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SmallTalk "Rules"

110 replies

Please feel free to offer suggestions below, as this set of rules is STILL IN "DRAFT" MODE. We'd like to come to a mutual agreement as to what the rules should be.

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Dear TDR subscriber and SmallTalk participant: We have an appreciation for all of our readers. There are those who seem to always see everything through rose-colored glasses, and those who almost always seem to have only something negative to say. It's all good, in our opinion, as long as the few rules we have are maintained (I'll come back and update/expand upon this):

1. Participation in our SmallTalk discussion area is limited to TDR subscribers who have provided accurate information when subscribing to this web-based newspaper. We do not charge a subscription fee… and we invest an enormous amount of time in providing you with news, features, periodic contests and this discussion area. One of the LEAST things you can do in return, is to not disrespect this effort by providing fake, inaccurate, or misleading information when you subscribe (especially since you can opt-out of having this info displayed to other readers). Please go to the "Change My Setting" link to update your information and keep it current, as email addresses sometimes change.

2. No personal attacks (i.e., no flaming). Posts that contain some kind of direct insult to another discussion participant will be deleted. While you are, of course, free to disagree with what someone else says, even to go as far as to say "I think your comment is rather stupid," it's NOT OK to write "I think you're stupid." We trust our readers will understand the difference, and keep far away from that line that should not be crossed.

3. No vulgar language (no matter how those words might be spelled or abbreviated). In particular, we disapprove of words that might still sound vulgar to some readers (myself included actually, even if I hear one word in particular quite often, unfortunately, while riding the NYC subway) and you may also no longer think of it as being particularly vulgar. We ask you to please be ladies and gentlemen.

4. No blind SmallTalk thread topics. A reader should not have to guess as to what the topic is about; should not have to "click in" in order to discover that. For example, "Guess what?" would AT LEAST need to be "Guess what song I just heard on the radio?." Since that still involves a bit of guessing, "Just heard 'One Wish' on WPLJ New York" would be better yet.

5. Please avoid starting a NEW discussion topic, if a previously created topic on this same subject already exists (within recent memory).

6. Only reply if you have something to add to the discussion! Some SmallTalk participants seem to think they have to reply to every single thread, no matter if they have something of value to add to the discussion or not. If you don't know the answer to a question, please don't bother replying with things like "I can't help you" or "I don't know"? Such an answer doesn't help anyone serves only to interfere with someone trying to read quickly through the responses. Similarly, we discourage posts where you have nothing much more to say than "I agree" or "Me too."

7. The Daily Roxette does not allow links to direct downloads, nor the use of TDR for "sharing" songs. [as pointed out in comments below… this rule needs further clarification]

8. If you have something to say, don't repeat words thinking it has more impact. Example: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!!!!!!!! It's just a waste of space. Is the same point not conveyed in THIS example: Yes, yes, YES!!! Therefore, no more than three (3) repetitive words OR punctuation marks!!! (one, two, THREE exclamation points… and I've reached the limit)

9. We do not allow comments, or any portion of a comment, to be in any language other than English. There are some exceptions to this rule: a) This rule does not apply in the International discussions section. b) A short sentence or two is allowed, as long as a translation into English is included in parenthesis: Förstår du? (Do you understand?) c) The only other exception we can think of… would be in an article or thread that was set up (by TDR) for use in an "Ask Per" scenario. Questions posed in Swedish would not be deleted in this particular case.

10. No one may join a discussion topic simply to sabotage it, or in an obvious attempt to "bait" others into responding to him/her in a negative way. Some needy people crave attention so much, that they get some kind of perverse "kick" out of stirring things up… just so they can come back and see the mess they created. This will not be tolerated here.

11. There will be no hijacking of discussion threads. Stick to the original topic. Consider starting a new discussion topic, rather than make the current one into a discussion about something that was not originally intended.

12. Contrary to popular belief (or so it seems sometimes) this is NOT a completely open "forum." How many times have we read some ill-informed subscriber state "I have the right to my opinion. I have the right to say anything I want to here, you can't tell me to shut up" or something quite similar to that. First of all, no reader should ever tell another reader to "shut up" (see Rule #2). But we've said many times, in many places, that TDR reserves the right, like any other publication (especially a news-oriented publication), to edit (for brevity, clarity or violation of a set rule) or to completely unpublish any comment. Just because we currently give you the privilege of self-posting without prior review by a moderator, that doesn't mean you have the right to "free speech" here, as the concept of free speech only applies in a public forum (a public park for example), and this is a privately-held publication. If you want to exercise that particular right on the Internet, start your own website or blog.

13. TDR does not wish to publish comments that appear to be racist, homophobic, or non-tolerant of any other group of people.

14. Just like everywhere else on SmallTalk, the subject of new discussion topic in the MarketPlace section must clearly and simply indicate what is for sale, and not contain "promotional fluff." "Look at this GREAT eBay item!!" for example would NOT be allowed, whereas "eBay auction: Roxette Times Square t-shirt" would be. We would also ask that some self-constraint be shown… and that the privilige of posting here not be abused by a seller coming back to "bump" his/her post back up to the top (or having a friend post to the thread for this purpose).

15. Finally, allow us to encourage you to BE NICE to each other. We're all brothers and sisters here in the usually happy, sometimes slightly disfunctional family that someone many, many years ago called "Roxers." [does anyone remember who coined this term?] Please have respect for others, and try — as best as you can — to think through what you have to say here BEFORE YOU POST IT, as much as we take the time to write, edit, and re-edit what we publish ourselves.

 

RELATED THOUGHTS: We worked very hard over the years to establish The Daily Roxette as the premiere source of credible information about all things Roxette-related. Ever since Visa Kopu, our Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, first established this website, he had the idea to do so using a newspaper model. Not only have we been fortunate enough to gain the respect of fans… and enjoy very robust, sometimes amazing circulation figures (that would be "number of hits" for those of you not quite in the newspaper mindset), but we've been honored to be recognized as equally entitled to be part of the "press" or "media" by Roxette's management, record label, and for that matter, Per and Marie themselves. While we often cite other publications, we have to admit we're thrilled when some other newspaper picks up on one of OUR stories, and cites "The Daily Roxette" as their source. Most of our readers would probably be shocked to learn how much time has gone into all of this…. how much time it takes just to write, edit and publish ONE news article. All of us on staff are unpaid. TDR does not charge a mandatory subsciption fee (although we do solicit voluntary contibutions). All we ask of our subscribers, is to understand what this newpaper is all about, and to honor our work here by not making it more difficult for us. We consider it a HUGE waste of our time to have to go in and edit out something that the writer should never have included in the first place. We'd much rather spend what time we have available to devote to TDR in providing content.

Sounds good.

You’re the MAN ! Ok Rules :)

I also think there shouldn’t be any messages that not even tries to be constructive, like “i agree” and “LOL” or “:)”.

Awwww... crap!

