Taser as a gift

I am sorry if the moderators have a problem with the thread. It was not my intention to offend any one. If this is the general feeling of the moderators and a sence of humor is something that has to be censored than it is a sad day to this forum and you should be ashamed of yourselves. Our vets and present day soldiers have fought long and hard to garantee the rights of freedom of speach and any censorship is a slap in their face.
 
Drew,
I will refer you to the Code of Conduct which can be found here.

In the core of the code of conduct it states:
Verifiable e-mail addresses are required for registration. In an effort to prevent drive-by trolling, no Hotmail, Yahoo, MSN or Gmail accounts are accepted without permission. You are welcome to join if you have no other e-mail address available, but we'd like to get to know you a bit first. Please contact the Webmaster if you have no other address available.
Real first and last names are required. Folks tend to be more civil when they use their real name.
No cursing, no posting of porn, nudity or suggestive pictures.
No politics, no religion. If you even think it might be considered political or religious, it is. Please don’t post it.
Don’t post anything that would not be considered “family friendly”.
No commercial ads.
No bashing other forums or other members.
If you work for a company or an industry that provides products or services for woodworking, you must state that in your user profile, and you must put a note or signature line on your posts so other people know your affiliation.


And we have a moderator team who work to determine what is family friendly or not. And whose duty it is to address items reported my members. In this case, I was both the forum member and moderator who felt it crossed the line. It is under discussion in the moderator forum.
 
FWIW

I thought it was hilarious. I have no idea what would have been offensive about it. True or not. (Probably is. The truth is always the strangest!)

Must be a really thin line between moderating and censoring.... :dunno:
 
First off, I too thought it was funny, but I'd not be telling that joke, in the form it was printed to my daughters. Funny in the right company sure, but we did not set this place up to be an "Old Boys" club, or "Adults Only" we set it up as a "Family" place.

There was a lot of language in that post that was automatically ***** out by the word censor list in the software, for the abundance of that content alone the post was pulled.

Now, just to be clear, Ned is following the rules, the rules that were written in a Constitutional Conclave by members, then voted on, again, by the members and passed. Ned was then elected, again by the membership, and has spent he own time dealing with this kind of issue. The post has been moved, it has not been erased, nor will it ever be erased, but the moderators will vote on the post to decide if it can be cleaned up and posted, or if it should be returned as is, or remain where it is, out of the public view.

There is certainly censorship that goes on here, but it is by the rules, for example, if someone posted pictures of nudity, they would be censored, and if someone posts a racist, or sexist joke, that too would be censored. Censorship is a function of moderation, and the censorship that is taking place is according to the rules, the were voted on and passed by the members. I know the moderators do their best to be consistent, and I think they do a good job, but it is not an easy one.

For those of you that are not happy with this explanation, I have a very simple solution for you.........

VOTE, vote for the people that you want to be moderators, or, if you have the time, please run for a spot on the moderator team, the elections are coming up real soon here, so instead of just complaining about a situation that you feel is not fair, lend a hand and get in there and do something about it.

I know of very few online forums that you are NOT asked to send money too all the time, but are given the chance to actually run things, so, take up the challenge, and do so.

I also want to say that if you cannot become a moderator, as it does take time, we will always be happy to hear your complaints, and comments, as they can only improve the community as a whole, as we try to work through problems, not just ignore them.

Well, sorry for the ramble, I got to go now, breakfast is ready :D :wave::coffee:
 
I am sorry if the moderators have a problem with the thread. It was not my intention to offend any one. If this is the general feeling of the moderators and a sence of humor is something that has to be censored than it is a sad day to this forum and you should be ashamed of yourselves. Our vets and present day soldiers have fought long and hard to garantee the rights of freedom of speach and any censorship is a slap in their face.
OK, give me a break. This has nothing to do with fighting soldiers and flag waving. Sheesh.

It's simple. The founders (and subsequently, the voting members) of this forum agreed that off-color discussion, regardless of how funny it might be, is not appropriate in a family atmosphere. The forum rules are pretty clear about this. When you have text like...

don't do it dip ****,
SON-OF-A-*****, THAT HURT LIKE HELL!!!
I **** myself
[and discussions about displaced male body parts]

...then it can be considered off-color, at least by some, and not appropriate for this place.

