What's the reasoning? Why am I doing it? As a moderator I'm supposed to keep this train on the tracks (as it were) and I'm seeing in this forum some of what I don't like when I read other forums. Mind you, the squabbling and the name-calling and the carrying-on is not nearly as bad as some other forums, but we have potential.
A couple of common issues that are setting-off my Lock-it! Stick:
- 1-quoting with no name - this one is relatively new (from what I've observed) and it puzzles me a bit: if you've gone to the effort to quote somebody else's words, and then strip out their names from the markup text, why bother? This is similar to the previous practice of editing-out of posts by original posters - there's changing what you wrote and then there's removing it altogether.
2-circular arguments - going round and round, over and over again with the same points, instead of coming to some kind of termination, even if that means agreeing to disagree. I've seen a couple of "I disagree with you" and "I disagree with you also", but then the points and counterpoints start up all over again. Learn to let it lie.
3-what I'm calling a lack of PM'ing. If you want to continue to 'converse' with an individual, you really should use the PM button. It's there, beside everyone's alias, and it's a efficient way to further discuss a topic without cluttering a thread.
4-bringing of PMs into the light - this is another one that a number of people have complained about, either through PMs to the moderators or by flagging a post with a report. PMs are meant to be private (as in between you and the other party) and it's not intended to have their content reproduced into a thread (unless both parties agree).
This thread will remain sticky for a week and open for comments. Depending on how it looks at the end of a week it may be locked altogether.