And I just bought a new flame thrower too!

*walks off, kicking a rock and pouting*

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I have a request actually:

No hijacking of threads. If it doesn’t really pertain to what the topic is, don’t post in it. I know mine has been hijacked all to crap, and I was hoping to make some folks stop and think. It worked for a few hours, then went down the pisser.

LittleSpooke—-> You’re are funny...

Oh.... so you bought my flamethrouer on eBay :)

There’s another rule you need - only reply if you have something to add to the discussion! Some people seem to think they have to reply to every single thread, no matter if they have something to add or not! If you don’t know the answer to a question, why bother replying with things like “I can’t help you” or “I don’t know”? Such an answer doesn’t help anyone and certainly not the person asking a question...

Thanks StarRox, we agree and added it.

I would delete this porn site example. It doesn’t fit the style of these rules.

Fine to have these rules (bad that they are even neccessary...). But now they will have to be placed where people HAVE to see them.

LEO: Well written. I just saved the list to my HD for future reference :o)

NiceKai... (btw. is the other Kai the “not nice” one?)

That wasn’t supposed to appear in the final version, it was just my weird sense of humor at the time. I forgot to delete it.

Little Spooky... this is still a work in progress... we’re still VERY open to constructive suggestions).

LS, I used it on Dahlgren-attling.net and adapted it for TDR as far as I remember.. LONG ago ;) I actually thought it was posted on Small Talk already months ago :S

BUT

I made it mixing example rule texts from some websites.. (don’t ask me from where anymore..) :P

No hijacking threads, is this a new rule or an existing one?

Nate: We’re trying to come to a common consensus as to what the rules should be. This was added due to a suggestion above by LittleSpooky. We’re aware that there’s been a lack of cooperation from certain readers in regards to following the “rules,” but we’re also aware that they haven’t been readily available to read (even internally amongst our staff). Thus, enforcement of the rules has been somewhat uneven. The editors and moderators of this newspaper REALLY don’t want to spend any more time than is absolutely necessary “enforcing” rules. We fully expect our subscribers, in return for the ability to self-post without prior approval, to follow the entire set of rules voluntarily. It’s in all of our best interests then, to make sure everyone knows exactly what they are.

Please feel free to suggest edits or additions to what you already see in the first post above. – LEO

Jude: Ya gots me on that one. Never been there :) Never heard of it until I read your post :) Uhm... anything else? :D

Nate: I’d suggested the hijacking of the threads thing because on several other forums I use (couple of private ones), it’s a rule there and it helps sometimes. Example:

Topic is about the latest movie you’d seen. Suddenly, 9 posts down, someone’s talking exclusively about the weather. Now I’m cool with someone saying: “I remember when I saw that movie with my bf / gf, it was raining like cats and dogs that night and we’d decided to catch a movie before taking the bus home....” and then give a review of the movie.

But not to start the topic and have it turn into the weather or whether or not you heard Song X at your local apothecary / drug store. Ya dig?

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As people keep spreading the newest Roxette songs here again... what is actually the TDR rule concerning those downloads?

I really think there is little they can do... if someone put a link up where you could download the songs... they would remove it!

In this day and age with the internet, it’s bound to happen....

I am still surprised at who it was who leaked them!

And that is?

of course we don’t allow links to direct downloads, neither the use of TDR for sharing songs, this is why all topics that are inviting to sharing illegal files are now closed (couldn’t do it ealier, unfortunately).

I’m confused now.... There are tons of topics and posts with various songs, demos, concerts, remixes.... which people shared. And they weren’t archived. Does this ’no illegal stuff for share’ apply only for new songs or only for regular songs (not demos etc)? Actually Myth is a demo too, right? Hm... Totaly confused. I would like to know for any future references. Please explain. Thanks.

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Thank you Judith, I somehow knew that this rule exists. Of course it is impossible to watch the forum every minute. And as we can see people don’t care about exactly this one rule at all and react pissed when you tell them not to do that.
The usual answer you get is: Per is rich or I would buy the CD anyway, later, one day, maybe....never.

Maybe people don’t understand that what they have done today is anything but good for the connection between TDR and Per&Marie. If the leakers remain so aggressive (yes, I mean this word), they soon will not get anything more to leak. No news, no games, maybe not even music any longer. Cos Per may be pissed now too, and it is his very good right to be so.

Good that TDR has closed the gates now.

edit: typos

@nicekai; am personally thrilled to have heard the new songs but indeed a much better idea to close off all such topics... especially as the songs would also get spread among non-regular visitors otherwise and nobody would buy the single anymore.

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@ally; re. ’Released stuff I think they allow to share.... but stuff that is not officially released is not allowed... as it is illegal! ... however all it take is one person and it starts’

Would self say released stuff is worse to have online than officially unreleased stuff... don’t think Per minds his demos being share, which he does himself even through bad hair day, as he considers them not good enough for release on an official record. It’s much worse if officially released tracks are being shared; for those people should be told to buy the records in order to get them.

Re. the tunes that came along this afternoon, would have been just as happy and would perhaps even have preferred to see 30-sec. snippet of only the new songs just as a preview (like it was presented in the old days on e.g. hand.nu). Compare it to iTunes; any songs available on the ITMS has a 30-sec snippet that one can listen to. Those people who want to hear more are after hearing something they like only triggered extra to buy the songs.

@ally77: Don’t say it is impossible to avoid such scenarios. Start with yourself. Why did you actively share the songs?

Now you might say: If you didn’t do it, someone else had taken your place.

False.

With your action you encouraged more people to ask for and share the songs. Nobody seemed to feel guilty. It is hard enough to fight the sharers, there is no need to make this fight even more difficult.

It does not matter when a song is leaked. It does a matter that a song is leaked.

If you should ever meet Roxette in the future, can you still look them straight in the eyes without blushing?

thenicekai, I’d like to know if you already got the songs. I am 100% sure you have them and you have played them a million times. Of course, you will deny that, but it’s not much plausible you don’t have them by now. A bit out of curiosity, another bit ’cause you are a fan and can’t resist the idea of playing the songs. Be sincere. Maybe you care about your “reputation” of a clean moderator (in SOAP site, not here). And that’s the reason you are throwing this moral speech to us.

But don’t overreact, please. Don’t make a drama out of this. If I have a way to search in you HD, to see if you don’t have the songs, then I will trust in you. But as I can’t, let me be a bit sceptical!

