Escalation in race and team threads

[Gettingonabit]

So many reasoned contributions on this thread, devoid of the usual protagonists - I wonder why .

I have been using the 'ignore' button recently. Let's face it we all know who they are and if more of us ignored them they would likely go away, or is that just wishful thinking?

[hollus]

They would have to ignore each other, and it is too much fun not to do so, apparently. But interesting to thing about the thread in a thread consequences of most people using the ignore function.
Does a falling tree make noise if no one hears it fall?

[Just_a_fan]

Does a falling tree make noise if no one hears it fall?

Yes.

Next?

[flynfrog]

Just a reminder you guys all have an ignore feature. You can make the handful of problem people just disappear.

If one ignores and annoying poster it doesn't make them go away. Their posts are still visible if they are quoted by someone else, for example. They also still affect the thread, they affect other's attitudes and responses, they affect the tone and how pleasant a thread is - others may respond to the sniping comments and we still end up with ruined threads.

I would respond to your point by saying: "Just remember that you mods can ban people. You can make the handful of problem people just disappear".

Then ignore the quoter and soon we can all live in a silence. Blissful peaceful silence. THe problem we run into as Mods is we try our best to follow the site rules and certain posters have made an art out of living in the gray area. As much as I would like to just ban everyone we do have a process we follow. Maybe it's time to have a look at that process. I know I haven't bothered to read a race thread in a few years it's the same personalities trying to out shout each other.

[flynfrog]

So many reasoned contributions on this thread, devoid of the usual protagonists - I wonder why .

I have been using the 'ignore' button recently. Let's face it we all know who they are and if more of us ignored them they would likely go away, or is that just wishful thinking?

One of my favorite features is global ignore. The poster keeps posting wondering why nobody is replying to them

[Just_a_fan]

I know I haven't bothered to read a race thread in a few years it's the same personalities trying to out shout each other.

That's an interesting point. Do you know if other mods read race threads? Perhaps the "wild west" behaviour is because mods aren't present/active.

[aMessageToCharlie]

RIP F1 Technical. How childish.

It's sad isn't it.

Would have helped to include the original statement that started the flaming if you want to investigate the reason why this keeps happening.

[bjpower]

Thank you! I didn't know about the ignore button

Going to make myself a coffee and get to work.

It's a shame people are staying out of the race threads, there is some good technical discussion generally about fp etc. It generally goes a bit mad after that.

[Mattchu]

Does a falling tree make noise if no one hears it fall?

What if a deaf person is under that same tree? Context matters

I visit the race threads put rarely post (maybe to thank MtthsMlw or before the race) but normally, it seems, after the race it`s just tedious and goes round in circles!

Mods have little to no chance...

[El Scorchio]

certain posters have made an art out of living in the gray area.

And this is exactly the issue. It's only exceptionally silly people (or people goaded long enough by those 'living in the grey' that they bite back hard) who will actually post things which obviously lead to a warning or a ban, while those in the grey area just carry on doing it. Those are the problem posters. They and we ALL know precisely what they are doing, but they stop short of doing anything too overt that means an obvious ban.

There are people who I'm sure have had stacks of individual posts reported by several different people and the 'case closed' without anything happening. Might be hard to administrate, but something like cumulative strikes? After all, if a person is constantly reported for their behaviour or posts by multiple other users, there's a fair bet they are intentionally provoking those reactions. We all say stuff that's a bit out of line once in a blue moon, but it's all this grey area stuff that's completely flaming and killing the forum.

And TBH, I would quite like to know why it was deemed ok for those two tyre based memes to stay active in the caption competition thread. They are in very poor taste, remarked upon by more than one person, and surely not in the vision for this forum?

[Baulz]

I'm just a lurker here who found the site in search of technical information about the cars.

