This is my last post on TBN

[Muhammad]

I am asking for open and equal authority.

Do you punish your child without explanation?

If I'm wrong, publicly punish me with open explanation. I'll accept it. And those observing will know where the fence is.

Everything is political. Everything. Including tractor brands.

Those observing know where the fence is. They just choose to not respect the rules.

If somebody starts a thread and mentions the administration going to war with the energy sector, that is political and they know it.

Then when it gets deleted they call it heavy handed or one sided?

Our moderators have done a good job of being unbiased about the definition of politics over the years. Some members mistake inconsistent moderation with biased moderation, but in reality the inconsistencies are due to awareness, not a fluid definition of what constitutes a political remark.

What I think has changed is the accusatory tone that moderation here is some how linked to political preference or targeting users based on their political affiliation, beliefs or some kind of social pressure to censor specific viewpoints. That, I can assure you, is total garbage.

Could we do a better job of providing notification of why a post or thread is deleted? Sure, but why, to what end, and at what cost? There are very few posts deleted and it's almost always obvious why and moderators have consensus. I've floated ideas of creating systems for review or soft moderation that would flag posts but not delete, and we've even had notification systems in place (we still do). That hasn't magically made everybody happy or rule-abiding. If your post gets removed, you get annoyed, I understand that. But at the end of the day it's not a big deal.

Unrelated political commentary being injected into posts is not be allowed and never has been. Why would that drive somebody away after 30,000 posts? Once again I shrug.

I reached out to James and asked him to stay. I explained why covid-19 topics are now banned. I've polled the membership on rule making. I've continued to evolve rules and try to improve our moderation guidelines in an effort to make the community better. I've extended the olive branch to be inclusive of every member from day 1 with no interest in bias or personal beliefs entering the conversation.

If that's not enough, and people are still upset and want to leave, then so be it. We'll probably never find the perfect balance that makes everybody happy all the time but I'll continue to take feedback seriously and continue to improve the site.

 

[ovrszd]

You are bringing baggage into the discussion. If you separate the posting from the poster, it reads differently.

An issue with hanging out on a forum for a good long while is you build this persona of what you believe a poster to be.
Over time, we categorize and label posters in our thinking. The reality is quite different when one meets face to face.
Or NOT. LOL.

IMHO, no slight intended or implied.

I in no way have built any type of persona concerning SR.

I simply have read both of his posts on this thread. Both insulting toward James.

If they were pointed toward you, you would be insulted.

Now, here's the problem. If he added "typical behavior from a Conservative", he would be punished. So he can be insulting as long as he doesn't color it political? Of course not.

 

[ovrszd]

You didn't come to my defence when it was said I'm naive with a big ego and implied I have a small *****.(it's ok it make me happy) lol

I missed that one!!! Maybe because it's so small???

 

[Fixastuff]

Lol.

I missed that one!!! Maybe because it's so small???

Lol.

 

[prichard]

The problem is not politics nor moderation of "offending" politics.

The problem is posters on this forum insulting others in posts.

Even this thread has insults directed to other members (some who are not even currently active on this forum).

What does that tell you?

I took a hiatus from TBN. Nothing to do with politics, etc. I just got busy with other stuff.

Upon returning I noticed a big change regarding attacks on each other. There were always political arguments and these were usually stopped, deleted, whatever. What I see now is more personal attacks in all kinds of threads that have nothing to do with politics. These somehow seem to remain.

Regarding C19, some of these have been interesting and informative. For instance I was quite interested in Eddie's experience.

FWIW, I have no problem seeing the occasional political post and just ignoring it. I get really bothered by personal attacks.

 

[workinonit]

Could we do a better job of providing notification of why a post or thread is deleted? Sure, but why, to what end, and at what cost? There are very few posts deleted and it's almost always obvious why and moderators have consensus. I've floated ideas of creating systems for review or soft moderation that would flag posts but not delete, and we've even had notification systems in place (we still do). That hasn't magically made everybody happy or rule-abiding. If your post gets removed, you get annoyed, I understand that. But at the end of the day it's not a big deal.

I have an idea. Just limit all conversations to tractor talk. Why should we be allowed to discuss anything else on a tractor forum? What the moderators and you do is a thankless task but that's why you get paid the big bucks.

 

[ruffdog]

If we act like adults in present time, a thread can be informative. Once some ego states turn to being a "rebellious child" or "controlling parent", then it becomes a competition or fight and people battle to prove a point.

One simple idea to work with ‘difficult people’.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I in no way have built any type of persona concerning SR.

I simply have read both of his posts on this thread. Both insulting toward James.

If they were pointed toward you, you would be insulted.

Now, here's the problem. If he added "typical behavior from a Conservative", he would be punished. So he can be insulting as long as he doesn't color it political? Of course not.

IF, they were about ME, I sure wouldn't be...

I wouldn't come in here, if my skin was that thin.

SR

 

[Snobdds]

Does anyone (besides me) sometimes wonder why human beings simply cannot get along together; never have and never will. From Biblical times throughout history, quarrels, fights, wars, etc. have always happened, and I'm sure always will happen.

