Whats going on here?

[florin]

Thanks Jim,

I thought that I was getting crazy, I was quit confused about this whole discussion, but I thought that it was because I'm not native english speaking and that I was missing the point.

[KSagal]

Originally Posted by Bob.Kerns

To summarize -- I think moderators should allow political speech, but watch specifically for the sort of labeling behavior I've been describing -- both as a sign that the discussion is about to go bad, and to try to divert people from going down that path.

Does that clear it up?

Oh, and the political speech should actually relate to the topic at hand. As it does here.

Bob's summary is a great example of why so many are afraid to post about politics. He feels that his views, as he expressed well, are okay. He also feels that my views, as I expressed well, are not okay. I agree with his right to say so. Obviously, I do not see it the same way as him, and would draw the lines in a different place.

One thing we do agree on is that our views and values shade how we see the world, and how we communicate. Of course, in many ways, how we see the world, and how we communicate also greatly influences how and if we get moderated.

As a general rule, Bob is a nicer man than I, and tries much harder to get along with all, and tolerates mostly all views except those I expressed a couple posts ago. I cannot say I am as concerned with all that. I do not try to please everyone. I am who I am, speak as I speak, and while I have no intention to offend, I feel people should be able to hear that which they do not agree with but deal with it, and need not be offended just to hear another view. However, some are offended just to hear it.

[KSagal]

Jim makes a great point. Many of the postings here could be PMs instead. That way there would be an exchange of information and ideas between two people.

Of course, the whole point of an open forum is to post ideas, and see what reaction comes from it.

In this case, Bob and I were exchanging views. But that does not mean it was better suited for PMs, except that Jim did not want to read it.

He did do a great job of boiling down the snippits to show the debate (conflict?) but all he did was add a third position, that of not wanting to hear about the first two. Good for him.

Most of what happens anyplace could happen someplace else. Many of the posts on this public forum could be emails to each other. But if you do that, you change the entire format for how we express ourselves and demonstrate our positions.

[florin]

Can we start talking again about how to improve SegwayChat and moderation?

[CovRob]

Why does this thread remind me of a quotation,
“I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard [read?] is not what I meant”
variously attributed to Alan Greenspan, Richard Nixon, Robert McCloskey, et al?

[Lily Kerns]

Originally Posted by CovRob

Why does this thread remind me of a quotation,
“I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard [read?] is not what I meant”
variously attributed to Alan Greenspan, Richard Nixon, Robert McCloskey, et al?

Another one used in my quilt world--
This quilt is actually three things:
The fabric thing itself.
What I think I made.
What you think I made.

And since every viewer thinks for him/herself, things get complicated very fast....

[JohnG]

Karl -- Let me be real clear and make this real easy for you: Political discussions about politics -- the left, the right, the middle, or the outer space -- are generally not appropriate for SegwayChat.

When I say minimize them, I mean just that -- keep them to a minimum if you don't want to see the thread closed or your posts removed that are primarily about politics (and not about Segways or related technologies or issues).

I don't care where you choose to hold your political discussions, but it won't be on SegwayChat. SegwayChat has never been an "open forum" in the sense that you're free to talk about whatever you want, whenever you want.

If your reply isn't about a Segway -- or something directly related to Segways -- you may just want to think twice about posting it. Same goes for anyone.

I won't ban it altogether because I think there are political issues -- especially when it comes to local ordinances about Segways -- that deserve discussion. But that's the extent of it.

John

[Gihgehls]

Originally Posted by florin

Can we start talking again about how to improve SegwayChat and moderation?

I've seen Florin post THREE times now mentioning in some way or another that the topic of this thread is SegwayChat and moderation. Am I the only one?

Aren't we asking for him to do that before shutting down a thread?

And what effect is it having on the conversation?

[florin]

Originally Posted by Gihgehls

I've seen Florin post THREE times now mentioning in some way or another that the topic of this thread is SegwayChat and moderation. Am I the only one?

Aren't we asking for him to do that before shutting down a thread?

And what effect is it having on the conversation?

Thanks Gihgehls for noticing it. I already started to doubt about myself. Wondering if I was writing chinese or russian.

I thought let's do what the members want me to do, guide the thread back into the right direction. So far without luck

Let's see, where was this thread about, oh yes, moderation and how we can improve SegwayChat. Can we now get back to the topic?

I started this thread to discover why it seemed to me that SegwayChat seemed to be censoring or closing threads more often then i remembered in the past.
I believe we had some very valuable discussions around the topic. I also believe we made lots of progress due to this thread and aired lots of views. JohnG altered the TOS to reflect what we have discussed and I thank him for it.
I personally am satisfied with the outcome and i appreciated that SegwayChat allowed us to the time and space to air all the views. This will be my last post on this thread and I want to make sure everyone who got involved with this discussion gets big THANK YOU from me for your participation.

Thank You All