Soapbox - Open it up and moderate it?

[Flying_Monkey]

The second issue is the way that Soapbox is perceived and run. FM, it was nicknamed Fightbox back in the C+ days. The whole premise was that it was 'robust' (full and accurate definition pending...) so you rolled up your sleeves and got stuck in. It's had a bad rep for a long, long time and the 'unmoderated' version on here has exacerbated that. My favoured solution, as I've said before, would be to close it down, drag the participants into the daylight and have any discussions/arguments/whatever in the Cafe with a concomitant expectation that the people actually discuss things, instead of endless Left/Right bull-moose bellowing and headbutting. No-one's going to go for that though. The headbangers in Soapbox want to carry on like stags in rut and no-one who habitually hangs out in Cafe wants them in there. So we're stuck with a separate section and it's either modded in full or it isn't. Full modding is a big ask for Shaun and the team, really it is.

Chuffy, I am aware you still have 'issues' left over from the C+ days (which I do remember too, you know - in fact I was on that forum long before you, I believe... ), but I still fail to see why you think it would be any better abolishing Soapbox. You'd end up with arguments all over the place. That would give even more of a moderation headache - which I am not asking for ( I used to be a mod here BTW). The only thing I would like done is for Soapbox not to be used as a dumping ground for anything that's rude from elsewhere. Robust argument and rudeness are not the same thing, whatever you may feel about politics or the usefulness of left-right positions.

 

[Andy in Sig]

Chuffy,

what I don't understand from the bit of your post which FM has highlighted is that the idea that nobody in the Cafe wants "headbangers" from Soapbox. I think it is perfectly possible for somebody to be a headbanger in Soapbox and lighthearted in the cafe.

As for Soapbox itself, most of the time the level of debate is sensible and reasonable. There are only two characters who annoy me and there seem to be a couple of slightly silly (to me) standing feuds going on between one or two pairs of contributors. That aside, it seems to be a perfectly good and mostly amusing debating area.

 

[GaryA]

Whats been goin on then?

Away for a much needed lakes cottage family walking holiday and find all this disruption when i return......tut tut

Sigh...well, nothing can disturb me this week.....i have been in a sane future and its remarkably like the past.....

 

[Andy in Sig]

Put very simply (and this is only my perception) some people didn't like the rudeness/robustness to be found in Soapbox and had to convince themselves by going there many times just to confirm that it offended them instead of staying away from it. You now have to opt in to it.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Put very simply (and this is only my perception) some people didn't like the rudeness/robustness to be found in Soapbox and had to convince themselves by going there many times just to confirm that it offended them instead of staying away from it.

And some of them even tried out some of the behaviour they found so distasteful, clearly for research purposes only...

 

[GaryA]

Sounds like some of those wussie AFC lot to me

 

[Chuffy]

FM – Don’t you go pulling the old codger routine on me! Perhaps you remember when any discussion threads used to be within the confines of Cakestop? Creating Soapbox was a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Andy – Perhaps if you swap ‘headbangers’ for ‘headbanging’ then it might make more sense. Behaviour rather than people, yes?

Let’s not forget that the only thing that’s changed is that Soapbox now has a lower profile. That’s it. Option one on the poll is misleading really, because in practical terms nothing has changed. Maybe the realisation that not everyone sees Soapbox as a bunch of high minded chaps having jolly high minded debates has put a few noses out of joint…

 

[Andy in Sig]

FM – Don’t you go pulling the old codger routine on me! Perhaps you remember when any discussion threads used to be within the confines of Cakestop? Creating Soapbox was a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Andy – Perhaps if you swap ‘headbangers’ for ‘headbanging’ then it might make more sense. Behaviour rather than people, yes?

Let’s not forget that the only thing that’s changed is that Soapbox now has a lower profile. That’s it. Option one on the poll is misleading really, because in practical terms nothing has changed. Maybe the realisation that not everyone sees Soapbox as a bunch of high minded chaps having jolly high minded debates has put a few noses out of joint…

I take your last point and would say only this: while it is far from the case that everybody in Soapbox is a prat, it is probably safe to say that all the forum's prats will be attracted to Soapbox. You can usually spot them because they tend to get a lot of flak from the more well balanced Soapboxers.

 

[LOGAN 5]

Sorry, yes, that's the default text the forum software uses - have a look here:

http://www.cyclechat.co.uk/forums/announcement.php?f=14&a=14

Cheers,
Shaun

Shaun, I can't get in either. Go to link and click on it and it says it's not a public forum. Tells me I'm not logged in or am editing somebody elses post or entering admin systems?

 

[Shaun]

Try clicking the link at the top of the page for My Account, then on the bottom left click the link to Group Memberships.

Let me know if that works okay?

Cheers,
Shaun

 

[LOGAN 5]

Try clicking the link at the top of the page for My Account, then on the bottom left click the link to Group Memberships.

Let me know if that works okay?

Cheers,
Shaun

That worked, thanks.

 

[Dave5N]

I take your last point and would say only this: while it is far from the case that everybody in Soapbox is a prat, it is probably safe to say that all the forum's prats will be attracted to Soapbox. You can usually spot them because they tend to get a lot of flak from the more well balanced Soapboxers.

I really object to this post.

I hardly ever go near Soapbox.