Quote:
Originally Posted by JABURKHOLDER
To promote harmony with a large group of people, I.E. the MOC, you NEVER discuss politics or religion. This is a forum to help each other get the most out of our chosen joy, RV'ing.
Everything we do in life has some sort of rule to guide us. We can choose to not follow rules, but be prepared to accept the consequences. Free speech even has rules. You right to free speech ends when it interferes with my rights.
If we all stay focused on the fact that this is a forum for RV'ers, about RVs, then we will never have to worry about the "so called" forum police.
Just one member's humble opinion.
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Some good observations.
The forum has a bunch of rules but most folks never read them and frankly don't need to. They conduct themselves in reasonable, courteous ways .. The rules exist for the handful who have a different idea about the basic rules of engagement and to make it clear that marketing here is not appropriate.
Most of us participate here as though we were talking to a person - in person. Occasionally however, I see folks who write things on forums they would never say in person - there seems to be a veil of protection in the written word. This is the reason we have a litany of rules. So that when this occurs we can point to them and say "this is what is expected here". They clarify what we mean by "be nice"
Quote:
Be Courteous!
We aim to ensure that the forum is an enjoyable place that you want to visit time and time again. Please treat each other with respect just as you would around a campfire.
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Views about politics and religion are widely varying and we are an rving board. We share this in common but often disagree about lifestyle choices, politics, etc. The Board is here to support RVing and to build community around RVing. Folks rarely change their political views or religious beliefs and these discussions are almost never productive. They invariably end in arguments and that drama is toxic for forums. Reasonable folks don't participate in them... they simply logout leaving only those who enjoy fruitless online arguments. What remains is a forum of trolls arguing endlessly about non-rving topics.
The First Amendment (free speech guarantee)
is an important concept in THE USA BUT it specifically addresses your right to speak critically of the government in a public venue without fear of reprisal. It's doesn't give free rein to say anything you want in a private venue. As an example you can't expect to be able to go into a restaurant and solicit customers to go to the eatery down the street. You can't threaten someone and you can't defame without fear or reprisal. The forum is privately owned, it's isn't a public venue (like a street corner) and there are rules just as there are in a local restaurant.
That said, disagreements are fine provided they fit within the subject guidelines for the forum
and they remain civil. It's OK to disagree with someones opinion and post about that so long as it remains civil.
As an example: if one member posts something about tow limits of a truck and a recommendation and you disagree, you can post about that explaining your view, poking holes in the reasoning offered by the opposing view, etc. but you can't call them names. You can say that such a proposal is unsafe, ill-advised, illegal in some states, etc but you can't directly call them idiots, or ignorant twits, or anything else personal. You also can't threaten to let the air out of their tires if you encounter them at a rest area (has happened). You can't say things like "only a democrat, republican, atheist, baptist, Canadian, Pennsylvanian, woman, man, blonde, redhead, etc would do something so idiotic".
The few thread closures we have are generally in response to the scenarios just mentioned; politics, insults and direct attacks. We rarely close threads however and even more rarely remove content. We work to keep an open forum but to coexist peacefully we have rules just a society does.
When a member forgets (or more likely was unaware of) the board rules, we contact them reminding them about expectations, trying to realign their posting stance. Usually this is sufficient. If there is a recurring problem we work to help them understand exactly where the line is and only very rarely do we remove posts or take further action. In the several years I have been participating I can think of 1 or 2 folks who truly couldn't get along. We don't edit member posts to change intent without contacting the member.
The site team volunteers their time here and frankly it's a thankless job. The rules help them when someone has a different understanding of what we generally view as reasonable behavior and they are pretty simple.. Be nice, be appropriate, be reasonable, be helpful, have fun.
The long set just offers a granular version of this; defining what is appropriate, reasonable, etc.
Chevy or Ford anyone?
