O'club

[Hap]

E Gads!  But somehow this seems funny to me.

Arthur: I am your king!
Woman: Well, I didn't vote for you.
Arthur: You don't vote for kings.
Woman: Well, how did you become King, then?
Arthur: The Lady of the Lake,... [Angel chorus begins singing in background] her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water signifying by Divine Providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. [Angel chorus ends] That is why I am your king!
Dennis: Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.
Arthur: Be quiet!
Dennis: —but you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!
Arthur: Shut up!
Dennis: I mean, if I went 'round saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!
Arthur: Shut up, will you? Shut up!
Dennis: Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system!
Arthur: Shut up!
Dennis: Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help! Help! I'm being repressed!
Arthur: Bloody peasant!
Dennis: Oh, what a give-away. Did you hear that? Did you hear that, eh? That's what I'm on about. Did you see him repressing me? You saw it, didn't you?

hap (i lack the techy-ness to make it REAL funny

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by cpxxx


Maybe that's it.  Ban religion and politics?

And you turn the O Club into a ghost town.

Well maybe not that bad but you would certainly loose alot of the flavor of what made it so special.

Yes there were alot of debates that got out of hand in both subjects. And needed to be closed down.
 But by and large they werent any worse then you see in even the general discussion forums on any number of other subjects.

  People are going to argue reguardless of subject.
The problem comes with the arguements getting out of hand and people, often the same people repeatedly going  bonkers and going completely over the top.

I dont think subjects should be limited and I commentd HTC for allowing them.
The world would probably be a far better place if more people had such open discussions rather then avoiding them and  making beleive they dont exist

The trick is in knowing when things are about to get out of hand and squelching them before they do

[culero]

mi dos centavos:

1) active game subscribers only (rationale: its a club, clubs ain't public)

2) require clicking "accept" on a disclaimer (rationale: company asks clicker to disculp them from whatever happens next, avoids liability)

3) no moderation (allow a community to be a community)

culero

[lazs2]

seagoon.. the check six forums seem to be filling up with all the people you enjoyed interacting with.

lazs

[Nash]

Originally posted by lazs2
nash wan't it to stick to flight sim subjects.... yeah... nobody ever gets worked up or angry or mean over that stuff right? - lazs

Not sure where you got that idea.

Anyways, it's kind of become clear to me that Skuzzy's job was doomed to failure from the start. That there's no way community moderators could have any more success. There's no way to squelch things "before they get out of hand" because everyone's idea about what that means is different. Everyone's interpretation of the rules is different.

How can they be possibly be enforced without it reflecting just the sole interpretation of the moderator and therefore under attack by a whole ton of people who either never understood or who will never agree to them?

Two choices for HTC, basically. Leave it open and let it be, or just tank it permanently.

[AKS\/\/ulfe]

What competition Lazs?
-SW

[SlapShot]

If I were HTC ... here is what I would do.

I would bring back the O'Club but in READ-ONLY mode for a period of 3 to 6 months. This would allow those to peruse the forum to get any information off of it that they might need.

I would then solicit non-HTC moderators. Give them ids like HTC_MOD1, HTC_MOD2, ... They would have the abilities to edit, delete, and lock threads ... no banning privs ... that would be left to HTC Staff with recommendations from the Moderators if needed.

Their main objective would be to slam the lock down on any possible O'Club type post that might pop up in any of the other forums during the "cooling off" period. At the same time, they would also moderate threads and posters that might be going over the top in the other threads throughout the forums. Kinda of like a training ground prior to the re-opening of the O'Club.

I was a lurker in the O'Club. Yes there was alot of good stuff in there and some very intelligent posters. I too was never offended by what I read in there (and I am not a preacher), but I am not the one that has to worry about the appearence of what my corporation is allowing to be published on the net. Thats a whole 'nother ball of wax.

