Something I have noticed...

[sw204me]

I see it happening more and more and it kinda concerns me. Anytime someone makes a post, even if its the QR, that is even the slightest bit offensive or controversial, the poster has some type of disclaimer in the post. Either saying they are simply throwing in a new question, does not favor this or that, is just looking at the other side of the argument, whatever the case may be.

One reason I feel people include these disclaimers cause they are afraid of being slapped with negative rep, which anyone can do is actually very easily done but has a huge effect on the persons, well, rep.

The other reason I feel people have to include such disclaimers is one thing I have noticed on the board is people love to hop on the "hatewagon". It just seems people are eager to jump down someones throat when they say something they dont like, or simply don't agree with, and the response is negative rep and post that stir up even more arguments.

This post isn't to stir up trouble, just a simple observation from someone who spends alot of time here. Such examples of disclaimers are as follows:

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...69&postcount=3

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...7&postcount=14

One from myself:
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...98&postcount=1

Does it strike anyone else that there may be a problem if people have to feel the need to protect themselves from the feed back of others?

EDIT: And I just noticed I put this in the sub category of Site Info and not the Site Feedback & Suggestions forum, would a mod be so kind as to move it to the proper forum please.

[rabernet]

Does it strike anyone else that there may be a problem if people have to feel the need to protect themselves from the feed back of others?

I find it more that if you feel you have to post a disclaimer, then perhaps you should stop before you hit submit.

If even YOU recognize that a post could be distasteful and needs a disclaimer, then perhaps it's not something worth sharing.

You yourself caught a lot of heat for posting a pretty controversial video a couple of months ago, and I really don't think that a disclaimer would have "saved" you back then or even now with that one. That was one example where you should have just "stepped away from the keyboard" before posting, especially to a board full of animal lovers.

So as to your question does it strike anyone else that there may be a problem if people have to feel the need to protect themselves from the feedback of others? No - can't say as I do. Use good judgement when posting and you shouldn't have problems. It's just a forum on the huge internet - not real life, and certainly not something you should feel you have to "protect" yourself from.

[gncz73]

i agree you should not have to prtect yourself like that i myself have no seen any post on here that needs protection but the way some people get upse over he little things has gotten out of hand. like the post of the person feeding a puppy to the boa yes it was upseting that some one feed a puppy to a snake but i wasn't wrong for him to do so if the snake could handle that size a prey and the key word is prey they puppy is another form or prey to the hungry snake which is just looking for a meal. so i think people on here need to relize we are not perfect we are people and what one persons see as wrong or right is not the same as what everyone one else and if you disagree with someone that is fine and expected as everyone is different and has different morals. take this: the other day me and a few freind where driveing down the road over here and saw a 30-35 year old lady in one of those hover round things sitting at a light waiting for it to turn green so she could cross and the whole time she was there all she did was spin around and around so my one freind does a jester of her being retarded or something and his girlfreind got mad and asked him why he did that and he told her because she's acking silly in that hover round and she she what would you doif you where in there and he said the samething as her and i would be acking stupid but haveing fun. so was it wrong for him to make fun of her yes and no she was acking silly and haveing fun.

[dr del]

Hi,


Well everyone interprets things differently.

I totally agree with Robin on this one. You can think anything you like, and certainly no one has a right to try and stop you, but part of acting in a civilised fashion is considering how your actions and public pronouncements affect others.

If you say something someone else finds offensive it is not always them that is to blame you know.

It comes down to making a judgement call on what you choose to share - and using the feedback from others to inform that choice. In the above example he should try and remember what his girlfriend finds appropriate for him to share with her in future.

I don't think anyone on the board expects you to be perfect but they do expect you to at least consider their feelings.

So, if you feel the need to protect yourself from the feedback of others, you might find it's easier to do it by not saying something you know will upset them that much.

