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Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get locked?

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Sarge-in-charge
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Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get locked?

#1 Post by Sarge-in-charge »

Or so it it seems.

I guess Offtopic has to be policed heavily and often, lest the unwashed masses indulge on non kosher talk.

Thanks God for our Moderators, who shepherd us always into the healthy paths of salvation and sanctity.

Yeah, it sure is refreshing to be rebel in my adulthood. :D

I salute You, oh Great Debian Cabal!

millpond
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Re: Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get lock

#2 Post by millpond »

Apparently the topic nazis have struck.

Too bad Devuan does not have an active forum.

Any other ideas?

This is hardly about systemd at all - it is discussing ideas on how we want the platform to proceed and be useful to those of us who consider themselves to be power users.

And how to get around certain 'features' we find to be encumbrances.

The fact that some twits find this objectionable is abominable.

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Sarge-in-charge
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Re: Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get lock

#3 Post by Sarge-in-charge »

I don't want to, and won't, call names.

I just want to point out that locking threads in the Offtopic subforum is beyond ridiculous.

If the Mods/Admins don't want offtopic threads, why do not just delete the whole Offtopic subforum?

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golinux
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Re: Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get lock

#4 Post by golinux »

The fact that the thread was locked is not a problem for me. It WAS a problem when the mod used the opportunity to get on his soapbox to spout the final word in the thread without anyone having an opportunity to respond.

FWIW . . . before I left the debinan-user mail list the censorship was worse than what goes on here.
May the FORK be with you!

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Sarge-in-charge
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Re: Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get lock

#5 Post by Sarge-in-charge »

golinux wrote:The fact that the thread was locked is not a problem for me. It WAS a problem when the mod used the opportunity to get on his soapbox to spout the final word in the thread without anyone having an opportunity to respond.

FWIW . . . before I left the debinan-user mail list the censorship was worse than what goes on here.
Yeah.

The Moderator(TM) did not just aseptically locked the thread. He posted the last message, stating his point of view and refuting previous posters' point of view, and then locked the thread. The final word, His. The decision, His. The authority, His. The free speech, His.

Do not forget, oh forum dweller, who your masters are.

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GarryRicketson
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Re: Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get lock

#6 Post by GarryRicketson »

@Milpond,
Forum guidelines. Please read before first post!
The following might get your post/ thread LOCKED
- Flaming/ personal attacks************************************************
- Obvious trolling*********************************************************
- Thread has wandered way off topic *********************************
- Cross posting

The following might get your post REMOVED
- Advertising/ Spamming*************************************************************
- Obviously racist/ sexist/ hateful content********************************************
- Obviously political/ religious content*************************************************
- Obvious pornographic content
Please bear with me,
What's on topic in Offtopic
Apparently the topic nazis have struck.
Any other ideas?

Calling adminstrators and moderators "topic nazis" , is a good valid reason to move a post to the "trash bin", ...
Also
The fact that some twits find this objectionable is abominable.
..Who specificly are you calling a "twit", ? Perhaps it would be better on that to send a PM,
Too bad Devuan does not have an active forum.
They do, have a very active mail list, and there is a forum, if those interested, used the forum, it would become active. But after all said and done that is not the topic of this thread, and all ready has been discussed countless times in the other thread.
Some common sense, and reading the forum guide lines, for most people is enough,
but some , simply like to start trouble, often we refer to them as "trolls", or other not so nice names. I have not read the original post, I have that one on my ignore list, but based on your response, and the topic title, I can see what the topic is about,
So....
Any other ideas?
I do have some ideas, I don't know how others feel, so I don't know if they are good or bad, but I am willing to share them.
One, idea is, if people would try to think a little about what they say when they post, and ask their selves " Is this related to the topic, in this thread ?
From:
"What's on topic in Offtopic?"
Dear forum members,

Please take note that the Debian User Forums' primary goal is for users to exchange information about Debian. We've got an Offtopic section, but please limit yourself to subjects that are at least remotely, vaguely related to Debian. That is:

Topics should at least touch on subjects related to computing or technology.

