Charles Anthony

Keep trying the Muli-quote function. However, there are a couple of different ways to get the same result. You could copy and paste your text from 1 quote to the next and then post it all at once. You could reply to each of them individually as separate posts and then merge them together.

Guys, Stop the thread drift and the personal attacks.

This thread is locked because it unfocussed. I invite any and all of you to re-start a new thread but please put more effort into your Opening Post and choose a desriptive title. ....whatever the topic happens to be.

Done. The error you were making is that your closing quotes were the same as your opening quotes. They should not be the same. You forgot the "/" in the closing quotes. I can not fix your hyperlink because I do not know what it should be. You need to do that yourself or send me a message with the full address.

Sure, go ahead. I changed the title of this thread. The original title was "Queston" sic. I added tags too.

OK. Report the post and MH will send me a warning.

My 1st and only warning point was for calling other people trolls.

I am asking you: How do you want to deal with this infraction?

Sure. I have not even bothered checking your link. I believe you. Next: What intervention is required?

Guys, Please do not respond to trolling. Next time, report it and ignore it. Ch. A.

No. No. Reiterating posts "with inflammatory language and personal attacks BEFORE the substance of the discussion is addressed" is trolling. Misrepresenting somebody's writing is at least 1 of 2 things: trolling and or an error in judgement. Agreed. That subtlety is in dispute. Going along with your globalist choice of analogy, some folks complain about polite comments such as Anybody can see quite plainly that the world is flat. Most of you are quite eloquent. Reality is a mix of the 2 extremes. I disagree with your distinction in lexicon. Saying something insulting is a sub-set of trolling, in my opinion. Regardless, none of that matters because a personal attack is thread drift and being rude is disrespectful --- both violations are their own sub-sets within all of the rules and guidelines. Once a discussion becomes personal, it becomes thread drift. Once a line of discussion becomes rude, it becomes personal. Once it becomes personal, it is thread drift. Acting on thread drift becomes important in moderation because it strips out the element of bias. If you believe something is "trolling" then ignore it --- you might be wrong. If you misunderstand/disbelieve a fellow member's statements and you honestly want to carry on a civil discussion, ask for an explanation and or for evidence. If the explanation and or evidence does not satisfy you, say so and move on. All you have to do is be polite and you will be fine. The bias is in favor of polite discussion. This sort of leap in discussion is both thread drift and trolling --- trolling because we all accept that "stupid" is an insult. The problem is that your hyperbolic dramatization is a poor illustration of what really happens in discussions. What usually sets people afflame is when somebody says something like Boy, Canada sure is a rainy place too. to which somebody has a conniption fit exclaiming Canada is not rainy!! I live in INSERT WHEREVER and we rarely get rain. How dare you accuse Canada of being rainy!!???!?? and then somebody else piles on with So what if Canada is rainy?!? Do you have anything against that??! Are you jealous? Perhaps you are not satisfied with our crop yields?!?? Invariably a dull drive-by Canada is rainy?? You say that like it is a bad thing! gets tossed into the mix. Leaving any meteorological or geographic differences in perception you folks may have aside, trolling is a sub-set of the larger violation of thread drift --- the identification of which is usually impersonal. The identification of thread drift is more useful than everybody nodding their heads in agreement over some arbitrary universal concensus over the definition for the act of trolling. I agree with you. The problem is that the board refrains from censoring comments once people respond intelligently to "We have Harper, a sociopath" or other inflammatory comments. No because it is not for mod staff to inject bias into a discuss. If you do not understand, ask the member who says it. The next time your-know-who "denigrates-as-you-perceive-things" whatever, instead of having a conniption, respond with the following template: "Excuse me but what you said does not makes sense. Can you explain why it is so, in your opinion? Please, thank you and I am sorry you bumped into me." That is the Canadian way. Ok, I will inject bias by giving you a hint: Your disagreement is on definitions. No, it is not okay but if somebody responds intelligently to it, then we usually let it be. We give the civil/intelligent poster the freedom to address anything. Perhaps you stop short as soon as you see "bigotry and genocidal tendencies" and arrive at the conclusion that "The mods permit trolling!!!" before you realize that there is no need for censorship because somebody/somewhere managed to deal with the issue civilly. Civil and intelligent discourse trumps trolling. Too many people are quick to get inflamed when it is clear they misunderstand what has been expressed. If you dispute the context, then ask for a defense of the context. Wrong question. Why must you respond to that which you do not understand? with anything but a civil request for clarification? That is the real question. I agree. However, we are proud of most MLWebbers who take such views to task. Why do you see things in a negative? As mod staff, we see fellow members who do a good job of countering bigotry and putting it in its place. Such defenders against bigotry are given the liberty to civilly and intelligently disagree openly. The rules and guidelines are not to steer morality. The rules and guidelines are to steer decorum in expression or conduct. Suit yourself. If this was a poetry circle, I would probably just go with whatever she said.

Are you talking to me??? Great question! Do not ask me. Ask him! See? It is as simple as that. If you can not figure something out on your own, just ask for a clarification!!! Try it next time. If you do so politely, it just might work!

No. However, repeatedly making a personal attack against a fellow member for asking a question is trolling.