The issue is right now in history, every social media platform is trying to corral speech. It's not just TBN, it's everywhere. So some of that has spilled into the TBN discussion. But yeah, people are pushing back.

With COVID, everyone has been effected by it. Is there another topic that has such far reaching impact on people at this time? Has it become politicized, yep. Another history lesson is to hear from all view points to get a consensus. If we don't question thinking, and listen to first hand accounts...our time in the barrel of this get longer. Questioning things is good, this quarrelling will pass once there is a consensus and the truth settle in. Proof of concept below.

Keep the topics open, put the topics in a place that shield the topics from people that just want to figure out how to deal with cold tractor. It can be done.

 

[Buppies]

James used to read a lot of your posts very helpful long before I ever posted. Sad to see you go

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I understand why you are leaving. I was asked about my personal experience about getting covid for the second time and the thread was closed minutes after I posted my reply. It's pretty disappointing when you say something that goes against a moderators personal feelings.

Hopefully it's not a trend here, I've been on here for awhile and enjoy the site, but if it becomes another place that pushes a personal agenda, it might be time to move on too.

Yes, your thread getting closed and another getting a post removed pizzed me off. I took a short break from TBN, but came back because of friends here. I had to come back to wish Bird a happy birthday.

 

[riptides]

I in no way have built any type of persona concerning SR.

I simply have read both of his posts on this thread. Both insulting toward James.

If they were pointed toward you, you would be insulted.

Now, here's the problem. If he added "typical behavior from a Conservative", he would be punished. So he can be insulting as long as he doesn't color it political? Of course not.

Ahh....

See...I thought it to be directed AT YOU.

Insulting...NO...

IMHO.

 

[BakoJ]

Should we also allow pornography? Or covid-19 but no pornography? Just wondering what the offended members are asking for.

I'm all for some tractor ****.

 

[/pine]

What I think has changed is the accusatory tone that moderation here is some how linked to political preference or targeting users based on their political affiliation, beliefs or some kind of social pressure to censor specific viewpoints. That, I can assure you, is total garbage.

Denial is not just a river in Egypt

 

[Cougsfan]

This thread makes obvious the challenges of communicating via the internet, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, or a Forum. It has unintentionally created a platform to further divide us, to take potshots without the risk of meaningful retaliation, at someone who disagrees with us. Often the person taking the potshot doesn't even realise that they took a potshot. We were a fairly united country before the internet. That is much less the case now. The internet is wonderful, but does have some serious flaws.
I am all for site moderation, whether I agree with their decisions or not.

 

[Diggin It]

But this one just came out of nowhere and really threw us for a loop.

Over the last year of more, there have been multiple threads on that topic closed and far more public posts from various Staff members admonishing going 'there'. This is not sudden at all and should have been done months ago.


Did I see a Piney sighting? Is that what I saw?




I can tell the exact date the world tuned to what many of you are complaining about. Month, date and year.

 

[kenmbz]

The two threads were not political
One just had numbers and was done nightly by a person who I have never seen get into an argument or politics. He had been doing this for over a year, every night.

The other was just talking about his experience and a lot of us thought it was very helpful when we went through our bout.

If either were told before the post, or during removal, probably would not be seeing this thread.

It was the sudden unannounced change. Muhammad said he could of done it better.
But I know this kind of thing happens and we need to move on.

Him and the moderators have been doing a thankless job and they responded quickly when they saw this starting to go askew. And asked for feedback, can't ask for more or a better response.

 

[GeneV]

I dunno, I'm here mostly for the tractor stuff anyways. I may be wrong, but I notice people in trades, machines, tractors, all that sort of stuff, more of us tend to lean libertarian or to the right. And with covid politicized as it is, quite a number of opinions tend to lean a certain way as well.

I suppose admin here wants to keep this site focused on tractor talk, I respect that even though occasionally that will tick some of us off. It's ticked me off a couple times too. But, can't we just do that though...just leave that stuff at the door, focus on tractor stuff? And if you can't, well you thread gets zapped, there's your reminder, and you could just suck it up and go back to talking about tractors.

 

[California]

Why did you direct that at me? I said the same thing with different words.

Peace, bro. I meant only to amplify your message, to say that the Bill of Rights simply limits government's power over us and it says nothing about what a business owner can or cannot censor.

The First Amendment states, in relevant part, that: “Congress shall make no law... abridging freedom of speech.”

 

[ovrszd]

This thread makes obvious the challenges of communicating via the internet, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, or a Forum. It has unintentionally created a platform to further divide us, to take potshots without the risk of meaningful retaliation, at someone who disagrees with us. Often the person taking the potshot doesn't even realise that they took a potshot. We were a fairly united country before the internet. That is much less the case now. The internet is wonderful, but does have some serious flaws.
I am all for site moderation, whether I agree with their decisions or not.

I blow off unintentional potshots. Will even joke about it.

My weakness is seeing intentional potshots and shooting back. If I'm wrong, I apologize. Very simple.

There are a couple of members that fire several shots a day. Intentionally. They know it. Everyone reading them knows it.

Those exchanges limit our ability to have dialogue about critical issues.

I'm pleasantly surprised this conversation is still going. Surfaced an old friend that I thought had left.