The main reason that I was a lurker was due to the fact that most of the threads contained the same cast of characters that loved to poke each other in the eye, and if anyone other than that cast were to post, they were for the most part ignored. It was nothing more than a bunch of cackling old ladies playing bridge, and if you weren't part of the inner circle ... you were on the outs. It got to the point that they really didn't want to discuss, but rather use the thread to see how hard they could poke each other in the eye, or see what nuclear explosion they could cause by dropping some sort of igniter in the thread.

For the most part, any thread in there that had anything to do with politics, religion, current events such as the war in Iraq quickly denegrated to trashs talking and the notion of a "discussion/debate" was no where to be found. The consistent animosity that grew out of these threads between poster became quite evident, and anytime they reared their ugly head in a thread, the discussion was over.

I am sure there are more, I just can't recall the names, but if most posted in there with the style and attitude that the likes of Toad and Lazs brought to a thread, it would truly be an enjoyable O'Club. These two can debate like Pit Bulls, but I can't ever recall them getting downright nasty and mean spirited and take a discussion to the "personal attack" level.

[lazs2]

nash... the reason most of us ended up in the oclub was because we hurt the feelings of the guys posting about flight sims.... we were mean to em.

yeah ak... they weren't all kicking your verbal butt... they just didn't "understand" you.

lazs

[AKS\/\/ulfe]

Who?
-SW

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by lazs2
Let's put this in perspective...  Seagoon thinks it might have been him that closed it down or at least that he got banned..  

It is perhaps the most pertenent thing of this whole thread to note that he enjoyed reading the posts and was never offended....

We are talking about a preacher here who is one of the most level headed and kind people I have ever seen post and never uttered a mean word...  And even he doesn't know what was acceptable.


lazs

I found that both interesting and amusing.

Seagoon,
 I think all would agree you weren not the problem. Or even anywhere nearly close to it.

Hell..ummm I mean heck I think many of us here kinda view you as the company chaplin so's to speak.

I know for myself I've payed attention to what you had to say far far FAR more then any church preacher or any other kind of preacher ever said. But your also far more interesting then any other preacher I've heard.

Now myself I view as being more spiritual then regileous.
but I've always found what you had to say interesting even if I couldnt completely buy into what it was you said.

You were not nor ever were even close to being the  or a problem

[lazs2]

oops.. slap.. thanks but..  

Not sure everyone really got me or toads style and..

I did get mean and nasty once.. to jb88 in his "quitting smoking" thread and he put me on ignore for it..

I will bet anyone here tho that I had/have more to do with him staying off the studmuffins ... than 30 well wishers....  It was I alone that recognized that he was an effeminate liberal unable to muster any real willpower so I helped him...  

That is the kind of thing that made the oclub great.

lazs

[Toad]

Originally posted by DREDIOCK
I found that both interesting and amusing.

Seagoon,
 
 ...Hell..ummm I mean heck I think many of us here kinda view you as the company chaplin so's to speak...
...You were not nor ever were even close to being the or a problem

 

Seconded. Spot on.

Slap, thanks... but I'm a sinner too. I can recall calling two folks idiots and it happened in the last 8 weeks or so. I hate "ad hominen" and yet I'm guilty. I should have just quietly put them on ignore but the ego triumphed (once again) and I'm as guilty as the next guy.

Always something to work on.

[lada]

Damm i probably missed some important event

[Gaylord]

Is there a possibility the O'Club can be made read-only, if only for a few days? I understand it's within your rights to close it down, and that you really don't owe those of us who posted there any consideration because we were all leeches, but there are one or two Seagoon posts I'd like to have access to if that's at all possible.

[SlapShot]

Toad ... Lazs

Notice I descibed you as Pit Bulls and not Angels.

Well, if all you can recall is 3 incidents between the two of you, then my statement and observations still holds true.

My overall point was to bring to light the style in which you debate/discuss.

When in a dicussion, if you begin to taste the bile in your mouth, its time to step back and re-look at what your typing/saying.

From what I could see in that forum ... some, if not most, thrived on that taste of bile like a junkie to crack.