Discussion Board Admin ((DBA)(who or whomever, he, she, it, them)) has determined with whatever authority DBA has from wherever it has been granted, that DBA does not like this board as it is.  DBA has a vision of a board different from this one.  No reference was made to an existing board that might be a sample of what DBA likes.  A reference was given that old ways, perhaps from a time in the past, is what DBA wants.  But, no specific time frame was given, so there is no way to get a sense of what DBA likes from times past.  

We are left with a notion of change, going forward, by going back in an old direction,  with a sense of Club Med and the Love Boat with cruise directors and equality for all, and helpfulness.   Sounds like fun, although that word was never mentioned in DBA's post, I hope that element is allowed in DBA's new vision.  I also hope we don't end-up with that Italian guy as the skipper.

sounds like the Administrators want more participation on this board pointing out that the board could be more 1)user friendly 2)no slang words.  I agree, adding that information on this board should be informative and criticism constructive. this would attract the very ones you want on this board; providers, hobbyist, and moderators alike.

Hello all.

We wanted to take a moment and update you as to the changes on this board.

We are taking a few of the boards in a new, well actually old, direction. This is one of the boards that we have chosen.

First, in no way have the moderators of this board done anything wrong. We do want to thank them for all of the hard work that they have done and hope that they stay as active as always. So that you so much for all of your help in the past, and hopefully in the future.

So were is this place headed? We have a great group of people who are on here every day, and that is a great thing. That being said, we have a large group of people who do not spend any time on the boards. We talked to many of these users and they say that this area of the site is scary to them, for many reasons. We understand that the boards are not tat welcoming to newbies at times, among other issues. So to fix this we really need to become a more helpful group. How are we hoping to do this? We would like to start by asking people to answer posts by new users, instead of simply pointing out that their question has been answered in the past and that they should search the old posts. Also, the boards can become really mean and a bit hurtful at times. This needs to stop. Finally, I know that a lot of the cursing is done in jest, but it needs to stop. Points can be made with out this.

Now on to the fun stuff, the moderator spots will be replaced by a couple of “cruise directors” (for the lack of a better term) spots. The spots will be on a voluntary basis and be one guy and one girl per board. If you aren’t chosen initially, do not worry because we will rotate these spots on a regular, predefined interval. It is our hope that this will ensure and everyone is has a chance to contribute on an equal basis.

We will begin the new cruise director spots in a week or two. If you would like to volunteer, submit a feedback.

Thanks to everyone for all of your support!

I applaud the effort to increase participation and to reduce the vitriol.

One suggestion is to reduce the use of aliases -- they have a valid place, but most of the offensive (to me) posts are from people hiding behind an alias.  Not sure how to implement my suggestion.

Also, may be easier to get "volunteers" for the cruise directors, if there was a little more description of what you envision them doing.

Change for change sake is not necessarily a good thing. I have been
Here a while and I see an open spirited board that is provoking, humorous
Sometimes foul but definately not broken.

I believe to stifle speech is to stifle thought. General guidelines of conduct have already been established
And if the mods have been doing a great job as you and I believe then you are making change
for the sake of change.

Going to people that do not participate on the board on what frightens or stifles them is like asking sheep
If they would prefer to be lamb chops or ground into gyro meat.

I am not going to threaten to leave or whine or whatever, I just think most people do not realize
What they got till its gone. Finish that however you see it.

Be careful.

Foguete69

This is a GRATE idea and deecision!!!! By only do this with a "few of the boreds"? Why not do this with ALL the boreds (the TER General bored in particular)?

There's a LOT of cursing done on the TER General Board. Most of it is NOT in jest.

Why so negative? TER Admin has a grate idea. What's dun is dun with the mods , so jus give it a rest and muv on.

"I believe to stifle speech is to stifle thought. "
True to a large extent. It has to be one way or the other.
1)If the board allows every kind of text: abusive language, personal attacks etc. then it should be free for all.Let's see who's the most potty-mouthed of us all. I don't think many people will like that, but if that's the rule, then that's the rule and I am game for it. One either fights back or leave as per one's choice.

