Times Daily Forum Suggestions

I am seriously disappointed in the current status of the forum. It is shocking that the current management does not attempt to keep the discussion civil. It would not be surprising to see the new ownership close the forum. I suspect the website will become restricted similar to the new owner's other website.

well, after looking over the forum i would have to say stuff like this

"defacrat calls 911 over extra shrimp" <--actual topic title in politics

name calling seems to be the norm in politics!!! i quit going in there almost a year ago! i don't whine about it i just don't go!

or one of the "bill grey novels" in religion that seem to condemn us all to hell? and all the fighting and such in there! i don't complain i just don't look at it!

i guess what i am trying to say is we all have a pet peeve that happens every day in the forums! lets try to be more considerate of EVERYONE!

and any rules in the TOS should apply to all equally!

quote:

Originally posted by AlabamaSon:
I am seriously disappointed in the current status of the forum. It is shocking that the current management does not attempt to keep the discussion civil. It would not be surprising to see the new ownership close the forum. I suspect the website will become restricted similar to the new owner's other website.

The new ownership will not close the forum, but are considering new guidelines. This forum has gone too long with the bashing and behind the scenes pming.

Its probably time for me to depart. I have just about had enough.

mean and ALSon, I don't know if you noticed, but BR has been busy cleaning the place up today. I hope they follow through on the warning and continue to follow through. If they don't, tell me where you are headed, mean, and I'll join you.

Illusionist, I don't care what goes on behind the scenes. If it would all stay behind the scenes, that would be awesome.

BR is a nice guy and I think he is fair. There are a lot of other forums.

quote:

Originally posted by ~Illusionist~:

quote:

Originally posted by AlabamaSon:
I am seriously disappointed in the current status of the forum. It is shocking that the current management does not attempt to keep the discussion civil. It would not be surprising to see the new ownership close the forum. I suspect the website will become restricted similar to the new owner's other website.

The new ownership will not close the forum, but are considering new guidelines. This forum has gone too long with the bashing and behind the scenes pming.

Cool avatar, what does it mean? If you don't mind me asking.

quote:

Originally posted by meanasasnake:
Its probably time for me to depart. I have just about had enough.

I sure would miss you if you left, meanasaasnake!

AlabamaSon, do you mind my asking which forums you like to visit most? I never go into politics or religion because it got way to nasty for me in there (Politics) when it became evident that either Clinton or Obamaa was going to be the Democratic nominee and people started being so rude to each other. I never went into religion because all the posters I found so confrontational before there even was a Religion forum scooted on over there once it opened! If my recent dalliances into the goings on amongst certain members have personally helped turn you off to the forum, I am sincerely sorry for my part in that. I do not intend to let myself "go there" anymore and I know for a fact that I'm not the only one who feels that way!.

I really don't know how a "first name rule" could be enforced. Many of us on here know each other outside the forum, but some we don't. How would we know if "MSC" was actually Joe, or Hal, or Evan?

Also, a good friend of mine who posts rather infrequently is called Joy. How would we distinguish between or among those with the same names?

Screen names serve a purpose. Shimara recently mentioned someone being harassed. If that did happen, it probably would not have if the person had not announced her real name to the forum.

I know three on here with the same first name...that could get confusing.

Names Tammy ,Shim whats yours ?

Would this be the first name your parents named you or the first name you used as a poster? Interesting thought.

quote:

Originally posted by shimara12:
Might be interesting if everyone posting was required to used their first name. It would probably cut the hostility and name calling in half. Any positive suggestions?

Silly.

Shimara is apparently speaking of herself -- thinking that if we had to post our first names that we would not say some of the things we post if you knew our real identity or were face to face. She is probably right about some people -- the Monet's if you will, but the rest of us -- especially us oldies -- have been very clear that what we post we would say to your face with no problems...

If you are true to yourself when you post then you have nothing to hide regardless of your screen name...

I do think they should limit how many identities can be created -- whether that is per email, per name, per phone number or per IP address -- there should be some way to limit how many personas one can have...

My real name is Joy.

Wouldn't it be just as easy for someone to lie about their real name? A person who creates two or more screen names might not hesitate to lie about their real name, doncha know?

I changed my screen name to my real initials. I wasn't sure at first if that was o.k., but several on here know me. I've known Morris for years and he uses his real name, so I think its o.k. either way.

While I don't use my first name or last name or even nickname -- I have been DixieChik since day one that I started on this forum 3 years ago and haven't changed it and haven't created new personas and I tell you what I think and I shoot from the hip and like me or not I am straightforward and honest with my thoughts and my opinions...and from what I'm told by several people on and off the forums -- if you know me you can tell exactly who I am by reading my posts because I am the same here as I am in real life...

The moderators can see everyone's IP addresses, by post. So say Joe Blow get on the TD forums from home and registers a new ID of JB123 and his IP is 127.0.0.1 (other geeks will get the joke). OK so then he goes to work and replies to a topic on Gun Control. At work his IP is 111.222.333.4 and then later he goes to the mall and starts a post on Starbucks in Florence from his iPhone using the free Wi-Fi at LeBeau's. At LeBeau's his iPhone's IP is 555.666.777.8 OK. Follow that? The TD mods have the ability to see the IP address of the machine that you were using when you registered and each and every post you have made. If they wanted to know if Joe Blow is really Jack Crack and Hank Spank, it isn't that hard to connect the dots. The question is - is it worth their time and effort? I don't think Eve/Groupee allow it, but many forums have settings that allow them to show poster's IP addresses on each post. That is a great tool to allow members to police each other and stamp out trolls without the mods having to get involved so much.