R_S: let’s please not turn this into a personal discussion. This is about the Small Talk rules, now everybody knows how we go about it, there is nothing more to it. Thanks :)

To make the answer short: I’ve had OW for a couple of days but did not talk about it, and especially did I not share it. Of Reveal I heard a snippet. Anyone... I listened to it some weeks ago when I visited someone who had the song. I have no copy of it and never asked for one. Myth have I heard over a phone, I could have asked for a copy but didn’t. Believe it or not (you will argue anyway and I don’t care). It would be very easy for me to get the files from the internet, I still speak quite a good Russian which I learned at school. ;-)

About the soap forum: All the “errors” you thought to have seen happened because I had to clean after you. You couldn’t resist to offer your “services” between the lines again. But since the soap forum is an official one and has therefore sharper rules concerning certain issues, it is necessary to be strict in some points. Sharing copyright protected material is one of them. And somehow I have the feeling that we are a small and happy community over there. We have no fights and whenever someone causes trouble, it’s often enough the “normal” member who tells him how to behave, not me. The reason why you see so few topics is that old topics are automatically deleted after 6 weeks of inactivity. This is to protect the server from burning or so. Yep, it’s weird and I don’t really understand it either. ;-)

What makes me sad though is that you still don’t accept the general rules that exist in order to create a friendly atmosphere among Per&Marie, the TDR staff and the TDR members. You have no idea what consequences the leaking of the songs has on the future of TDR and the soap forum. You (among others) brought us all in trouble but you fail to see it.

@activewatcher: You’re in the wrong topic, maybe? :-) edit: Ah, sorry, you were faster.

@ Littlespooky & L.E.O.

Thanks for your responses - I think it’s a great idea!

Dare you to create a list of supposedly vulgar words - it’s rather vague!! **giggles at the thought of Lars using a dirty**

Purps: YOU WOULD! ;o)

Nate: Not a problem. It’s something that I’ve thought that’s been a good idea on other forums.

Purple: It’s usually only one word in particular that we have a problem with here. So many people use it now as part of their “normal” vocabulary... I hear it on the subway quite often.

In private conversation, I sometimes use this word myself, but in my mind, that’s quite a bit different that including it in something I’m writing for a newspaper to publish.

Language changes... even more often than “this word,” I hear urban youth here referring to each other as “niggers.” For most of MY life, the “N” word was off-limits.... an extremely offensive word. Now it’s being adopted as a synonym for “guy” or “dude” or “man.”

Anyway, before I veer to far off-topic, let me close by saying that even though I’m aware that language changes, it’s a slow process, and not all of us have become desensitized to such words.

I like the rules. They are pretty clear.
Is there any “punishment” for those who don’t respect them?

I’m starting to feel very worried about all this “rule enforcement” mantra, and all the comments from LEO (and other moderators) about TDR’s credibility being hurt because of the “recent facts”, etc., etc.

It seems all this started with the negative comments about the RoxBox on the front page. Did Per cried out to TDR or something because he didn’t like what he read? I hope he’s not that childish. But the thing is that since almost two weeks, I feel the rules have changed. And if the rules were already in place, then they were “suddenly” remembered (and enforced)

I’m worried because TDR is *really* big. And it is where it is now because of the community of fans surrounding it. TDR must be credible for us, the fans community, not for EMI, Roxette’s management, Per Gessle or Marie Fredriksson. And I say so as a fan. It would be a pity if with all this new rules stuff the community gets hurt, just to be credible to some small “official” circle.

People wants to communicate. The people who visit this site everyday, and is a regular poster, is here because he/she is allowed to do so. And if you cut this freedom, then they are going to look for some other place to participate. And TDR might keep this “credibility” for a few of us, but in the end, it will lost (most of) its community, and will become irrelevant. I’m particularly worried with all LEO’s comments to discourage posting on the front page news. It seems that suddenly, we must be super-serious to comment there. Suddenly, comments on the front page are like “letters to the editor” (LEO: I really respect you *A LOT* as a TDR staff member, but I really don’t like this new “obsession”).

As regard the leaks: Yes, that was unfortunate. I’m not going to discuss if it is legal or not. For someone to discuss that seriously, at least is necessary to be an expert on copyright laws in many countries... and I’m far from that. But like it or no, “internet sharing” are the new rules of the game. That’s hardly a piece of news. The record companies are still trying to cope with that. And if Per, Marie Dinberg, EMI or whatever got mad with TDR and pointed to its “credibility” because some sharing between the die-hard-fans, then they are nuts. And if they got TDR to hyper-moderate all the discussions because of this, they are even more nuts. All that they are doing is hurting TDR, a site that has done a much better job promoting Roxette than any of the “official” EMI attempts. And this is because TDR is credible FOR ITS READERS, and because its readers can communicate and share their opinions. And NOT because the amount or quality of moderation in the forums.

I wish TDR put more energy moderating the stupid flamewars between members. They are *very* frequent, specially among the argentinian fans (and I’m from Argentina, so I can comment on that...). That’s far more irritating for the readers than other things that get moderated more quickly.

I wish TDR staff remember that –as its name implies– it is a newspaper, and as such, it is where it is because of its readers, and not because of some star got angry because he didn’t like to read about the fans not liking a new compilation of old songs. I don’t think TDR’s goal is to please Per every morning telling him what he does... he already knows it! The readers are the ones who want the news. And the news are that many fans are not happy with the RoxBox, and that the new songs were leaked before the official release date. And it’s normal if the readers want to discuss about it. Deleting and/or hiding the comments hardly changes the facts: The RoxBox tracklist still sucks for many fans (like it or not), and the leaked songs are still there on the net, ready for anyone who wants them (be it legal or not). So what’s the point closing topics? All that you people get is a stronger perception of freedom being cut.

What does hurt TDR most? What is worse for its credibility? I really hope TDR knows what it’s doing. I really hope TDR knows the right answers to those questions.

Sorry if this is too long, but I really needed to write all this. Sorry for my English, too, just in case. My original comments are in Spanish, here: http://www2.dailyroxette.com/smalltalk/thread.php/16792?p=1 (in another thread). If you speak Spanish, maybe you’ll find that post more “readable” than this :p I hope my tone is correct... it’s difficult to express this things in another language. I expect no one to take this personal, or find it offensive. I’m just expressing my opinion, and trying to give a constructive critic.

Have a nice day!

@ Chaghi

I think what you wrote was very well put there… and the English very well readable. I had no problems in understanding what you wrote.

Mariano (Chaghi):

Thanks for sharing your concerns here. Let me attempt to address some of them.

First, you need make no apologies for your English. Your English seems extraordinarily good to me, and is certainly a LOT better than my Spanish. The ONLY mistake you may have made is in your use of the word “credible.” Everything else is quite easy to read and understand.

You’ve seen no comments from me (up to this point) regarding TDR’s “credibility” being hurt. I may have missed something, but the only thing that I’ve seen close to what you may be referring to was written by a moderator of a different forum, who is here – like you – as a subscriber/participant; or by other non-TDR staff members.

Our credibility is based solely upon the accuracy of our news stories, and the truthfulness of our reporting staff. Our track record there is excellent, and because of this, I’m always a little personally “put off” when I see some random comment saying “well, I guess we’ll wait to see this on an ’official’ site, then we’ll really believe it.” This newspaper has worked long and hard to earn the trust of it’s readers when it comes to reporting news accurately and credibly.

