Profanity & Conduct Control Polls
Aug 28th 2008 05:24:34 pm
Due to the most recent of many arguing matches in the Swap-bot Forums, many users have questioned our policies of non-censorship and requested that we work toward a more pleasant atmosphere on Swap-bot. There are a few avenues that we can explore in order to make Swap-bot “nicer.” I need your help in determining which new policies we should adopt. Please complete the following polls and leave any comments. Our main objective is to provide a quality website and helpful service to our users. Your opinions are very important!
Profanity filter?
Ban foul-mouthed users?
Ban mean forum people?
Thank you for your help. There is more discussion on this topic going on in the forums. Click here to check it out.
19 Comments » Categories: Feature Discussion
macka on 28 Aug 2008 at 6:53 pm #
I would like to suggest that instead of banning them maybe you could suspend them for a set amount of time. Then if they really wanted to swap they may think before speaking.
Nancy on 28 Aug 2008 at 7:50 pm #
Everyone has a choice in which forum posts they read and reply too. I don’t think sending people to ‘time-out’ or banning for a certain amount of time is appropriate. Maybe instead teach people how to use the back button.
Debbie on 28 Aug 2008 at 9:44 pm #
When I first joined swap-bot I started with the forums to see what I could learn. I learned a lot, good and bad. Now that I have been here awhile I have noticed that most of the people I have swapped with I have never seen in the forums. I think most people that don’t like what goes on don’t participate. The people that show up in controversial forums regularly are there because they want to be. I have gotten books from the library whose contents I was not comfortable with, I close the book and return it to the library. Same applies here. Don’t like it don’t continue to read it. NO-NO-NO, on all three.
Alphenstamp on 28 Aug 2008 at 11:03 pm #
I do like it that you are willing to do something about this, but I don’t want to put more work/responsabilities on your shoulders: I have a choice to read those threads or not
Debbie on 29 Aug 2008 at 12:28 am #
Thanks for running this poll. It seems to be the same few spoiling it for us all. the drama is totally unecessary and i’m sure everyone is sick to the back teeth of it. Some sanctions would be great to keep these people in check, as we are a swopping site not a drama programme. Yes we can choose whether to read or not but it still leaves the question that the people in question carry on what they are doing, there are many sections on the forum that lots of people enjoy using, why should we refrain from using them?
jukejan on 29 Aug 2008 at 4:46 am #
I have been ‘off’ the forums and into a group for quite awhile now.
Name calling and bullying were the reasons I gave it up on the public forums for the most part.
It sickens me that adults have to resort to such tactics and this is supposed to be a community with a good vibe.
Anger junkies and people who cannot communicate without meaness should have their own thread.
As far as foul language goes, I swear like a sailor, but resort to WTF, crap, a-hole or sheeet. People can figure it out. The C U Next Tuesday word has no purpose on this site. Grow up!
Thanks for providing a forum on this topic, Rachel.
thatzghetto on 29 Aug 2008 at 5:44 am #
I don’t think the comments need to be all sunshine and roses, but when they dissolve into personal attacks, particularly against swappers children and grandchildren as I’ve seen in the past I think something should be done.
Amandalee on 29 Aug 2008 at 6:15 am #
Yes, we have a choice to read or not to read the forums. I just figured as adults (we do have to be over 18 correct?), we wouldn’t need to stoop so low as to some of the comments made in the thread that has caused you to start these polls. The language used by one particular swapper was horrendous.
I liked the idea that Macka had in the first comment here – a partial ban from the forums, for some designated time, might make them think before they speak. Perhaps a three strikes your out rule, you get suspended from posting in the forums for a set amout of time, that increases with each infraction. If the swapper does it a fourth time, then they are banned from the forums for good.
We all have bad days and I wouldn’t want somone banned from the forums for the s word sprinkled in here and there (or connotations similar to the curse words). So perhaps there needs to be a grey area for judgement as well.
Thanks for trying, I would love to see the forums warm up again.
Chickpea on 29 Aug 2008 at 8:19 am #
I’d like to see the option of manually blocking the posts of particular users. That way if there’s someone who’s prone to making comments I don’t want to read, I don’t have to avoid an entire thread altogether.
dandelion on 29 Aug 2008 at 9:40 am #
It really is too bad that it has come to this. I can understand all sides of the issues being discussed here. There are times when I’ve been offended and shocked by forum content because we are all supposed to be ‘adults’ here. The use of ‘bad’ words doesn’t offend/shock me. What I have objection to is the baiting & bullying which a profanity filter won’t stop. It does seem to be the same people over and over. The point is that even though we’re over 18, some folks aren’t going to play nicely. I have the choice of being sucked into their drama or ‘clicking’ away from it.
