Calgarypuck Moderator Team

[Gaskal]

Originally Posted by thymebalm

I really hate asking this,

But I know closing GDTs is not common practice, and when I get off work to try and defend myself, my opinions and my use of the english language, I found it to be closed today.

Isn't it standard issue to lock the GDT when the puck drops?

[KevanGuy]

Originally Posted by Gaskal

Isn't it standard issue to lock the GDT when the puck drops?

I closed it tonight when I noticed it was bumped and the game was already on. I never even went into the thread today. Something I've done many times before, just as the GT is closed after the game.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by stone hands

My bad

If it offends the people you work with then don’t browse cp at work?

I mean if they are that taken back by a completely innocent image, how can they handle you looking at a violent physical game like hockey

Or, how about—as a courtesy to the numerous posters who have expressed problems with GIFs that are suggestive or off colour—we just either refrain from posting them, or at a bare minimum keeping them behind NSFW tags?

This approach also works.

[stone hands]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

Or, how about—as a courtesy to the numerous posters who have expressed problems with GIFs that are suggestive or off colour—we just either refrain from posting them, or at a bare minimum keeping them behind NSFW tags?

This approach also works.

I dont disagree, I'm just saying that if the GIF in question is causing you grief or could cause you grief at work, you probably shouldn't be doing anything other than excel spreadsheets on your work computer in the first place

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by stone hands

I dont disagree, I'm just saying that if the GIF in question is causing you grief or could cause you grief at work, you probably shouldn't be doing anything other than excel spreadsheets on your work computer in the first place

Or we could strive to be an inclusive site that people can enjoy everywhere without fear that a gif of a provactively dressed woman suddenly appearing in a thread about hockey
What is the big fn deal about putting the gif behind nsfw tags?

[Jbo]

I wish this site had more transparency on infractions, sin bins, bans etc.

We are a small community and I think posts could be edited by a mod with a few of the following type of responses. “This poster received an infraction for this drive by post” “ this poster was sin binned for attacking another poster” “This poster was banned following repeated warnings for xxx”

We are a fairly close community and I think this brings a bit of accountability to both posters and mods.

I’m in the camp that believes the StrykerSteve gif is acceptable, but I can understand the decision and move on.

Final note, and I continue to bang this drum, but s#*! Posting other posters, the team, etc should be a quick and effective infraction. Honestly most GT are unreadable and I know more then a few members who avoid them now while the same 30 people talk about how stupid players are and how dumb other posters are.

My two cents

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

As mentioned by Wild GM we have fielded several complaints about the original GIF StrykerSteve posted. But moreover, there have actually been a number of questionable GIFs featuring men that we have also insisted be set behind NSFW tags. StrykerSteve’s replacement GIF featuring himself was likewise flagged for not being marked NSFW. The policy is not based on something so superficial as “attractiveness.” We are trying to gauge these decisions on the basis of what will be the least uncomfortable for everyone.

Serious question: Did you ever simply PM StrykerSteve and lay out that people have complained about the image and that it would be appreciated if he retired it?

This is one of those situations where an ounce of communication could have prevented a pound of anger. And, it seems, would have largely prevented the need for this very thread in the first place.

[Two Fivenagame]

Wait....people actually found Stryker's wifegif suggestive?

[Gaskal]

Bit random question....


This is the first time I ran out of Likes to give people, like ever.

Is there a particular reason why there seems to be a finite limit on this feature?

[sun]

As a formally loyal user of this website that has posted twice in six months, I have a suggestion/question. Is there any way to throttle the posts of problem users? Right now, there are two options IN and OUT. This solves very little as pucklucks and corsihockeyleagues of the world just sign back on with new user names and carry on with the same shenanigans for which they were bant. Leopards, spots and all that.

There needs to be something between IN and OUT. If dissen towner, et al have an addict's need to crawl back to CP, let them back with 3 posts per week and they can slowly work their way back into good graces. Is this possible with the forum software? Would this be acceptable to the site owner, when faced with another of ricardoo's endless babblings about Hamilton said "oh well, it's good for business!"? Is the volume of posts more valuable to Bingo than the quality of discussion?

This of course doesn't solve the problem of genuinely toxic posters like tinordi, but those are actually few and far between and get lifetime ban'd. Tinordi cried and grovelled his way back somehow, but the mods should have stuck to their guns on that one IMO.

I also agree with the poster above calling for more transparency. "MOD EDIT: No" teaches nothing to anyone except for the one who made the post. Editing tacopunk's posts to "MOD EDIT: No posting of GIFs where people literally die" is more helpful.

Throttling posts (if possible) cures the scorpion effect as well. Good kid, finally fitting in, but the sheer unending torrent of posts from him when he first started posting was absolutely bonkers and drove the regulars nutso and derailed countless treads.

Banning from specific threads would also be helpful for the peter12 types who I'm sure is back somewhere as peter13 and MMF who is probably back as a more appealing (to me) FFM. Surprised moon hasn't been outed, since there is no way he stayed away.