Perhaps this is as good a time and place as any to fill you in on the history of The Daily Roxette, as it applies very much to the current state-of-affairs.

A young man in Finland named Visa Kopu, interested in computers and programming wanted to put into practice his new skills as a webmaster and programmer (as I’m sure you know, sometimes the best way to learn something is to try to do it). Visa also was and is a huge Roxette fan and – like many others at that time – figured that putting together a Roxette site would be something enjoyable for him. Unlike the two other major Roxette-related forums that use pre-packaged, shareware type programs, everything you see here was coded by Visa himself.

What impressed me, when I first discovered TDR, was that he was presenting news written in the style of a newspaper. He took “The Daily Roxette” idea from the Look Sharp album, and gave life to it. It was journalism, and as I’ve been a professional journalist since I was 15 years old, I was attracted to that. Eventually, after first serving as a frequent reporter, Visa asked me if I would like to join him as an editor.

All of the expenses over the years of running this newspaper-as-website have been absorbed by Visa. While the Google ads help somewhat now, we still operate “in the red.” Some readers (unfortunately not many) have paid for their subscription, in an attempt to help with our server costs and related expenses. It surprises me sometimes when I read (and I’m NOT talking about you) various complaints from people who somehow feel “entitled” to things, even though they’ve made no investment, no purchase, and little, if any contribution to the well-being of the community.

This past week has been exceptionally rough for us all. Not because of pressure from external sources, but because of a deep sense of disappointment with our inability to focus on our core mission (news gathering and reporting), and with a perceived lack of cooperation from some of the subscibers we attempt to serve.

As for rules, and rule enforcement, you’ll note that I started this effort long before the most recent sad state of affairs.

You ask if (because of the initial negative comments about the RoxBox, if “Per cried out to TDR or something because he didn’t like what he read?” The direct, and categorical answer to this is NO, he did not. Neither did anyone else from his management company or record label.

You state that you “feel the rules have changed” recently, and this is somewhat true. For much too long, there was confusion as to what the guidelines and rules are. As the Managing Editor, I see this as being my fault, and I’ve attempted to address this oversight by starting this discussion topic, so that all of us (yourself included), can come to an agreement... or at least have input into the decision-making process.

Your next concern, also seems to be based on a false premise, so let’s get that cleared up first, and then we can look at what else you meant.

We are an independent publication, and we are not beholden to the small “official” circle you refer to. In keeping with our adopted metaphor of being a newspaper, we believe in the concept of a “free press,” meaning that we’re free to publish what we want, just as (for example) Aftonbladet or Dagens Nyheter is free to print the stories it deems are fit to print. [Many of our readers somehow think that “free speech” is an issue that applies to a newspaper, and they are mistaken... but that’s a different issue and topic]. While I don’t want to bring to the surface the particular articles in question and re-open old wounds, you may believe me when I tell you that TDR has indeed went ahead and published news stories when we knew they were accurate, even though we were requested not to do so. Again, our core mission was different than that of the official fan club (who did not publish, or took down, some of these types of stories).

To be honest, I don’t know what it is now... but at one point we had earned the respect of that circle you’re referring to, purely because of the quality of the articles we were publishing, and the manner in which, I remember one of those circle members saying to me, we were “like a real newspaper.”

If, as you say, TDR is “really big,” it’s because we’ve worked hard over the years (as have our readers who have doubled as reporters) to make it an attractive place for Roxette fans to get news and information.

I agree with you that it would be a pity if this “new rules stuff” as you put it were to “hurt” the community. That’s not our intention. It’s our opinion that the community you speak of is already hurt, and setting up some ground rules is long overdue.

The real danger here is far from what you describe next. You speak as if TDR should be concerned with self-preservation... that if we curb or cut the freedom to self-post, then people will go elsewhere.
You know, I’ve never been one to be concerned with how many “hits” this site gets. The only time I’ve ever asked Visa (who still by the way is my boss, and the Editor-in-Chief of this newspaper) for a hit report was because someone ELSE was requesting it.

No, unfortunately, the real danger right now.. to be honest with you... is that TDR will, all on its own, put the newspaper to bed and cease to exist at all. Not because, as you suggest, that our readers might cancel their subscriptions and we’re faced with dropping circulation, but rather because we’re just not having much fun anymore. We’ve begun to openly question amongst ourselves if it’s just not worth it anymore.

If we are to stay in business, and continue to serve this community, then things have simply got to change. And I believe that one way to ensure that happens, is to get as many of our readers as possible ... the ones who value our work here.... to agree to help keep TDR in print, by more thoughfully exercising the PRIVILIGE we currently give subscribers to self-post in real time (somehow this privilige has been misconstrued by some to be a “right to free speech” or a “freedom”) and furthermore, to help ensure that others are doing the same, by letting us know when a particular thread needs to be looked at because someone is disregarding the rules.

Rather than “hurt” the community... these rules are an effort to preserve it. We’re simply trying make things run more smoothly, to cut down on the need for staff/moderator intervention, by adopting a transparent set of rules and regulations that everyone is aware of.

Since we do not have any money to pay our staff, all the work that is done here is basically volunteerism. When a volunteer job no longer brings sufficient joy, and the troubles and headaches overshadow the reason that you’re working here in the first place, then you can’t expect people to stay around forever. People tend to move on when something’s no longer enjoyable for them. The OIRFC already folded, many old-time Roxette fans have long since disappered from sight, and sometimes it feels like TDR may not be that far behind. If you’re truly as concerned as you say you are, then I’m sure we can count on you as a loyal reader to help us out with all of this.

You say that you’re particularly worried about my action to “discourage posting on the front page” news section. Well, this was not my intent at all. In fact, I love to see lots of comments on our news stories. My intent is simply to limit comments on any particular news article, to comments directly related TO that article (with a minimum of what I call “noise”). You may be surprised to learn that most of our readers come to our site to read the news, and they never venture into SmallTalk. Discussion forums are usually not my thing either. I simply don’t have the time. The pressures on my time, now that I’m a fully-established adult with a career to attend to, are enormous. This is also true of other fans who have, along with Roxette, matured over the years. One such fan wrote this to me recently: “If I’m intersted enough in a story to read the comments, I don’t want to have to sift through a bunch of banter amongst your ’frequent posters’, in order to read the the posts that truly are directly related to this article I’ve just read. If I wanted to read that kind of small talk, I’d go the the “Discussions” tab, and join the SmallTalk there.” I, obviously, agreed with him, and after talking with the other News Editors, decided to put BACK into effect, a policy that I had initiated back when I first took over the day-to-day editorial control of the newspaper from Visa, who no longer had as much time to invest in the project.

I’ll skip over the “leaks” issue at this time, expect to once again state that any decisions here are enitrely our own, and there’s been no request made of us to “hyper-moderate” as you so cleverly put it.

