RT
I don't envy you on your temporary mediator job. At times, it can be a no-win situation!

You have asked the BB members for some suggestions on how we can clean up some of our posting on Bob's site.

Personally, I think that some of the BB members sometimes make fools out of themselves when they carry on and get to the "name calling" stage.

Maybe you can create a new icon (something i.e. a redneck icon or bad taste) and post it below their name when they get too carried away. :p Remember the old saying "a picture is worth a million words". That way the member can still voice his or her opinion. When the icon appears, he will know that he or she has gone too far, and they can either correct their statement or remain foolish looking to the other BB members.

When it comes to spelling, I am the worse! That's why I almost always use my word processing program before I make a posting on subjects. It works well for me because it also makes me re-read what I am thinking before I post it. My brain goes ten times faster then my spelling and its well worth the extra time and effort to run my postings through the word processor before I post them.

I also think that it would be really great if you and Bob could figure out a way that we could identify certain postings for subjects i.e. "factual", "informational"," opinion", "technical" or "question". If this was done, then postings that were identified, say as "factual", would require some background information on how it was conceived. Likewise, if someone wanted to correct any misinformation that they may believe was in a "factual" posting, then they would have to show their expertise and how they had come to their conclusion that your factual information was incorrect!

For what it's worth, it is my opinion that we are being judged by other members every time we post on this BB. Just how well we can articulate our point of view, or position, to the members makes us subject to needless verbal attack. It's not on how well we can slam one another, but on how well we can articulate our response. I for one don't mind if someone replies negatively to any of my postings. I do expect them those to show me in an intelligent reason why they may disagree with the posting. I believe that we should all do our homework first before we post any provocative issues and be prepared to debate the subject in full in a courteous manner.

All in all, Bob has a great web site and I can't thank him enough for allowing us to use it for what he intended us to use it for. Maybe each of us should consider that when we feel ourselves getting a little to "wild". I would also like to thank you, RT, for trying to continually make this a better site. Good job and Merry Christmas!!

That's my 2 cents worth.

Cowlitzfisherman

Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????

[ 12-25-2001: Message edited by: cowlitzfisherman ]