2) If the board doesn't allow some kind of text(more or less the same categories mentioned above), then that should be applicable to one and all. Everybody follows the same set of rules. Absolutely no body is given preference. Period.

Also, I think use of alias should be very restricted.

Moderators are petty on this board. They are not impartial, they moderate people they don't agree with or if you post anything against their ATF's.  Suppose, smell of pussy fucks up all rational thinking os some folks.

let's get together for drinks sometime...

As Im understanding this.. These Cruise Directors will be people that frequent this board correct? Well.. I know a little bit about the backside of TER, being friends with the mods for years.. ALL of them anyway.. when you bestow Mod Powers upon an individual... then they can look back in history and then know all the alias's and a MAJOR shit storm can and will happen.. Whether you agree with the alias issue or not. TER is presumed to keep those sacrosanct. ALL the Mods I befriended NEVER tell/told me who an alias was.. never showed me the mod board that I know xists and the history in there is also something you may not want to have ALL OVER TOWN.. I know and love the individuals in this community and I understand them, perhaps better than you. To allow us access to all of thatsometimes quite painfull info.. is a very scary prospect. There are some uh for lack of a better word 'creative' people around here and somehow my gut is telling me that that power is not to be bestowed upon us please.

I do not write this because I am afraid of My aliases becoming public at all.. As believe it or not.. I Rarely use them and I never start shit when I do. True Story!

tyvm,P.T.

Personally, I think a major improvement would come from the elimination, or at the least, severely reduced use and allowance of individuals to come on and vent anything and everything under an alias.  If you have something to say be mature enough to stand up for it and claim it.  To cowardly hide behind an alias, in my opinion, gives little or no credence to anything posted.  If you can't stand up and claim what you say, then don't say it.  Good, bad or ugly.  I have never used an alias and never will.  And I don't respect those who do.

Discussing the pros nor cons of alias usage. This is about confidentiality. As I said.. Im not afraid of my personal alias's coming out. Its not about me. The picture is much bigger than that.

tyvm,P.T.

With all due respect, I beg to differ.  This thread is about changes that need or are being made.  It started out by mentioning ways in which some are reluctant to participate, and trying to move in a direction to make the board more receptive to all.  My thought, as well as that of a couple others, it to make this board better by addressing the alias problem.  I don't know what your comment about confidentiality means.  I respect your response, and your right to voice it.

Reo you realize > > >

Bur you are right about the cursing.......and most of it is done by YOU.

So maybe one of the changes should be to get rid of YOU.

From what I am reading, the major points of the DBA's announcement are:

That they are asking for no more profanity. I have been guilty of that in the past but I certainly can live with it.

They want the board to be friendlier to newcomers, I have always supported that.

They want the boards to be less mean. I am all for that.

They would like a board that is more open to a broader range of members. That might potentially mean more hobbyist information and maybe even more ladies willing to participate if they are less likely to be attacked. That seems like a win.

As for the duties or powers of the "Cruise Directors", why don't we at least wait to see what DBA has in mind before we dis it.

As for the concerns about alias', it might do the community good to see who has been causing trouble, backstabbing people and trying to hurt instead of build this community. I don't see anyone's confidentiality being at risk and I seriously doubt that the DBA would put up with any inappropriate dissemination of information.

I don't hear anything about limiting free speech or ideas. I hear limiting things that have been negatives on this and other boards for a while now.

I certainly am willing and interested in hearing others reasons about why they might not feel good about this, but I think it is a move in the right direction.

Just my .02,

Willy


-- Modified on 1/22/2012 9:32:36 PM

Let's get out the plastic sheets then all the girls and guys naked and have a Nuru party.

It would more fun than reading all of this stuff.

Remember the Hobby is suppose to be fun for everyone.

This board should be like a 12 step meeting.  Leave you full name, your attitude and your status in life at the door. We are all for the suppose to have fun!!!

