Hello All,

As you aware, this board is intended to be a safe and friendly area for newbies to ask and receive answers to their questions, without being exposed to the flame wars that frequently occur on the General Discussion and Regional Boards.

Unfortunately, and for reasons that I don't understand, one of this weekend's topics went off on a name calling tangent.  It appears that somehow, a few veteran TER members got under each other's skins, and openly shared their annoyance with on the board.

This is unacceptable on the Newbie Board, I take full responsibility for what happened.  I didn't keep a close enough eye on the content and tone of the messages.  And given that some of the participants were moderated, and others weren't, I allowed a couple of posts through simply out of "fairness."  In hindsight, I should have stopped it after the second volley.  The entire exchange has been removed.

As I said, I'm taking the blame for this one, nobody's moderation status has changed, and the hopes of anyone getting unmoderated is not in jeopardy as a result of this event.  Now let this be a warning to EVERYONE here.  I take the friendly nature of this board very seriously.  Obviously given the topic of the this site, foul language is to be a expected.  However, an f-bomb in anger, or saying something along the lines of "I'm not saying you're a B**ch, but...," SIMPLY DOES NOT BELONG ON THIS BOARD!!!  Any future posts along these lines will be removed, and the poster (male of female) will be moderated.

Now just in case any individual thinks I am picking on him/her, this warning is to all, and refers to statements of at least three parties in this tangent.  You will notice that the only name associated with this train wreck is mine, but there is more than enough blame and ill-will to be shared all around.

I'm sorry to be the bad guy, and maybe you think this decision makes this board the "kiddie pool" of the hobby.  To that I say,  EXACTLY!!!  And for it to be valuable and effective, we all have to act like adults, even in the kiddie pool.

If you are not willing to play by these rules, I'm sure you can find some other TER board(s) that you will find more entertaining.  You are more than welcome to ignore this board, and post your wisdom elsewhere.

jazz32

-- Modified on 10/15/2007 2:37:15 PM

I don't mind splashing in the Kiddie Pool. It's so refreshing to have a little corner of the Internet where ignorance is gently corrected and our fears and concerns not dismissed out of hand.
 There is plenty of room on the Great Cyber Frontier for the cranky, the way-too-smart, and the incredibly worldly. This board is like a community of friends and fellow pilgrims.

Jazz, that's an awfully grand gesture on your part, but I don't think that you (or anyone else) can be expected to keep all of us behaving like adults, if we choose not to.  I've had off board conversations with one of the "offenders" and have my own opinions of what happened, which I can share with you privately, or not.

As moderator, you set the tone of this board, and I think you do an excellent job of keeping it informative to the new kids, while trying to keep the redundancy to a low roar.  Since I'm pretty aware of what your job pays, I say major kudos to you for that effort.  To be honest, I wouldn't be as likely to throw in my bits of wisdom (and sarcasm) if this board was moderated differently.

Keep up the good work.

... since people love the swim but no one wants to clean up. It is highly appreciated how much time you do put in for this board.

Thanks for being the lifeguard of the kiddie pool, Jazz!

It seems like every time that I find an online community that I enjoy, going back to Usenet newsgroups in the previous decade, it become sullied by the kind of behavior that anonymous communication fosters.  The only ones that I enjoy today are well-moderated forums and blogs.  It also helps if people play well with others.

Your approach to censoring the thread in question not only protects the non-combative  climate and ideal of this forum; but still allowed for converse opinion.

Freedom of speech is a passion of mine; but attacks ad hominem are not.

 Way-da-go Jazz

When I had a question a couple of weeks back you answered it almost immediately. The people that should apologize are the ones that verbally attacked each other on the newbie board. Jazz continue doing your good work.

shaka

Mr. Jazz,
I'm a newbie on here but I can already see that you run a very helpful and interesting forum.  I wish I had read this forum before my first encounter with a provider, and I'd have put the wisdom of the helpful hobbyists to good use instead of learning from the ol school of hard knocks.   I have scrolled back through a couple months of posts on here and I see very little of a bickering nature.  Keep up the good work.

and I do apologize. Sometimes when I switch back and forth from the P&R board, I forget my manners. Not an excuse, just a feeble attempt at an explanation.

Dude, that place is barely safe, much less sane.  I had to get off of it a year ago, because it's a time hole.  It also lessens your ability to play well with others.

The good news is that I'm an atheist, so I don't think it'll cause you to go to hell...LOL

I'm sure there are many other reasons for the both of us to end up there. Not making excuses, but its tough to remain polite after sparring with the likes of JackO and Co. lol

Very true.  That's why I left.  It started as a quest for knowledge, and ended in a virtual screaming match.  I can watch Fox, and yell at my TV for that.

I came here for the girls.

You help all of us stay safe and give us a forum to express ourselves and learn from each other. My table manners are not the best but i'm learning. Six month newbie here but been around the block for many years. I feel at home here. Where all here for the same thing , it's for health , safety and welfare for the hobbiest and companion. You have given me many hours of education and asked nothing in return. You don't need to be a VIP for this perk on here. Jazz you have covered my back when I first arrived on the computer and here. I will never forget that. Thanks and many Kisses to you.  Haley

Haley, I can see from your reviews you are very highly thought of and your note to Jazz helps me understand why.  You are very well spoken and have a very good insight about people.