I’m a recent addition to the carbine world and at this stage I’m still building up my knowledge. I don’t think that I can currently contribute to most technical discussions or gear talk in a way that is productive. I don’t want to flood those threads with off-topic or factually incorrect posts, so GD represents my main chance to be a part of the community and helps me to ‘find my way’ around.
I guess for some people, that is exactly the reason why GD should be removed - to encourage us newer people to get out and involved in the technical discussions, rather than caught up with inane chatter. I can understand that, but I would respectfully disagree. The benefits to me outweigh the disadvantages. I can’t speak for others though
GD also serves a more specific purpose for me. I’m shooting in a different country, so I don’t have a perspective on many of the issues that you guys might take for granted. Some of these odd ‘off topic’ threads are highly illuminating to an outsider, normally still relevant to firearms and without the hysteria generally associated with Arfcom.
Whether general discussion exists on this forum or not, speaking freely has consequences. You can certainly call someone an asshole, or admit that you are going to demolish your neighbor’s mailbox tonight, but expect to have your post censored, and a warning issued.
The concept of freedom of speech only applies to the Federal and State governments. This is a semi-private gun forum, we can abridged your right to speak freely because we wrote the rules.
I voted to keep it. While I don’t read every thread on it I do enjoy having it here for the odd post regarding something I’ve missed elsewhere online…Due to the fact most other GD boards are hell holes.
I think the 200 post idea is good, but think it would generate alot of +1 posts in the other forums from people trying to boost their post count.
I do think GD should be moved further down under all the firearm related discussion forums. Maybe even to the bottom and possibly make GD password protected. Same rules still apply of course. I really like the balance of moderation as it is now.
Having moderated a different non-gun related forum for over 7 years, I can assure you that the deletion of the GD forum will not solve the problem, it’ll simply migrate it to the rest of the forum. People who post crap* don’t care that there isn’t a specific forum to do so.
*Crap being things not related to the forum header.
Possible solution? I offered one up in the other thread related to this decision. May not have been the best, but I’m a firm believer in what you’re saying. Either offer a solution or quit bitching. Personally, I like rob_s’s idea. That or you just vet people before allowing them to post, which I can tell you with a high degree of experience is a long arduous process that moderators do not want. Sometimes, if there’s crap… it’s best to contain the crap so that the bread and butter aren’t crapified. (not eloquent, but true) With things like this, in my experience, it’s a matter of mitigation, not elimination.
I agree with rob. I do like discussing some things with other semi-known people, and it’s nice to be able to do that.
That said: I think the 200 posts before you’re allowed to post in GD is a good idea, especially if it’s coupled with some stronger spankings for posting drivel in the tech forums. Hopefully, that will weed out the shitheads before they are able to start spamming GD. What about making it a closed forum until you hit X number of posts?
I think a hard-and-fast rule about what’s allowed and what’s not in GD is not a good idea, because zero tolerance is zero thought (i.e. if JW posts something that struck him funny that he thought others might enjoy, he ought to get a little more slack than an FNG whose sole contribution to the firearms community as a whole is something like Mr.-I-Don’t-Know-What-Zeroing-a-Weapon-Means’s illustrious post earlier today.).
You guys gave us the opportunity to vote on it, That shows how good our staff and site owner is, I think our members on average (gees I may eat this one) are better people and more knowledgeable than other forums. Yes there is stupid stuff that gets exspoused but is generally delt with in a very professional manner, it should not lead to the irradication of a forum, IMO.
I think zhurdan has a good point & would be nice to keep the nonsense localized. The bad threads make it to page two pretty quick.
You guys run the forum…it’s your playground & you have to deal with all us ding-dongs. I certainly would prefer to have a good thread whacked due to a troll / posting while drinking / etc than loose the gd all together.
Would it help if we assisted in reporting offensive / off topics or any posts that might head down hill?? The regulars should be able to assist in making M4 more self-moderating. I know I’ve been guilty of not addressing a loaded post, only to see it get ugly. Sorry.
ouch, can i change my answer:D
not trying to sound ghey but the gd gives the forum it’s character or soul…m4 doesn’t put up with any crap in any other section, just make the gd even more so.
I say say remove it. GD inevitable becomes people’s soap box for their personal issues and political ideologies. I come here for reliable information and informed opinions about guns, nothing else.
So the thing I have a problem understanding is that if a better job is done policing the BS on the technical forums, how does the GD which is totally separate(or at least should be,) interfere with your M4C experience whatsoever?
of course there are other GD forums, but I think us m4 folk have a lot of the same interest and i enjoy reading most of the stuff in here. i vote to keep it.
I think this is the proper first step. F2S mentioned it in another thread. the strength and value of this forum are the members. if we can self-regulate and mentor, M4C has the best chance of improving.
yesterday, I wanted to report a thread that I thought was just a waste of bandwidth. So i clicked on the “report” icon. this is what was under the message box
"Note: This is ONLY to be used to report spam, advertising messages, and problematic (harassment, fighting, or rude) posts. "
none of these applied, so I started a thread asking how we could handle these types of threads. if we ALL understand that we could report threads for being useless, AND GET OURSELVES REPORTED ON, maybe we would stop posting dumb things.
Personally, I like LF’s architecture for off-topic things (Crusader Hall, and Team Room). it keeps the GD on even keel, most of the time
I’m not voting, because I’m torn. I like that all the dumb stuff gets dropped into GD. It means I don’t have to read it. I think if GD wasn’t there, it would spill over into other forums.
But, when I click “New posts”, I wish the GD stuff didn’t show up!
