What are the rules of debate here?

[Christ]

Point being that Darren and the others shouldn't have to come into a thread to speak to it's contents, unless they're adding something to it. There's never a reason they should have to come in to "set tone" or clean things up. If we all have a reasonable level of respect for each other, the mods get a break to handle the parts of the forum that need work, and things get improved overall.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by Christ

Point being that Darren and the others shouldn't have to come into a thread to speak to it's contents, unless they're adding something to it. There's never a reason they should have to come in to "set tone" or clean things up. If we all have a reasonable level of respect for each other, the mods get a break to handle the parts of the forum that need work, and things get improved overall.

I like that idea. Maybe some of us non-mods (but regular participants) might also remind each other sometimes. Or remind others. Just to have a little respect all around. Or at least to stay on topic. Threads always have a title, and it's never "boast about who has the best brain" or the most education or whatever... of course, that won't work if the name of the thread is "boast about who has the best brain".

I'm satisfied with the "be nice" rule Metro recommended early in this thread. And I'm satisfied with the idea of a decentralized bunch of us informally helping out with the tone of things.

[Thymeclock]

Originally Posted by Christ

Point being that Darren and the others shouldn't have to come into a thread to speak to it's contents, unless they're adding something to it. There's never a reason they should have to come in to "set tone" or clean things up. If we all have a reasonable level of respect for each other, the mods get a break to handle the parts of the forum that need work, and things get improved overall.

Rule # 1 of being an effective moderator: never censor for "tone"; only censor for content - and then, and only then, if what is said is repugnant enough to require it.

Rule # 2 of being an effective moderator: cultivate having a VERY long fuse. (Or, as it has been said in a different way: "don't sweat the small stuff".)

Effective moderators respect us, and they deserve our respect in return.

Now I don't want to sound as if I'm preaching to the administration here, or suggesting that they are less than capable. I'm not. Apparently they have always understood this, if even at times, we don't.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

I'm satisfied with the idea of a decentralized bunch of us informally helping out with the tone of things.

Well, that's just stupid!!!

Kidding! I think it's a great idea & hopefully others do too.

(I was just testing to see if I would get a decentralized tone correction myself, but didn't have the heart to leave the comment unexplained )

[Ford Man]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

"boast about who has the best brain".

I have the best brain so why don't the rest of you dummies just shut up and listen to me.

On a more serious note, I come here to read/learn/enjoy other people's idea's and if I have an opinion I TRY to give it without being offensive to others. I agree that sometimes with remarks that others have posted toward others that try to lead everyone to believe they are the only one that knows anything, it sometimes makes it hard to be civil. Nobody likes a know it all. I often read remarks made by other people that I don't agree with that are putting down someone else's ideas/thoughts or something that's not scientifically proven/disproven, in those cases I usually form my own opinion of the one doing the flaming, but try to ignore their ignorance and often their future posts. I also spend lots of time on www.cartalk.com and like their user rating. At the bottom of each post there's several buttons that can be clicked on for user rating. I don't remember them all right now, but I know some of them are agree, disagree, like, and off topic. The other day a new user was asking several questions concerning cars and another user said something to the effect of he was getting tired of all the dumb questions. I gave him a disagree!! This person had a desire to learn and someone was calling his questions dumb.

[Christ]

I will say that it's an exercise in self-control to mentally ignore a user rather than "use the button".. but that's what I generally do.

If I happen across something by said user that might redeem their position (like when people *gasp* change their attitude later in membership), I ignore them less. To some extent, I ignore posts by almost everyone on this board, just like I'm sure there are a group here that ignore some/most/all of mine.

[t vago]

Unfortunately, some of us do not have that sort of self control, and therefore must rely on the tools at hand to help us remain civilized.

I will say this - Out of all of the years I've been interacting with the various car boards, I've had to place a grand total of 4 users in my ignore lists. Unfortunately, two of them were added to this particular board from this past weekend.

[drmiller100]

We all make mistakes, and all of us have erroneous preconceived ideas.

I've learned a LOT from Mort, Basjoos, Aerohead, and from some others on this list.

I'm guessing I'm on Jago's ignore list, which is great, but it does mean we're not going to get any explanations about his claims we have asked for on the water thread.

[drmiller100]

so Frank, I threw the BS flag that you actually ever tried disabling cylinders on your Ford.

I kept it pretty civil, but would like an explanation.

[Frank Lee]

I did it and I posted it up once upon a time, what do you want?

Synopsis:

Tempo 2.3 OHV; disconnnected injector pairs 1 & 4, then 2 & 3 while also pulling the rocker arms for said pairs. Engine wouldn't quite start; wanted to, but couldn't quite. Re-enabled one cylinder for 3 live; started, ran, sounded like isht, ran like isht but was able to go highway speed. Couldn't take it for long.

Other: simply pulled injector wire pairs. Ran, could go highway speed, gutless, lots of WOT. Fail.

Happy?