You state “I wish TDR put more energy moderating the stupid flamewars between members.” I agree, but we are understaffed. Frankly, and please hear this loud and clear... MODERATING a discussion forum is NOT what I signed up for, and a real WASTE of my time. The VAST majority of our readers would rather see me do the job I’m GOOD at, and that’s gathering, reporting, and editing (reader submitted) news.... than to see LEO’s initials appear somewhere in SmallTalk. Seriously, we are understaffed, and have been for a long time. This too is my fault for not having been more proactive in hiring some additional moderators, so that our News Editors can also concentrate more on their primary job description. If you Mariano (or anyone else reading this) have any suggestions as to who you think might be someone we should consider, by all means please let me know.

I’ve gone on for far too long, and stayed up WAY too late. Thank you again for sharing your thoughts. If we can, together, get things pulled together and running smoothly once again, then I know there’s hope for the future of The Daily Roxette.

Gracias amigo. – LEO

Leo,

That was very well put and I read through it several times whilst sitting here drinking my coffee! I have been using TDR for almost 4 years now, mainly since I obtained a computer at home. Previously to that I used an internet café but very rarely posted comments.

The rules you have are very well laid out and make a lot of sense to me, I have read them several times over the past few days. However I need to make one point and that is the fact that I do believe a lot of TDR readers do not actually know these rules exist as I think many never venture into the TDR Discussions area. Perhaps it might be a good idea to have a small talk rules or terms and conditions section added somewhere to the front page to make it known to people. Maybe alongside the tabs at the top of the page I am not sure how much work would be involved in that.

Yes there is no doubt the past week has brought a lot of friction to TDR for the staff that volunteer there time and those people who are regular uses of the forum. I do perhaps think that maybe under the circumstances it might be a good idea to maybe send a mass email to all people registered with TDR to make them aware of the rules and that if TDR is to continue its success then people need to be aware of the rules in place and take note (myself included).

I hope the future of TDR remains positive and always continues its successful way of obtaining news in the Roxette world. It is often great to read news articles from regular members and I think that makes people feel part of the paper rather than just a statistic.

There are several people that spring to mind that I think would make a good moderator of TDR who I feel would be beneficial to help support the others in the running of the forum, and I will be sure to email my suggestions to you sometime over the weekend.

I’d like to add a new rule:

“Open a thread ONLY if you have anything important to SAY or SHARE any info to the other members”.

For example, theads that doesn’t lead anywere, like:

“I love you, Per”
“Please, come to (name of the country)”
“Marie is the best singer of the world”

...should be archived. They are more an statement than a topic for conversation. But many people still open threads like those examples I gave.

LEO,

Thank you very much for taking the time to address all my concerns. I should admit that now that I’ve read your answers, I can look at the rules and read them under a different (pleasant) light, so to speak.

TDR is so serious in what it does (and yes, that’s a compliment!), that it’s easy to forget that you are doing this in your free time, and because it’s fun. I myself am in the “core group” of a community of Python (a computers language) users from Argentina, so I really understand very well the amount of time it takes to run a website, and interact with a group of people.

Maybe most of my concerns were triggered by the fact that all this suddenly popped up in a very “special” week, and was easy for me to connect the “rule enforcement effort” with some of those issues. I was really afraid of TDR losing its independence. So let’s call this an unfortunate coincidence... and move on. I still don’t agree with some of the latest moderation efforts, but then again, this was a very special week, and maybe nobody (subscribers or moderators) was in the “correct” mood.

I’m *very* happy to read “Our credibility is based solely upon the accuracy of our news stories, and the truthfulness of our reporting staff” and “We are an independent publication, and we are not beholden to the small “official” circle you refer to” :)

Somehow I feel that we are learning that we are not 13 years old anymore... I mean, most of Roxette fans are around their thirties, aren’t they? So I understand that maybe the things that we enjoyed 10 years ago are no longer a cause of joy.

If you really don’t mind losing a portion of subscribers, then go ahead with the rules. I thought that the size of the community was more important for you, and I’m sure that TDR will lose subscribers if it starts applying this rules with more emphasis. I’m sure that many of the subscribers are here because of SmallTalk (not my preferred TDR section either!) and this (wrong) assumption of “right to free speech”, and will leave as soon as they lose this “right”. This is why I was afraid of “TDR becoming irrelevant” (but then again, this comment was also connected with a feeling of TDR being “managed” from outside...). I myself don’t care if you have 1 hit –mine ;) – or 1,000,000 as long as I could come here every day and read the news. So if the TDR staff need this (the rules) to recover the joy of going on with this newspaper... go ahead!!!

Now, going straight to the rules:
- Any new subscriber should be forced to read them, i.e., they should receive them by e-mail or something, even if the subscriber skip it and doesn’t read it in the end (yes, that sounds silly, but then nobody can came here and say “I didn’t know of the rules!”)
- Maybe all of us (the “old” subscribers) should be forced to re-register, or go through a page with this rules the first time we try to post a comment once the rules become official (but you’ll need time from Visa to program this)

I agree with ally77 that readers must get aware of the rules in advance.

You are really understaffed as regards moderation of the Spanish threads in the International section. I really appreciate the efforts of Judith, but I think she’d agree with me that it’s no longer the work for just one person alone!. I’ll try to suggest later some possible new moderators.

I’d suggest to the moderators to read this papers, by Clay Shirky:
A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy: http://www.shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html
Group As User: Flaming and the Design of Social Software: http://www.shirky.com/writings/group_user.html (this is a follow-up of the previous one)

They are *long*, and are connected with “social software”, but they are not technical, and they have some interesting insights in group behavior in the internet era ;)

Thanks again for your time!

ok, i posted this in another thread, but it seems to fit more to this topic - and so i go again:
1.) i´ve followed all the comments about the rox-box. sometimes it is better to get through a storm then trying to stop it. hope you know what i mean. imagine, what would have happend if the moderators simply would have waited till the storm would have been over - and i guess the storm would have had an end when the unplugged - news came up. or the discussions about like/dislike the new songs. you moderators just would not have had such a stressing - pissing time. just wait till the storm is over - most things on this planet are not eaten as hot as they have been cooked.
2.)filesharing over tdr: it IS a fact that in the 21 century you cannot stop filesharing, wether you like it or not. but to post links here online is soooooooooo stupid, since everyone here can taake the emailadress and request anything one wants via email.it hasn´t to be public. my suggest: just throw out anyone, who posts links. DO it. don´t discuss it. you will see: after a few days there will be no more posts...

sometimes thinking, argueing, discussing is not the right way. calm down, moderators, sit back and watch, throw out the few silly people who still haven´t realized that filesharing via posts on tdr is stupid, and enjoy the fact, that soooo many people are addicted to your site.

We realize we can’t stop file sharing, and we aren’t trying to either, but file sharing at TDR is not acceptible.

