What do the ToS mean to you?

[deco_martini]

The only posts I ever had removed were removed because they were extremely funny. True story. Its a nice laid back forum for the most part and you have to try really hard to break the TOS.

 

[livinoz]

Terms of Service give the owners and moderators of a forum like this a good way to quantify the standards of behavior while using them, and they give the users a heads-up of what is expected of them. It also keeps the rules from being arbitrary depending on which mod is looking.

Having moderated in other places, I figured out a long time ago that the internet is an ideal venue for people to act out repressed frustrations. The person who, for whatever reason, would never smart off to others in person will make the nastiest, snarkiest comments to others online because, here, he's "untouchable".

In real life, someone would plant a fist firmly into their nose. On the internet, about the worst that can happen is being banned, and that kind of person is just as happy to create a new account under a different name to come right back.

Our old Rabbi used to say that who we really are is who we are when we think no one is looking. I think that applies in many ways to the internet. It doesn't matter how nice and friendly someone acts in real life; if they get on the internet and act like a jerk, just because they can, then deep down, they're really a jerk who's afraid of being one in real life.

People who are genuinely decent people typically don't need ToS to remain polite and friendly in a forum; they do so because it's the right thing to do whether or not it's the official rule.

I agree, that is so true! Well said!

 

[The Chairman]

I spent a lot of time on the ToS and so did my staff. The attempt was made to keep it as short as possible while still preserving it's relevancy. We really wanted something that would set the tone for SB as well as give people a standard by which they can judge their posts as well as others. While it was never meant to replace common sense or common courtesy, you can see that we tried to incorporate them in there. For our size, we are probably one of the friendliest forums on the internet. When it comes to friendliness AND Scuba related content, I don't believe anyone comes close to us. But hey, I am a bit biased I am sure.

However, even though it is mentioned a few times in our ToS, let me point out a highly under used feature of our forum: the

bad post button. You can find it on the bottom left of every single post here on ScubaBoard, including mine. Why? Because first and foremost, our forums exist for YOU the user. YOU can use this

bad post button to let us know when people are getting out of line. So, when someone is getting a bit nasty, please don't reply in kind. Just hit the

bad post button. When people try to hijack this thread (as some tried in this one), don't correct them in public. They will only continue to waste your time and derail the thread. Just hit the

bad post button. Not only will we clean up their hijack, we might even ban them from the thread so that they can't continue to waste your time. It's the easiest way to inform our staff that a problem exists. It creates it's own thread in our backroom and quite often several moderators will discuss it and quite possibly even act on it. No, not every reported post merits moderation and it should never be used just because you don't like or disagree with someone. Still, it's a pretty powerful tool to use when the trolls rear their ugly heads.

After all, ScubaBoard was built on giving you what you want. It's the main reason why we have grown so big and why others out and out copy our format. But, in order to give you what you want, we try to moderate as little as possible, and so we let YOU, our users, tell us what is over the line and why. That's right, in essence, each of you gets to give input on how ScubaBoard is run and on what needs to be moderated. You can do it by using that danged ol'

bad post button, by posting a suggestion in Site Support or by PM-ing your favorite Moderator or Advisor. After all, most of our improvements have come from our users saying, "Hey, it would be great if..."

So please, feel free to give us a clue. Let us know what you want to see here and if there are any problematic posts. We will endeavor to keep things friendly and on topic. After all, we are here to serve.

 

[The Chairman]

some people just need to be ridiculed. . . .

The management of this forum does not hold this concept to be true. In fact, we believe quite the opposite.

 

[livinoz]

Let me state that I have no problems at all with the ToS. I think they're excellent as is the moderation on a board with over 100,000 members. My point was that a few people seem to be unaware of the ToS, or don't care to follow the "spirit" incorporated into them, or choose to ignore them completely. I agree, that reporting material users deem offensive is probably best, but I was also trying to say in a very roundabout way that the voices raised in anger often are the loudest, and it is off-putting to those who are new here. I speak for myself there but also for a few other people who have said the same thing to members of this board. Constructive criticism is fine, but when it degenerates into personal attack, or if someone wants to push their own agenda, then the point can be lost entirely.

Thank you for clarifying the issue. I was rather feeling that if I, as a "newbie", went ahead and reported posts I personally felt were problematic, then I would be viewed as a whinger or a trouble-maker.

May I also apologise for the way this thread was hijacked, and say thanks for keeping it on track.

 

[The Chairman]

Let me state that I have no problems at all with the ToS. I think they're excellent as is the moderation on a board with over 100,000 members. My point was that a few people seem to be unaware of the ToS, or don't care to follow the "spirit" incorporated into them, or choose to ignore them completely.

It is unfortunate that a precious few want to spoil it for the rest of us. If they want to be off topic, then they can go to the Pub!

I agree, that reporting material users deem offensive is probably best, but I was also trying to say in a very roundabout way that the voices raised in anger often are the loudest, and it is off-putting to those who are new here. I speak for myself there but also for a few other people who have said the same thing to members of this board. Constructive criticism is fine, but when it degenerates into personal attack, or if someone wants to push their own agenda, then the point can be lost entirely.

The best way to de-escalate a situation is to use the

bad post button. There will be less for us to clean up.

Thank you for clarifying the issue. I was rather feeling that if I, as a "newbie", went ahead and reported posts I personally felt were problematic, then I would be viewed as a whinger or a trouble-maker.

For the most part, when you do this, we think that you care!

May I also apologise for the way this thread was hijacked, and say thanks for keeping it on track.

I cleaned it up once more. It appears the trolls are out in force.

 

[Hoomi]

On the forums that I've moderated before, I often repeated the mantra "Do not feed the trolls". Trolls thrive on the attention they receive, and will "push people's buttons" just to get the reactions. They love it when people argue with them and try to insult them, because no matter what you're posting, you're paying attention to them. If they can manage to chase regular users away from a forum, they feel powerful (something that is very likely lacking in their real-life existence).

The best way to make trolls go away is to just ignore them. Let the mods handle the nasty posts, and otherwise do not respond to them. If they cannot get the attention they crave here, they'll go find someplace they can get attention.

 

[livinoz]

So true, I'll try and remember that, thanks

 

[Cacia]

lol

I might be a troll, after reading the description.

Some people are born that way though. yea..I like attention, I like to get a response. Is that bad? ..at least I don't crave authority.

You can learn a lot around here about more than diving, too.

I don't feel comfortable reporting people---it feels like telling the teacher, to me.

 

[Missdirected]

...at least I don't crave authority.

:yelclap:

Liv, Good thread. Covered many times before but still a good thread.