Grandfathered Threads And Keystone Approver.

[+Desert_Warrior]

Another thread SLAMMED SHUT becaues keystone approver didn't like it. See it HERE.

 

In closing it he mentioned that another thread was GRANDFATHERED.

 

However, THIS ONE which he also closed was supposed to be part one of the latest one.

 

Somehow the dates confuse me. The third link pre-dates the second link by 362 days, but IS NOT GRANDFATHERED ?????

 

I am sure we will see some sort of explaination. It is all just soooooo confusing.

 

Don't nobody mention the "G" word, or this will be closed too!

 

EDIT: My HTML got tangled.

Edited August 23, 2004 by Desert_Warrior

[Keystone]

I am sorry if I was unclear in closing the prior thread.

 

In the August/September timeframe of 2003, there was a significant problem with off-topic posts in the Groundspeak forums. In response to this, Groundspeak decided to move to a moderated forum model. I was one of the unfortunate souls who was drafted, somewhat against my will, to be one of the forum moderators.

 

As a forum moderator, I am asked to enforce in a fair manner the Forum Guidelines which are linked to at the top of every forum page. Those guidelines have the following to say about posting on topic:

 

The goal of the Groundspeak Forum is to promote the activity of Geocaching and GPS Usage. It is an open forum sponsored by Groundspeak Inc. for discussing all aspects of Geocaching, Benchmark hunting, GPS Usage and Groundspeak related GPS Gaming.

 

[W]e (Groundspeak and the volunteers for Groundspeak) reserve the right to edit/remove inappropriate messages, or to lock a discussion thread. Before taking any of these actions, a moderator will attempt to steer the discussion back to the topic, if this is possible and appropriate.

 

Some things to keep in mind when posting:

{snip]

Keep on topic: Responses to a particular thread should be on-topic and pertain to the discussion. Users should use the New Topic button to start a new discussion which would otherwise be off-topic in the current thread. Threads that are off topic may be closed by the moderator.

 

Applying those rules to the two threads in this forum discussing gun ownership rights, I posted to each in an effort to keep them on-topic. When those requests proved unsuccessful, I closed the topics. I believe I acted appropriately.

 

There is one exception to the requirement to post on-topic, and that is the Abject Silliness thread. It is a compromise between those who desire an entire off-topic forum, and those who desire a forum dedicated solely to geocaching. Again referring back to the August 2003 timeframe, Jeremy himself closed a number of off-topic threads, referring the participants to the Abject Silliness thread as the sole refuge for off-topic posting. This one thread survived the institution of the current Forum Guidelines and it has been allowed to remain open. There are no other grandfathered topics. If another older topic is brought back to the top of the list, and the new posts are not on-topic within the current Forum Guidelines, that topic is subject to being closed.

 

I trust that you will find this more detailed explanation to be helpful. If, however, you feel that I have acted inappropriately in closing the threads discussing gun ownership, please feel free to report this by writing to the special e-mail address provided for this purpose: approvers at geocaching dot com.

[+Renegade Knight]

Ah yes, the period of great unrest when the Forum Wars raged. I remember it fondly. It was during that time that my warning meter was rising that if the pace kept up would lead to my ban this very month.

 

Ultimately the mods backed off a little and the community posted the occasional off topic and a balance was struck. Now all of our topics suffer from a limited gene pool and the resulting topic inbreeding has produced strange but eerily similar looking topics, posts, and threads.

 

If we can just avoid forum hemophilia when blood is spilled over virtuals I think we might squeek by another month or two.

[Pto]

Now all of our topics suffer from a limited gene pool and the resulting topic inbreeding has produced strange but eerily similar looking topics, posts, and threads.

 

Ah yes. Where can I look to see the ever present pic of the dead horse? (insert most any topic here) "Yawn" - another very much off topic reply, yet often overlooked.(because technically, explainable as an opinion...?.)

 

brain is tingling.... not a good time to be posting...... must rest.......

[+mrmnjewel]

That's why some "off topic" topics that may actually have some geocaching relevance, such as the sheepdog thread, are a GOOD thing here. These forums are an exercise in redundancy. If the discussions were allowed to go "outside the box" a bit, things might get a bit more interesting in here.

 

Desert Warrior---The "G" word...You don't mean? "geocaching"? Nahhh...gumption? GUNter Goebel-Williams? lol...

 

[+Desert_Warrior]

No, I think you just provided us with an answer.

 

We will just move it all over to the Abject Silliness thread. Seems like almost anything is appropriate and tollerated there.

 

Thanks.

[+Team GPSaxophone]

No, I think you just provided us with an answer.

 

We will just move it all over to the Abject Silliness thread. Seems like almost anything is appropriate and tollerated there.

 

Thanks.

As long as you follow the regular forum guidelines, feel free to post in AS when you have something non-geocaching related.

[+BlueDeuce]

There’s Geocaching and then there’s the part of our lives that is related to Geocaching. The latter should walk a fine line in these forums.

Now, at risk of disagreeing with the armed, no I don’t think your sheep dog posting was about Geocaching. Part of Geocaching sure, but no more than say, gas prices, and opening threads about OPEC will probably be closed as well.

 

Long lived threads do tend to stray over into other areas, BUT the closing of thread does not mean the subject is closed. Sure I might get impassioned about my opinions, but I really can’t say that I don’t have the opportunity to express them, provided it’s on topic.

Edited August 24, 2004 by Elf Danach