@tevensso
in this i totally agree with you - as i mentioned above

I’d defintely miss TDR, but only for the front page and those well-investigated and oftentimes inside news. Not so much for the small talk area really.

I can fully understand the staff’s doubts as to wheter to continue to run this site. All the money and precious life time this job consumes with very little being payed back. And I am aware that interests and focus change as one gets older.

It seems a result of zeitgeist that people take everything for granted, being reckless and egomanic, demand more and more without thinking about what’s behind all this resp. how a statement may appear to the HUMAN BEING on the other end of the line.

I do not enjoy myself being around here so much anymore, too. I’d fully understand a decision to discontinue all this.

Whats been written up so far looks good. Although this is something that should have been done along time ago, i also think its quite sad that they are even needed. Most of the items listed should be pretty much common-sense.

As has been said, once the Rules have been finalised, all current and future members should have them emailed to them, or showed when their next post is made, or at least linked on the main page/smalltalk & the signup email.

Also a firm stand on the consequences if the rules aren’t followed. 3 strikes and your banned? I personally think anymore than 1 is too much.

Just out of curiousity, how many moderators are required to make it more manageable, assuming there are no major “events”?

It would be very sad should TDR ever decide to shutdown, especially if it’s due to something that could have been averted just using some common sense. Not only for the regular users, but also for the whole Rox community in general. I can’t say that there is one other site that is as credible well put together for Rox and related news.

Most rules sound normal to me.

Maybe we could all mod for a week or something...as a subscription thing, not under our usernames, but under specially created ones (i.e Mod 1, Mod 2), so no one can see who it is and start a flame war with them when they return to their normal user status. You could changwe the password at the end of every week, so previous mods can’t break in and wreak havoc.

EDIT- OK, so it was a bit of a rubbish idea, but it wasn’t my suggestion (my brothers actually). But in a way, it could work, and people may get the moderating bug. Or am I being a noisy optimist?

For every “frequent poster” in SmallTalk, there are dozens of other TDR readers who seldom venture in to this section anymore because they find it a rude and unpleasant place to be.

All we’re trying to do right now is make a concerted effort to enlist as many readers as possible into HELPING us improve the community culture here, and by so doing, keep this entire newspaper afloat. All of us, readers and moderators alike, need to work together to improve this “community” aspect of SmallTalk.

We appreciate those of you who have joined this discussion to help us reach a consensus on what the rules document should look like.

There is a renewed interest by our staff to improve the entire newspaper, and move it forward in a way that requires shifting responsibility for SmallTalk to a broader segment of our subscriber base. Simply put, more people need to care about what goes on here than just those who have “Moderator” appear next to their name.

Thanks for being part of that group.

I’ve been thinking for a couple of days about what been written here. All the rules are all good and well, some are obvious to most, some not so obvious.

My opinion is that it’s just the last few weeks that TDR has gone crazy. Before than it was fine. Yes people were moaning, arguing etc but you’re gonna get that everywhere you go. But since the RoxBox track listing was released (yes it was dissapointing - but it’s still a new release) it’s gone crazy. Sometimes it puzzles me as to why it got so out of hand on the when the new songs were leaked, and I wondered where the mod’s where and why were the threads deleted. After speaking with Lars, I now have a whole different aspect of how TDR is run, and the way it’s gonna run in the future. And I don’t think that TDR is gonna be shut down, which is very cool! I’m actually quite fond of it and the people here! :-)

Anyway, I’m getting off topic here.

The rules aren’t rocket science, they’re aren’t hard to follow. If you can’t stick to the rules, then really, maybe you shouldn’t be on the net. Maybe that sounds harsh, but that’s what I feel about it. Sorry if that offends anyone here.

Keep up the good work guys!!!

Taken from my thread “To Moderators, With Love...” (by the way, it’s was renamed to “Use of “Moderators” label”). The subject of the thread was about the fact of moderators using this “label” while acting as “regular users”.

The start of the “hijacking process”...

POSTED BY: tevensso, moderator
TIME: 6/30/2006 07:37

SUBJECT: “Very OT: There are three Swedish words in the English language: moped, ombudsman and smorgasbord!”.

...and 16 posts later...

POSTED BY: Lars-Erik_Olson, moderator
TIME: 9/20/2006 14:16

SUBJECT: “This discussion topic has been “hijacked” (see SmallTalk Rules discussion) and turned into a discussion on Swedish words that have been adopted/integrated into the English language. While I find this extremely interesting, it belongs as a seperate topic in the “Off Topic” discussions section. I’ll archive this now, and ask that someone with more time than I have right now start such a topic there (after first checking to see if one doesn’t already exist). Thanks.”

The hijacking was started by a moderator! How many modeators read the rules and really stick to them? Purely hypocrisy...

So Mods can’t be human? They have to be perfect robots and obey all rules all the time?

Are you perfect? Or do you make mistakes as well?

No, I’m not perfect.

I have a suggestion for a new rule, you can take it or leave it depending on what you guys feel. This is something that’s bugged me for ages: people who use SmallTalk for shameless website promotion!!!! Now, I don’t have a problem with people advertising their site, if there’s a new site or something special on there...but there’s some here, and you know you I mean, who go into 100 threads to answer a question with “find it at mysite.com”. They are shamelessly fishing for hits, it’s spamming, and it’s not allowed on most boards!

Just reading through some of the earlier posts, I think it’s clear you guys need a few extra mods if you’re going to enforce the rules. I was online when the “filesharing” was happening, and it could have been stopped immediately if a mod had been online at the time. I think it would be a good idea to get some mods from different timezones as well, as far as I can see 3 of your mods are in Europe and one in USA, which leaves a big chunk of the day uncovered when those 2 timezones go to bed.

Another site I’m on has a moderator application page. Members apply, then the existing mods observe that person’s behavior, their posting history etc. before making a decision.

We are looking for moderators. Please mail us at our tdr-addresses. :) Use lars@dailyroxette for instance. :)

Please keep this discussion focused solely on the set of rules under development. Thanks.

Of course Lars, did you have any success with finding new Mods?

It guess we’re adding a rule concerning the MarketPlace... I’ve added it to the main list.

At this moment (13/11/2006 20:43) this thread still can be found on top of the “TDR-discussions”-forum, but as time goes by, I wouldn’t be surprised this thread goes down and down on the list, eventually up (or down in this case) to a point where new people are unaware of the existing of these rules.

Is there not a way to make sure this topic stays on top?
Or maybe make a permanent link somewhere else on the site, visible whenever you want to join the discussions-forum?

Not in this version, hopefully in the next. (Which seems to be here soon.)

Right now there is a link “Start New discussion”, maybe put a extra link below that one (“Smalltalk Rules”).
That shouldn’t be too difficult.

Are these rules already “on air” and valid or are they really still in draft mode as LEO states in the initial post?
I think it’s time to tell the people that these rules are valid now that they are even used by mods in other topics.

