning? Justification? Some on-going threads are just plain closed. Why? Post the reason mods!

If the thread is a viable presentation of information and some errant member presents something that's adrift then spank that post not the whole thread. I don't care if it's aligned by my thoughts or not but if errant then correct that part not stop everything that's on-going.

How will anyone 'leakage into the real forums as a means of circumventing this rule' perform this action? Simple question? Create a post in Slackware forum relative to a General topic would be obvious to the members and not be tolerated by anyone.

Originally Posted by brianL Obviously not. A line has to be drawn somewhere, but too heavy-handed censorship is just as bad as a free-for-all.

I could not agree with you more. Heavy-handed censorship isn't something you'll see at LQ as long as I'm here. This is simply a measure to refocus and get General on track as a place that fosters open and interesting discussions about non-technical topics.

--jeremy