POFUsers.com - Plenty of Fish Users Forum

At the risk of getting my head kicked I'm going to lay all my cards on the table.

I tend to have a nasty habit of saying exactly what I think. If I see something that I don't think is right I'll ask questions. If I don't get a satisfactory response I'll probably ask more questions. Like most people I get irritated after a while if I get the feeling that I'm simply being fobbed off or ignored and I then say things born out of frustration that I otherwise probably wouldn't have. I've now been here long enough that I've got frustrated in this way on a couple of occasions in the past. But, considering the amount of time I've been here and the thousands of posts I've made these instances are the exception rather than the rule. The majority of the time I've simply enjoyed the banter with the other members and thoroughly enjoyed this place. I won't go into details about any of these past events that set me off as it's all water under the bridge and as most people know the last time I spoke my mind recently I found myself permanently banned without any warning whatsoever.

As a consequence of my past experiences I simply believe that historically what the members are told will happen and what actually happens aren't the same thing at all. Whether you want to call it a breakdown in communication or a lack of transparency it all adds up to the same thing really which is ambiguity. People need to know exactly what the rules are. They also need to know that they are implemented consistently and fairly. I'd also add to that purely from a personal point of view that it would nice to know you won't be labelled a trouble causer simply for speaking your mind. But, that's probably not a deal breaker to be fair.

Even though the ban I received was revoked quite quickly the whole saga did leave a bad taste in my mouth about the way I was treated. So, if I'm brutally honest with myself I probably do have an axe to grind and struggle to be impartial when giving my opinion as to how the site should be run. For this reason I'm going to leave this thread alone and continue to just talk sh1te for my own amusement elsewhere on the forum leaving it to others to discuss the deep stuff like the best way forwards. There's also the fact that making posts this long really hurts my head that I have to consider.

That Humpty fella does seem to talk a lot of sense though for what it's worth.

restless_native wrote:At the risk of getting my head kicked I'm going to lay all my cards on the table.

I tend to have a nasty habit of saying exactly what I think. If I see something that I don't think is right I'll ask questions. If I don't get a satisfactory response I'll probably ask more questions. Like most people I get irritated after a while if I get the feeling that I'm simply being fobbed off or ignored and I then say things born out of frustration that I otherwise probably wouldn't have. I've now been here long enough that I've got frustrated in this way on a couple of occasions in the past. But, considering the amount of time I've been here and the thousands of posts I've made these instances are the exception rather than the rule. The majority of the time I've simply enjoyed the banter with the other members and thoroughly enjoyed this place. I won't go into details about any of these past events that set me off as it's all water under the bridge and as most people know the last time I spoke my mind recently I found myself permanently banned without any warning whatsoever.

As a consequence of my past experiences I simply believe that historically what the members are told will happen and what actually happens aren't the same thing at all. Whether you want to call it a breakdown in communication or a lack of transparency it all adds up to the same thing really which is ambiguity. People need to know exactly what the rules are. They also need to know that they are implemented consistently and fairly. I'd also add to that purely from a personal point of view that it would nice to know you won't be labelled a trouble causer simply for speaking your mind. But, that's probably not a deal breaker to be fair.

Even though the ban I received was revoked quite quickly the whole saga did leave a bad taste in my mouth about the way I was treated. So, if I'm brutally honest with myself I probably do have an axe to grind and struggle to be impartial when giving my opinion as to how the site should be run. For this reason I'm going to leave this thread alone and continue to just talk sh1te for my own amusement elsewhere on the forum leaving it to others to discuss the deep stuff like the best way forwards. There's also the fact that making posts this long really hurts my head that I have to consider.

That Humpty fella does seem to talk a lot of sense though for what it's worth.

I simply wanted to repost restless's longest post ever in here or in deed maybe his history in online posting.
It is nice to see you expand for a change.

It is nice to see you expand for a change.

ditto.....

I knew you had it in ya..lol..

That last post of yours reads to me like you are too full of your own self-importance there Native..you're a total control freak!

Excuse me for diverging from this very important discussion to have it out with Page Turner but needs must..and until the rules are set in stone..I feel safe enough to respond to her cheek without incurring a ban..I mean really..she's dreadful!!

Page Turner wrote:I specifically only copied and pasted that which is so longwinded and vague I wanted a translation
which might be more effective, for more than just the person writing it, if it included clarity and brevity.
Wot? = What do you mean?

Aira go on outta dat!!

I can write English well enough...probably better than most..it's not my fault you can't comprehend the written word at it's very finest..but maybe the next time you read a post of mine it would help if you had an espresso beforehand so you could be mentally stimulated enough to keep up with my fast paced writing and if you do manage that I promise that the next time I create a post I will do so in an ultra-languorous state of mind..I'll type only with the index finger of my left hand for extra slow-mo devil-may-care emphasis as I use the well practised index finger of my right hand to flick my bean..I hope you find it as thrilling as myself...I mean as I do...not that I hope you find me personally thrilling which I actually suspect you already do anyway otherwise why that post..you know what I mean??


I have made the executive decision that I will not be using punctuation ever again in any post of mine on here unless it is an exclamation or question mark or a load of continuous full stops......!?

P.S. Page Turner..you are lucky that I am brainiac and able to decipher your slovenly written posts.

It's really quite simple, in the absence of a clear purpose to the site, especially specific areas of it, ...the bar is placed as low as it can go by the minority of troll (verb) posters.

This minority is the "cause" of the "effect" ....the effect being a necessity for more concise definitions of terms in regards to rules and more stringent enforcement of them.

newsroom-site-feedback-f23/moderation-t2107.html

THIS:

I guess you have to ask yourself (admin and mods), what do you want, a thriving and diverse forum that people will want to join for more than just idle distraction, or an insular venue for 20 or so people who are already familiar with each others thoughts, opinions and stories to hang out and chat when they're bored?

