Your Thoughts About The Back Room Forum.

Discussion in 'The Back Room' started by Gator Bill, Sep 22, 2020.

  1. Gator Bill

    Gator Bill Well-Known Member Administrator

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    When I was very active in the past on Skybox I stayed away from The Back Room because I thought it was mostly political and I didn't want to talk politics. Then when I became more active again and resumed my role as Moderator, as Terry's assistant, I started posting on this forum and got involved, and posted, political stuff.

    However on further inspection I saw other topics, in particular the History and other topics by JO'Co that were very interesting. I started wondering just what was the focus of this forum.

    I have had suggestions from a couple of posters, including myself, that think perhaps we should introduce a new forum for politics and keep that topic off this forum. Terry and I have the ability to, we think, to open a new forum. Although we would have to be some trial and error because neither one of us have done that before.

    So I have not reviewed this post with Terry but will inform him it is here. But please give us your thoughts as to what is your opinion.

    I might add that in my opinion if we would do the new forum that this forum would no longer allow politics and we would be pretty strict about that. I believe we could move all the political posts to the new forum if we so desire.

    Please share your thoughts and we would review with all of you what direction we would go after getting input.
     
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  2. Terry O'Keefe

    Terry O'Keefe Well-Known Member Administrator

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    I agree Bill, as we've talked , it might be a good thing to let Politics have it's own board where it doesn't overshadow other things, more mundane that people want to talk about.
     
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  3. WSU1996kesley

    WSU1996kesley Well-Known Member

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    I support 100% the creation of a new politics forum, and removal of all political comments in the non-political forums. As you know, I tried very hard early on to keep politics out of the Coronavirus discussion, unsuccessfully.

    Alternatively, I would also support the ability of any new topic to specify [NO POLITICS]. This tag could also be used to indicate to the moderators other desires by the topic creator.

    We have been pretty lax, and I've been guilty at times, of meandering topics. Due to our small population and generally great community, it isn't in most times a problem. In a few instances in the past, it has become a problem. But when it does become a problem, it becomes a pervasive problem.
     
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  4. Bobdawolverweasel

    Bobdawolverweasel Well-Known Member

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    I like Kesley’s alternative suggestion. We do not have many members and it seems a lot of work to create a third board for such a small group of members. Under Kes’ suggestion, if a poster wanted to create a topic discussion without someone trying to hijack it with political commentary, the poster could include the tag [no politics] in the topic sentence. If another poster attempted to hijack the topic by posting political commentary in their comments, the remedy should be for the offending post to be reported to the moderators and the reply removed or, if the violation is egregious or repeated, the poster suspended or banned. And, the sanction of suspension or banning should be used. While using the Ignore function makes this board a more enjoyable experience, a person who engages in habitual trolling should be booted. If a poster cannot constrain the impulse to bait or insult those who hold contrary opinions by trying to inject political commentary in topics that are designated as non political, the board is better off without such malicious nonsense and the poster can devote his “I must win Political Internet Today” energy to a different place.

    Recently, the sports board has a topic that was devoted to a discussion of Covid’s impact on college football. The thread was hijacked by a series of political responses that were designed to shift the topic to Trump. Bill nipped that crap in the bud by deleting the posts and informing the poster that if it occurred again, the poster could be banned. Lo and behold, the political shitposting stopped on the sports board.

    Lastly, I would not want Bill or Terry to be burdened with the responsibility of continually monitoring comments; rather, it would be a member’s responsibility to alert the moderators about the violation.
     
  5. Scott88

    Scott88 Well-Known Member

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    What Bob said. :)
     
  6. Motorcity Gator

    Motorcity Gator Well-Known Member

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    Bill hasn't been deleting my sports board posts.... I haven't posted in 2-3 months there because Covid is very much a part of 2020 sports.... including and maybe especially college football. No reason to post anything there if I don't have a say when everyone else on there is talking about it. So who gives a ****.
    I can do the same here.
     
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  7. JO'Co

    JO'Co Well-Known Member

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    I'm for keeping politics as a separate board. I'm also against banning any member for any reason and I've always felt that way.
     
  8. JO'Co

    JO'Co Well-Known Member

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    I would also like to see a separate board for stocks and investments.
     
  9. Bobdawolverweasel

    Bobdawolverweasel Well-Known Member

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    More ********. Thread hijacking in early July resulted in moderator action. Then, when you popped up again in mid August to pull the same crap, you received the following warning.

