What is a General Topics for?

[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.

[CB..]

ladies and gentlemen i present you with the world situation in a test tube...

[Coda]

It is possible that people who haven't commented in other threads might have something new to say. The situation changes every day.

It's just a discussion, people don't have to participate if they don't want to. I don't read every thread, just the ones that interest me.

Originally Posted by Coda

It is possible that people who haven't commented in other threads might have something new to say. The situation changes every day.

It's just a discussion, people don't have to participate if they don't want to. I don't read every thread, just the ones that interest me.

Agreed.

Based on the number of threads and the number of responses I'd vote to let it continue for all to see and exchange opinions.

[CB..]

here's a babbling brook piece of logic for you...there are millions of forums and subsections of forums spread all over the net each populated by some sort of cross-section of the net going public of their variuos countrys..

most will be of voting age...

in a globalised economic and political world which is encountering problems precisely because of that globailsation...peoples of vastly differing views are bumping into each other now as part of the normal day to day life of the world....

it will take decades to slowly learn how to find common ground and compromise.....yet every single time we try we get one micrometer closer to doing so...we like to believe our views are important..(a little too important granted..lots of trying to win these debates... ) but there is a sense here that in an suprising way that is the truth..
this is real grass roots politics in action...let it continue

[Gizzmoe]

Originally Posted by Coda

It is possible that people who haven't commented in other threads might have something new to say.

Yes, that would be possible. They can then do that in one of the coming Iraq/ME threads, in a few weeks or so. But from time to time we like to pull the brake, so that a certain topic doesn´t dominate the forum too much.

[Coda]

Originally Posted by Gizzmoe

Yes, that would be possible. They can then do that in one of the coming Iraq/ME threads, in a few weeks or so. But from time to time we like to pull the brake, so that a certain topic doesn´t dominate the forum too much.

fair enough.

See you in a few weeks.

[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.

[CB..]

hey your the boss...but
is there a list of currently available topics any where..? is this topic a currently available topic....for example

[The Avon Lady]

Maybe the intent was for threads about....well.......generals.

[Gizzmoe]

Originally Posted by CB..

is there a list of currently available topics any where..?

Que? List of currently available topics?????

[CB..]

Originally Posted by Gizzmoe

Que? List of currently available topics?????

well there does seem to be a list of currently UN-available topics.so you would assume that the converse was also true...no??

come on... you just got out of bed the wrong side to-day

[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.

[Gizzmoe]

Originally Posted by Skybird

and is acting in a way that I can't see to be a moderator's job

But it *is* part of the job.

What should be clear is that nobody can accuse me of having a bias concerning threads I start myself.

It is, generally speaking, not only about what kind of threads people start, but also in which threads their participate, and in which way. Islam/ME/Anti-Bush discussions sometimes appear in threads that had originally nothing to do with that.

A mod's personal taste is only acceptable as long as it is covered by at least a general rule.

There is a general rule about that. Besides, you can´t make a rule for everything.