What MAP is or isn't (my opinion, take it for what it's worth)

A few things have been popping up on MAP lately, that made me go back to an old Journal entry and bring it here.
Remember, these are my thoughts and not official in any way shape or form. It's how I see MAP.

First what it's not. It's not a democracy. Or a communist society. Or a fascist one. It's not a government of any kind. It's not a place to air your views and expect the rest of the community to agree with them. Especially if no one knows who you are. It's not a place to vent your anger on another teacher or school. It's not your personal playground to taunt and harass any one that doesn't conform to your idea of what's right or moral. MAP doesn't exist to debunk or expose. There are other sites out there for that. People come to MAP to get a sense of belonging to a community of like minded individuals. To talk and share.

Then, what is it? It is a website owned my someone. As such, it is subject to the whims and winds of the person that owns it. Which means that person has the right to shut it down at any time, without permission or input from you or I. Understand? It's their's to do with as they see fit. Which also means they set the rules. Not you. Not I. The OWNER. They set the rules as they see fit and do not have to explain their actions to anyone. That means they can edit or delete any post as they want for any reason they want. Including this one.

Mainly though, MAP is a community. We have families, we have friends. We have neighbors that we barely tolerate and people that we would cross the city to avoid. We have good parents and bad kids and the creepy Uncle you only see at holidays.
We also have rules. The TOS. Terms of Service. Something that everyone is supposed to read when they sign up. You are also expected to follow them.

That's one of the responsibilities of the MODs, to ensure that the TOS are followed. But, it's not our only one. Our main responsibility is to ensure that threads are ran smoothly. That the conversation stays on track, wiith minimal side tracking. Thread hijacking is a definite no-no.

All communities are only as good as the people in them and we have some fantastic people in ours. We also have some total jerks. Which are you? Which would you rather be? It is your choice.

Also, like many communities it can get too large to handle. When it does, it is up to the people/members to police themselves. To conduct themselves in accordance with the TOS, without having to be constantly reminded by the MODs.

I think I've said all I want to. For now.

 

Thanks, Mister K-
Very timely, and very much true.

 

*sigh*
while any forum is "owned" its real value comes from it's community members.
the best forums operate like any community.
generally, the more free the members to express themselves the better the forum
snd like any forum or comunity one aspect of membership is respect for your elders
(even when they are from texas & where they have ridiculous ideas about ownership & property rights)
however, your point is taken although I am not sure what prompted it or why wrydolphin thinks it aptly timed....
long live MAP

 

True, the real value does come from it's community members. But when people start losing sight of what this community means and represents, then there is a problem. This is a family site. That means my 14 year old daughter is free to roam and read. There are some topics that I don't feel are appropriate for her, and since I can not monitor her 24/7 and even though I trust her to do certain things on the internet, I don't believe that she, for example, should be subjected to profanity or harasement just because someone believes they have a right to post such garbage.

And what do you mean by your comment "(even when they are from texas & where they have ridiculous ideas about ownership & property rights)? First off, I'm not from Texas. I just live here. Second, the owners of this site reside in the UK, not the USA. Does not change a thing.

As for the reason, as a moderator I find that I have to read a lot of what I would otherwise consider garbage and in the refuse I find a lot of threads/posts where people seem to think it's their sacred duty to belittle, harass, stalk, insult, accuse, whine about, etc, just because other people do not and do not want to train, think, behave, live the way the first party thinks it should be done.

 

Can I be one of the members that knows a false dilemma when he sees one?

http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/false-dilemma.html

 

On other forums i used to post on, the people that tend to do alot of those were 14 year olds. Lets not even mention real life.

I dont think your daughter would feel too out of place, or get mentally scarred by such behaviour.

As well, the comment about the owner having absolute power over discussions on a common interest shared by many people would make ashida kim proud.

 

Like it or not its true. Also, it's true this community wouldn't exist without it's members. However, the owner/staff of this site do not make money off it it. So it doesn't hurt them financially, or any other way to have to remove members. If you feel this site should be open to all without any restricting on posting then you're on the wrong site.

