Forum policy

[Timendus]

Attempts at starting flame wars with respect to sensitive content is not condoned on these forums.

Define "attempts at starting flame wars"
Define "flame wars", for that matter
Define "sensitive content"

If you just close every topic that could make people feel uncomfortable without very strict, predefined guidelines and policies on when and how to do so than you are no better than the next sucker who's arguing in favour of censorship for whichever reason. Closing topics on the grounds of "attempts at starting flame wars" is no better than governments locking people away on the suspicion of terrorism. Innocent untill proven otherwise!

I believe in the absolute freedom of speech, even if people "bash" me or ridicule my beliefs, so I absolutely expect from others to be able to take some argumented criticism on theirs. And it has annoyed me quite a few times now that you keep closing discussions about what you call "sensitive content", because they are often much more interesting and vivid than the rest of the forum. Also, even though Necro may not always express himself in the stuck-up so-called polite form most others do, I did not see any attempt at a flame war in that topic. You're making me feel very uncomfortable and unwelcome this way, and though I can understand that you're afraid of more criticism about Maxcoderz staff allowing people to bash others, I think you're scaring people off this way as well.

In other words; please do explain your decision to your community.

(I guess some will say that I should have asked this in a PM but I thought I'd best bring the discussion out in the open. Please do criticize me about that; difference in opinions and discussion about them is what makes us human )

Edit kv83: Added poll.

[benryves]

I don't recall ever seeing a thread on religion ending well, especially when the first thread is using a site called evilbible.com as its reference. I'm with tr1p1ea on closing that thread before it got ugly. The one thing I won't tolerate is intolerance.

[King Harold]

The one thing I won't tolerate is intolerance

nice paradox there

anyway, although I agree with Ben on the 'closing the tread' part, I'll have to agree with Tim on just about everything else.

The discussion didn't get anywhere near ugly yet (in my opinion), it probably would have gotten ugly soon but I would have left it open for just a while longer..

[hop]

Semantecs:

Never confuse rights with privileges. Having a topic about something here is a privilege. We have the right to post it but we can do that anywhere. Doing it here is a privilege. Therefor, we can not have lost any rights here, contrary to what tr1p1ea claims. Someone simply decided to take away that privilege. There's no need to sugarcoat your own actions when the truth holds much more valuable lessons both to yourself and others. Sugar coating comparative to Timendus' terrorism example, as the term "war on terrorism" is simply designed to make murdering thousands of people in some far away country sound good, and saying we have "lost the right to.." is a nice way of saying you are taking away privileges even from those who had nothing to do with whatever reason is given.

You can not lose rights. At least not rightfully. Don't make it sound otherwise. Be a man and have the guts (lol, internet) to say you have decided not to allow something.

Practicality:

Closing threads does not cause flaming to end, as threads do not flame but users do. Banning those ends flaming.

[DigiTan]

I'm totally against the thread closing. Everybody knows these topics always end well. The arguments are always well-cited and unbiased. The comments are always respectful towards opposing groups. Everybody does their research. And no one ever resorts to stereotyping.

Nutritional Facts
......................
Total Sarcasm 54g.........................100%
Saturated Sarcasm 0g......................0%
Trans Sarcasm 3g............................5%
Polyunsaturated Sarcasm 51g.........95%

* Percent Daily Values are based a 2000 sarcasm
diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower
depending on your sarcasm needs.

[threefingeredguy]

I see DigiTan is well on his way to being the funniest poster of 2007.

[Timendus]

What's the problem with threads getting "ugly"? Why does it matter if threads "end well" or not?

Isn't the journey our true source of inspiration and revelation, and not the destination? Why care if a thread gets ugly if it made people think about themselves and the universe they live in?

Besides that, why care if a thread gets ugly at all? Why is it good by definition if people agree with each other, and bad if they start a fight, an argument, a "flame war", whatever you like to call it? As I said: difference in opinions and discussion about them is what makes us human. Just agreeing with eachother makes us a herd of sheep.