They are live even if they are in draft mode.

I don’t undertand some of the rules!

OK I understand the rules now after reading them for the second Time!
I think those rules are good!

There needs to be something in place to tell people of the rules... most people skip thoughs t&c when signing up for things... a lot of new people don’t know about the rules!

I have a qestion about rule 9 and rule 7 !

(9)Is it allowed to write one or two Words in German(if you don’t know the english word) and then write,,I don’t know the english word for that!” ?

(7) Is Roxbytes Illegal?

Yes, highly...

oh well, i understood them well enough on my skin times ago...
i think it’s better clear them in a little time, if it is possible

Roxbytes might be illegal but it’s been around a long time... not sure if the owner had any problems in this time!

We’ll find out soon enough!!!

Well, this is knit picking, but sure, use a German word if you have to, but do realize no one but Germans will probably get what your point is.

If us non-Germans are that curious, there are plenty of good online dictionaries. Or the paper kind, for that matter. :-)

@Tevensso: thanx for the advice!

I have an Idea how to punish someone who does not obey the Rules!!!

Give points ( like the Points from Flensburg.)
But instead of losing your Drivers Licence, you get kicked out of TDR!

For example: First give a Warning and if nothing changes give the Points!!!
6 Points and you are not allowed to visit TDR for a Month!
12 Points and you get kicked out!

And what happenes if someone comes back under another name, eh?

@Kathrin: One had to keep track of every single user!
That would mean A LOT of extra work...
And as whateveriam said: you can throw out the nick, but not the person.

And thats a bloody lot of work to go through the lot and see if each nick is who they are...needle in haystack type impossible.

I see what you mean!!!

TDR Small Talk Rules…

2. No personal attacks (i.e., no flaming). Posts that contain some kind of direct insult to another discussion participant will be deleted.

While you are, of course, free to disagree with what someone else says, even to go as far as to say “I think your comment is rather stupid,” it’s NOT OK to write “I think you’re stupid.” We trust our readers will understand the difference, and keep far away from that line that should not be crossed.

11. There will be no hijacking of discussion threads. Stick to the original topic. Consider starting a new discussion topic, rather than make the current one into a discussion about something that was not originally intended.

Okay my post this morning…. My first post in a few days… ;)

“Well I believe in being honest so this might not go down to well, but I simply don’t like it. I am already finding it hard to get around and the white background makes it hard to read stuff.

Like Sandyam said it just might take time to adjust to it although another forum I use changed recently and I adjusted to that right away…

It’s feels really cold at the moment, like the warmth has been sucked out of TDR!”

I figure there is not a lot wrong with that, having tried hard to stick to the rules since they have become more apparent over recent months…. A lot of people are trying hard…

Then we get an innocent post reply from Steven!

My two cents worth...

It appears that the improvements (if any) are mainly intended for the TDR staff, which no doubt make it easier to administer the site.

I see very little improvement or new features for the readers.

Old TDR was a warm, inviting Roxette corner of the Internet.

New TDR is a barrenness white expense, which has lost it’s soul.

Visa, I’m a fan of your work, always have been, but I don’t like this - sorry.

And this is where I feel your moderator is over stepping the mark….

tevensso said on November 19, 2006 13:46:

“Features” is dead yes. :)

I’m sure Visa will add the “edit” to all posts eventually. It will make life easier for all of us.

Why am I not allowed to “make fun” of your comments? Are you children that can’t take it? Most of you have been aching to see this new TDR and now when you get it, you don’t like it. Of course I make fun of that.

So Steven replies….

steven said on November 19, 2006 13:58:

“Why am I not allowed to “make fun” of your comments? Are you children that can’t take it?”

YOU certainly can’t!

When someone dares to mock you, out come the admin tools and the post disappears faster than it was posted.

Arrogant hypocrite.

tevensso said on November 19, 2006 15:06:

Whining whining... what else is new? If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen eh?

And for Steven I have no comment what-so-ever, you lost that privilege months ago. All I can say is yawn.

tevensso said on November 19, 2006 16:08:

Ally, if you have things you want to tell me, or other members of the TDR staff, why don’t you do it to our faces instead of bashing us in your blog and at other forums, for instance? That’s kind of low, don’t you think?

ally77 said on November 19, 2006 16:25:

Why Thomas? .... because it was a well known fact that back in September when sharing of songs happened you kept removing people’s posts and comments and no one was allowed to post there thoughts or comments... I expressed my comments in my blog because that way YOU could not delete them for me!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice to see you remember....

Now who trailed off the original title of this topic.... can we kindly discuss what this thread is about?

…. And so the whole conversation goes on….. Okay so one TDR person who is not really a regular poster broke a rule I do feel the response of your moderator is not exactly showing a good example do you... I see no point in going on about rules when you have a moderator here who can’t stick to them…. And who is always aiming to have a go at people if he does not like there opinion!

Ally, I don’t think Thomas first post was any bad, maybe too early, that’s all ;)

We are simply tired of having to take shit from certain people who are here only to annoy the others, to complain about everything and for everything just for fun and to intentionally hurt others with their nasty comments. It’s not the first time we say “some people are never happy” - or “some people have to complain about everything” - so I don’t understand the fuzz now. Anyway, we aren’t the only ones who think (and express) this either. The latest example was the video Jorge and Lars made, one can like or dislike it, but people got very nasty and personal, so yes, we are partly annoyed and yes, we will answer back if there is the need to.

Note as well that Thomas hasn’t insulted anybody either :)

Btw, I made this topic sticky :)
___________________________
Marie Fredriksson Online

Overstepping? That’s a understatement...

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup...

’Even if I am in love with you. All this to say, what’s it to you?’

Judith you can look at it whichever way you like I am sure you will.... but the moderators need to learn to respect the rules that are in place.... as much as the next person.

Whatever problem Thomas has with Steven then it should be kept between them not a personal attack on this forum.... that is breaking a rule or is Thomas an exception to the rules!

I didn’t see Thomas insulting Steven (=breaking any rule)? Just the other way around. Tev just answered to his answer, don’t think he wrote anything bad there.
___________________________
Marie Fredriksson Online

But thats down to personal interpretation surely Judith? The last time I checked, bullying on this forum wasn’t allowed. That comment could be taken as bullying.

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup...

’Even if I am in love with you. All this to say, what’s it to you?’

The making fun of comments was not exactly adult was it....

Exactamundo Batman

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup...

’Even if I am in love with you. All this to say, what’s it to you?’

I don’t think we will agree and this will become an endless discussion. Enough, for me at least :)
___________________________
Marie Fredriksson Online

Endless, but relevant.

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup...

’Even if I am in love with you. All this to say, what’s it to you?’