     
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  10. Motorcity Gator

    Motorcity Gator Well-Known Member

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    It was on August 11th that I did post anything about Covid on the sports board.... so almost 6 weeks ago and not 2 months. I did post a benign statement on August 31st about attending a game in Birmingham back in 1986 but nothing since then or before going back to August 11 and prior to that had cut back on posts (for me) going back to early July.
     
  11. Gator Bill

    Gator Bill Well-Known Member Administrator

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    So I have been out to dinner and was going to come back and agree with Bobda, however he handled it well. And you have not posted political stuff on the Sports forum since then but my comment still stands.
     
    Last edited: Sep 22, 2020
  12. Motorcity Gator

    Motorcity Gator Well-Known Member

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    "have not posted" that is an accurate statement.... political or otherwise.
     
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  13. Gator Bill

    Gator Bill Well-Known Member Administrator

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    Don't know your point and really don't care. This topic is for getting opinions as to a new forum and not to argue technicalities, answer the question if you wish but anything else will be deleted from this topic.

    Thanks in advance for complying.
     
  14. Sid

    Sid Well-Known Member

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    I would like to see a new forum. I often want to come to the Back Room ("BR") only to see JO'Co's and others' interesting nonpolitical posts, but most of the time there are unread political posts which I'm forced to go through in a voyeuristic kind of way to just bring the BR current. There are some regular Sports posters who don't post in the BR: to name a few, Don, Tim, kp. Apologies if I've missed someone. Maybe without the political posts, they might come to the BR to see JO'Co's and others' posts, which are quite interesting and informative. Of the rest of us, I think - not certain - that there are only three who do not follow a conservative ideology, MCG, Corey, and me, a moderate independent who chooses not to engage. I've posted there a couple of times but regretted it. I simply don't belong there, and I'm ok with it. The problem is, if I don't read through all the new political posts, my Skybox home page continues to show unread posts in the BR, which is annoying. Kes and Bobda's suggestion does not solve that problem. By separating the political posts from the BR and sending them to a separate forum, those participants can continue to enjoy their conversations, and the rest of us can keep current in the Back Room without concern that we are forced to read through the political posts to do so.

    I recently was absent for what seemed like a long time. Frankly, I was considering dropping out. With the pandemic shutdown of sports, most posters' attention turned to politics, and in this divisive climate, it didn't take long for the Back Room to get filled with political conversations, most of which had a caustic tone. I was discouraged. However, there was something that kept me here. I just couldn't put my finger on it. I recently had a very pleasant and private conversation with Bill, which helped me to realize what it was and just how much the Skybox means to me. I want to stay and enjoy the fellowship. It would be a lot easier if I could see only the topics I choose to see and not have to wade through topics I'd prefer not to see in order to keep the Sports Board and Back Room current.
     
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  15. Scott88

    Scott88 Well-Known Member

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    Hard to argue with Sid's request.
    I'm good with whatever you guys decide.
     
  16. Bobdawolverweasel

    Bobdawolverweasel Well-Known Member

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    Kes indicated that he was “100%“ in favor of a new forum. I was the one who jumped in with both feet re his alternative proposal which I think he only offered as a suggestion if the new forum was not feasible. I have no issue against a new forum as it would address the concerns raised by Sid.

    Out of deference to Jo Co, I will also withdraw my recommendation of banning and, in its place, respectfully suggest that the moderators appoint AJ as Lord High Executioner of Skybox and invest in him the sole authority to administer whatever form of medieval punishment he feels appropriate to those who violate the time-honored standards of decorum and civility established here by its members.

    96333F9E-5DEE-4807-94DA-4A7F8CAF1ECB.jpeg
     
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  17. HUSKERMAN-HUSKERFAN

    HUSKERMAN-HUSKERFAN Well-Known Member

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    And I got a name! We'll call it "The Tap Room"....no sports, no religion, no politics.

    The backroom needs to be renamed to the "Woodshed". That's where, as Bobda suggested, will be my office for administrative issues.

    And that looks nothing like me Bobda...my hair is much blonder......ish.
     
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  18. WSU1996kesley

    WSU1996kesley Well-Known Member

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    Sid, to "stay current" you don't need to go into each of the topics. There is a link at the top left "Mark Forums Read" which will do that for you.
     
  19. Scott88

    Scott88 Well-Known Member

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    Trouble with that dude is: if he comes to Texas and steps on a goat's head burr, he's out of the fight for days! :D

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