Off Topic Discussions

In the last 48 hours we have seen an alarming trend in this forum area. Although this area is by its nature a general and open discussion forum, some of the topics, polls and questions are out of line and/or offensive. Questions related to one's drug useage, arrest records, sexual orientation and so forth are highly inappropriate.

While we are all for keeping an open discussion on a variety of topics, these personal discussions will not be tolerated by the Staff of HPC:Factor.

We ask that such conversations of a personal nature be stopped so we do not have to take any further action.

Thank you,

Clinton & Chris
HPC:Factor Staff

I've learned alot in the past few hours. I had always thought that the internet was free, a plase to ask questions, learn and socalise. I never saw a problem with asking peers about their habits. I was sadly mistaken. The internet is rulled by people with money and alot of time on their hands and people who seek out defenseless children. I will leave now with this to bear in mind, the internet is not everything, and before you start complaining I wan't to let you know, I'm never coming back.

Edited by yttan10 2006-03-26 10:30 PM

That's because I killed it before anyone read it.

I never read those topics, as the titles scared me away already. Yeah guys keep it clean please.

Yes, Thank You very much, clintonf3, I do not like inappropriate threads...

I don't regret making the revelations that I made in the one poll to which I responded, but after seeing the proliferation of polls it became clear to me that there is a limit to how far we should go off topic on this site. If one wants to have a conversation about personal issues, there are places on the Internet more suitable for that. (Just because it's the Internet does NOT mean that people can say anything they want; the users as a group should decide what is and is not appropriate for discussion in any forum.)

I recall yttan10 starting a thread, about the same time as his/her several polls, stating that (s)he is very bored. It strikes me that this may have become an escape from his/her boredom, rather than a constructive attempt to get to know other users on this site. That strikes me as an inappropriate use of this site. I'm just sorry that (s)he couldn't gain the benefit of this site for which it is intended.

I don't really see anything inappropriate about it. It's not like it was mandatory to answer the polls. If someone wants to brag about shoplifting gay porn while dropping acid, who cares? That's up to them.

This is to say nothing of how annoying it is to see a million off-topic threads, no discussion of NetBSD , and no one buying my MobilePro that's for sale .

LOL

Now there's a sales pitch.

I would like to stress that this decision is a combined decision of the owners. We did consult on it, and feel that there has to be boundaries over posting limits and content. The internet is a fantastic place for free speech. But to give a crass example, you don't go onto a children’s programme discussion forum and start talking about pornography.

It is not our intent to drive people away from the forum, or upset anyone. However this is a universal board. We market it as such. Irrespective of how people feel on the subject there are minors on the forum, and as such we will insist that content is directed towards the lowest common denominator - and is suitible for everyone.
Flagrant discussion over illicit topics invites trouble onto the forum, trouble that we just don't need. You introduce an opinionated group who want to 'have at' those who they disagree with, and pretty soon it becomes nothing more than a cesspit of cross and counter infighting.

We also wish to maintain the quality of posing on the board, not quantity. A person creating nigh 20 threads in less than 12 hours doesn’t exactly make for a substantive issue.

As for this:
As is well documented, this site has neither money nor free time. In fact it's a black hole in both regards. As to the latter. I'll let you speak for yourself there, however if you want to maintain an air of socialisation with your on-line peers. Going around insinuating them to be paedophiles is not the way to go about it.

It's a tough decision to make, especially due to the nature of free speech on the internet. I sincerly believe that the choice made by HPC Factor staff is the right choice, and that they have taken the proper actions. This reminds me of a story of World of Warcraft a few weeks ago. WoW, a massive online RPG game with litterary millions of users had some issues with division between groups of different sexual orientations. this resulted in similairly oriented groupd to gang up on eachother because of their orientation. Thus they banned all communication in regards of orientation and religion as well.

The internet is the last free frontier, and as a result, there are numerous variations of certain believes that can be voiced in one way or another. To keep the place clean of hatred and misschief, certain steps are needed to be taken.

In addition, flooding the forum with numerous polls created within the same hour is kinda overkill.
If there's one here and there, it is ok, but yesterday there were 6 or 7 newly created polls.

If you are within a community on the web, as I would consider HPC Factor, keep an eye on how things are done on the forums. It should get you a feel for the people within the community, as well as how to ask certain questions and post things.

Just to point out, I am a minor and I am sorry.

These forums are operated at the benevolence of the owners and I respect their desires. Perhaps a rule #16 is in order...delineating the guidelines that the "open discussion" areas is not truly 100% open.

I acknowledge that those posted queries had nothing to do with HPCs in general, at the same time however, they didn't violate any of the forum rules. It is surely a very difficult job for the owners/moderators to make individual determinations over the validity of the posts...which is why I for one have never included a forum section at my site. It is a can of worms that can easily tip over.

As far as my personal posts, I was simply sharing some of my life experiences, not meant to inflame or promote, but to educate others on the foolishness of youth and the eventual attainment of maturity that commensurates adulthood. And if my antics seemed humorous to you, rest assured they were once embarrassments to me. It is only now that I can reflect upon them as "growing pains."

Rich

Thanks to Rich I'll never drive south of the Macon-Dixon line unless I'm on a Nascar track.

I'm not asking nor expecting people to explain themselves, or apologise. I would like people to accept the decision though, even if they don't agree with it.

Rich,

I don't agree that it needs to be turned into a rule, I think that there is a level of understanding and decency in all of us that can accept communal boundaries. The community told us that a line had been crossed, and we reacted. I'm not about to advocate we start throwing our weight about telling people what they can and can't say - for one, and it is the main reason. I don't want to have that responsibility.

I think that the way people have responded here is the best and truest way, and that people should be commended for that, and for caring about the communuity enough to let us know their views.
We've had no flaming spats, people have PM'd the admins and no doubt the moderators with concerns and we've delt appropriately with peoples views on the merits of what we've seen. The absence of a couple of the more controvercial threads isn't going to detrat from the open nature of the off-topic threads, but it is going to stop us getting a lawsuit from some US censorship group complaining because we don't have authoritarian age filtering - and that really does go against the freedom of the internet and the concept of me ever leaving my office through paperwork (personal view... well ok, it'd be Clint's free time that would suffer)