Thank you for your cooperation.
I suppose, that is kind of not real clear, for people that have no commonsense,
or additionally, it should say something about, like " Just because it is the offtopic forum, that does not mean it is ok to be making "off topic comments" that are not on topic ,with the topic of the thread.
To be more clear, Lets say user "joe" starts a topic , "my new distro", the new distro is
vaguely related to Debian, in that it uses the same kernel, ,....
Then user "trollA" chimes in with
I'm happy to see your new distro, progress, but either explain what "real freedom" means or be fair and retract the statement.
That is totally off topic, in relation to the thread that user "joe" started.
Now I think, another idea, is, if people, when they start a topic in "offtopic", and then some "troll" or idiot, chimes in with junk, not related to that thread, it needs to be reported, and a mod, can move it to the "jail" or "trashbin" , this would prevent a thread
from becoming so "polluted" with junk, that it is really just a "feed bin" for trolls.
Really, though, over all most of the "active members" here, are a pretty good bunch, and use some common sense, do follow the guidelines, help with questions, etc.
If some one is looking for a forum where they can express "political, religious, views", this is not the place, there are a few forums that are for that, off hand I don't know of any
because I am not interested in that kind of garbage.
This is hardly about systemd at all - it is discussing ideas on how we want the platform to proceed and be useful to those of us who consider themselves to be power users.
And how to get around certain 'features' we find to be encumbrances.
I am not 100% sure I understand what you mean here, but there would be no problem
with a topic, in the "offtopic" forum, discussing , " How we want the platform to proceed" (I am assuming, you mean Debian ? ),...
Where the problem starts, is when "trolls" and other idiots, start filling the thread with useless garbage, which eventually leads to the thread getting closed.
That is why it would be important, for anyone that starts a "off topic" thread, and those participating in the thread, interested in the topic, it is important to report any posts that
may start problems, from there it is up to a moderator.
One thing I noticed,if 1 report has been filed, then another user can not report the same post, so that makes it hard to see how many others feel the same, so I guess a PM would need to be sent.
But really, just following the guidelines, and some common sense, would help prevent a topic/thread from ever getting closed.

millpond
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Re: Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get lock

#7 Post by millpond »

Hmmm...

OFF TOPIC forum restricted to 'technical matters'.

OK we cant discuss the squash bugs, or Novorossiya.

But when the topic clearly has to do with Linux, which is of course a *technical* matter, it damn well doesnt matter *here* if its another distro, or opinions, prejudices, or pure blathering.

Sometimes its natural for long threads to suffer occasional diversions. But locking them IS NOT the way to get the discussion back on topic. Indeed by continuous locking of systemd related topics it is clear that the issue is NOT 'settled' and that rather there is the need to suppress it, lest it bite our masters in the ankles.

Most of us here are non-conformists, and hell will freeze over before we toe any party line.

Of course we can go elsehwere.
I am exploring possibilities.

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Sarge-in-charge
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Re: Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get lock

#8 Post by Sarge-in-charge »

GarryRicketson wrote:But really, just following the guidelines, and some common sense, would help prevent a topic/thread from ever getting closed.
I'm in your ignore list, so don't bother replying.

Are the guidelines forbidding putting forward objections against the status quo?

All hail our SystemD masters, and their minions!!

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dasein
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Re: Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get lock

#9 Post by dasein »

Sarge-in-charge wrote:All hail our SystemD masters, and their minions!!
Rightly or wrongly, when you go off the rails like this, you lessen the impact of everything you say (for instance, when you observe quite correctly that Debian is now redundant to RedHat).

And as for the mod who decided that the thread in question needed just one more ad hominem attack to make it complete... well, I am outta fresh facepalms. (Edit: Mind you, I don't disagree at all with the decision to lock the thread. IMO, the lock should have happened weeks ago. But I wholeheartedly concur that the final post was unseemly and inappropriate.)

But at the end of the day, pigeon chess is still pigeon chess. So maybe it's not at all surprising when it wears thin after the first dozen pages or so.
Last edited by dasein on 2015-08-19 18:06, edited 2 times in total.

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GarryRicketson
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Re: Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get lock

#10 Post by GarryRicketson »

Most of us here are non-conformists, and hell will freeze over before we toe any party line.

Of course we can go elsehwere.
I am exploring possibilities.
Well, not sure what to say, but if and when persons can not or will not "conform" to simple guidelines, or do not like the decisions made by a moderator, or the way the administrators manage things, I guess that is what one needs to do.
Calling people names, like "twit", or referring to them as "nazis", only serves to make things worse though,...
I really thought you were more intelligent then , this, but I can see it is pointless to try to explain why there is a need for some guidelines, and even rules, really,
are you sure it is
Most of us here are non-conformists, and hell will freeze over before we toe any party line.
,..or just a few, that have nothing better to do then argue, and try to push "hippie" nonsense. ??

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Re: Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get lock

#11 Post by somebodyelse »

Whatever our thoughts on system service management, the Bunty forums are not a role model for FDN.

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Re: Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get lock

#12 Post by golinux »

This whole thread would have been more on topic in 'Forum stuff & feedback'. Makes no sense to have it in 'Offtopic' because it is very much ontopic of forum issues.
May the FORK be with you!

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Re: Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get lock

#13 Post by somebodyelse »

^Two options then:

1. Derail the thread so that it remains on-topic in off-topic.
2. Move it.

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Re: Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get lock

#14 Post by GarryRicketson »

dasein wrote:
Sarge-in-charge wrote:All hail our SystemD masters, and their minions!!
Rightly or wrongly, when you go off the rails like this, you lessen the impact of everything you say (for instance, when you observe quite correctly that Debian is now redundant to RedHat).

