The BT Forum Culture - a case for a higher standard? (Page 2)

Now, I have to check on my wife because she's not feeling well.

Once again, I thank Ron, Marmadaddy, and the mods for all their hard work.

One thing people need to keep in mind is that BT is a dynamic entity. It will keep changing. As someonementioned above, people come and go for many reasons, a lot of which have nothing to do with BT. Any expectations that BT should be static are going to be unmet expectations. The membership changes, the site changes, even the sport changes. You may miss the old days, but one day today will also be the old days.

I run a totally different, non-tri-related web-based group. We also place heavy emphasis on civility and have the same growing pains. We have lost some major contributors, we have a very same % of members that cannot grasp the policies and continually violate them (which causes 90+% of the work for the volunteer moderators), we have just had to suspend a member for the first time (one of our longest members) and tell him another violation will result in banishment. All of this I have come to learn is natural.

For my part no changes are neeed at BT now. COJ posts counting are irrelevant. I never judge a post by the posters count. Further when someone posts something "out-there" it is usually followed by some questioning posts. To Admins and Mods, let me say from some body who knows first hand what is involved, THANK YOU! What you do is very much appreciated and needed. It is a largely thankless job, but an essential one that makes everything else here possible.

I have similar views as you about COJ.  I don't think discussions about politics, homosexuality, abortion, sex and religion serve the board.  Those subjects are very difficult to discuss face to face and when people hide behind the anonimity of the internet, they can get very ugly and people get hurt and offended at some of the crude, vulgar and somtimes soft porno posts.  I will never post in COJ again and, like you, am ashamed of the COJ posts indicated in my post count.  I understand having an "off topic" thread but an off-topic board where 'anything goes' is too much.  When someone has 2,000 COJ posts and 20 Tri Talk posts, I don't think this contributes to the triathlon community of BT.

At least you have to be a member to see the COJ board!  When I was BTer of the month, I sent the link to my friends and family and I was so glad they could not see COJ!  Obviously even BT is embarrassed at what goes on in COJ and don't want people to see our dirty underbelly before they sign up.  :-)

~Mike 

Mike,  I agree with most of what you said, but COJ has its place.  Without an outlet for non-tri talk, the tri forum would be inundated with random non-tri posts.  It needs to be there, but I think we need some new rule for that area and fast.

I never really ventured into COJ until recently due to a lot of time sitting around waiting at airports and such.  I enjoy some of the discussions on religion and politics, but most of the time COJ sounds like a board for sexually repressed teenagers with hormones raging.  I don't mind threads about topics related to sex if they're discussed in a mature fashion, but from what I've seen that's very rare.  The blatant inuendos, discussion about "mellon presses" and masturbation have no place on this forum.  There are plenty of places on the internet to discuss this.  Unfortunately, it even spills out of COJ when people forget where they're posting.  I'm a very open minded person, but unless we want to add an "over 18 only" page when logging on to BT, this stuff needs to stop.

I tried out the "BeginnerChat" for the first time in a couple of years the other night.  Within a few minutes there probably a dozen comments about 'penis,' 'meat curtains,' etc..  Really?  I can't imagine how many new members have tried to go into those chat rooms to have a normal conversation (*gasp* maybe even tri related) only to find that conversation. 

If this is the direction the board is going and the other regulars want that, then fine.  Slowtwitch may not be as inviting to newbies, but at least it's appropriate. 

I respect the comments that were made, but I will emphatically disagree with much that was stated.

Now, the other side of me (the positive and supportive 1TT) will come out and say this - CONGRATULATIONS on being a BT Member of the Month (whenever that happened)!  That is quite an honor.

If you think that lots of people are getting hurt and offended by the "crude, vulgar, and sometimes soft porno posts," it IS obvious that you don't frequent COJ.  It's not an "anything goes" forum.  It's moderated just like any other forum.  People there are respectful, just as they are on other places on BT.  It's no different.

This post is way, way over the top, and demonstrates a lack of understanding of BT as a whole.  As well as being judgmental upon an entire group of people that you know very little about.  Want to be ashamed about a post being included in your post count?  Be ashamed of this one.

Now I'm at it!

Yeah, I figured that was directed at me.  I did not mean to cast the whole of COJ out.  I was agreeing with the previous poster but I'm afriad I'm not as articulate as he is.

I'm not a business man but I guess the OP is wisely looking at the current and future direction of BT and soliciting ideas and opinions on how to maintain and/or grow BT.  Certainly "if you don't like it, don't go there" is obvious.  And if you only want the opinions of those who DO go there, I appolgize. 

I do go to TT and quit posting there several months ago...till a few days ago.  Why?  Becuase of the atmostphere there.  To me, it seemed like there was always a pack of wolves waiting to pounce on anything that did not fit their ideas of triathloning.  I posted a thread about there being a correlation between training time and triathlon length and got pounced on by the 'experts' who were all to quick to throgh me under the bus to make their point.  Another time I commented that I did not think Sprint tris were 'enduracne events' and got jumped on by eperts quoting out of their biology book!

So the place became a net negative to me and I quit the boards entirely.  Good for business?  No, not really.  Was it "just me"?  No.  I can't begin to tell you the number of people I know who say "I stay away from the boards becuase....". 

I have no solution to this....I think the moderators do a good job.  I'm not sure how you change the culture of the boards or if you even need to.  Maybe it's just the nature of an open forum?

~Mike

I know I'm not generalizing saying that all of COJ is profane.  I love some of the discussions there and having a forum like that is an absolute necessity.  I don't even mind your suggestion that people should stay out of the threads they don't like.  Too easy.  But I've seen some of it slip out into other forums and threads where it absolutely doesn't belong.

As far as a the beginner chat goes, it's there for everybody and needs to be kept appropriate for everybody.  What little I've seen of it, the conversation was not appropriate for kids or for this site.  I'm extremely open minded and as far from a prude as they come, but come on!  This is a triathlon site and that chat room is for all members.

So in my attempt to be constructive and make things better, I think we need to limit the crude adolescent comments.  The mods need to make clear that it doesn't belong in the BeginnerChat area or outside of COJ.  Inside of COJ...eh, people can deal with it.  They venture in on their own volition.