Do you believe in freedom of speech? Should people, at all times, at all cost even, be able to speak their minds? Why then should they shut up when they disagree? That just frustrates people. The dialogue should always stay open.

If you do claim to believe in freedom of speech, here's a nice quote I ran into recently:

"The true test of someone who claims to believe in Freedom of Speech is whether they tolerate speech which they disagree with, or even find disgusting."


@digitan: Nice one

[necro]

I like it because it can create some amusing "proofs" and the fact that some peple will always reinforce the logical biasis and generalisations which are the basis of human thought. like somebody arguing an opinion by stating merely that they beleive or an unverifiable narrative as if that were a valid argument. i could go on, but won't...also, their is always (well, for some members not but again I won't mention names) a genuine study and search for data, a thing rare today.

Of course, I don't like it being implied that I created a thread with the sole point of being deflamatory and or to anger other people as opposed to spark a thoughtful and candid discussion on something other than calculators (which there is no vast sum of topics pertaining to in play, save a few interesting projects.) So, my thoughts are that the thread was:
1. Not ugly
2. Not intended as anything more than discusision

and as such, I'll just say i wish you hadn't.


(Unrelated, but am I the only one who finds digi's comments lacking in regards to all the "rolfomglol"ness that always follow...they seem so predictable and routine to me, and all of them contain the word sarcasm many times)

[kv83]

May I remind everyone that this is a programming forum made for discussion of programming? Talking offtopic is fine, but if you want a serious religious debate I would advice to post that on a board made for that.

Further more, I agree with tr1p with closing the topic. We are a forum open for everyone, no matter where you are from, what you believe and what you think. A topic like that would only ruin the mood and could hurt people.

However, I hate to be a dictator, so I'll add a poll the openingpost and if more than 50% wants it back, than we'll reopen it again.

[tr1p1ea]

Religon, God, Abortion, Evolution, The Bible are all topics that were EXTENSIVELY discussed -- by the exact same select group of people -- 6 months ago in the debate thread. The debate thread ended up being 60-odd pages of that select few re-iterating their 'points' and their 'beliefs' over and over and over and over and over ... etc.

necro: Even though you *claim* to have started nothing more than an educated discussion, posting something to the effect of "God is evil and the Bible is a joke" is only going to offend people, and you know this damn well.

[hop]

Calculators, web design, hosting, programming, game consoles, and videogames, have also been extensively discussed. Enough is enough, close all the topics!

[Floodkiller]

Calculators, web design, hosting, programming, game consoles, and videogames, have also been extensively discussed. Enough is enough, close all the topics!

Lol, but since this forum is about all of the above (mostly all of the above anyway), it seems that you would be free to debate about that.

Besides, I side with tr1p and all the others who agree that the topic should be closed. Nothing good ever comes out of religious discussions that try to change peoples mind's, mostly because everyone who participates already has their own mindset on how it should work, and won't even slightly budge from their opinion.

[King Harold]

Nothing good ever comes out of religious discussions that try to change peoples mind's, mostly because everyone who participates already has their own mindset on how it should work, and won't even slightly budge from their opinion.

that's sortof the point, you know, that's what the whole "my religions beats yours!" is about - not wanting to budge even slightly from your own opinion.

it's a good point, but I budged a whole lot from my former opinion (believe it or not I used to be christian, but then, my school was and other schools were farther away) that's proof that at least some people will budge from their opinions. (there are others too!)

its a dangerous topic though..

[hop]

Nothing good ever comes out of religious discussions that try to change peoples mind's, mostly because everyone who participates already has their own mindset on how it should work, and won't even slightly budge from their opinion.

Actually, it's just the pricks who carry that opinion of everybody being so hardheaded who won't budge in any way.

Go live in someone else's shoes for a year then dare tell me nothing changes.

[DigiTan]

that's sortof the point, you know, that's what the whole "my religions beats yours!" is about - not wanting to budge even slightly from your own opinion.

Ah, someone sees what I was up to back there.