What is a General Topics for?

Originally Posted by Godalmighty83

general topics is for-

the same old people whinging on and on about the same things and massively overreacting to tabloid headlines.

sorry but a few people are really killing this forum.

Who and how are people ruining the 'General Topics' forum?

[MothBalls]

Originally Posted by Godalmighty83

sorry but a few people are really killing this forum.

Don't be so hard on Gizzmoe, he's doing a good job of keeping order and keeping conversations civil.

[Gizzmoe]

Thanks, but I don´t think he wasn´t talking about me...

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Coda

fair enough.

See you in a few weeks.

I don't think so, this is like Putin does in Rusland.
We want free press.
Freedom of speech!

Article 5 of Germany's constitution, or Basic Law, enshrines the right of freedom of speech and of the press.

"Everyone has the right to freely express and disseminate their opinions orally, in writing or visually and to obtain information from generally accessible sources without hindrance," states paragraph one of the law. "Freedom of the press and freedom of reporting through audiovisual media shall be guaranteed. There shall be no censorship."


But the next paragraph puts certain limits on that freedom, which were deemed necessary when the Basic Law was proclaimed in 1949, just four years after the end of World War II and the downfall of the Nazi dictatorship.

"These rights are subject to limitations embodied in the provisions of general legislation, statutory provisions for the protection of young persons and the citizen's right to personal respect," reads the second paragraph.

German law therefore constrains freedom, said Udo Branahl, a professor of media law at the University of Dortmund.

Perhaps this is the freedoms Gizzmoe is working under.

[Godalmighty83]

Originally Posted by waste gate

Who and how are people ruining the 'General Topics' forum?

worst offendor at the moment- steed, ive got nothing personal against the guy but the constant stream of depressing topics (pretty much all on the same bloody subject) dragged out from the tabloids is making general topics a grim place.

a bit too much doom mongery at the moment.

i have nothing against him personaly just the constant theme and occurance of topics, i certainly have nothing against gizzmoe.

[Gizzmoe]

Originally Posted by waste gate

Perhaps this is the freedoms Gizzmoe is working under.

WTH does that have to do with anything here???

Originally Posted by Gizzmoe

WTH does that have to do with anything here???

I'm thinking it has much to do with the perception of what free speech is all about.
The history of free speech in Germany.

I understand that this is a privately owned site. Yet the 'general topics' forum gives the impression that all opinions can and will be heard. Perhaps a disclaimer at the beginning of every post should state that the Subsim forum reserves the right to edit, arbitrarly close, and suspend any poster or post that the owner or moderater deems unworthy.

That's my ten cents.

[The Noob]

Who needs freedom of speech in a forum when everything runs nice without it? :hmm:

Originally Posted by The Noob

Who needs freedom of speech in a forum when everything runs nice without it? :hmm:

???????????????? WHAT ????????????????????

Osterlich doesn't have any guarantee towards freedom of speech. Let me state it differently. Osterlich doesn't have any guarantee that the govn't cannot tell you what to say.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Gizzmoe

That topic (Iraq/ME) has been discussed dozens of times already. The same viewpoints from the same people over and over again... A week or two without that would be nice.

I have no problem with people agreeing that certain topics should get less attention. Several weeks ago, we had such a thread where many people said something like that. I did not answer in that thread, but as a consequence reduced the number of my own according threads or answers accordingly. the number of threads I write about Islam is still reduced, about history and theology there is none sicne then, for example.

However, I have a problem with moderators deciding arbitrarily what to lock and what not, and not being in congurence with the published rules. This new example may not be a major thing, but it is the third time that Gizzmoe kills athread of mine and is acting in a way that I can't see to be a moderator's job, or the board policies. And without doubt I will receive a PM again soon telling me that i should not challenge a mod in public. I miss constancy in the moderator's performance. Sometimes he acts swiftly, and sometimes he simply exaggerates.

This is not meant to be a private attack on Gizzmoe, and note that I do not use any offensive language. But the community must be allowed to reflect on the performance qof moderators - and must be allowed to do so in public. My complaint is about too much arbitrariness, and too little constancy.

I feel directly and personally targeted here, since it is a repeated case, and so I claim a case of self-defense. Therefore, I took the effort to count all threads that I personally have started (not only participated in while the thread had been started by somebody else) in the general forum since two months, since mid August. The Steel Beast and Game forum I do not count. That is the first 8 pages listing threads that you get when you search for threads with Skybir'ds participation, limiting the search to the GT forum. some threads may qualify for several categories, I then took the one that by my intention when starting it filled it best.

8 Germany
6 others
5 movies, music, books
4 US (excluding below mentioned sub-categories Bush-2, Iran-2, Iraq-3)
3 games (not moved to game forum)
3 Iraq war
3 computer, technical issues
2 Islam and the rest of us (not counting my sig )
2 lebanon war, Israel
2 global ethics, moral, society
2 sports
2 board, board members
2 France
2 Iran, nuclear proliferation
2 England, PC
2 Bush, elections
1 global economy, energy, environment, non-US-specific
1 fun, joke (2 if not counting a hijack)
1 Afghanistan
1 9/11
1 environment, energy (0 if not counting hijack)

Let's do not hairsplit if this or that thread belongs into this or that category. What should be clear is that nobody can accuse me of having a bias concerning threads I start myself. The impression that I am after Bush, Iraq/Afghanistan and Islam only is because so many different people start such threads, and then I see no reason why I should not participate. So if you plan to limit certain themes and exclude certain issues from discussion, ask Neal to make an according rule. A mod's personal taste is only acceptable as long as it is covered by at least a general rule.

[MothBalls]

Originally Posted by waste gate

???????????????? WHAT ????????????????????

He said we don't need written rules. We need to read moods, not rules.

[Gizzmoe]

Originally Posted by waste gate

I'm thinking it has much to do with the perception of what free speech is all about. The history of free speech in Germany.

What I do is part of my job as a moderator, it doesn´t have anything to do with me being German. Neal, the site owner and American, has recently also closed a bunch of threads because that topic dominated the forum.

I understand that this is a privately owned site. Yet the 'general topics' forum gives the impression that all opinions can and will be heard.

There are limits, some are set in the forum rules, some limits are set at the moderators´ own discretion.

[The Noob]

Originally Posted by MothBalls

He said we don't need written rules. We need to read moods, not rules.

Exactley.

Originally Posted by Gizzmoe

What I do is part of my job as a moderator, it doesn´t have anything to do with me being German. Neal, the site owner and American, has recently also closed a bunch of threads because that topic dominated the forum.

There are limits, some are set in the forum rules, some limits are set at the moderators´ own discretion.

Looks like you have a rebellion going Gizzmoe. Better run to Neal.

Its of your own making. Your strong arm tactics aren't going to work with free thinking people.