And as far as freedom of speech, you have the right to say what you want, just as the moderators (who were chosen by the members) have the right to decide what was posted is not appropriate for this venue. Simple as that. This is a member-run forum with an established set of rules. There's even a mechanism for changing the rules, if enough members feel the same way. But for now, the Mods are operating on the standing rules. If that requires removing a post, then so be it.

For what it's worth, I thought it was a funny story. This just isn't the right place to tell it. Nothing personal at all. And I should mention that I'm not one of the people who decides if a post is appropriate or not. Admins have no vote on these matters. I'm just posting this as my own observation as a member who's been around here since the beginning.



[Edited to add...]

Stu, you type faster than me. ;) More polite, too.
 
I've been trying to stay out of this, but I can honestly see both sides. Rules are rules, and since this is a privately held sight, censorship is indeed allowed and in place...just as it is at a work site where you are NOT allowed to say whatever you feel. As our company lawyer once said...there is no freedom of speech in the work place.

As far as this place goes, I understand that and abide by the rules...more so then I do on any other forum that I visit, and that is fine.That is the way it is. Still I cannot help but feel some of this stuff is taken way to far.

I was a victim of a overzealous mod just last week so I do know how Drew feels. I did not see his post so I cannot comment on that side of it. Still it is frustrating to contribute so much, when so many lurkers do not, and yet be critized for every little thing. Its almost like certain people just scan this forum looking for things to get upset over. In my case I mentioned my humorous historical reference to my wife, and she was amazed anyone would be upset by it. In her words "I could say that in my classroom." She is a 5th grade school teacher.

Was Drew's post right or wrong? I don't know. But this is a good time and place to discuss being too overhanded. I am just afraid we are chasing woodworkers away...good woodworkers who contribute to the forum in positive ways 99% of the time. Without new people, without the regulars chiming in, this place can get stale.

Sorry to be negative to the mods on this, I know you guys try hard to keep this place civil, but try not to read between the lines too much. I for one am getting a little tired of little stuff being constantly dredged up. :(
 
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..off-color discussion, regardless of how funny it might be, is not appropriate in a family atmosphere. The forum rules are pretty clear about this. When you have text like [what was contained in the OP and] discussions about displaced male body parts]

...then it can be considered off-color, at least by some, and not appropriate for this place.

Vaughn said it quite well in his post, but I'm repeating a part of his post so that you who love this language get the message: please do not post anything on FWW that you wouldn't want to say to your grandmother at Sunday dinner!! If you keep that thought in the backs of your minds, you won't have any trouble deciding what is appropriate to post here and what isn't. These words are considered profanity, which is against the CofC and not appropriate for this forum. And that's why the forum software automatically changed some of the words to stars---those words are on the no-no list!!

I will agree that the OP was/is funny and full of some pretty interesting mental images; but it is not something that I would want my 7-year-old granddaughter or Stu's daughters or Tod's son reading. If you believe this is censorship, then ask yourself if you would change these words if you were telling this story to your 5-year-old son. If so, the words don't belong here!!

Nancy
 
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... please do not post anything on FWW that you wouldn't want to say to your grandmother at Sunday dinner!! ...not something that I would want my 7-year-old granddaughter or Stu's daughters or Tod's son reading. ...

I'd go just a tad further. Don't post anything that you'd be uncomfortable reading aloud if your seven year-old was sitting on your lap in front of the computer.
 
Being one of the original founders of this forum I understand the frustration that both parties feel. It was a difficult time getting the "rules, policies and procedures" to were they are today and I for one am pleased with the outcome of the Constitutional Conclave that took a great deal of time and thoughtfulness. That said, this is a "member run forum" and the mod group does a thankless job keeping it civil and family friendly and I for one support whatever decision the group applies to keep all of us on the right track. It is difficult to see one's words edited, however, if you would not say it to a/your minister (substitute grandmother depending on your preference) holding your 5 and 7 year olds in each arm, don't say it! This is the Family Woodworking forum. Just a Sunday morning 2 cents worth. No refunds.
 