Guess the question becomes, what happens to swapbot and/or the forums when you have a large group of people who are ‘clicking’ or staying away because it has become too negative and mean-spirited?
cobaltgypsy on 29 Aug 2008 at 10:23 am #
The “bad” behaviour, personal attacks, name-calling and the like are the exact reasons that I started a private group. I have enough stress and drama in my own life.
Swap-bot was intended to be my escape from all of that; a place to express creative ideas and swap art, and to make new friends who thought or felt the same way. I am unable to get out very much, so the swap-bot community is very much an important part of my day-to-day existence.
I would much rather enjoy myself, than listen/read the horrible things that people are doing to one another in the forums. And you’re right, I don’t have to read them, but sometimes, you’re halfway in a conversation before it turns all out ugly.
Geesh people, there’s a war going on, young men and women sacrificing their lives, and we’re gonna argue and call people names and insult their families on the playground?
I just don’t get it.
My two cents is that I’d like there to be a filter that we can set, much like we do on our computers to filter those things we find offensive.
I also feel that if there is bullying going on, very evident bullying, or that someone feels threatened by another ‘botter, they should have every right to file a complaint and have that person partially suspended, fully suspended or tossed out on their keister altogether, after of course, listening to both sides.
There are many people on the ‘bot who have openly admitted to having mental illnesses that can be exacerbated by taunts and jibes.
I think we should respect their courage for admitting those issues to the world and try to be a little kinder, not just to them, but to everyone.
I’m not perfect. I drop a b-word here and there. But I control if and when I say it and I NEVER make personal attacks, particularly about someone’s children or grandchildren (or any other member of their family).
The internet makes it easy to hide behind a computer screen. I wonder if the same things would be said face-to-face?
That aside, I would like to see more monitoring of the forums. I’m all for free speech too, but not at the cost of insulting someone’s family. This is supposed to be adulthood, not grammar school.
Just my two cents.
blessings and peace,
Gypsy
Jennifer on 29 Aug 2008 at 11:17 am #
“There are many people on the ‘bot who have openly admitted to having mental illnesses that can be exacerbated by taunts and jibes.”
Unfortunately, it is these very swappers who dig their heels in and provoke/manipulate/toss self-pity around that are the biggest instigators of this issue. One of the ones drolling around this topic as the innocent victim is one of the biggest aggrivators on the site.
dreamerkins on 29 Aug 2008 at 1:06 pm #
i would say, rather than banning people, or even banning from the forums, i think a short-term, while they calm down inability to speak might be good. and if a thread gets nasty, i think it would be good if it was thread-ended, so people could calm down. i know its possible it could move into another thread, but they do that anyway… at least a limit… this thread gets mean, you get a total of 3 pages (or 1-2 days, if thats easier)top get it out of your system, then the thread is shut down…
dandelion on 29 Aug 2008 at 3:09 pm #
Well said cobaltgypsy!
While I do support free speech, I also support the right of a community to establish boundries for behavior.
While I said that I’m not offended by ‘bad’ words (meaning profanity), I am offended by degrading personal attacks and insults no matter what words are used. So, yes I do support establishing some expectation of acceptable/unacceptable behavior. We should be able to disagree while still communicating with respect to one another. If people are unable to restrain themselves from conduct that is verbally abusive, then there should be punitive consequences such as a ‘time out’ from the forums.
Justme on 03 Sep 2008 at 3:41 pm #
I agree to put restrictions on the ones who are hateful or inclined to personal attacks, but please do not put censors on the language here. I don’t agree with censorship.
Zia on 07 Sep 2008 at 9:25 am #
I tend to figure people won’t “play” with those who offend them, taking care of the problem in a few weeks by attrition.
And I despise anyone trying to “legislate” how I choose to express myself and try to remember to extend the same to others.
Krissi on 08 Sep 2008 at 10:09 am #
I was going to write something of my own here, but I really couldn’t have said it any better than [Dandelion](http://blog.swap-bot.com/2008/08/28/profanity-conduct-control-polls/#comment-17960) did already.
Liz on 08 Sep 2008 at 11:53 am #
It’s just like a radio in my opion – if you don’t like the song that’s on – turn it off. There is nobody forcing anyone to read/write/participate in the forums. In addition, there is an age requirement to participate on swap-bot, so why can’t we actually expect adults to act like adults, instead of needing system wide babysitters?
carladallas on 08 Sep 2008 at 7:27 pm #
monitoring and managing banning users for something as subjective as meanness would be a mess! I would like to see more effective and quicker banning of flakers. They are the REAL problem in swapbot. I’m going the private route more and more, as others seem to be. I steer away from the forums, only reading the flaker information to try to stay on top of who is running amok.