This community has had outings of both providers and bobbyist to their families. There have been whore wars by multiple agencies and owners who have outed identities to board, trashed incalls, threatened personal harm to people, and generally gone to great lengths to destroy each other.  There is currently a convicted felon on the boards who owns multiple agencies. There is currently on the board an agency owner who has been banned not once but 3 times for self reviews. That peaks highly for the reviews doesn't it. There are many well reviewed hobbyist on the board who have been given greatly reduced fees for reviews. Several of the agencies here have built their business with this model of doing business. Hell there is even a rapist amongst us. All of whom will want the job to see behind the curtain.
So you want to pick at random from volunteers and rotate periodically so the community can feel all warm and fuzzy.
Have you lost your minds. You have no idea the can of worms you are about to spill on the table. Don't get me wrong there are some good people here but they are way overshadowed by the others. Since you don't know anything about the players here you have no way of knowing who is who.
This might work at Disney land but not here.

Curious to see how having a provider determining appropriate conduct on the board will work out.  Historically, ladies and agency activity has been restricted to prevent advertising and other abuses, probably unsuccessfully.  This might be a risk the hobby members not appreciate, but I have seen it work on other boards, so let's see.

Also curious about the language police portion.  And not sure what the yard stick for niceness will be.  How will you decide to pull the plug on a train wreck?  Two post/replies, a branch with only two people chatting, what rules will you create?

I like the Atlanta market enough to try to contribute.  Yet to make the cruise director role work, admin as the coast guard of this plan needs to map out the safe channels or this idea will look like it was piloted by the Italian skipper who abandoned ship before the damn thing even flipped on it's side.

It would be nice to cast gambler in the role of gopher.  Hope my cruise entertainment director looks like Julie.  Who knows, it could work right????????

Admin made this exact post on FL board too, just don't want everyone to think ATL is being singled out.  Of course, it doesn't like like FL likes the idea either.  

As for LP and DD - if you look at other Regional boards, they still show as mods on other boards, so not sure what to make of DD's post from earlier in the week (but it really isn't any of my business.)

Aside from the issue of knowing aliases, not sure I see what all the other stuff InspectorGadget posted has to do with anything going forward.  That is assuming the person using the alias wasn't slinging mud or making up stuff to push a personal agenda.  If the alias poster was being just nasty or trying to start something, well what goes around...  

who truly appreciates what the TER community is about not think this change in direction is in the best interest of everyone?   This sounds great.

...wasn't sure what I thought about this. I needed more information. The more I read and think about it the more I think it's a bad idea. Rotating "chiefs" is never a good thing. I do think Admin needs to respond to these concerns and they need to do it on this board. In this thread would be good.
my two cents, xyz23

So don't hold your breath. I frankly am surprised they gave us this much info. I hope this idea never spreads to other boards.

It is rare that we get notification of changes. I have seen a response on the suggestion & policy board once or twice in two years but that's it. Though there has been more communication in the last month or so than in all the time I've been here.

What, exactly, is the job description of the "cruise director"?

...is the fact that guys are using alias's on the 'unmoderated' reviewers board. Between all the stupid alias attacks and a bunch of loudmouth whiteknights telling chicks what is said there, 50% of the posters are too afraid to use their real handles.

Cruise directors may or may not work, but the only problem this board has is a bunch of idiot alias's with nothing better to do but spam this board with their bullshit. Until that changes, nothing you do is gonna improve this it.

As far as being more 'newbie friendly', I got my ass handed to me until I learned the ropes. That also helped with figuring the game out so the best choices could be made and actually helped with safety overall. If I had been handled with kid gloves, that might not be the case. It also weeds out the the guys that probably wouldn't spend anything anyway.

For all our participants that are so in favor of alias's no matter how it's being used and use them frequently( including our former mods), how you gonna feel knowing that someone that you've pissed off in the past is gonna know who your real handle is? What do you think is gonna happen? If you think it won't, you're nuts.

Guess that could be an upside depending on where you sit on the issue...

Sir Cumalot

you participate in boards. Suppose you want your confidentiality protected in FaceBook. Most use their TER handle for references, a little bit of self importance on the board, etc. How do you expect privacy? There were some good ones in the past but not recently. The recent one’s had egos bigger than ATL.

Someone who makes sure you have a good ride.