Periodic airing of grievances like this are healthy. Mods who are burnt out should be rotated out for new blood.

If nothing changes, people will eventually find something else to do. I did anyways.

[Minnie]

Originally Posted by sun

As a formally loyal user of this website that has posted twice in six months, I have a suggestion/question. Is there any way to throttle the posts of problem users? Right now, there are two options IN and OUT. This solves very little as pucklucks and corsihockeyleagues of the world just sign back on with new user names and carry on with the same shenanigans for which they were bant. Leopards, spots and all that.
.

A lot of years ago, there used to be something called Tachy Goes To Coventry (basically the mods/admins/owner would take whomever was being a turd, put them under the TGTC rule and their posts would time out and the forum would be slow and so forth - at least that's what it was called and how it worked in the early 2000s when I helped set a vBulletin forum up) - and also ghosting, which is basically global ignore and what Tachy Goes To Coventry might be now, where the person ghosted via the software posts happily along, but no one else sees their posts, except for mods and admins. That was a good 10 or more years ago though, so no idea if this was dropped or kept in subsequent re-mods of the software by vBulletin.

[MRCboicgy]

Originally Posted by Bingo

First off understand this is a volunteer position, provided by a group of people that love hockey, the team and the web site.

Crap, I'm luddite who's only passionate about the Edmonton Croquet League (Go Bonnie Doon Dolly Rushers!) Apparently I've been in the wrong place all these years...

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Serious question: Did you ever simply PM StrykerSteve and lay out that people have complained about the image and that it would be appreciated if he retired it?

This is one of those situations where an ounce of communication could have prevented a pound of anger. And, it seems, would have largely prevented the need for this very thread in the first place.

When the issue first emerged last year it was not just StrykerSteve's GIF. There were a number of them and instead of contacting all posters individually, we simply started NSFW tagging them ourselves with messages that this was how we were now proceeding.

[taxbuster]

As a long-time member (I still don't know what happened to my original account) and an irregular poster, but regular reader, I can only say that the PGTs have become mostly unreadable.

It appears to me that the forum has become overrun with people who think that, in the safe anonymity of a screen name on a forum that they can say anything to anyone they wish, no matter how rude, offensive or ignorant such a comment may be. That is simply intolerable to me, and likely to other posters as well. It's what drives us away from here.

Maybe that doesn't matter to you (the collective and individual "you") but, sadly, it does to me. I love my Flames team - and I get just as ticked off with them as anyone when they play as poorly as they did tonight. But that doesn't mean that I get to lambaste every single player with every possible epithet I can muster. Maybe I just don't get as drunk as some seem to.

This is Bingo's sandbox - like it or not - and everyone here plays by his rules - again, like it or not. If you don't like it, go elsewhere, start your own discussion forum and if people follow you...great! If they don't, perhaps there's a reason.

I did, once, get sin-binned some years back (no recollection of what for!) and I felt offended. I also felt cut off from my "group". I PMmed the Mods, had a respectful discussion and was reinstated.

So here's some thoughts about how to view posting on CP and moderators:

• If you wouldn't say it to your mother, you probably shouldn't post it here.

• If you wouldn't say it to someone else face to face, you probably shouldn't post it here.

• If you don't like someone's opinion, discuss the opinion, not the poster.

• If you want to make a point, make it ONCE, strongly and well; if you've done so well, you won't need to repeat it twenty times.

• It's Bingo's forum and his Mods are maintaining it the way he wishes his guests to be treated, listened to and viewed. Are they perfect? Nope.
  Are they human? Yup (I think...). And they are helping us all to have an enjoyable place to discuss the team we cheer for.

I'm not a big fan of most of the GIFs and never really "get" what pix of women have to do with the game of hockey, win or lose. I don't mind most, but I find them....tiresome after about three viewings, unless they are exceptional. Occasionally some are apt, but they, too, lose their effect after a while. Putting all GIFs in NSFW tags would be fine by me really.

There are no "rights" here - there are only "privileges". Maybe remembering that will help everyone to feel that they can read and post on CP without being embarrassed.

[AustinL_NHL]

I just joined here after lurking for many years (used to be just too much for me to read through (I always have to read 100% of posts in a thread)) but I can say that compared to HF, where I've been banned multiple times for throwing salt in a few Oilers fans faces or calling out certain people, that the moderators on here seem to be a lot more lenient so far which is nice.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by Minnie

A lot of years ago, there used to be something called Tachy Goes To Coventry (basically the mods/admins/owner would take whomever was being a turd, put them under the TGTC rule and their posts would time out and the forum would be slow and so forth - at least that's what it was called and how it worked in the early 2000s when I helped set a vBulletin forum up) - and also ghosting, which is basically global ignore and what Tachy Goes To Coventry might be now, where the person ghosted via the software posts happily along, but no one else sees their posts, except for mods and admins. That was a good 10 or more years ago though, so no idea if this was dropped or kept in subsequent re-mods of the software by vBulletin.

