Sadly, this Forum seems to be dying

[onlinegenie]

I think he meant my post on this thread . I often wish we had a like button as well.

[richie349]

I have explained by PM why the post was deleted, and you have replied, in your usual combative style.

a) it was not related to the thread content.
b) it was an attempt to undermine the moderators, and start a discussion about the locking of the "freak accident" thread, by posting here.

It doesn't encourage discussion when every moderation action is criticised and attempts are made to turn them into an "us and them" argument, either. Hence the post was deleted.

I am not locking this thread - yet, but please don't turn it into a bear pit so I / we end up having to. Can I just ask we stay on topic. If you have an issue with posts, report them. If you have an issue with the moderating team, please address it to them directly by PM. Objecting is, of course, no guarantee that the moderators will agree that you know better than them, and reverse their decision. It's been said many times on many forums, that a forum is not a democracy. Even if it were, even in a democracy you don't get your own way all the time.

May I suggest moving his post to a new topic entitled "what level of moderation is appropriate" and let people discuss it there? After all, a forum that isn't moderated to a level that its users are happy with is surely at risk of dying.

[Horse]

May I suggest moving his post to a new topic entitled "what level of moderation is appropriate" and let people discuss it there? After all, a forum that isn't moderated to a level that its users are happy with is surely at risk of dying.

How about letting the complainant start a thread? (That we can ignore, if we see fit, or comment on)

[Kimosabe]

Mods mod the members and the members mod the Mods. Seems pretty fair as long as the Mods are moddable. Why do I have Elton John's 'Circle of Life' in my head?

Very much in favour of going to a few ADUK days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8ZnCT14nRc

[Horse]

I think he meant my post on this thread . I often wish we had a like button as well.

Yup, that

[Silk]

You get two extremes. There are forums where the tiniest word of criticism of the moderators or systems will get you banned. This forum is light years away from that. Then you have Usenet and IRC chatrooms which are basically anarchy. The kind of reader we have here is civilised and well-behaved and appreciate a clean and tidy house, so moderating activities are aimed mainly at keeping the forum clean of spam, and discouraging personal attacks between members, which do erupt from time to time. An apparently natural extension of this is seems to be to turn moderators into hate figures. That doesn't mean we should stop doing our job.

Was it really necessary for one of the moderators to censor one of my posts because I used the word "pikey"?

[Horse]

http://metro.co.uk/2007/12/13/pikey-is- ... rd-583752/

So on that basis, probably 'yes'.

[jcochrane]

The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as an offensive word. So the decision would appear to be correct even though it may have been used innocently.

[MGF]

Yet the following appears to be encouraged.

He's talking bollocks. Hope that helps...

http://advanced-driving.co.uk/forum/vie ... f=2&t=4591

I don't think anyone could have anticipated TI1234's thread being locked. There appears to be no objective criteria on which these decisions are made which suggests the moderating is often the product of the arbitrary feelings of the moderator.

[martine]

Just so other's know, I've replied to MGF about recent moderation via a private message - only because by the very nature of the subjects I don't believe the reasons should be discussed on a public forum. I'm happy to copy anyone in on the message if they really are interested.

As always, if anyone is not happy with moderation here (too little, too much, inappropriate) then please do raise it with one of the 3 moderators (Mr Cholmondeley-Warner aka Nick or Jont aka Jon! or martine aka me!).

[Silk]

The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as an offensive word. So the decision would appear to be correct even though it may have been used innocently.

It's complete madness. Back in the day, when the Internet was new, we all thought it would bring new freedoms. No one could have expected the opposite would be the case.

It's a bit like legal highs. You ban one word and another comes along to take its place.

Theses days "pikey" is more a synonym for "chav" or a member of the underclass than "traveller". The residents of the site in question are almost certainly not travellers - they've been in the same place for years.

[Horse]

The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as an offensive word. So the decision would appear to be correct even though it may have been used innocently.

It's complete madness. Back in the day, when the Internet was new, we all thought it would bring new freedoms. No one could have expected the opposite would be the case.

And that freedom works in a couple ways, such as the owner of this site being free to do as they wish and you being free to set up your own.

As it was in Ye Olden Days: "It's his ball, he'll take it home if he wants to".

Plus, would you have the freedom to abuse someone in the street, by phone or post? Why should anonymous interweb be exempt?

[trashbat]

FYI, rather than overzealous unilateral moderation, it was me who asked for that phrase to be removed. I'm quite happy to state as such, and it was easier to report it than publicly call it out and create a debate about it in someone else's thread.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... il-twitter

Since 2007 it has been an arrestable, racially aggravated offence to use the word "pikey", which is an offensive and derogatory word used to refer to Irish or Romany travellers.

I doubt many realise that, which is why it sporadically generates surprise on another popular forum where it's automatically censored out, but there we are. You can argue the toss about the law and whatever else if you really want, but you can't really use it to question this site's moderation.

[jcochrane]

The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as an offensive word. So the decision would appear to be correct even though it may have been used innocently.

It's complete madness. Back in the day, when the Internet was new, we all thought it would bring new freedoms. No one could have expected the opposite would be the case.

It's a bit like legal highs. You ban one word and another comes along to take its place.

Theses days "pikey" is more a synonym for "chav" or a member of the underclass than "traveller". The residents of the site in question are almost certainly not travellers - they've been in the same place for years.

According to the Oxford Dictionary again "chav" is a derogatry term and interestingly may derive from the Romany "chavo" meaning boy or youth. Life gets ever more complicated and keeping up with the changes is quite a challenge.

[MGF]

It appears Trashbat missed this one.

The fact there hasn't been much done (at the time of the google car passing) suggests the council are bunch of pikey cheapskates

/efa and /voe

...and it is not an offence in itself to use the word as the Guardian quote suggests. Although I do think it is inappropriate to use racist language in conversation with people you do not know and that includes the internet.