Removing the HCT.

[The Chairman]

Bob,

the images were one thing. They kept pushing the envelope, and that was bad enough. The accompanying text was the bad part. It was nothing but bigotry. Now it's gone. The world will continue to turn.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Except, Bob, apparently the posters kept pushing the limits. It was mostly harmless for a long time. But I guess they got bored and what used to be OK, that wasn't good enough. If they could have played nicely, it wouldn't be an issue..

 

[mike_s]

Except, Bob, apparently the posters kept pushing the limits. It was mostly harmless for a long time. But I guess they got bored and what used to be OK, that wasn't good enough. If they could have played nicely, it wouldn't be an issue..

if you don't like it... then quit clicking on it.


You knew Bikini pics were posted in LF for example and from the first post in this thread you clearly stated you didn't like it.

but you were often seen as "viewing the thread". (and I could care less).


so if you hated it so much? why keep loading it?


Kinda makes you look like a hypocrite.

 

[koozemani]

It was a thread with a different name.. HCT =Hot Chick Thread.. lots of soft porn that over a period of time the posters would post more and more sexually suggestive photos. Now they are crying because it was removed.

Post removed. Not worth arguing what others can say better than I.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Bob,

the images were one thing. They kept pushing the envelope, and that was bad enough. The accompanying text was the bad part. It was nothing but bigotry. Now it's gone. The world will continue to turn.

As I said, Pete, I didn't go to that thread ... it's not my idea of a good time. On the other hand, if someone was putting posts in there that were inappropriate, why not just remove the offending posts, rather than making the whole thread go away? Did anyone post a warning that the behavior would result in the thread disappearing? In other words, were people given an opportunity to self-correct before taking drastic action?

The result of "collective punishment" is that it doesn't really correct anything. It just creates resentment ... particularly from those who were affected even though they weren't breaking the rules.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Quero]

If someone was putting posts in there that were inappropriate, why not just remove the offending posts, rather than making the whole thread go away? Did anyone post a warning that the behavior would result in the thread disappearing? In other words, were people given an opportunity to self-correct before taking drastic action?

I'm going to disagree with you Jenny. I'm sure that's how you see it, but that thread's been in The Pub for a long time ... and several members of SB staff (including Pete) participated from time to time. It seems pretty arbitrary for someone to suddenly decide it's "offensive" and make it go away.

And I'm sure that to many that's how it looks (and has been characterized). The fact of the matter, though, was that in and of itself, the HCT wasn't the precipitating cause of any of the current drama. That thread was created years and years ago as a repository of all the hot chickiness a small group of members wished to have a space for. However, throughout the history of the thread, those very members would post their hot chick images in other areas of the board, and not just a picture here and there, but pages and pages and pages of them, along with associated, ahem, "insightful" commentary. Repeatedly, at least a couple of times a year since the HCT was begun, massive cleanups, thread deletions, and warnings took place surrounding these images. All of these crises arose from post reports about hot chick stuff in threads that were not the HCT.

This latest crisis came about in exactly this way. We had post reports about a string of particularly erotic images in a non-HCT thread. We aren't talking about cheerleaders here or co-eds at the beach. Because there were so many hot chick pictures in that not-HCT thread that to move them would be a huge task, a representative of the frequent posters in those two threads and I decided together that merging the two would at least leave all of the hot chicks in just one thread, which might solve the issue. Unfortunately it didn't solve anything because rather than trying to keep a low profile in order to continue to enjoy the privilege of having a hot chick space on SB, some members upped the ante and posted even more revealing images, and this was after I asked the representative to spread the word to self-police with their image posting or it could come back to bite them. We now see that it has come back to bite them.

Thus all the tears and tantrums.

So, Bob, far from being the case of "a mod" imposing "morals" on a group of innocent guys just trying to have a little fun, this was a chain of events like snowfall that sits for long periods on a mountainside and that eventually leads to an avalanche. This has been building and building for years and has been a regular feature of how-can-we-find-a-win-win-solution discussions in the back room each time a hot chick crisis has erupted. The responsibility for having got to where we are now rests squarely with the members who have been most vociferous in expressing their outrage. If only the HCT guys had stuck just to the HCT and not repeatedly inundated other threads with erotic content; if only the merged-thread guys had toned it down instead of ramping it up; if only the outrage hadn't morphed into frivolous post reporting to make a point, your post would still be right where you published it.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

... why not just boot the offending members and be done with them?

I'm a big believer of holding people responsible for their behavior. I well recall the reasons for the HCT. I also recall these same people are the ones responsible for abusing the "Thanks" button that ultimately went away for everyone ... and the popcorn icon that went away for everyone.

