Admin
Administrator
Posts: 377
|
Post by Admin on Jul 24, 2013 18:52:06 GMT
Welcome to forum! This is a brand new forum, so it looks a bit empty at the moment, but hopefully we'll all get that changed soon enough. It being a new forum, I'm obviously still going to be fiddling with bits and pieces and ironing out the wrinkles (i.e. correcting my mistakes, probably!) a little for while behind the scenes, but everything should be up and running and ready to go. As it says in the rules: This is a non-partisan forum with no 'political leaning' or 'hidden agenda' - everyone is welcome!It means exactly what it says. Everyone is free to post their opinions, whatever their opinions may be, as long as they do so in a civil manner and according to the rules (which should be pretty straightforward and easy to stick to, hopefully!). Freedom of speech (within the bounds of civility, of course) is very important to me, and that is exactly what this place is for - open discourse between people with all kinds of different views, conducted in a friendly, civil and respectful manner. I'm your friendly neighbourhood Admin (and I am friendly, honest!) - please feel free to throw any questions in my direction, and I'll do my best to answer them. Hopefully when we have some more members I'll be looking to ask a few of them to act as Moderators, but in the meantime thank you all for joining, please enjoy the forum.....and.....get posting!
|
|
|
Post by ShivaTD on Jul 24, 2013 19:03:23 GMT
We secretly know you're the anti-Christ seeking to take over the world by political indoctrination... ROFLMAO
Are you going to create a member sock account so we don't have to refer to you as Your Highness the Admin?
|
|
|
Post by trinnity on Jul 25, 2013 3:07:02 GMT
Is that you, cenydd?
(this will make it ten words)
|
|
|
Post by ShivaTD on Jul 25, 2013 3:11:27 GMT
I just want the whole world to know that I was NOT Trinnity's favorite moderator at Political Forum. BTW Glad you dropped in to say hello. We have modest hopes for this forum but it's starting with the best people I know.
|
|
Admin
Administrator
Posts: 377
|
Post by Admin on Jul 25, 2013 9:13:10 GMT
Is that you, cenydd? (this will make it ten words) Shhh.....don't tell anyone! Yup - it's me. I'm not keeping it as a big secret or anything, I just decided that I should keep 'Admin' as nondescript and neutral as possible, to fit with the forum's whole central ethos of being strictly neutral and without 'agenda', open to everyone, and welcoming to all opinions and all viewpoints (as long as people are being reasonably civil and respectful about it, of course). That principle of free speech on a forum has always been very, very important to me ("I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" kind of thing), even if (inevitably, and from all 'sides' - it goes with the territory of trying to keep order and preserve civility on an internet forum, as I'm sure you know!) not everyone will always believe that.
|
|
|
Post by ShivaTD on Jul 25, 2013 10:44:09 GMT
Freedom of speech and fairness have always been the two most important factors in a forum for me. I'm sure that all of you know that already. I also support civility in the discourse but given a choice I'd take freedom of speech and fairness over civility in discourse. Of course because we can have all three I'll take them all.
|
|
|
Post by snarky on Sept 24, 2013 0:15:05 GMT
hello mr. admin! by reading a few posts i see you are also a member who posts as one; that is a good thing to see. i hope when i intro'd myself & used the terms 'teabagger & neocon' that wasn't considered a rule breaker. i don't do 'personal' attacks & did't di-rect those terms to anybody specifically nor would...but if it is deemed a no-no to say such things in a generic way, then please let me know & i shall refrain from doing so in the future. i like the idea of a political forum that doesn't allow real nastiness that tends to drag it down. from what i have seen so far, this isn't that kinda forum.
|
|
Admin
Administrator
Posts: 377
|
Post by Admin on Sept 24, 2013 9:10:27 GMT
Yup - I have 2 accounts, just to keep a visible separation between being a member posting my own opinion and the non-political Admin doing the administrative stuff (and moderation for the time being (what little there has needed to be so far, thankfully!) although that will change as we grow and appoint mods), so that the two things don't get mixed up together. This is very strictly a non-partisan forum, and all opinions are equally welcome (from anywhere in the world) so I just wanted to make it clear that my own political opinions (which I enjoy posting and discussing - it's why I got involved in forums in the first place) are entirely separate from the actual running of the forum, and people have the right to express their opinions whether I agree with them or not (and apart from anything else for me there seems no point in a forum that is just an 'echo chamber' for any 'side' - if people don't hold different views, there's really not going to be much to discuss!).
You seem to have the right idea on the rules already, so I'm sure you'll be fine - basically, other members of the forum shouldn't be considered as the subject of the thread, and personal comments shouldn't be aimed at them. Terms like 'teabagger' and 'neocon' aren't a problem in themselves as long as they aren't being used to insult other members, or in a context that's designed just to annoy them and wind them up. Obviously we can't take the passion out of discussing passionately held views altogether, nor should we try (debate would become very dull if we did), but hopefully we can keep that within the bounds of reasonable civility between members, and remember that we are just friends discussing our different views, not enemies out to attack and destroy each other.
|
|
|
Post by snarky on Sept 24, 2013 21:20:14 GMT
Yup - I have 2 accounts, just to keep a visible separation between being a member posting my own opinion and the non-political Admin doing the administrative stuff (and moderation for the time being (what little there has needed to be so far, thankfully!) although that will change as we grow and appoint mods), so that the two things don't get mixed up together. This is very strictly a non-partisan forum, and all opinions are equally welcome (from anywhere in the world) so I just wanted to make it clear that my own political opinions (which I enjoy posting and discussing - it's why I got involved in forums in the first place) are entirely separate from the actual running of the forum, and people have the right to express their opinions whether I agree with them or not (and apart from anything else for me there seems no point in a forum that is just an 'echo chamber' for any 'side' - if people don't hold different views, there's really not going to be much to discuss!). You seem to have the right idea on the rules already, so I'm sure you'll be fine - basically, other members of the forum shouldn't be considered as the subject of the thread, and personal comments shouldn't be aimed at them. Terms like 'teabagger' and 'neocon' aren't a problem in themselves as long as they aren't being used to insult other members, or in a context that's designed just to annoy them and wind them up. Obviously we can't take the passion out of discussing passionately held views altogether, nor should we try (debate would become very dull if we did), but hopefully we can keep that within the bounds of reasonable civility between members, and remember that we are just friends discussing our different views, not enemies out to attack and destroy each other. another forum i frequent is small but we get along great because we are refugees of refugees from the old yahoo message boards & as far as the attacks ect is exactly why we split. & to know there are some like minded people that wanna respect others whilst sparring is a breath of fresh air.
|
|
|
Post by ShivaTD on Oct 12, 2013 12:08:36 GMT
Time for a membership drive. How about everyone inviting someone new that we know from other forums? Preferably someone with a different political opinion than our own on at least some topics.
|
|