 

the owner would also spend less of his time modding if he let people express themselves as they see fit.

And who talked about letting go of restrictions? But when you start binning people because of:

"BWAHAHAHAH" and "Jenny.Craig"

You start wondering.

In real life, there is such thing as too little rules, and too many rules. Both extremes are bad, and the balance is in between. Or so thats what my ethic's class has taught me.

 

So what's your solution, N00b? Turning this into a free-for-all? Sorry, but you don't have that right. The Mods, Admins, and owners decide what is and is not appropriate. If you don't like it, you know where the door is.

 

If the forum wasn't heavily moderated, it would be like bullshido. Bullshido is fine if you like that sort of thing, but people have different tastes and MAP gives us an alternative. It seems to be a popular alternative looking at the number of people who post on MAP.

If you don't understand why a remark like that isn't acceptable, it's pointless to try to explain.

It just depends on how you define "the balance".

 

We accept all well thought out, constructively argued and polite debate. Its not Bullshido here though - I personally believe there is a place for Bullshido on the web. They're our Yin to our Yang I guess, doesn't make either of us right though. Just a different way of doing things. I do read other forums (including Bullshido) and post on some others as well. Just telling people they wrong for doing that martial art - or they are stupid because they post on a forum is not conducive with debate. If however, they explained why "they" thought they were doing the wrong martial art and what proof they have of it then maybe I would allow the "conversation" to go on unhindered. Typically though - we don't have that type of debate on here though.

 

Point taken, goodbye.

 

Wow, that worked. Damn. Quick ban his account before he changes his mind!

 

I completely agree and I think its a bit ridiculous to suggest someone leaves just because they have an opinion on what makes a good forum. MAN doesn't seem to have done anything to deserve being called a 'scumbag' that I can see and if the more caustic members like him and Ikken go though I occasionally disagree with them I think the site would be worse off overall.

 

The point is, when we signed up, we all agreed to a certain set of rules put in place by the owner and admin of the site. If you don't like the rules, there is no one forcing you to stay. If you want to stay, and all are welcome, then you should play by those rules. But signing up, posting, then complaining about the rules is just silly. You don't like them, you should read what you are signing first- good general life rule by the way.

The simple fact of the matter is, Ikken knew the rules, he broke the rules. He got punished. Big whoop. Plenty of others have been binned for the same. Of course, I don't have much tolerance for people who speed, get caught and ticketed and whine about it either. You choose to break the rules, you should take it like an adult when you get caught.

 

I think the site would be far better off if those dual members who slag MAP off on their other site as if they are not part of the community, ie appropreiate contributions, then what is their function here?

 

what did he do?!

 

I think he called someone fat, or something along those lines.

 

I understand your point wry and I do agree that people who just come just to cause hassle and complain about the rules should just leave... its not rocket science, if MAP bothers you then don't post on it. However, I maintain that losing all the people who veer close to the edge of the rules would make the site a worse place. If Ikken, MAN & co. leave I understand it's their choice and not like they are being forced out but I'm just saying they do bring perspectives that occasionally are sorely lacking and as such it would be a shame if they all left.

And so Saru I do agree with you about members who just come on to cause hassle or post nonsense but certain people with dual accounts are members of both communities. For instance I dunno what Ikken says on bullshido because I cant be bothered with the amount of gay innuendo I have to wade through on Bullshido to get to the points were people actually say something productive (& from what Ive seen this does occaisonally happen). However it's a different site and as long as Ikken isn't masterminding silly plots on bullshido then I don't see how it effects his contribution to MAP he can disagree with aspects of MAP and may even have qualms with certain members from here but if he posts it up on a message board then I guess he is aware people from MAP can see it but the point is he isn't posting ON MAP and he isn't breaking the rules as far as Im aware... Is it forbidden to express negative opinions about MAP? I realise its a tad ungrateful but is it against the rules?

He contributes a fair bit to the Thai Boxing section and he has even posted very well thought guides that in theory save others the bother of answering the same question everyday so I don't think I can agree that ALL dual members are not part of the community.

 

in what context? Its a bit extreme to ban someone for that