"EVERYONE worth having on the forum can know what the rules are -- hell, they are written out -- and obey them. People who choose to disobey those rules aren't worth having on the forum, by definition, because they are either arrogant a-holes or just plain stupid."

I DO get what you said...THE FIRST TIME. You are the one not understanding. You say people who break the rules aren't worth having on the forum. That is a judgement call on your part, and one that leads to Draconian enforcement of "the rules"(Draconian as in banished). Slowman doesn't operate that way, at least according to his actions as moderator of this board up to this point. Also, there is a certain amount of latitude in the interpretation of "the rules". Slowman provides that "latitude". You and I don't provide that. We would certainly disagree about some rules judgements and, by extension, some enforcements, if we did. The fact that we are having this dicussion provides enough evidence of that. No member here will provide the same judgement and guidance to the conversation. Regardless of the outcome, the resulting forum would be less than the creature that Slowman created and fostered. We would even have differing opinions amongst the membership as to whether it was "better" or "worse".

That fish is too funny. Did you ever end up seeing any jelly fish at IMFL? I saw some..but none of them had your name on them.

Believe me, they all had my name on them....

But no, I didn't see any. I saw a rope with ocean grime all over it on the 2nd lap during the race and almost jumped on the guy in front of me...I was pretty much scared shitless....

I'm heading to FL next month and doing the Escape from Florida race in your neck of the woods in March....any Gaytuzz I need to worry about for that swim?

As example to what I've written, here are a couple of exerpts from Slowman's ST forum FAQ:

"WHAT IS CONSIDERED ABUSIVE? We don't know, but we know it when we see it."

"ARE THESE ALL THE RULES? No. But these are most of them, in broad strokes. There may be others we place here from time to time. As you become familiar with this forum, and this community, you'll see that we interfere only when we need to. If you take a deep breath before you post, and give your idea a second thought before you push the "send" button, you probably won't write anything with which we'll take umbrage."

Does anyone out there believe they could apply these sorts of loose concepts in the same manner as Slowman? I know that I wouldn't.

And finally:

"DISCLAIMER: This is a very loosely moderated forum. We do not and cannot see everything written here, and we may not see an offensive post for awhile or indeed at all unless it is brought to our attention. We are hosting a global digital "water cooler," around which triathletes gather to "talk shop." As such we cannot and do not accept any liability for what others post here. We can simply make our best effort to monitor abuse that is brought to our attention."

Some of you are already uncomfortable with how loosely this forum is moderated. I'm not convinced your more tightly moderated board would be good. In fact, I am sure it would NOT be as good, for reasons I've outlined above.

No, I definitely and completely understand *your* point. It's much simpler than mine (not trying to be a jackass, though you were probably correct when you earlier said that at some point we're all jackasses!).

Anyway, moving on and seeing your other post below... it doesn't much matter that there are additional rules from time to time, etc., as well as latitude. If everyone follows the letter of the law, then latitude is never needed. It's really simple stuff, and I just don't get why people can't stick to that in someone else's "house."

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Too f@ckin depressed from various injuries to care about having a signature line.

Sponsored by Blue Shield PPO.

wow, that is really funny, or maybe it is really sad.

but maybe this forum provides a much needed public service in this way. it is certainly amusing to watch people really rile on another up here. and occasionally one gets a great morsel of great humor, so that makes it all worth it (i think).

sort of of like watching our great president trying to "lead" our nation and our military. ya just don't know whether you should laugh your guts out at his downright hilarious kookiness, or whether you should cringe at his tragic lack of brain power...

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Where would you want to swim ?

 
sounds like plain ol' CENSORSHIP to me

and I can't help but be against it for that reason...even if the idea seems justified....

but in the hope of keeping the www 'free', I think we should not be in favor of any 'policing' by anyone (whatever amount of trust we may have in them), it just all ends up backfiring and well, always is plain censorship

we should rather have a certain amount of confindence in the fact that things will 'self-regulate', by the response they receive on the forum....
something along those lines....

The One Note Samba reinvades the Main Forum.

I rest my case!

I am on my best behavior as always. I am not sure what Monk is talking about :-)

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Striving to have sex more than 66 times per year

Plainly stated this simply wouldn't work.

If anyone here has the respect of the posters and right to delete, move threads and ban posters, it's Dan.

That being said if individuals willingly choose to not respect Dan's wishes and even go way over the line that he is drawn, what do you think they will do to an appointed "deputy". The first post, moved, deleted etc will cause that poster and probably more to post something a bit more off topic then more posts then you will have to ban them....which by the way is next to impossible to do...then it's a steady tumble into the pit.

Dan at least already has a fairly high level of respect and most people will say "Yeah he's right" and back off. I seriously doubt that a mjority of people will respond to anyone else in such a manner.

This is Dan's sandbox, play by his rules or go home, pretty simple in my book. Will certain OT topics get by, sure and even some Dan has no problem with. Will others, no. In some case maybe someone will get hosed. That is Dan's choice, and his only.

~Matt

ok - I see both sides - and having just read Dan's post - it is up to us to bring to his atention then, any posts we feel are inappropriate.

I think that will work just fine

Same result I was hoping for anyway - along with 99% of the rest of us

AJ,

I, too, have read Slowman's edict and I agree with you that this is the result that 99% of us want to have happen.

That said, I think that there might be a way to help minimize the impact of these off-topic postings. I can't believe that i was thinking about this while i was riding today.

....with apologies to digg.com.....

Let those people who are are members of the forum give their approval (or disapproval) of the postings. Those postings are given approval or disapproval. Rather than simply letting a comment push a thread to the top you need to get people to give it "approval". If people disapprove the thread will fall to the depths off the first page.

We could call it "twitched" for things we approve of and "no-twitch" for those things we want to disapprove of. Obviously there has to be some algorithm behind it to make it fair and such.

Its a good way to let the users have input and help manage the content in a useful way. Obviously Dan still runs the show and will be the only one who can banish and move threads and all that.

Just a thought. I suppose that Slowman's solution is much easier to implement. :-)

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Do or do not there is no try.