let me go git my gun ! now who'll do the honors for me?

Make it a head shot, and don't miss!

well, I have been here a while now, and talked on the forums a lot. I have seen the shifts from overly active, to near dead. I've seen the fights and the bickering and the unneeded rudeness. The topics have gone from some interesting in depth ones to the same people posting the same thing every hour about texting and what not. I've talked to people who've said they dislike the forums because of the cattiness that can be seen here at times. I try and stay out of those posts, I read them, but I do try and not post on them, for one reason: I dislike being involved in drama. I'd love to see the older more in-depth posts revived. Just like the silly jokes and 'party' posts are fun. I truly think we need the mixture here. But I do think we need to be less afraid to voice opinions, we also need to remember there is a difference between voicing an opinion, disagreeing with an opinion and attacking others. That last part has been a major issue, things start out good, then someone says something, maybe not meaning for it to be taking wrong and suddenly it's a b*tch fight. I honestly think we all need to just take a step back, and think before posting. If you disagree, take a moment to think of a respectful way to say so. If you think someone is lying about something, maybe you should PM them instead of putting it out there in the public eye. Just some thoughts I've had for some time now.

I am the only one who can close down a thread, so can you please give me an example of a thread I closed that you think kept people from speaking their minds?

What do you mean by "the conversation went pm" ?

I'm not sure which thread you're referring to, but just so I understand the difference between "now" and "then", are you saying a type of insightful thread like that is more difficult "now" because people get "jumped on" and it quickly gets personal?

Well, that kind of attack would be against our rules and deserving of an infraction, yet no one reported it and this is the first I hear of it. Personal attacks are the #1 killer of any kind of stimulating discussion since they feed retribution, that's why we have the rules in place to deter users from getting "personal" so that the discussion can thrive in a respectful environment. But to crack down on that, I really need everyone to report every instance of it so people realize it's just not worth it because their temp bans will only get longer and longer.

OK, so if I understand you correctly, you're saying the issue is that you feel nowadays users are afraid to speak their minds so the discussion has gotten to politically-correct? If that's the case, then what do you think is the root cause of that? Feel free to be brutally honest.

miss?!? pshaw! I am a country gal, we don't miss!

Get em Ms. Oakley!

The whole point of the stricter rules and infraction system was precisely to reduce those personal attacks, yet from what you're saying, it doesn't seem to be working very well. What do you think we can do to minimize personal attacks?

(Folks, I'm heading off for a couple of hours, but will read everything you guys write and reply as soon as I get back.)

I agree. @ram now i see what you were talkin about with forum mods. Im glad thats not going to happen anytime soon. You both are right and ive noticed it.you cant say ANYTHING without someone (not those of us that are old regulars you know who you are) getting butthurt. People are takeing things way to personally. Since ive been back there have been some decent forum threads and its...slightly more active then when i left. But the insights are the same. I THINK there really should be some sort of..idk incentive for posting to get more members involved in the forums. More people means more insight means more debate/}
interesting threads. Idk just my 2 sense

i meant closed down as in discussion stopped...'went pm' means conversation continued private message or text...and yes that is exactly what I meant about now and then, and i thought i HAD reported that post...

also. I to am guilty of bashing but i dont take it to pm. Im not afraid to speak my mind. We are all adults. We should have the maturity level as such. And most of us do.