I would like to straighten something out here for those that have not read the thread. I took this ( as mentioned in the original thread) that this had been taken off another WW forum site and had already been edited I felt that I had no right to edit someone elses work any further. This was only intended for a laugh as my kids and friends, family and fiancee had already read it. If I knew that there were small children on this forum site I wouldn't have posted it. As for comments about the clergy just don't go there after what has been going on with the catholic and anglican church. This is tame compared to that. It was edited before i posted it and all the bad words had already been taken out and that was the only reason that I felt comfortable posting it. Thank goodness public floggings are out lawed as I am sure I would be flogged for laughing out loud over this. Am I ticked off you bet as this thread started as something funny has turned out to be nothing more than a public thrashiing. Hopefulluy I have not offended anyone with all my previous posts. Maybe I should just sit on the side lines in the future and not get involve.

Drew
 
I have mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, I understand the "family" part of our concept here. On the other, as far as I can see, we are all adults here. I thought the original post was foolish and pointless but not censurable. But, I'm not a mod, it isn't my call. I respect the decision.
 
Drew, Carol and Travis,
Look folks, I too found the original post funny. However I felt, and the other mods all agree, that it isn't appropriate as posted for our forums. Yes it was cleaned up with asterisks, but those are all too easy to replace when reading with the intended word to fill in the phrase.

I'm sorry that enforcing the rules has seemed to be a public issue. I PM'd you, posted a place holder for the post and moved it for review. You chose to discuss things further in the thread, so I replied in the thread.

Carol, it is indeed a very fine line between moderating and censorship. All too often moderating requires a limited form of censorship, but it isn't applied lightly or without long discussion in the moderator forum.

Travis,
I understand that too heavy a hand can turn some folks away, but a tone was set when the forums were started over a year ago, which the current moderators have chosen to continue.

This isn't the basement over on woodnet, or other forums it is Family Woodworking and we're going to keep it as the founders intended, and members voted in the code of conduct.

If you want to effect change from that course, run for moderator, get elected and steer things how you see fit, but I for one like things with a more civil tone and hope that they'll continue as they have from the beginning.
 
First,

I too found the original post funny. I printed it out for reading by my daughter age 42, granddaughter age 22, wife age (well we won't give that one up), and oldest son age 43.

Drew,

Nobody here has been flogging you. I have yet to see anybody condemn you for putting it here.

What they are saying is they don't believe it's appropriate for this site as outlined in the "rules".

Folks what you place on the internet is open to public viewing UNLESS you have a members only private site with passwords and member accounts. Even those type of sites can be penetrated by a skilled hacker. This site is open to public viewing. That being said, there was material in it that isn't appropriate for young children in my humble opinion. And yes, young children could have access to this site without adult supervision.

The COCs contain the rules that the members here voted on when they established the site. The Moderator team looked at the message and at least majority of them thought it contained innappropriate language or material. Don't take it personally when this happens. It was handled in an appropriate and fair manner. I'll guarrantee there was some really interesting discussions over this thread going on in the Moderators Private forum.
 
First,

I too found the original post funny. I printed it out for reading by my daughter age 42, granddaughter age 22, wife age (well we won't give that one up), and oldest son age 43.

Drew,

Nobody here has been flogging you. I have yet to see anybody condemn you for putting it here.

What they are saying is they don't believe it's appropriate for this site as outlined in the "rules".

Folks what you place on the internet is open to public viewing UNLESS you have a members only private site with passwords and member accounts. Even those type of sites can be penetrated by a skilled hacker. This site is open to public viewing. That being said, there was material in it that isn't appropriate for young children in my humble opinion. And yes, young children could have access to this site without adult supervision.

The COCs contain the rules that the members here voted on when they established the site. The Moderator team looked at the message and at least majority of them thought it contained innappropriate language or material. Don't take it personally when this happens. It was handled in an appropriate and fair manner. I'll guarrantee there was some really interesting discussions over this thread going on in the Moderators Private forum.

Gee Ken, you sound like you have first hand knowledge of this moderator stuff! :rolleyes::D
 
Well, I've seen the OP story somewhere else, and I'd have to agree it's probably not 'family' material... but I'd have to wonder just how many three year olds or seven year olds are actually reading these forums? Or grandmothers, for that matter. If Grandma is reading it, she's made a choice to do so... and she can quit if she's offended. She's old enough and smart enough to know this, and if I were Grandma, I'd be insulted that a bunch of young folks were worried about what I might hear or read and spending so much time trying to protect me from myself!

All that said, the moderator gig is obviously a thankless deal... especially with such a 'fine line' to walk as has been set up here. I was glad to see the word 'hell' not starred out in Vaughn's post. That's always been one of the ones that was ridiculous to me. :rolleyes:
 
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