Pretty sure VB3 has it. It did when I played with it last at least. I think it got taken out with VB4 but there's lots of similar mods out there

[FanIn80]

Folks, "NSFW" literally means "Not Safe for Work." That's it. It doesn't mean "you suck" or "your post sucks." It's just a simple head's up that something may or may not be ok to look at while you're at work.

I have no idea if colleagues or bosses find half-naked women dancing around on an employee's screen problematic or not. Maybe they do, maybe they don't. What I do know, is how embarrassed I would be if a boss or colleague walked into my office while I had something like that on my screen, even if all I was doing was reading a post about Johnny Gaudreau. It's not even about the half-naked girl, either. It's the fact that it's a dead giveaway that I'm screwing around. If it's just a wall of text, it could be anything, but if it's a wall of text with a gif of Pamela Anderson sucking the chrome off a trailer hitch, then I'm now in a mad scramble to minimize my window before anyone sees it.

I'm not even sure what a half-naked girl dancing around has to do with a post about Gaudreau in the first place, but that's an argument that has nothing to do with why I fully support NSFW tags.

There are also technical reasons, too. As a Network Ops Manager, I've often been asked to pull internet reports on certain employees. Time spent on a website can be disputed ("it was minimized, or sitting in the background" etc), but data usage on a website can't be disputed. A page of text is a few KBs, but a page of gifs can be 100s of MBs, which can be used to demonstrate an astronomical amount of screwing around.

Another technical reason for NSFW tags is mobile use. The forum runs a lot smoother on cell phones when the gifs are hidden behind NSFW tags. It makes a huge difference when trying to read a thread on the bus, or at a coffee shop, etc.

I don't even know why this is an issue, to be honest. There are so many reasons why people should want everyone to use NSFW tags, and the only reason I can think of for not using them is, "**** you, don't tell me what to do." I'm sorry, but if the world ran on that principal, we'd all still be banging rocks together in caves.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by taxbuster

So here's some thoughts about how to view posting on CP and moderators:

• If you wouldn't say it to your mother, you probably shouldn't post it here.

• If you wouldn't say it to someone else face to face, you probably shouldn't post it here.

• If you don't like someone's opinion, discuss the opinion, not the poster.

• If you want to make a point, make it ONCE, strongly and well; if you've done so well, you won't need to repeat it twenty times.

• It's Bingo's forum and his Mods are maintaining it the way he wishes his guests to be treated, listened to and viewed. Are they perfect? Nope.
  Are they human? Yup (I think...). And they are helping us all to have an enjoyable place to discuss the team we cheer for.

I will second all your points and the third one in particular. The personal attacks on fellow members of the community is disappointing. Luckily there's only a few.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

...Another technical reason for NSFW tags is mobile use. The forum runs a lot smoother on cell phones when the gifs are hidden behind NSFW tags. It makes a huge difference when trying to read a thread on the bus, or at a coffee shop, etc...

As an aside, can you (or anyone) tell me why NSFW tags do not function for Tapatalk on my iPhone? I see the HTML tags, but also always the concealed image/GIF as well.

[Itse]

For starters, I think this is a well moderated site in general.

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

I do think that personal attacks make posters more apathetic.

This part I however absolutely agree with. IMO personal attacks kill enthusiasm, they discourage people from stepping up with their opinions, they discourage people laying out their logic of thinking and they make people feel bad for taking part in discussions.

When ever people start throwing personal attacks, it kills the real discussion pretty quickly. You might get the post count up quickly in a thread, but when you wade through it's usually just 3-5 people saying repeatedly stupid stuff some of them will hopefully regret later.

In other words, I think CP should absolutely tighten up on the personal attacks. Discuss the posts, not the posters.

I myself have become more apathetic. Not due to anyone attacking me (I am sure there have been some posts of that nature, but none have really bothered me much more than a simple annoyance), but because there is just too many snide comments at one another on these forums. That's not passion to me. That just becomes hard to read, and a less enjoyable experience.

I recognize this experience, and I've had those times when I just don't feel like posting. (There's also other stuff, like just feeling I don't have that much to contribute to discussions.) However, I've really loved this site for many years, it's a big reason I'm a Flames fan to begin with, and I kind of feel if not ownership at least responsibility over it

So when I felt the negativity and level of discussion going down at the start of this season for example, I've been trying to step up myself and be the kind of poster I want to see more of on this board. Support the team but be critical of problems, say what you think even if it's not the popular opinion at the moment, take the criticism in good stride and show respect in disagreements. Try to back up your opinions with something if you can.

I also feel that people respond to good mannered posting with good manners themselves. (Being bipolar it's very noticeable how differently people respond to my different moods of posting.)

I guess what I'm trying to say is this;

I also feel that members, especially those of us who've been here a while, need to take responsibility for the general quality of the forum and not just complain about it. I think the mods are generally doing a good job (although there's room for improvement as I said), but they can't make the forum good on their own.