Censorship and derailment

[TripleS]

I’m sorry to see the difficulty we’re having here, and to learn that it was a simple, single line comment of mine that gave rise to it all, but it is not unusual for posters to go a little off topic at times, and generally speaking I think we should be able to accept that without anybody having a problem with it.

In this case I made a brief comment, admittedly totally off topic, and it was removed by Alasdair, which he was fully entitled to do, but what upset me was to find that it just happened without any prior notification to me, whereas I would have preferred Alasdair to contact me directly and say, in effect “Oi, Dave, do you mind not going off topic like that. We are trying to keep things on track, so I think I need to remove your comment.” Had he done that, I would have accepted his action without any protest whatsoever.

Having said that, what now upsets me more is to learn that some members apparently complained about my comment, and it appears their action is the real reason for Alasdair removing my comment. Obviously I have no means of knowing who they are, but I would like to know how many complaints were received, in which case it will be interesting to see who (if anybody) owns up, or are they all going remain anonymous?

This is a good forum and we should all be grateful to Alasdair for setting it up. It is therefore most regrettable that we should find ourselves in this difficulty, but I expect things will calm down pretty soon.

As for me continuing to participate here, I think it most unlikely that I will. My primary interests now lie elsewhere, and, as I said before, I haven’t been making any useful contributions for many weeks now, so now seems to be the time to go.

I would just like to thank those who have made kind comments about my involvement here, and leave it at that. I don’t know who is right or wrong about what has happened, but I guess we all need to draw a line under it and move on.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[Rolyan]

I am being very patient here and am getting a little fed up of the criticism - it was a very minor issue........ I hope you have a lovely long drive!

Alasdair

It was raining, so not that long a drive.

Don't take it as criticism, it was more a philosophical discussion about moderation. Not everything has to be pull push, mucky spanner and string back gloves.

Just musing and only minor, that's why I said we agree to disagree.

[TripleS]

There were 2 issues here.

Firstly, should you have removed Dave's post.

Dave's post wasn't removed but the last paragraph in it was.

It was actually a single line, added as a PS. Little did I know how much trouble it would cause - for some!

[waremark]

... it was locked later as it had reached its natural end - it wasn't going to improve...

Alasdair

My humble observations are:

1) Threads reach their natural end when members collectively lose interest and stop posting. Not when an individual arrives at that conclusion.

2) No thread is ever going to improve. They only ever get worse.

Just for what it is worth I wanted to post again and was irritated that the thread was locked; cannot remember whether I was on topic, off topic or political. I would not have seen any benefit in locking the thread or deleting a post. I do think there is some scope for retitling threads, ie adding reference in the subject line to what it has drifted too.

[Silk]

As for me continuing to participate here, I think it most unlikely that I will.

Don't be ridiculous. You can't leave me alone with these fools.

The most worrying thing about all this is the "telling tales" bit. I don't like that at all.

[fungus]

As for me continuing to participate here, I think it most unlikely that I will.

Don't be ridiculous. You can't leave me alone with these fools.

The most worrying thing about all this is the "telling tales" bit. I don't like that at all.

Re. Silk bashing. I thought you could stand up for yourself.

Nigel.

[Gareth]

I would like to know how many complaints were received, in which case it will be interesting to see who (if anybody) owns up, or are they all going remain anonymous?

I didn't complain but I thought the comment was jarring in the context of the thread, especially as I thought you didn't make a link to the thread discussion and your comment. I would have preferred it if you had started a new thread for that other topic.

[TripleS]

I would like to know how many complaints were received, in which case it will be interesting to see who (if anybody) owns up, or are they all going remain anonymous?

I didn't complain but I thought the comment was jarring in the context of the thread, especially as I thought you didn't make a link to the thread discussion and your comment. I would have preferred it if you had started a new thread for that other topic.

That's fair enough. Thank you, Gareth. At least that clears one of those I hold in high regard.

[Silk]

I would like to know how many complaints were received, in which case it will be interesting to see who (if anybody) owns up, or are they all going remain anonymous?

I didn't complain but I thought the comment was jarring in the context of the thread, especially as I thought you didn't make a link to the thread discussion and your comment. I would have preferred it if you had started a new thread for that other topic.

That's fair enough. Thank you, Gareth. At least that clears one of those I hold in high regard.

I didn't complain either, so that's someone you hold in low regard to add to the list.

[TripleS]

I would like to know how many complaints were received, in which case it will be interesting to see who (if anybody) owns up, or are they all going remain anonymous?

I didn't complain but I thought the comment was jarring in the context of the thread, especially as I thought you didn't make a link to the thread discussion and your comment. I would have preferred it if you had started a new thread for that other topic.

That's fair enough. Thank you, Gareth. At least that clears one of those I hold in high regard.

I didn't complain either, so that's someone else you hold in high regard to add to the list.

EFA, even though it now makes you sound a bit presumptuous.