Seems to me you're letting the same half-dozen or so reprobates pretty much dictate how the board affects everyone. To my concern, it's little different than how 19 fanatical men effectively changed the course of life in the USA ... not directly by their actions, but by how the authorities responded to it.

Seems to me the better course would be to simply remove the offending members from the premises ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Quero]

... why not just boot the offending members and be done with them?

I'm a big believer of holding people responsible for their behavior. I well recall the reasons for the HCT. I also recall these same people are the ones responsible for abusing the "Thanks" button that ultimately went away for everyone ... and the popcorn icon that went away for everyone.

Seems to me you're letting the same half-dozen or so reprobates pretty much dictate how the board affects everyone. To my concern, it's little different than how 19 fanatical men effectively changed the course of life in the USA ... not directly by their actions, but by how the authorities responded to it.

Seems to me the better course would be to simply remove the offending members from the premises ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Removing users is certainly one approach.

However, in viewing the removal of the thread in question amid the context of the larger function of the board, we can see that the issue went beyond the prurient interests of a small number of 'boundary pushers' and had a more fundamental genesis--the question of whether erotic content was welcome at all on SB. Historically, from the very first instance of when it came up in the back room, the overwhelming consensus of staff and members has been that SB should not house this sort of content. However, Pete is a 'big-tent' kind of guy, he had lots of space on his server, so he said, in essence, "let's just fence off a little corner over here where nobody else will notice and let them post their content...win-win," and permitted the HCT in the Pub. (This was back when the 'boundary pushers' were posting Hot-Chick-Friday images in a Florida forum thread, which was generating post reports.) But the fact remains that even with that concession, the relentless seepage of the content into other areas of the board and the lewdness of the content both kept prompting a review of the essential question: does this kind of content belong on SB? After a fair amount of soul searching, Pete has decided that it does not and has removed from view the threads that were dominated by that content. He has even issued an apology for ever allowing it and has taken down his own contributions as inappropriate.

That's really all there is to it. The decision has been made that this kind of content no longer has a place on SB. Members who don't like that will just have to find other outlets for their interest in erotic images. If at this juncture they choose not to conform to the revised ToS, then your solution, Bob--voting them off the island--may have to be considered.

 

[Hockeynut]

Removing users is certainly one approach.

However, in viewing the removal of the thread in question amid the context of the larger function of the board, we can see that the issue went beyond the prurient interests of a small number of 'boundary pushers' and had a more fundamental genesis--the question of whether erotic content was welcome at all on SB. Historically, from the very first instance of when it came up in the back room, the overwhelming consensus of staff and members has been that SB should not house this sort of content. However, Pete is a 'big-tent' kind of guy, he had lots of space on his server, so he said, in essence, "let's just fence off a little corner over here where nobody else will notice and let them post their content...win-win," and permitted the HCT in the Pub. (This was back when the 'boundary pushers' were posting Hot-Chick-Friday images in a Florida forum thread, which was generating post reports.) But the fact remains that even with that concession, the relentless seepage of the content into other areas of the board and the lewdness of the content both kept prompting a review of the essential question: does this kind of content belong on SB? After a fair amount of soul searching, Pete has decided that it does not and has removed from view the threads that were dominated by that content. He has even issued an apology for ever allowing it and has taken down his own contributions as inappropriate.

That's really all there is to it. The decision has been made that this kind of content no longer has a place on SB. Members who don't like that will just have to find other outlets for their interest in erotic images. If at this juncture they choose not to conform to the revised ToS, then your solution, Bob--voting them off the island--may have to be considered.

So do it and be done with it instead of all this bs that's gone on. Nobody can come right out and say it. You people are pathetic.

---------- Post added September 25th, 2013 at 05:11 AM ----------

And for the record, none of the "group" were posting the "envelope pushing" pics.

 

[Buoyant1]

---------- Post added September 25th, 2013 at 09:28 AM ----------

Here's a thought...some of us have stopped coming here fairly often because they were tired of the over moderation! Several times over the years I saw cases where the moderators were acting more like Nazi's than actually doing anything worthwhile!

Several other forums I belong to for different activities, treat offensive stuff a LOT more differently than this board! The moderators wait until something gets out of hand, then start pulling sections like crazy!

The best way to deal with something like that is to REMOVE THE OFFENDING POST, SEND THE PERSON THAT IS PUTTING THE OFFENDING POST A WARNING, AND IF THEY DO IT AGAIN, EITHER BAN THEM FOR A PERIOD OF TIME, OR PERMANENTLY!

Causing drama like you guys have been doing is what drives people away! I remember the group that left and went to Scuba Toys, and the gang that left and went to other sites.\

MAYBE Pete, you need to stop letting your moderators be so power hungry and have them moderate properly! Every think of that?


Wow removing a popcorn icon because it's offensive, really?