# FAO: chris & noodles re 'NI anti-gay' thread moderation



## halsinden (Jun 17, 2008)

hi both,

do please forgive me if im coming across as being at all facetious with this, but over & above registering a complaint id actually simply like to know the answer to something -

i do respect that its your board and so the content that is allowed to remain on it must reflect the overall image youre wanting to put across with SS.org, however given the recent deletion of posts in the NI anti-gay thread i started im interested to know if (and if so, how much) is it the thread authors prerogative as to whether subsequent posts have led it, or its host section, astray? this is of course working on the proviso that the original thread contained no objectionable material.

im sorry if the [albeit very small] stream of jokes upset or angered you or the other moderators enough to warrant the justification of their deletion coming in the form of what, in my opinion, can only be received as quite a threatening post from noodles. after reading it, i felt more like a disciplined schoolkid rather than a regular visitor of a forum ive come to enjoy for its humour and amiable atmosphere alongside its attention to serious issues.

the politics & current affairs section of the forum is one that i think should be seen with pride by those who contribute to SS.org, whilst its also perhaps one of the most topical areas and at times fraught with heated argument; and understandably so. in this threads case, the jokes about stich is gay were in my mind a welcome respite to the very serious issue it was concerning, one that had actually angered me enough to post it originally. i was actually relieved to see that we could engage in good humour surrounding the issue.

whats more, stitch has (to my knowledge) never actually posted saying hes taken offence from these jokes. its a long running in-joke that i feel we benefit from, but perhaps more importantly (if youll forgive what some may feel is a tenuous link) i also feel it highlighted something very poignant about the homophobia issue itself and served as some very relevant satire on the point. i was confident that after a short while the thread would return to the subject at hand, and in fact in some cases it had already started to come back that way.

noodles suggestion that the off topic area is the only place to have lame jokes slightly worries me. i do appreciate that sometimes a few jokes dont travel well or arent always understood by all members, especially given the international and cultural divides, but the lame element seems a little harsh when i, among many others, have received positive rep from a good few members for harmless humour in otherwise serious threads; im a little concerned as to what the end intention of that kind of suggestion is.

if this is the wrong place to post this, again - please accept my apologies. this thread is not meant as a personal stab.

cheers,

H


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## JJ Rodriguez (Jun 17, 2008)

Most of it is my fault, I quoted the dude's post and made the comment. In my defense, it was more of a way of just making a light joke about the dude who admitted he's gay (not in a way that might seem like persecution), while at the same time kind of asking if it was still appropriate to post threads like that now that we have an openly gay member  Sorry it lead to a few jokes, but it was kind of a serious question as well.


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## playstopause (Jun 17, 2008)

FWIW, JJ's fault or not, i've seen many, many times Chris and / or Noodles asking members to keep that kind of jokes in the "Off-topic" section because it was spreading all around the forum. Even if they're only to "lighten" up the discussed subject. Not that I care, but imho, that "rule" is pretty clear, especially in the "Politics" and "Lounge" forums.


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## eaeolian (Jun 17, 2008)

^ Even more so in Politics & Current Events, which is even more tightly moderated. That's the root of the problem - keep that sort of commentary to off-topic.


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## noodles (Jun 17, 2008)

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/politics-current-events/12672-p-ce-forum-rules.html

That is all the justification I reall need.. I pruned out an entire series of the now very old "Stitch is gay" line of jokes. I don't care if no one is getting offended by it. It was in the P&CE section, and it has been made clear, time and time again, that those forums are to be kept clean and on topic.

I usually let the occasional joke slide. Hell, I crack some myself. I had to prune *eight posts* that were off the topic of discussion. I would have done the same in any of the music forums as well, because it was *off topic*.


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## Chris (Jun 17, 2008)

One of the main reasons for keeping the jokes (especially) out of the music and non-OT forums is that every forum on this site is viewable to guests, search engines, potential vendors, reps from guitar manufacturers (Ibanez, etc) and "high profile" (for lack of a better word) posters (eg: dudes in famous bands).

We all can go to town in OT because people that aren't logged in can't see it, and neither can search engines and guests. What I want to avoid is (for example) someone like Steve Vai coming here to troll around, checking out the forums and seeing a bunch of "stich is gay lololol" jokes instead of all of the great discussions that you guys have on here. When I first put the P&CE forum up I thought I'd regret it and all the mods almost lynched me, and it's turned out to be a pretty great forum that has a lot of solid discussions in it from people with all sorts of views. That's rare as hell and says a lot about the type of metal fuckers that post here.  

Chances are if the "don't do that" post seems harsh, it's generally because the people turning non-OT threads into gay-joke-fests are the same usual suspects that we've asked a billion times to knock it off. 

(That's definitely not you, Hal, so feel free to PM noodles and tell him he's short. He likes it. )


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## halsinden (Jun 17, 2008)

thank you both for the attention on this, im actually very pleased to see how quickly the matter was addressed by the two of you, given it was posted where it was etc. pretty re-affirming, there.

a major part of the error is therefore possibly on my side, and certainly ive made a similar mistake before in the GOTM nominations when i started ranting about the green jem which was entirely my bad - i obviously hadnt read the rules as clearly as i shouldve done, and theyre doubtless posted as clearly as can be (but then, it may also be worth noting that even as a regular user i hadnt felt inclined to investigate into those rules further than i had, which evidently wasnt enough. that may say something about navigation, but again i could be wrong).

chriss vai-based point is extremely valid and ultimately i do bow to that, no matter what. 

