Reminder

[Gregory Matthews]

This forum began with the vision of three people--Stan, Gail and Tom, who wanted a forum where people with some level of interest in the Seventh-day Adventist denomination could come together, fellowship and discus issues of common interest.  Over the years, the primary responsibility for managing this forum has rested on the shoulders of those three, along with the financial responsibility.

Others have come along to  help in management, and to share in the financial responsibility.  That help has been very much appreciated.  In actual fact, the additional help from those others has been necessary for the continued operation of this forum.

From time to time, suggestions have been made as to how the operation of this forum could be improved.  Some have been accepted and put in place.  Some have not been accepted.  None of us who are involved in the operation of this forum are perfect.  We simply do our best to operate it in a manner that allows for fellowship and civil discussion of common issues.

In order to facilitate this, boundaries have been established.  Posts have been removed from view and people have been asked not to post.  Pornography has been posted.  Threats of physical violence have been made.  But, these have fortunately be quite rare and it has been easy to respond to these.

Some have come here with agendas and posted in a manner that has restricted the ability of our other members to fellowship and discuss issues of  common interest.  In the interests of this forum, we have had to respond to these.

Again, I am not   going to tell you that we have been perfect in our responses.  We, at times, may have erred.  But, there is a point where we have to act.

This morning I have had to respond to a massive amount of spam, which I believe has come from one person.    I stopped counting at 24 posts, and I stopped counting at 14 different names.

Folks, this can not continue.  It this does continue, in order to protect the ability of our members to fellowship and to discuss, we may have to institute other measures.  I do not know what we will do.  And, I do not speak for any other person.  I only speak for myself.

But, I feel a need to let you know some of what we are dealing with in an attempt to keep this forum as a safe place for people come and to visit.

 

 

 

 

 

[Lone Ranger]

If you are soliciting responses, I would say that those who run this forum are the most level-headed and even-handed I have so far encountered on any forum. I have no issues with any actions on the part of the moderators/operators that I am aware of.  Participation is entirely voluntary; if I do not like the way it is run it is my responsibility to stop participating here. It's that simple.

Kodos.  Good job.

On a personal note, I easily loose interest in long posts, and get a bit cynical if I find a single user who dominates the forum.

But that's just me.

[Gregory Matthews]

Thanks.

Yes, this thread is open for comment.

You would probably not believe that lengths of most of the posts that I have removed today.  They has actually served to restrict the ability of our members to respond to issues of interest to them.

 

[Gregory Matthews]

There are some things that can be done with software.  Some, we really do not want to do.

You are welcome to post away on this thread.

[Gregory Matthews]

Accounts:

A question has come related to the accounts and posts that have been acted upon today.

1)  The actions taken today have been taken by several people.

2)  Almost all actions today have been taken against posts by people posting under our "Guest" option.  Action was taken against a few people prior to today who posted under pen names.

3)  The major reason why action was taken involved people posting spam.  Often this was made both on the content, on posts that had been placed in multiple threads and on the length of the post.  No, we do not have a stated limit to the length of a post.  But, this was one of the three factors considered.  

4)  We actually left a few posts in place, even though we had acted on multiple posts by the same person, because the posts that we left in place did not violate enough to be removed.  So, yes, there the people who  had their posts removed, may still have some in place that have not been removed.

5)  Rude comments have been sent privately to persons believed to have acted on the posts today.  This has served to firm up our thinking that what we did was right.  I have received such by someone posting to me as "Guest."   That person demanded that I respond publicly.  So, I am responding here.   Frankly,  I am not impressed by such a person who is not willing to reveal their true name.

6)  It is possible that we made an error on occasion that we would not have made if the author of the post had been known to us and not posting under either a pen name or as a "Guest."  But, as that person chose to post without revealing their true name, we had to act on the basis of the information that we had at that time.

 

 

[Bravus]

We went through a phase a while ago where people used their real names, and I switched from my nickname to my real name (David Geelan) at that time.

Once the need subsided, I switched back to my nickname because (a) that is what people know me by here and (b) it's not always helpful if people try to google my working life and find the conversations here.

If someone wishes to make claims about others, though, it would show courage and good faith to use his/her real name. If you are confident about the quality of your posts, stand behind them.

[Bravus]

Also: moderation decisions on this forum often include private discussions among the admin team. If you feel one specific moderator is targeting you, you are probably wrong. The admin team works together.