Rules, Baiting, and Personal Attacks

[ToddG]

Statements and decisions made by pistol-forum.com Staff related to the policies and day to day operation of the forum are not subject to dismissal simply because a member of the forum doesn't agree.

We've recently had a number of instances in which members felt "I've got one more thing to say!" was adequate reason to ignore direct statements from multiple Staff members not to continue. The Staff at pistol-forum.com tries to take a very gentle attitude toward directing and moderating most threads. We appreciate and welcome differing viewpoints and even contrarian opinions. But when a Staff member enters a thread and asks everyone to cool off, change direction, and/or stop throwing personal insults then failure to follow the rules will result in whatever action the Staff deem necessary.

If someone keeps disagreeing with you in a thread, by definition that means you keep disagreeing with him. Want it to end? Stop posting in that thread; or, at least stop responding to the person who offends you. If you choose instead to go round 'n round with another member, keep it polite and on topic. When you reach the point where you're more angry with the opposition than the point he is making, it is time to remove yourself from the discussion.

We do not want to get into the habit of locking threads, deleting posts, or penalizing members. But if you do not want Staff to regulate every thread with an iron hand, you as the membership need to step up and regulate your own behavior. If you always act in an unquestionably appropriate and honorable manner, then the trouble makers will easily identify themselves and Staff will deal with it.

If you have an issue with someone's posts, the correct response is to utilize the report post feature. Just click on the icon underneath the post that looks like this:
Attachment 715

Staff will deal with it. How we choose to deal with it may not be publicly disclosed, but we have an ongoing discussion in the private Staff area for such issues. The other thing you can do, of course, is ignore the person. It's a simple reality of internet forums: if you do not feed the trolls, they will stop trolling. But do not take it upon yourself to "police" the forum especially in direct opposition to instructions from Staff.

From now on, if the same two or three people are making the same arguments for page after page in a thread, Staff will step in and simply close the thread. We do not enjoy cutting off discussion or locking an otherwise useful thread, but neither are we going to play kindergarten hall monitor.

We appreciate your adherence to this policy.

This thread is being left open so forum members can feel free to express their thoughts and opinions on the subject. Please note that any personal attacks, real or perceived, against any specific member will be deleted immediately without notice or comment.

[BaiHu]

Simple, sound policy.
Thanks to the staff and Todd for laying it out.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

[SeriousStudent]

Thank you, Mr. Green. The efforts of the management are appreciated.

[CMG]

A picture is worth a thousand words

Don't be this guy

[Corlissimo]

Thanks Todd & Staff! This is nice to see as it protects a valuable gathering place.

I've been lurking (mostly) here since last summer and must say that the overall spirit and demeanor of the
majority of the members here has made it not only a very informative place to learn, but also an enjoyable place.

To be honest, since coming here, as well as finding TPI, I have stopped visiting all of the other forums I used to
frequent. That is mainly due to the great group of folks here, the knowledge they kindly share, and their attitudes. As a relative noob to handguns I greatly appreciate all of this!

Thank you All!
-steve

[GJM]

1) Many thanks to the PF staff for creating a positive, polite environment here at PF.

2) It seems like often times, the posts that are the subject of this Rule, come as part of threads that go on and on for many pages. While I get why certain threads continue, such as the one on the Gen 4 17 test pistol, there are a number of threads that seem to continue, offering little in the way of new information, but generating a lot of disagreement. I wonder if threads automatically terminated after a reasonable, defined number of pages, unless a moderator approved their continuance, whether we would eliminate many of the contentious posts this rule is addressing?

[JHC]

1) Many thanks to the PF staff for creating a positive, polite environment here at PF.

2) It seems like often times, the posts that are the subject of this Rule, come as part of threads that go on and on for many pages. While I get why certain threads continue, such as the one on the Gen 4 17 test pistol, there are a number of threads that seem to continue, offering little in the way of new information, but generating a lot of disagreement. I wonder if threads automatically terminated after a reasonable, defined number of pages, unless a moderator approved their continuance, whether we would eliminate many of the contentious posts this rule is addressing?

+1

[Tamara]

2) It seems like often times, the posts that are the subject of this Rule, come as part of threads that go on and on for many pages. While I get why certain threads continue, such as the one on the Gen 4 17 test pistol, there are a number of threads that seem to continue, offering little in the way of new information, but generating a lot of disagreement. I wonder if threads automatically terminated after a reasonable, defined number of pages, unless a moderator approved their continuance, whether we would eliminate many of the contentious posts this rule is addressing?

Once upon a time, back in the day when a lot of people still used things called "dial-up connections" (ask your parents, kids), we closed threads at TheFiringLine.com when they reached 100k in file size, generally somewhere on page two if you had twenty posts per page.

While this cut short a lot of great discussions, it also cut short a lot of what could have turned into interminable pissing contests, and I kinda felt mixed emotions when the policy got changed with a software upgrade sometime in 2001. It did make moderating easier. ("Hey, I really hate to cut y'all off, but Whoops! 100k! Closed.")

[David Armstrong]

1) Many thanks to the PF staff for creating a positive, polite environment here at PF.

2) It seems like often times, the posts that are the subject of this Rule, come as part of threads that go on and on for many pages. While I get why certain threads continue, such as the one on the Gen 4 17 test pistol, there are a number of threads that seem to continue, offering little in the way of new information, but generating a lot of disagreement. I wonder if threads automatically terminated after a reasonable, defined number of pages, unless a moderator approved their continuance, whether we would eliminate many of the contentious posts this rule is addressing?

I think that is an idea definitely worth considering. As one who freely admits being a part of some contentious threads what seems to often happen is the inevitable thread drift, so that what might start as "Is a 3" Model 65 good for self defense" ends up morphing into "Why a G17 is better for SD than a J-frame .22" or some such. Each issue might make a good topic in and of itself, but strung together it is hard to follow and ends up looking far more contentious than it is.