i do stick to my point about the jokes being valid and topically relevant to (all the moreso given the nature of -) the thread, but i neither run or govern this forum; its less of a corporate concern to me.

i will reiterate that i feel proud of the calibre of posts and informed opinions that this forum boasts and it remains one of the primary reasons i return to it as often as i do, but i do so as a recreational tool and therefore must admit that i object to the manner in which noodles posted the initial notification of deletion and to elements of his reply here which i find slightly confrontational. a simple explanation wouldve sufficed and i feel wouldve been enough to deter most that knew the thread to have ceased anything further. dave, i have no problem with you, just one or two of your actions, as im sure you do of mine - all good from this point onwards between us, i hope.

i assume you can both see what im saying and look forward to future forum discussion. 

cheers guys,

H


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## Chris (Jun 17, 2008)

I've always said that if anyone thinks me/the mods are being forum nazis, by all means call us out on it. We just try to keep things running smooth and as the site gets busier it takes a little more moderation. Definitely post up if you think something's out of line. Or if Dave's short.

That said, fuck you Hal, you balls'ed up sodding wanker.







































 I'll never be able to cuss in UK-slang and not sound like a dumbass. It sounds so cool when you guys do it.


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## ibznorange (Jun 17, 2008)

just out of curiosity since you guys mentioned it here, is it just the Off topic forum thats locked to outsiders, or is it all of the OT forums (OT, PCE, etc)?


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## Chris (Jun 17, 2008)

Log out and see.


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## Abhorred (Jun 17, 2008)

<Deleted> Eh, not the right place to make jokes.


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## ibznorange (Jun 17, 2008)

Chris said:


> effort




All of them it is! If it was just the OT forum i was actually gonna suggest locking them all, but thats already the case


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## halsinden (Jun 18, 2008)

(deleted for better measure!)

H


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## Zepp88 (Jun 18, 2008)

I get the reason for deleting the posts, one or two jokes is one thing, but 8 posts is out of hand in that section, and we're all guilty of it from time to time.

Backing up Hal a bit though I agree that a bit of humor does lighten the conversation a bit, and shed some light on how funny sexuality really is. Good thread altogether Hal,  

Also kudos to Stelle for being able to take a joke


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## noodles (Jun 18, 2008)

halsinden said:


> i will reiterate that i feel proud of the calibre of posts and informed opinions that this forum boasts and it remains one of the primary reasons i return to it as often as i do, but i do so as a recreational tool and therefore must admit that i object to the manner in which noodles posted the initial notification of deletion and to elements of his reply here which i find slightly confrontational. a simple explanation wouldve sufficed and i feel wouldve been enough to deter most that knew the thread to have ceased anything further. dave, i have no problem with you, just one or two of your actions, as im sure you do of mine - all good from this point onwards between us, i hope.



Well, you have to understand that you were not the only one in the wrong. Several of those posts were made by repeat offenders, so I'm a bit tired of deleting the same posts by the same people. Still, I never take it personally, and I forgot that I even had to delete one of your posts in GOTM. You'll only get in my cross hairs if I have to keep deleting the same type of posts, over and over again.


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## noodles (Jun 18, 2008)

Zepp88 said:


> I get the reason for deleting the posts, one or two jokes is one thing, but 8 posts is out of hand in that section, and we're all guilty of it from time to time.



Especially you. You suck and I hate you.


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## InTheRavensName (Jun 18, 2008)

noodles said:


> Especially you. You suck and I hate you.



Shove your mature and measured discussion, it's this attitude that I love most about this forum 



Chris said:


> That said, fuck you Hal, you balls'ed up sodding wanker.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



...you're getting there. The trick is to make it sound coherent when none of the words fit together, and say it like Hugh Grant. Because that's what we all sound like.


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## JJ Rodriguez (Jun 18, 2008)

noodles said:


> Well, you have to understand that you were not the only one in the wrong. Several of those posts were made by repeat offenders, so I'm a bit tired of deleting the same posts by the same people.




I'm assuming I'm one of the repeat people, but my post WAS kind of serious. I didn't know whether the dude would be offended by "Stitch is gay" threads/comments and stuff like that, and since he came right out and admitted it, I figured now would be the time to ask  And sorry for the repeat offenses, I'm just pretty OCD about seeing an opportunity to make a joke, and taking it


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## InTheRavensName (Jun 18, 2008)

^ see, I like your attitude JJ, while your jokes would make Satan wretch, they're normally well timed and somewhat appropriate. I don't think anyone on this forum would want to see you suddenly disappear or stop poking fun at everything/poking everything that can be poked. I think a large part of what gripes the mods is people pointlessly jumping on a joke without contributing anything to the discussion or even being funny.


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## The Dark Wolf (Jun 18, 2008)

Humor is fine, when it's INTELLIGENTLY done.

But the "Stitch is gay', for the billiontyith time, is silly. Just keep all the "inside jokes" (and you guys know there are a million of 'em on here, especially from you 100k guys.  ) to OT, and all is well. Chris and the moderators live by the same rules. 


DISCLAIMER - I did not see the original thread. 


DOUBLE DISCLAIMER - Noodles is indeed short. And Hal's British courtesy is sexy.


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## JJ Rodriguez (Jun 18, 2008)

The Dark Wolf said:


> Humor is fine, when it's INTELLIGENTLY done.



By intelligent, you mean low brow right?


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## The Dark Wolf (Jun 18, 2008)

Between you and me, JJ?  Exactly. We're both freaking morons when it comes to that shit. 

But elsewhere, erm... no.


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