An open letter to the 68kMLA community...

[~tl]

Again, maybe it was a slight over-generalisation on my part to discuss the membership as if it were two disparate groups. I know it's nowhere near as black and white as that in reality. The majority people here are somewhere in the middle. The "groups" I mentioned in my initial post lie at the extremes of what I gauge as general opinion about the purpose of The Lounge. Please note the emphasis there, this was only my personal opinion and was not intended to reflect the views of the moderation team as a whole (though I know some share that view). However, people at either extreme of the "spectrum" are the most likely to be annoyed by those at the other end. I'd guess that the majority of people here are perfectly happy with the way the Lounge is at the moment, which is great. However, to repeat myself again... this was intended to be an appeal to those members who either: think that the Lounge should be purely for technical topics; or is their personal blog. To them, all I asked was that they tried to put themselves in the other persons shoes and maybe reconsider before posting. That was all.

To Scott. This is not a democracy, as much as you would like it to be. Forums don't work as democracies... it has been tried and has failed in the past. We're happy to take input from members under consideration and that may lead to change in the forum rules/policies, but we're not going to start holding "town hall" style meetings or drafting a constitution. At the end of the day, we set the rules and you have to follow them. Also, the post-edit-timout is here to stay. Get over it. Pretty much everyone else has.

Again, to rephrase what I said in my original post. Everyone here just needs to show a little more respect to each other's view points and everything here would be hunky dory. That is all this post was trying to stimulate, and it looks like it failed miserably [] ]'>

 

[Temetka]

Again, to rephrase what I said in my original post. Everyone here just needs to show a little more respect to each other's view points and everything here would be hunky dory.

I couldn't agree with you more on this point.

 

[Scott Baret]

Again, to rephrase what I said in my original post. Everyone here just needs to show a little more respect to each other's view points and everything here would be hunky dory.

I couldn't agree with you more on this point.

I'll second that.

 

[Mike Richardson]

To Scott. This is not a democracy, as much as you would like it to be. Forums don't work as democracies... it has been tried and has failed in the past. We're happy to take input from members under consideration and that may lead to change in the forum rules/policies, but we're not going to start holding "town hall" style meetings or drafting a constitution. At the end of the day, we set the rules and you have to follow them. Also, the post-edit-timout is here to stay. Get over it. Pretty much everyone else has.

Set the wrong rules, and people will leave.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

To Scott. This is not a democracy, as much as you would like it to be.
the post-edit-timout is here to stay. Get over it. Pretty much everyone else has.

Set the wrong rules, and people will leave.

Recruits, regular rank & file troops and even "general officers" already come and go, sometimes for real life time considerations, IMHO, very seldom for lack of interest, and almost never for the reason you've stated.

There are no quantifiable numbers on such "AWOL" situations and outright "desertions."

As for the one hour time limit on edits, IMHO, THIS THREAD is the perfect example of why they should remain in place!

If someone has been guilty of "misinterpreting postings," whether out of reading too quickly, reflecting too little before replying, or, worst of all, ignoring what the .TXT of any given post "actually represented" just for the sake of argument, the record MUST remain unchanged so that ALL members can re-read the "unedited" content and decide who's right, wrong, obstinate, co-operative or even just an ordinary run of the mill flaming @$***** . . . erm . . .

. . . over-reactive member!

IMHO, of course!

 

[MrMacPlus]

Also, the post-edit-timout is here to stay.

Why, wouldn't it be better to make a new member group w/o the edit privileges and put anybody that abuses the privilege in that group?

 

[Mike Richardson]

Also, the post-edit-timout is here to stay.

Why, wouldn't it be better to make a new member group w/o the edit privileges and put anybody that abuses the privilege in that group?

That's a pretty good idea actually. Unfortunately, it will never happen, because the moderators are dead-set on the one hour edit limit.

 

[John8520]

Though then one has to define what exactly is "abuse" of the time limit. The system is fine as it is. Leave it be.

 

[MrMacPlus]

Though then one has to define what exactly is "abuse" of the time limit. The system is fine as it is. Leave it be.

I have to agree with Scott and say that it was perfectly fine before the limit was imposed, but the admins didn't "leave it be," did they?

 

[Flash!]

107 replies...oh god is this thread still going?!

 

[Flash!]

Oh hey, just read the last couple of posts and noticed that we'd trancended into "editing posts time limits" ......how did a mesaage from our leader broadcasting 'love and peace for all' end up being about 'post time limits'? Probably the same way that the war against Afghani terrorists and Osama Bin Laden ended up in Iraq....but I digress..........I just want to put my hand up yet again and say that THE TIME LIMIT SUCKS.

thank you, that was my two cents worth.

edited: "trancended" makes much more sense than "tarancended"..maybe there should be an 's' in there somewhere..."transcended"?....whatever.....get a life....

edit 2: oh and thanks for the 45 seconds to go back and edit my typos....yeah coz I really wanted to go back and edit my whole post so that the whole thread makes no sense any more... (like this one made any sense to begin with....)

 

[Flash!]

107 replies...oh god is this thread still going?!

I just want to point out that "yes" I did read the first 106 replies...ok sure a couple I skimmed over but I did read the whole lot. And frankly it's a boring read.

edited: "over" works better than "ober"

 

[Dog Cow]

I think that we need to be able to edit the first post of a topic.

 

[Mike Richardson]

I think that we need to be able to edit the first post of a topic.

Another good idea. That would let us keep trading post threads up to date.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I think that we need to be able to edit the first post of a topic.

Over on 'fritter, we've NEVER been able to edit a first post. I think Tom uses that particular method to discourage inflammable topics, inadvisable/thoughtless/reactionary ones, etc. and even downright stupidity when it comes to topic posting by ensuring perpetual shame upon the perpetrators of such offensiveness AND useless drivel.

Over there it's S.O.P. for members to post corrections, rather than editing their posts, which actually leads to more discussion in the threads. Sometimes more is learned thru reflection/re-iteration/explanation/clarification by oneself and the invaluable feedback from other members shedding new light upon mistakes and tossing in pearls of wisdom while they're at it.

Take a look at one of my own blunders: http://68kmla.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11159

As mod I can edit without a time limit, but choose not to in almost all cases because so much info appears automagically in the ensuing discussion.

IMHO, of course. [] ]'>

p.s. I also spend a lot of time making sure of my clarity, spelling, use of language and even .TXT formatting for emphasis by making repeated use of the "Preview" function before hitting the "submit" button.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Though then one has to define what exactly is "abuse" of the time limit. The system is fine as it is. Leave it be.

From my reply to a PM from one of our more thoughtful, yet adamant "anti-time limit" comrades:

. . . the tossers of molotov cocktails into our threads MUST be prevented from making hit & run raids against other members, covering up their tracks before a mod can view the evidence, much less intervene.

IMHO, of course.

 

[MrMacPlus]

Another compromise idea: Instead of the time limit imposing how long you have to make changes to your post, make it be how long you have before you can edit your post, and make it longer, like a few hours. That way mods will have time to hunt down "hit n' runs" before they are edited.

 

[joshc]

Flash!, although I do agree with you that the time limit on editing posts isn't that smart, your use of the edit feature isn't too smart either - please use the preview button before submitting your posts. Remember, preview first.

 

[luddite]

If we did have the ability to perpetually edit posts, would you guys all go back and edit your posts to be on-topic?

}

 

[Mars478]

^^^^

Yeas.

And This may be the longest thread on 68Kmla.