Then again there is the whole art of diplomacy which teaches how to say things that need to be said while causing the least offense. Try typing the message and then reading it back to yourself trying to imagine you had no idea who typed it or their mood at the time. Tone is an extremely hard thing to convey accurately by text alone and a lot of the "drama" is actually caused by mis-interpretation of a message that could have been worded differently.

Just my


dr del

[lord jackel]

Then again there is the whole art of diplomacy which teaches how to say things that need to be said while causing the least offense. Try typing the message and then reading it back to yourself trying to imagine you had no idea who typed it or their mood at the time. Tone is an extremely hard thing to convey accurately by text alone and a lot of the "drama" is actually caused by mis-interpretation of a message that could have been worded differently.

dr del

I think you hit the nail on the head. To many times we see members jump the gun and hit submit without thinking what they are typing and how it will be perceived which starts a chain reaction (usually for the negative). Along with this we see members jump to respond to a post like this without thinking about how it was intended. As a reminder text does NOT convey emotion so you have no idea if what you are reading was made in jest, anger, sympathy, remorse, etc. My recommendation is just to slow down and try being in the other persons shoes.

By the way disclaimers are legal text added to remove liability...they have zero value and are pointless in a forum where they are trying to be used to stop a negative impression.

[Gooseman]

Alright, here's my take on the matter.

People use said "disclaimers" for various reasons. Most times a user feels that a disclaimer is necessary, the user should never hit the submit button, as Robin stated. However I personnaly believe there is a use for little notes as in the posts you linked to. Reason why: Just as Derek said you need to be careful of what you say and how you say it, because other users cannot draw easily from your text the mood your in. But it works the other way too! Many people come to the forum at odd hours and arn't exactly awake, or they've taken pain meds for that hurt foot or something, they just enjoy a little drink to take the edge off the day, or they just straight up dont read posts carefully and come to the wrong conclusions as to what the posters intentions are if the post is long and drawn out. I feel it's effective at times to sum it all up in one sentence at the bottom and make it big and bold so it's hard to misinterpret my intentions, especially in a thread that has a bit of controversy in it. I guess in these cases it's not really a "disclaimer", but rather just another way of getting your point across, or clearifying something that may be a little vague. If you play devil's advocate, every once and awhile someone will come through and not catch that important little peice of information and will come to believe you actually agree with said devil.

I personnaly think people are way too worried about their rep. When there is a heated debate going on, it pains me at times when people continuously post about negative reps, especially un-signed ones. If your making good, clear, thoughtful posts the good reps will always outweigh the bad, so suck it up for the time being, keep offering advice and your set. Reps really arnt that important in the long run. I'm NOT saying to make posts with the intent of causing trouble, or jsut to get a reaction, however I feel if you honestly believe something, you should speak up about it, in a clear, non-abbrasive way so as not to sound like a and end up a public enemy.

"Hatewagons" are going to form on every forum. The reason is, it's a public forum. You get the bad with the good. Luckily here at bp.net we are gifted with what I've found to be an abnormal good:bad ratio in our favor. This place is awesome, and have amazing mods/admins to keep said "hatewagons" under control and to keep the convos productive, however if the occasional hit by the "hatewagon" offends you... a public forum is probably not the best place for you.

Sorry if this is a little disorganized and hard to follow, I'm a wee bit sleepy. Had a long night studying for summer school exams! BOO!

[juddb]

how do you know what your rep is? Or if someone gave you bad rep.

[Gooseman]

Click UserCP and it's located under the threads your subscribed to. If you have a red dot, it's a neg rep, green = good!

[JLC]

Click UserCP and it's located under the threads your subscribed to. If you have a red dot, it's a neg rep, green = good!

And a grey dot means the person leaving the comment does not yet have "rep power" and therefore a point was neither added nor subtracted.

[darkangel]

Personally I think heated debates are one of the joys of belonging to a forum. No one seems too shy about expressing their personal opinions and as long as it doesn't go too far, you may come out at the end of it with a new perspective on an issue that you hadn't previously considered.