And as for the mod who decided that the thread in question needed just one more ad hominem attack to make it complete... well, I am outta fresh facepalms.

But at the end of the day, pigeon chess is still pigeon chess. So maybe it's not at all surprising when it wears thin after the first dozen pages or so.
I don't think the guy is capable of thinking, that is why I just ignore it.
But any way, the topic was closed, that is the end of it, if members want to start new topics, even when they are not directly related to Debian, there is the "off topic" forum, and that is fine, how ever, they should still read the guide lines,etc. and try to follow them, if they don't like that, well they can look for somewhere else to dump their garbage.
There are many forums, that do not even allow a "offtopic" forum, because they can be a lot if extra work to moderate, and often become "problematic", actually the moderators and admin here are pretty "liberal" and do permit a lot of freedom, in what we post and what kind of topics can be started,..but a few "trolls" and people with just plain bad attitudes, abuse that,.. thus causing problems for every body.
Maybe , the moderator "arochester" should not have made the "final" comments, that does seem to have really "stirred" things, but after all said and done, the moderator has the "final" say, ..and by the way, I do agree, closing that thread was a long time over due, .. the better solution would have been , in my opinion, to have started removing the
"garbage posts" immediately, when the thread was started, instead of letting it get so far out of hand.
These "hippie" non-conformist, "free speech" people, and "trolls", including spammers, all use the same argument, " It is my right, to say what I want,bla, bla,",in reality all they are doing is "dumping garbage" where ever they can, and will do so, if no one dares to try to stop them. But really if you want to be "totally" free to spout nonsense, then probably the only way to do that is start your own website/forum, and then you can do and say what ever you want,
This was posted while I was writing,..
Re: Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get lock
Post by golinux » 2015-08-19 12:00

This whole thread would have been more on topic in 'Forum stuff & feedback'. Makes no sense to have it in 'Offtopic' because it is very much ontopic of forum issues.
I agree, on that, after all, , how the "members" of the forum feel , is important, and it is
a forum stuff . feed back issue.

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Re: Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get lock

#15 Post by Sarge-in-charge »

GarryRicketson wrote:..or just a few, that have nothing better to do then argue, and try to push "hippie" nonsense. ??
You say we "call names", then you call our speech "hippie nonsense".

Yeah, it makes total sense.

I want my ****** trustworthy Debian back, or ***** ******** ********** *********** ***** ****.

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Re: Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get lock

#16 Post by spacex »

Sarge-in-charge wrote:I don't want to, and won't, call names.

I just want to point out that locking threads in the Offtopic subforum is beyond ridiculous.

If the Mods/Admins don't want offtopic threads, why do not just delete the whole Offtopic subforum?
I agree completely. I see this in some other forums also. It's bad practice. Let the users have the off-topic section as their place to vent, rant or discuss pretty much any topic remotely connected to linux or computers. As long as people are talking in a off-topic section, the mods should keep out of it. Let the users decide for themselves when the topic is finished...

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Re: Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get lock

#17 Post by spacex »

Sarge-in-charge wrote:
GarryRicketson wrote:..or just a few, that have nothing better to do then argue, and try to push "hippie" nonsense. ??
You say we "call names", then you call our speech "hippie nonsense".

Yeah, it makes total sense.

I want my ****** trustworthy Debian back, or ***** ******** ********** *********** ***** ****.
Yeah, I also saw that he called us "idiots" in the locked thread. At least 4 of us "trolls" on his ignore list :roll: But it's very important to stay on topic, and name calling is very bad. ROFL. It's actually quite amusing. But let me put it this way, GarryRicketson is now on my "ignore-list", regardless how funny he is. Because I'm not sure that his main function should be to amuse me.

And to be quite frank. The off-topic section should be a place where you don't have to be as serious and dull as GR himself apparently is.

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Re: Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get lock

#18 Post by dasein »

There's always DUF, whose absolutely-no-moderation-ever policies have helped to make it the thriving community it is today.

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Re: Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get lock

#19 Post by Randicus »

Sarge-in-charge wrote:I just want to point out that locking threads in the Offtopic subforum is beyond ridiculous.

If the Mods/Admins don't want offtopic threads, why do not just delete the whole Offtopic subforum?
Content (behaviour of people posting) is irrelevant? A thread that degenerates into a flame war should not be moderated, because it is in the off-topic section? Although locking any thread should be rare, allowing off-topic threads to be free-for-alls is not completely logical.

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Re: Is the Offtopic subforum where offtopic threads get lock

#20 Post by spacex »

dasein wrote:There's always DUF, whose absolutely-no-moderation-ever policies have helped to make it the thriving community it is today.
I know. I am a member there :)

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