I find it pretty easy to just avoid the race threads, I do read a bit here and there and choose to not get involved with the discussions. Other forums seems to have similar problems, but less traffic than here. On thing I see elsewhere is dedicated threads started to only discuss the crash of the day, that way it is possible to discuss other aspects of the race in peace.

As long as the tech threads stay clean I'm happy to be here, thanks to all those that contribute!

[El Scorchio]

I'm just a lurker here who found the site in search of technical information about the cars.

I find it pretty easy to just avoid the race threads, I do read a bit here and there and choose to not get involved with the discussions. Other forums seems to have similar problems, but less traffic than here. On thing I see elsewhere is dedicated threads started to only discuss the crash of the day, that way it is possible to discuss other aspects of the race in peace.

As long as the tech threads stay clean I'm happy to be here, thanks to all those that contribute!

Not a bad shout at all, actually. Or just some sort of 'banter/anything goes' section where all of that type of stuff can be kept or just instantly moved to on sight with a warning to the poster, to keep the rest of the forum clean. (Could you 'relegate' people to give them the ability to only post in that part if they keep transgressing?)

If you want to call Verstappen or Hamilton a dirty cheat, Horner a weasel or Toto a snake, or post 'hilarious' memes, just do it in there where it's acceptable. Those of us that don't want to read it don't have to venture in or at least have the choice to dip in and out, and those that want to only lurk there can, and then the rest of the forum stays clean. Sort of the opposite of a subs only/preferred section. An easier to implement and manage alternative?

[aMessageToCharlie]

certain posters have made an art out of living in the gray area.

And this is exactly the issue. It's only exceptionally silly people (or people goaded long enough by those 'living in the grey' that they bite back hard) who will actually post things which obviously lead to a warning or a ban, while those in the grey area just carry on doing it. Those are the problem posters. They and we ALL know precisely what they are doing, but they stop short of doing anything too overt that means an obvious ban.

There are people who I'm sure have had stacks of individual posts reported by several different people and the 'case closed' without anything happening. Might be hard to administrate, but something like cumulative strikes? After all, if a person is constantly reported for their behaviour or posts by multiple other users, there's a fair bet they are intentionally provoking those reactions. We all say stuff that's a bit out of line once in a blue moon, but it's all this grey area stuff that's completely flaming and killing the forum.

And TBH, I would quite like to know why it was deemed ok for those two tyre based memes to stay active in the caption competition thread. They are in very poor taste, remarked upon by more than one person, and surely not in the vision for this forum?

Censorship is not an option in a free democratic world. People have a right to their opinion and not everyone has the same defintion of bad taste. Some are very easily offended, some are not. If no rules are broken, why do you want to bend the rules to censor opinions or content you dont agree with?

Engaging in discussions and a tolerance and diversity of opinions is what makes a public forum. Not censorship.

[dans79]

Censorship is not an option in a free democratic world. People have a right to their opinion and not everyone has the same defintion of bad taste. Some are very easily offended, some are not. If no rules are broken, why do you want to bend the rules to censor opinions or content you dont agree with?

Engaging in discussions and a tolerance and diversity of opinions is what makes a public forum. Not censorship.

This isn't the free world though, this a website owned and paid for by Steven, thus he can set/change the rules as he see's fit.

We've had people on this forum openly admit that they post stuff to intentionally antagonize others, and many more are suspected of doing the same thing, they just aren't brazen enough to openly declare it.

They always get away with it for a while by skirting the grey areas of the forum rules. Eventually though, they start getting more aggressive, and they get themselves in trouble with the mods.

I don't speak for everyone, but a lot of us want to see the problematic users dealt with more swiftly and more severely. Setting The tone/standard early is better for everyone.

[Big Tea]

Mods, would it be very difficult to put a flag similar to the +- ones labelled something like troll bate and if more than a set number of 'hits' report it the poster is locked out of that thread ?

It would be easy for all to see who the culprit is (or considered to be) and not reply to future fishing expeditions?

I dont think downvotes work as there seem t be some who 'collect' downvotes