The discussion was being re-directed elsewhere. We are only reminding folks to stay on topic. The topic of discussion is not "INSERT MEMBER X HERE's interpretation of INSERT MEMBER Y THERE's OTHER argument in SOME OTHER THREAD WHEREVER peripherally related to this one." Making personal comments that do not further the topic de-rails threads away from those who want to stay on topic.

That is correct. Next time, just post a hyperlink to your previous post. Do NOT re-copy your post nor your image. Please review this thread: Trim Your Posts and Quotes Up to a certain point, that is fine. However, up to a different point "drift" is used as a tactic to de-rail threads. The rules and guidelines clearly instruct folks to stay on topic and to start a new thread when the topic drifts. Folks complain when that is not followed. We can appreciate adding context to a post. However, when said context is presented with inflammatory language and personal attacks BEFORE the substance of the discussion is addressed, then the troll-o-meter starts clicking.

The thread is re-opened.

Guys, Stop creating more thread drift. The topic of this discussion is clearly spelled out in the opening post. If you insist upon diverting this thread, your posts will be taken down. If you do not like that, start a new thread.

Folks, Stop the thread drift.

CORRECTION: The OP wrote "Crime wave now spreads in US" as a tag to accompany the thread. The mod did not fabricate the "Crime wave now spreads in US" title out of thin air. The mod used the OP's own words "Crime wave now spreads in US" as the title since "And so It Begins" is obviously meaningless without knowing whatever "it" happens to be. That is a stupid title. What was the reason for naming it so?? Regardless of your reason, by deliberately hiding the rest of the truth, you leave the reader to presume the mod invented the title of the thread and is thusly injecting bias. Is that how "it" works? or This place is NOT a poetry circle. Did you NOT want the topic of discussion to concern "Crime wave now spreads in US" despite you having strung those exact words in that exact sequence as a tag???

Guys, Stop the personal comments.

Not even close, try again. Maybe you should keep track at least a little.Please forgive us. We are not algorithms. Perception trumps truth. Why can't you speak for yourself on what you are doing?--- because not everybody defines "trolling" the same. Just look at the nonsense in this thread. Do you expect a human to be able to keep up with that?? That is an interesting way of spinning things. MH is required to explain his interventions ---- just not to you. Are we missing something here? You come across as if your uncle owns this place. There has been a lot of inane trolling lately that does not deserve the dignity of an explanation. We could not keep up with the volume. They were creating a negative affect on conversation. However, once the trolling dies down, we will do our best to promptly send warnings and suspensions to those who still do not get it and need to be treated like school children. SHORT VERSION: A 1st offense gets a warning. A 2nd offense for the same thing gets a 2nd warning. A 3rd offense for the same thing gets a stern warning and perhaps a 1-day suspension. After that, all bets are off for the repeat offender. Depending on our humor that day, it could be a 1-day, 1-week, 1-month or a permanent suspension. That is odd. The word is nowhere to be found on the link you provided to start the discussion. I am not sure we can help you with your problem. Could you explain your complaint? From a moderator's perspective, it seems like you are making stuff up and misrepresenting your references.

There is no definition. It is purely a judgement call. We decide whether the image serves anything more than shock value. You are asking the wrong question. You should ask Do I really really NEED to post this image to get my message across? to stir up the discussion? What REALLY matters about this topic anyways??? As far as images are concerned, there need only be 1 rule: Translate your post into Braille and have a blind man proof-read it. If you can not faithfully convey whatever substance may exist in your post to a blind man, then you need to go back to the drawing board. I just made that up right now.

You are doing fine. Carry on. I know how you feel. I am not for much censorship of the offensive but it does not matter what I think either. He is providing a balance and a 2nd set of critical eyes. MH has been hiding from public view and nixing foul language exactly as it was explained and expected of him. I certainly never did this much before and neither did Greg. You are right. We are doing more of it. Some will like it. Some will cry censorship. Others will take it personally. Where MH's actions affect conversation, I encourage you to report them. You would be surprized if you knew how often I report MH's posts to himself. He gets warnings too. As far as the rest of your questions, I am not sure how to respond. They kind of sound like asking Who played the drums for The Beatles? MH has a defined job and permissions which are in harmony with the forum rules and guidelines. He will delete advertizements, nonsense and posts which are not discussion. If you believe he steps out of bounds or perhaps says more than he should, report him and he will hear about. Yes. You are asking the wrong question. You should be asking What is offensive? Regardless, thank you for starting this discussion for it has not been in vain.

Guys, Enough. Anybody who posts 1 whiff of a personal comment will take a brief vacation.

That's fine....this apparently is a more sensitive topic for you than some others. But the policy sure isn't consistent when it comes to many other "sensitive topics".That is fine.... If you encounter a discussion getting side-tracked for <INSERT REASON HERE> then report it and ignore it. Do not respond in kind with personal blather that is demonstrably unclear and would thus aggravate the thread drift. No. I do not find it funny. Quite the contrary. I understand the intent of the joke as an argumentative device. I understand the point that is being made with humor as a method of grabbing attention towards it. I am not apologizing for the actions of rapists, pigs, cows or chickens. However, it is in my nature to eat 3 of the above. Whereas it is not in my nature to socialize with any of them. Regardless, it does not matter what I find to be funny because the point that is being made can be expressed more clearly WITHOUT that humor.