Greg

Geoffrey and a few others have correctly pointed out the answer to your question - thanks guys. Although, even though the U o fL's Department of Political Science is listed in the Admin and Tech contact for the domain, the Department does NOT own MLW, rather the Department is where my office is located. Ownership of MLW is shared amongst the individual funders of the project (including policy.ca). So there is technically no single owner. Where did you read this?

The overall quality of the discussions in this forum ebb and flow with the times - sometimes I'm astonished and the thoughtfulness of the postings and other times I'm disgusted. But rest assured, this forum will survive. I've been developing MLW and moderating these forums for over six years, and I'm confident that things will improve. However, in the mean time I will be handing out suspensions to many of the problem makers I've identified over the past few weeks/months. The previous reprieve from sub-par postings (during the spring time purge) only lasted a few weeks, and then many of you returned to your previous ignorant behaviour. Unfortunately, I was unable to respond to many of the problems that arose over the past week and half - as I was in Saskatoon at a academic conference (Congress 2007). If you resorted to using an insult, or broke any other clearly defined forum rule, and I see it in the archives (or into the future), you will be suspended for one month. I don't care if it was made in heist, or if it was made in response to some other injustice thrust upon you - you're gone for one month. Two wrongs don't make a right - so just because someone breaks the rules, doesn't mean you have to break the rules in retaliation. And please, no whining or complaining about these suspensions - everyone knows the rules. I just hope that those that return after their one month suspension will think twice about making the same mistake.

I find it interesting that in the thread where I state I would suspend anyone for being ignorant I find so many of you being ignorant. I'm going to defend BornAlbertan here, as his comment was obviously meant to be a joke - anyone can clearly see that. However, some of you have taken this off-hand comment and baited BornAlbertan into responding and eventually defending his off-handed comment. BornAlbertan defence should have been, it was a joke, big deal, move on. However, s/he tried to defend a rather un-defendable joke with some silly rhetoric, and then everyone else pilled on with some equally stupid commentary. I want everyone to read this thread over, and really understand how utterly stupid it makes everyone look. Seriously, this thread is just plain awful, and anyone who reads it will certainly be disappointed. I know I am.

Thread closed, please follow Charles Anthony's links to the proper threads.

Some of you are certainly being brave seeing that I've already stated that I would remove anyone being ignorant. Get this thread back on topic or some of you will be taking a 30 day timeout.

Ha! I'm not sure how I could be anymore clear? The rules and guidelines state quite clearly what is expected of all forum members. My response to you was a statement of fact. If you seriously can't distinguish between civil and ignorant behaviour then you will likely end up being removed from these forums.

I'm sorry, but if you can't tell the different between someone who is being civil and someone who is being ignorant, I imagine you'll be one of the ones being shown the door. This isn't a complicated or overly arduous request. Don't be a jerk and you'll be fine - it's as simple as that.

Just to be clear, the recent email discussing the zero-tolerance policy was a general email sent to everyone. The point of the email was to notify everyone of the new policy, and to point them to this thread.

Spring has finally arrived, and it looks like it's time for another forum member purge. Over the past few months a fair amount of forum members (both long time members and new members) have forgotten to abide by the forum rules and guidelines and now many forum threads are either filled with insults and ignorance, or are so off-topic they may as well be closed. It seems every 6 to 12 months I have to come down hard on everyone to restore some order. Well, the forums are definitely in need of some order. I've instituted zero-tolerance policies in this forum in the past, so most of you will be aware of the situation. However, for those of you who are new (or you need a refresher), a previous post of mine should help explain the situation: No one will be immune from this zero tolerance policy, so I would suggest you think carefully about your behaviour on the next few days/weeks.

His account was accidentally removed awhile back. These posts predate his account removal.

Also, Please trim your quotes and replies. There is no reason to leave in all the previous replies/quotes if you're replying to just one particular portion of another posting. This thread is just full of forum violations - lets trim our replies, cut out the off topic banter and get back to discussing politics with some civility.

Enough with the off-topic banter. If you've got a problem with another poster, please contact that person directly. Please note: I've written about the "Reported" posts in this thread. Please do not report that you've reported another member in the forums.

To avoid inflaming the situation, please do not report that you've reported someone in a thread. There is nothing wrong with asking another member to tone down the rhetoric, or asking someone to be civil. However, posting "Reported" in the thread does nothing but encourage off-topic flame wars between the reporter and the poster who is being reported. Also, if you disagree personally with someone and you want to tell that person, please do everyone a favour and send a PM to that person. Filling otherwise interesting threads with off-topic banter about how you don't like their tone/attitude/post/etc is distracting and annoying.

Also, there will NOT be a forum dedicated to conspiracy theories. Sorry, but most conspiracy theories are not based on reliable facts and often do not meet the forum requirement of "intelligent, honest and responsible discussion." I'll allow the existing conspiracy threads to continue. However, I'll be removing and or editing any thread that I feel falls outside reasonable debate.

Just to be clear, the University of Lethbridge is only a partner of Maple Leaf Web. There is no study attached to to Maple Leaf Web and if the University pulled out of the partnership, we would NOT be closing our doors. Yes and no. Everyone has the opportunity to participate. However, continued participation relies on their ability to be civil and put forward reasonable arguments. If you read the rules and guidelines, the first rule is: I think we can agree that we don't always treat each other "respect and dignity." Many of the members need to work on these qualities. However, it would be impossible to maintain a forum that did not contain some indiscretions. Actually, the best way to avoid indiscretions would be to close the forum altogether. I ask that everyone be patient with the forum as a whole and other individual forum members. I've been moderating this forum since the very beginning (late 2000) and this recent "conspiracy theory" surge is just a fad. This forum has gone through a great deal of transformations - some good, some bad (most of which are out of my control). However, lets not get too carried away and leave because a few members are posting on topics that are a bit "off-topic." I'll do my best to ensure that "intelligent, honest and responsible discussions" are taking place. I need everyone else to think about whether their contribution to the forums is indeed "intelligent, honest and responsible."