The other thing about this forum that just invites trolls like honey invites flies is the fact that email addresses do not have to be confirmed to register for an account. You can register a new ID of Sally_O_Sally@blah.com and it will work. Not to say that a troll cannot open up a zillion Gmail or Hotmail or Yahoo accounts, but if they had to actually USE that account to post, then that would deter a lot of this insanity.

Last, the mods CAN limit people's ability to change their user names. (Mods, Go to the Eve CP > Members > Registration Settings > Under the "Basic Settings" tab, there's a checkbox for "Prevent Public Name Change". Check that, and press the "Save Settings" button at the bottom of the page and presto - member's names are set.) I can see changing your name once or twice. I did - I went from That Smart Chick to T S C as part of getting a fresh start. Or if your name is CutieCookie2009, I can see allowing you to change it to CutieCookie2010 or just CutieCookie or whatever. But there are some on here with less than 15 posts who seem to have a different name every time they say something. Not to mention the ones with lots of posts whom I think change their name so that they can talk to themselves. I know that it would impact the posters who have been here for a while and who change their names for the season and that is cute, but if it would help stop trolls, I bet they would be willing to just change their avatars and not their screen-names.

Ok, that is all my venting on this topic! By the way - I'm not a moderator, I just play one on TV.

quote:

Originally posted by earthmomma:
Would this be the first name your parents named you or the first name you used as a poster? Interesting thought.

Being a child of the 50's , my momma named me Tammy after the Tammy movies . lol

Still waiting on shims name .lol But not holding breath .

Link

TSC , I bet I keep you busy looking to see who I am since i change names often .lol

You are the one I was referring to as "cute"! But yes, I am always curious to see what name / avatar you are going to choose next!

Well I told my peeps in a PM that I was trying to find something I can live with for a while .lol
Hope this one is it , but then again , you know me and my Gemini ways , I may change it again when I get to Florence .
If times daily stops the name changing , I have no problem at all with it .

Anyone remember Paul Harvey? My favorite saying of his is that "self government does not work without self discipline".

It is a sad day now that there are so many adults on here who cannot discipline themselves when they are given so much leniency! It is a shame that I have to align myself with these people who cannot control themselves on a public forum.

TSC, I think those are excellent suggestions.

If people weren't able to create new names all the time, then possibly things would, at very least, calm down around here.

I'm not meaning, you Green Eyed Lady, you don't hide who you are when you change names. All anyone has to do is ask, and you'll tell 'em.

Gus, I agree too. Although, I have been guilty of getting into the posts myself and replying. Part of the problem is, I suppose, the leniency. If people have no consequences from creating all the drama- they'll continue to do it. Online, it amplifies that. I just hope those that do partake in that, get bored of it fast. This place is a great place to discuss and debate topics- and all the drama does take away from that.

~Amanda

Thanks Manda .

I'll just say "Ditto" to TSC and Manda. I've had the same username since I joined this forum.

I want to know how these people have so much time on their hands to create multiple "personas" and manage them all!

Talk about multitasking!

I'm with you on that Fire -- I have a hard enough time keeping myself straight, let alone have to remember 3 different lies from my 5 different "personas"...I'd rather shoot straight and that way I don't have to multi-task...I do that enough at work...

Fire, I've wondered that too.

I am like Dixie- I barely have time to keep up with myself. roflmao!

~Amanda

I laughed because my name is really Joyce and I've not ever liked it that much so I'm "Joy." I don't think anyone would ever mistake me for our Joy here since I'm about a year older.

I'm glad to get home and see the forum is having a fresh start. I had started skipping the misc. section due to all the bickering.

If you have that much time on your hands to play games I've got some laundry that needs washing, some floors that need scrubbing, some papers that need filing, some bills that need to be paid and some groceries to be bought...I can find you something to do since you "work for free"...

i refuse to give my real name! but, if any of you are cute and single i can offer a phone number and we can go from there!

I'll tell you who he is since he tells me who everyone else is!

My Screen name is my real name...sorta

quote:

Originally posted by re-becker:
My Screen name is my real name...sorta

cute!

quote:

Originally posted by ShugaPush:
I laughed because my name is really Joyce and I've not ever liked it that much so I'm "Joy." I don't think anyone would ever mistake me for our Joy here since I'm about a year older.

I'm glad to get home and see the forum is having a fresh start. I had started skipping the misc. section due to all the bickering.

I didn't know your real name is Joy. Cool. Welcome home.

I doubt anyone cares, but, I did screw up my firefox and couldn't get back into it - it is an extremely long story. I had to re-create myself and now am juliesmiles, formerly known as jjuliesmiles for anyone that may not have made the connection. For the first day, I didn't realize I could use the same name so I was "okaywhatever164" yesterday - but today I changed it back to juliesmiles. So, it is the same old me - I didn't get kicked off or anything - I just messed up my computer and email. I even had a computer expert that we all know and love trying to help me and I still had it beyond repair.

Sorry if anybody thought I was trying to mislead them - although I surely hope they didn't think such!

Peace out pals!!!!!!!!!!

No, just made us curious people curious. Computer problems can be rather stressful - glad you are up and running again.