Is the difference between a thriving site with exponential traffic growth (and "adsense" revenue), and a grotty little hole-in-the-wall place for 5 or 6 people to troll each other.

That simple.

Humphrey, I lost that popcorn-eating smiley...



Well here's another thread I seem to have missed.... I'm starting to get paranoid now.

I look at it like this--->

I have posts removed,
I don't usually know why,
but a lot of the time, I post things,
and then make coffee,
and then have to click on my own posts, when I come back,
to see what I said...
So lots of times, I probably have posts removed without even being aware that they've been removed....

So now, if I notice, I just think "meh"...
I thought everyone knew that "Mod's were cvnts anyway"....?
(See "Moderators Hall of Shame")
Where's that popcorn....?

Choosejoy wrote:

Jo van wrote:Humphrey, I lost that popcorn-eating smiley...



Well here's another thread I seem to have missed.... I'm starting to get paranoid now.

The ad below you:




Sorry, meant to preview not submit, had to edit.

I wish I knew how all you people do that... how do you copy ad's..? Doesn't clicking on them send you to the site..?

Anyhooo...
That's just a picture of someone who's farted, in a crowd....
That's not me, I have millions of friends...

Humphrey Osmond wrote:It's really quite simple, in the absence of a clear purpose to the site, especially specific areas of it, ...the bar is placed as low as it can go by the minority of troll (verb) posters.

This minority is the "cause" of the "effect" ....the effect being a necessity for more concise definitions of terms in regards to rules and more stringent enforcement of them.

newsroom-site-feedback-f23/moderation-t2107.html

THIS:

I guess you have to ask yourself (admin and mods), what do you want, a thriving and diverse forum that people will want to join for more than just idle distraction, or an insular venue for 20 or so people who are already familiar with each others thoughts, opinions and stories to hang out and chat when they're bored?

Is the difference between a thriving site with exponential traffic growth (and "adsense" revenue), and a grotty little hole-in-the-wall place for 5 or 6 people to troll each other.

That simple.

I think there are more than enough forums on here to accommodate the tastes of various posters who wish to post on here when they feel ready to jump in and do so..

This site should never fail it's interested users by becoming a facsimile of POF forums through having rigid rules or worse copying the ethos of there and using similar language to what is used to explain rules on that place..

We're all individuals with different expectations of how we would like to be received by the people who post on here and we are a mixed bag of cultures....this site is being advertised as a place to come to chat and flirt, so it seems that is it's primary purpose and that 'debate' or being deadly serious all of the time is not a proviso.

(If you need a translation Page Turner, I'll be happy to oblige you)

The point I'm making is that..POF forums were very much homogenised and left little leeway for posters to be themselves and actually show their personalities, what POF forums provided was a playground for those who can hide behind the rules to pretend to be someone they aren't and to complain about other users breaking rules which, in truth, the seriousness of any rule infraction was up to the discernment of the mod charged with carrying out the rule enforcement..in other words the rules on POF never had any proper definition..hence why so many people complain about being unfairly treated there.

Anyway...what's the rule on those who create second profiles on this site and use them to troll/harass other users for some agenda or another?

I agree with this in part, Finger. I think you do bring up some good points. However, I always felt that the rules on pof were clear. I feel like that the rules on THIS site are clear, but some people seem to be confused. What constitutes as an insult?

The rules on POF were never clear...not so much due to how they were written in fairly complex language wide open to a multitude of interpretations but primarily because of how they were enforced by different mods and truthfully..the extent of the enforcement of those rules often depended upon the relationship a mod might have with the rule breaker or complainant...or if they felt the poster was 'valuable' or not to the continuance of a forum or if they liked/enjoyed the poster etc.

As for what constitutes an insult...I would say the ultimate insult is a bare-faced lie, you know, when someone trusts in their faith in you but you return that trust by insulting their intelligence - it's not nice, it's really frustrating and annoying to realise you've been abused...your trust, faith and to know that that someone who pays such great lip service to integrity and honesty.. and expects you to behave a certain way according to their expectations of you doesn't actually practise what they preach!!

I would imagine that if someone feels insulted they would afford the courtesy to the insulter of informing them why they feel that way..but I think that would incur a black mark against your name on the POF forums because you shouldn't have oughtn't to have responded to a flamebaiter or to have fed a troll.

I think freedom of speech needs to be exercised in such a way that victims are allowed their right to reply without being accused of being in the wrong for defending themselves.

The last person I actively insulted was Saddle_Tramp...but ..incredibly (to me) I've been accused of being insulting merely because I didn't agree with someone else e.g. Moonbat, I didn't agree with that fake because I knew they weren't speaking the truth and I knew in my heart they didn't understand where I was coming from..

so...to my mind an overt insult is a lot better than having someone imagine they've been insulted or interpreting your words as insulting and having all of their friends agree with their paranoid perspective- it saves so much time if we all employ honesty when we write and saves having your head wrecked too.

I was also recently accused of deliberately trolling someone (his words) all the time, when such an action on my part would have genuinely been the furthest thing from my mind...

Maybe some people on here want us to conform too much to a kind of behaviour which goes against our actual morals...is that fair of them?

I don't think so...

There's something very messed up going on on this forum right now and it's not very nice to witness according to this author's point of view.

If you feel like someone has created a second profile on here in order to troll/harass you, then report them. If the claim is found valid, then correct action will be taken.

When I figure out who I can trust I will do so.