Also, you should also invest in a hardware firewall too. Software firewalls are good, hardware firewalls (combined with a software firewall) are better. Also, go through you system and remove all the programs that you don't use anymore. You'd be surprised how many of them sit in the background and cause problems.

To clarify, in the seven years we're been operating, we've only had one hacker exploit in these forums. The exploit was quickly removed and the security hole was patched with little if any problems. Leafless has run the Hijackthis - in my opinion the best spyware/trojan removal tool on the Internet - and nothing was found. I'm not saying he doesn't have a trojan/virus/etc, but I can assure you it isn't originating from these forums,

Good to hear your computer is clean. As far as I'm aware, there is no time limit on posting. When you're typing your post, there is no direct connection between the forum software and your browser - it's an idle connection. So when you click the "Add Reply" button, even after a long period of time, it should be submitted with no problems. Question, when you submit the post and the post isn't accepted, are you still logged into the forums? That is perhaps the only way I can see that a post would not be accepted. If your the forums are logging you out during the idle period, you would not be able to make the post. This could also be a cookie problem too. Cookies are how the forum software knows who you are, whether you are logged in. So if you have a any software that manages cookies (anti virus, etc), then you might want to consider changing it to something else.

Using profanity during a debate, like using insults, does nothing but lower the overall quality of the speakers argument. I don't have a specific rule about profanity because I think it goes without saying, profanity - in any form - isn't respectful. Whether or not that profanity is directed at a member of the forum, a third party, or in some abstract way, it should not be considered acceptable to litter your responses with fuck, shit, whatever. This isn't rocket-science, and I don't think it is unreasonable for me to ask that everyone avoid using profanity when participating in these forums. I understand that we're all humans and that we sometimes let our emotions get the best of us. Much of the profanity that I've seen in these forums falls under that category. However, take a look at the list of banned users, and you'll noticed a trend. Those who use profanity to make their point often don't have much of a point to make. They need to use profanity to express themselves because they couldn't be bothered to construct a reasonable and sound argument. Saying someone is a fucking idiot, (or "guilty as shit") is far easier than actually defending the position and or explained it further.

All you have to do is examine how secretive and manipulating the Liberal government has been over the years establishing the French fact while at the same time destroying freedoms and the true identity of this country. Are you in denial that their are Francophone's actively pursuing their interest at all times? Hmm, I fail to see how this has anything to do with the MLW forums? We have a secure dedicated server - the "Liberal government" would not have the right or the abilities to hack this forum (or even your computer) to monitor and or manipulate your actions. I don't doubt you maybe having problems with your computer, but I can assure you it has nothing to do with this forum or any of its members, I suggest you download the spyware removal tool, HiJackthis and give it run and report back here. http://www.merijn.org/programs.php#hijackthis

You can still use the common emotions, just type out the emoticons manually. There are only a few that are needed to convey commonly felt emoticons, , the rest where just silly and distracting. For example, what is this emoticon supposed to mean?

No worries, everything is fine. This was taken from the article:

While technically correct, there is not specific rule that states you can't use swear words. However, the first rule of the forums is to be respectful to each other, I wouldn't consider the discussions in this thread as respectful. Lets clean the language up and debate this issue with some civility.

The rules and guidelines are fairly clear what a troll is: Trolls who blatantly break the rules are usually easy to get rid of and I usually dispatch them shortly after being notified of their behavior. It's the subtle disruption of the troll, who is more of a nuisance then offensive, that can be difficult to resolve.However, that doesn't change the fact that engaging a troll causes more damage than ignoring them. In fact if you ignore a troll they will often leave the forums. Trolls feed on conflict and if there is not conflict they find it incredibly boring.

This is a simple concept, the more you respond to trolls, the more disruptive they become. We've had a string of nasty individuals who have been trying their best to disruptive the discussions and I'm surprised (and disappointed) at the amount damage they've managed to create in each of the threads they've posted in. However, the extent of the damage (and most of the blame) rests on the shoulders of those forums members who repeatedly fed the trolls. It becomes very difficult for me to remove those ignorant individuals who are only here to troll and disrupt, when otherwise intelligent and respectful forum members choose to respond to the trolls with insults and off-topic postings. If you see someone who is only here to troll, use the Report the Post feature and then ignore them. DO NOT RESPOND TO THEM. We're all intellegant enough to know the difference between someone who has inadvertently stepped on the rules and someone who is only here to cause trouble. If a new member has broken the rules, feel free to point it out to them and ask that they read the rules and guidelines. In the case of a troll, I will step in and remove that person as quickly as possible. However, I'm not sitting at my computer 24/7 waiting to rid the world of trolls. There are going to be times when you'll need to ignore the troll for a few hours/days. Last week I was in St Johns NFLD, and it was difficult for me to get back to my computer to check the forums. However, when I did return, I soon discovered that many forum members couldn't resist the temptation to pook and feed the trolls. In the future, do me and the rest of the forum members a favour and ignore the trolls.