[quote author=DEZLPWR link=board=10;threadid=18670;start=0#msg175153 date=1061445511]
hehehehehe
I'm really surprised that it lasted for 47 replies before being shut down....
Usually a similar thread on this site would last about 5 replies before being axed by the big kahunas... [/quote]

I would beg to differ on that. The intelligent threads in which people can act civilly will last a very long time, as you can see in the union thread. I thought the thread went well. People can state their opinion all day long if they follow the rules.

Those who don't follow the rules will get shut down as soon as they break them. Those are the threads that don't last long. Threads don't get shut down because of an opinion. They get shut down because of people's emotions getting in the way, or they lack the intelligence to state their opinion without breaking the rules of the site. It's that simple.

 

[quote author=BigK link=board=10;threadid=18670;start=0#msg175119 date=1061438310]
After all of the "Pro-Union" rhetoric clouding the topic question, I'd like to thank the Mods for the lock.

Began to sound like a bunch of chest-thumping for the Local (insert number here).

Welcome to the 21st century!

Prolly not a good thread for a diverse group such as this, as there will be many different opinions, and it's certain that we'll not all see eye-to-eye. And we can't have THAT, now can we?
[/quote]

Like we've stated before, opinions are always welcome. It's how you present them that will determine how your threads get treated. I don't understand why so many people have a hard time grasping this concept. If something is going South, then it will be taken care of before it gets out of hand. If you don't like it, then there isn't anything I can do about that. Can't please everyone as they say.

The good thing though is that for every negative comment we receive on how the site is run, we get 10 that are positive. Must mean we're doing something right, so we will continue to do what we can to please our users, and take care of them. So far our feedback indicates that we're doing a good job of that. There will always be a small percentage of people who don't agree, and while I take their opinions and try to make changes when I can, you have to understand that the majority will rule in terms of what happens on the site. It's just common sense, if I go against the majority, then we lose 10 times more users then if I don't. Simple math. Another good thing though is that we're averaging about 20 new users per day. Not bad. We'll be over 10,000 here in the next few months. It's not going to take long and as the site grows, it's our job to make sure people don't break the rules. As we get bigger, we will be less tolerant of rulebreakers. Not because we don't like them, but because we're not going to have the time to deal with it.

 

[quote author=Nevada link=board=10;threadid=18670;start=0#msg175135 date=1061440965]
Amen, thanks Dieseldude. There were a variety of opinions expressed, and I support shutting it down before it started to make the inevitable turn towards a typical oil thread.
[/quote]

Nevada, Big K was being sarcastic. He's actually upset that we closed the thread. You'll see my response to that in my previous posts.

 

Read his post. You quoted it. He said it MAY go South, and based on past experience, it ALWAYS DOES go South on subjects like this. Since we had a civil thread going, I guess the moderator thought it would be a good time to let this one go before it got to that point. I don't mind that.

Call it what you want. We run the site the best we can, and so far our feedback has been positive with very little negative. As I've said earlier in this thread, as long as that continues, we will do things the way we have been. If you really don't like the way we run the site, then feel free to leave. Nothing is stopping you from starting your own site, and going to other sites who are more open to conversations that aren't family oriented. However, many young folks read this site, and I imagine that had a lot to do with his decision to close it when he did.

It's completely different. Your analogy is like comparing apples and oranges to quote the old saying. There is due process in sending someone to prison because doing that to someone is a very serious issue. You must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that someone committed a crime before sending them to the can. That has nothing to do with a site closing some threads because of past issues with similar ones. It's called prediction, or trending. It's used on many sites and in business to determine what you think might happen in the future. It's a proactive approach to killing problems before they arise. How is this similair to sending someone to prison? It doesn't make sense.
Actually, it flies all the time. In business, in crime prevention, and many other aspects of life. Prediction is used all over the place, and although a predictive action sometimes is very subtle, it may be enough to prevent something big in the future. Nobody is stupid enough to put someone in prison before they do something based on an opinion. That has nothing to do with the thread we're talking about, and is not even on the same plane as a concept. I can't send a thread to prison. Or can I?