Fair enough! ;)

Here’s a problem I see with a whole bunch of people getting involved with what’s going on:

If it doesn’t involve you directly, why are you getting involved? There’s 2 sides to every story, and it seems that everyone else is only getting part of it. It’s like the police beating videos that keep popping up on the Internet: People aren’t seeing the WHOLE incident. You’re only seeing what someone filmed. What you may not know is that there is an officer lying critically injured in the hospital because the suspect ran him down with a car, two miles awa. You bet there’s going to be some physicality on the part of the officers. They’re trying to protect not only the lives of others (civilians), but themselves as well.

Same thing with here: I’m only getting a part of the story. Not the whole thing. Do I need to know this? No. Should it be kept private? Yes. And EVERY member here needs to butt out of it unless it involves them directly.

Tev: IMO dude, take it to e-mail. Same with Steven.

Oh... and putting it on a blog without making the attempt to resolve it other ways (see: E-mail) is uncalled for as well. That’s my opinion.

No Matter Where you Go, There You Are.

What was put on my blog was not actually bashing anyone here at TDR like Thomas claims, it was my thoughts on the song sharing and where it came from.... it may have mentioned people at TDR and it may have slagged off some of the moderating team but what was said was something that could not be said at TDR because of (a) The Rules & (b) The fact that everytime I tried to post something it was edited or removed.... over at my own blog at least no one could edit my thoughts.

I keep a blog to express my feelings which is what I did over the song sharing in September.... and I felt a lot better for writing it down, which to me is the whole purpose of me keeping a blog online to express how I feel....

Ally: you insulted Lars on your blog, I don’t think you posted this here ;)
___________________________
Marie Fredriksson Online

It’s good to say how you feel and seeing as some people can never let things drop (despite having the position of moderator they can’t even stick to the rules themselves….)

I wrote in my blog a lot of stuff, I have no problem with that, if you class talking about Lars and his two phones calls to me insulting then maybe rules in your country are a lot different than here in the UK!

Lars insulted me and several others the way we where treated also... so it works both ways!

Besides I had every reason to write what I did when the whole song sharing thing annoyed the hell out of me at the time and several others here a lot! To be singled out when lets be honest the songs where already being shared between others long before they came into my hands and the hands of others here in the UK!

I can’t help the fact I like freedom of speech and that I am not afraid to say what I am thinking!

Now that’s pretty much all I have to say on the matter, I am not going to keep bitching and backbiting you do enough of that behind everyone backs as it is via MSN!

I am just hovering around waiting for my email to Lars to be actioned… the sooner it is the better!

I can’t help but to wonder, after being told repeatedly, (and this includes EVERYONE) that people continue to throw “freedom of speech” around. I don’t know what the flap over file sharing is, I admit I haven’t followed that topic for the simple fact that I know how most people feel, I know how I feel, and that’s that.

But, how many times must this be pointed out:

TDR is like an on-line newspaper. “Letters To The Editor” etc, are subjected to being edited for inflammatory remarks, racial hatred, etc. So are things here.

I’m just gonna say this out in the open:

If you don’t like the way things are run here, you are more than welcome to leave and not return. I’m sure that several of us here would ask that you not slag the forum if you choose the option of leaving, however, you can do so, we won’t send the “Internet Mafia” after you. I’m tired of people continually assuming that they have the right to say whatever they think, feel, etc. and not expect that there will be reprocussions of their words. Moderator tag or no, you can’t always “run your mouth” as you see fit. Same with the whole “freedom of speech” bullshit. THERE IS NO SUCH THING! That is the way of the world today. Take a look around and tell me that you can say absolutely ANYTHING you desire, and then have nothing happen. You can’t !! One will be labled racist, sexist, extremist, terrorist, what ever.

Get a grip, your feelings WILL BE HURT by someone at some point in time. It’s how you choose to react that will be remembered more than the insult itself. Childish temper tantrums are unattractive at any age.

No Matter Where you Go, There You Are.

Well, this all seems to have got out of hand. Bitchy comments going back and forth all the time. No one is ever gonna agree on this. So just draw a line under it and move on. We’re gonna lose people out of our already dwindling community over this now..... It’s like being back in the playground for god sake!

I think pwbbounce is right!

I think that all the rules are OK.

I agree with Kathrin and pwwbounce( hope I spelled that right!) I think rules are good things to have in place. I’d hate to see this site disappear because people can’t get along or whatever other issues people have with other members. Personally I don’t have a problem with anyone on this site, I consider other fans like an extended family who like the same things I do. I don’t know if anyone shares the same feelings as me, but I could be wrong.
I really like this site, its the only one that helps me find out what marie and per are up to. And helps me make friends in different places of the world.

Question to the TDR team:

When talking about setting rules and obeying rules, why do you allow users like “Bananylopalabomba” to break the rules several times without any consequences?
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Keep on thinking.

I think that the Accounts of those users who don’t obey the Rules, should be deleted!
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Have Fun!!!

i think there should be a warning though first if you do the deletion thing, cause what if you don’t realize you broke a rule or upset someone right away?

Yeah,but as thenicekai said that users like “Bananylopalabomba” have been breaking the rules several of Times and that is not OK!
So my Idea would be that the Mods delete those Accounts and or block the user from this Page for a while (via IP)!
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Have Fun!!!

How long’s a while? And, from a technical point of view, how can you prevent people from creating new accounts on new PC’s with different IP addresses?

’Even if I am in love with you. All this to say, what’s it to you?’

What I meant with ,,a while”was like 2 or 3 Months or even more!

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Have Fun!!!

OK, so...make it 3 months. If you are banned for behaviour you thought was right and necessary at the time (regardless of whether it is against the forum rules or isn’t), do you honestly think banning someone for 3 months will be a deterent? If anything, wouldn’t it make you angrier, and so more likely to be rude/aggresive/disruptive? There is always a possibility of ’reoffending’!

’Even if I am in love with you. All this to say, what’s it to you?’

What I mean is that those Users have to be told what they have done wrong and then they have to get punished!!!
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Have Fun!!!

Oj... punish.... what a word.

What about this:

1) At first and second attempt, just edit the _one_ wrong post and give a moderator’s advice why you had to edit it.
2) At third attempt, contact the member by email, tell him what went wrong and also tell him that after his next attempt, his user account will be disabled. Also show him the link to the rules pages, so he cannot say he did not read them. (Very clever minds would insist then that they have committed a new “nono” and claim to start counting at zero again.)
3) If the user still insists on making trouble, disable his account for one month.
4) After the month, when the user still has not learnt his lesson, block his login for life time.

Of course, as this is a private website, the owners and moderators should also have the chance to kick a user immediately in the case of a huge “crime”.

I still wonder why roxeteer as the owner of this website and LEO as the inventor of these rules seem so uninterested in this discussion?
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Keep on thinking.

This Sounds good!
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Have Fun!!!

Another Idea would be,to do it like SOAP Forum does it:http://www.sonofaplumber.com/forum/profile.php?mode=register
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Have Fun!!!

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