PT made a valid observation "assuming" the comments from ADMIN were complete.  Rotating the mod job does open up the likelihood that volunteers will do so just because they want to see behind the curtain.  But even if we forget that, LP and DD have in the past described the problem quite well and the dilemna they and other mods before them faced:

The issue of alias use has been the downfall of virtually every TER board at one time or another.  Why on earth administration is so unwilling to get rid of this practice just defies common sense.  It is the single biggest complaint of the majority and yet the minority who use and obuse it always win out.  They say if you want to find the truth about something, follow the money.  I've tried but it leads no where.  Sure, we have rules that state board conduct.  But let's be honest here.  How often are those rules enforced for some, but generally not enforced for others.  And we have the catch all about "rude" not being tolerated.  But it is, sometimes.  I've seen so many rude posts around all the boards and sometimes the mods remove them, sometimes they don't.  In most instances they have valid reasons for what they did or didn't do, but therein lies part of the issue.  The average joe no longer has a yardstick to measure what is acceptible and what is not.  We also have the rule that says aliases will be flipped if you do such and such.  Well, except for the case where somebody double posts in a thread with different handles, I personally have never see an alias flipped.  And there have been a lot of cases where it certainly seemed more than warranted, IMHO.

The "cruise director" approach seems to me to just be a "mod" in disguise.  But since details haven't been made clear, that's just speculation on my part.

Then we have the "fair is fair" unwritten doctrine which LP and DD both seemed to apply and rightfully so in my opinion.  When somebody initiates the rudeness, cursing, or whatever, doesn't the person who was targeted have a right to some form of retaliation?  Especially if the originating post is not deleted in a timely manner.  I think so.

There is an old saying, "say what you mean, and mean what you say", whenever you talk about rules.  Once you deviate from the stated policy, you're doomed.  Call it allowing "free speech", call is justified retaliation, call it whatever you want.  But once you allow the "written standards" to be violated even if it's for a honorable reason, you're still doomed.

In the past year or so, we've seen people making accusations of rape, we've seen crude and rude, we've seen accusations about LE, we've seen accusations about just about everything under the sun.  And in just about all of that, the rules were indeed violated, but in the interest of honor, or being fair, well, you get the idea.  I personally wouldn't want to be a mod for all the tea in China even if I got to use the corporate jet and Gamblers charge card.  It's thankless, and it's nearly impossible to mix rule enforcement and being fair all at the same time.  It is a judgement call and someone has to be the judge.  I challenge anyone to consider what the boards might be like if alias posting was abolished.  I submit that this single action would solve the vast majority of the issues that cause folks to get a bad taste for the boards.

HUGE fucking mistake. Seriously.

First off, as pointed out by several others, you are walking into room with some really cool people and some really big time asses. You don't know them as well as most of them know each other. And you're going to randomly pick who gets to be in charge of class that day? Let's be nice and say the split is 50/50. You pick a "teacher" for the day and you get one from the good side. Great. Cool. Nice choice. A couple of days later you make a new pick. Another one from the cool side. Great. Cool. How long do you think it's going to be before you make one from the wrong side? Did anyone even consider this? The 'peak behind the curtain' comment is spot on.

And last I heard this was still a board dealing with the hobby. That's still correct, right? No cursing? Really? Are there really individuals either participating in the hobby or interested in participating in the hobby who are offended by cursing? Seriously?

I'm just guessing here but I'm thinking if profanity bothers them they are also not going to like our "theme day" picture threads. Are those gone also?

Oh, and going down that road, does that mean TER is going to change the wording in the review section? Just off the top of my head there might be some problems with "touch pussy," "lick pussy," "anal," "blow job," "sex," "pussy," "cum in mouth," and, of course, "rimming." I know I missed some but hopefully you get the point. I know non-VIP members can't read the reviews but they can still read the words.

This is a web site about the hobby. The hobby. Not a hobby but the hobby. It's meant to be enjoyed by adults. Adults. Telling people not to use profanity is just plain silly.

And seriously ... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE re-think the whole rotating ships captains idea. That is just plain scary.

And now I'm sure I'm off to moderated-land ...

As always, be safe and have fun ... and please re-think this.

Well said, Bro!