Forum Conduct Comment

[CatmanV2]

Of course. You and I are patently excluded!

Typical leftpondian

C

 

[Felonious Crud]

I try and stay out of these things but surely there are better places to discuss highly emotive, contentious, serious and negative issues other than a Maserati forum. Off topic is great place to raise light hearted funny topics, general advice or other non Maserati topics, but surely other social media is more suited to solving deeply serious political conspiracy theories for example. We’re all different of course but personally I come here to escape the depressing and corrupt media, learn about car stuff, get help, give help and have a bit of fun with people who love a cool car brand called Maserati. Others are clearly looking for something far more deep and meaningful which seems to be causing the recent heat.

100% with you on that. You nailed it. A forum with a broad variety of topics, advice banter, humour and camaraderie. And car stuff. Lots of car stuff. It's what's draw us all here in the first place, after all.

 

[Scaf]

Personally is not the subject to be discussed thats the problem, it’s certain people’s inability to engage in civilised and constructive debate, all too often people chuck insults at each other.

 

[philw696]

For me personally I find it hard when a long standing car enthusiast and personal friend of mine gets banned for allegedly bringing the forum into disrepute.
Puts a bad taste in my mouth as I know I'm far from perfect but I know I have never bullied or abused anyone on here and continually offer technical advice to many from my years of automotive experience.
Phil.

 

[drellis]

Its maybe more of a problem than a few years ago as more people, including myself, have less of a tolerance before we get ratty, or even leave the forum. I feel covid, ukraine, cost of living has an effect on most of us psychologically. Im not excusing those who go too far, but maybe people try and bear in mind what affect risky comments might have on others.

 

[c4sman]

Personally is not the subject to be discussed thats the problem, it’s certain people’s inability to engage in civilised and constructive debate, all too often people chuck insults at each other.

I think this is a great objective, however I just don’t believe it stands up in the real world and not deliberately. I work in a big corporation and we always advise our teams to avoid discussing challenging topics on email. Reason? Interpretation of the written word is super difficult as it depends on variables outside of the authors control such as the mood of the reader, and the authors judgement of what is and isn’t okay for how to land a point. People also tend to exhibit less empathy behind a keyboard than they do face to face due to the signs we give each other from body language and facial expressions in person. That’s one of the reasons I believe social media can be so toxic and things quickly escalate out of control and become more polarised.

That’s why on a car forum I believe it’s best to steer clear of the non car related heavier topics. Just a personal opinion of course!

 

[CatmanV2]

Interpretation of the written word is super difficult as it depends on variables outside of the authors control such as the mood of the reader, and the authors judgement of what is and isn’t okay for how to land a point. People also tend to exhibit less empathy behind a keyboard than they do face to face due to the signs we give each other from body language and facial expressions in person. That’s one of the reasons I believe social media can be so toxic and things quickly escalate out of control and become more polarised.

<virtual coconut> (if that's not going to be over polarising)

C

 

[c4sman]

<virtual coconut> (if that's not going to be over polarising)

C

Embarrassingly I’m too dumb to know what a virtual coconut means on the interweb so don’t know what reaction emoji to react with (laughing/shocked/angry/loving it) delete as appropriate

 

[Felonious Crud]

Embarrassingly I’m too dumb to know what a virtual coconut means on the interweb so don’t know what reaction emoji to react with (laughing/shocked/angry/loving it) delete as appropriate

That makes two of us.

It also means you're calling me dumb, so now I'm deeply offended.

Where will this insanity end!

 

[happydaze]

That makes two of us.

It also means you're calling me dumb, so now I'm deeply offended.

Where will this insanity end!

Same here.

That also mean you're calling me insane, so now I'm deeply offended!

Dear Oh Dear...

 

[rockits]

Luckily there isn't much you can say these days that offends me personally or that I care that much about. So that is less of a complication

 

[Swedish Paul]

I'll continue to beat the drum that it's got to be more about the how than the what. Yes, I agree that some topics aren't even fit for debate, of any kind...the earth is, in fact, round. But if people can be respectful; not call names; apologize when a comment gives offense, and similar, I think it goes a long way. I wonder how some folks make their way through life with a total lack of self-awareness...but it's apparently done all the time. You can even be President of the United States!

And it seems like it would be easier to police actual conduct than it would be topics of conversation. I may be naive, but I bet I could pick 40 people on this forum and an incredibly contentious topic...and those 40 could conduct themselves in an appropriate manner while debating the matter, so long as the ground rules were laid out in advance.

Or maybe not!

You are so wrong. The earth is flat, otherwise my car would roll away.

 

[happydaze]

I can't remember ever taking a fence.

Although a couple of times I 'touched' the Armco...

 

[Saigon]

Your forum, your call. I’m not particularly interested in the contentious stuff but the line where it starts is different for different people and if you get too restrictive then more people may drift away than you expect. Anyway there are lots of long established members including mods who post on a whole variety of topics including the hot stuff.

There is a high chance that it will become a chat room for 40 or so mates but I suspect you know that already. Best of luck with it.

Let’s be honest, It has already become a chat room for mates and has been for a considerable length of time. That in its self, has put many people off, additionally it’s an outlet for moaning, groaning, complaining and don’t forget the boasting. Not to mention those jumping on the bandwagon when some minor comment upsets the woke society, you know who you are and you are not helping things either. I see very little technical help or advice on the forum. More of look how large my cigar is, I’ve been a mechanic for X amount of years, I got up this morning and might go to work after I have emptied the cats litter tray, and so on. It’s not a car forum, it’s a general forum, where cars (irrespective of make) are included.

 

[CatmanV2]

Embarrassingly I’m too dumb to know what a virtual coconut means on the interweb so don’t know what reaction emoji to react with (laughing/shocked/angry/loving it) delete as appropriate

That makes two of us.

Give the man a coconut!

Clearly it's on line, so it has to be a virtual one.

C

 

[doodlebug]

Generally I agree with most of the sentiments on here regarding censorship and it is true that it does occasionally get unnecessarily heated on some of the more contentious topics.

However, unless I'm mistaken, wasn't SM formed because of some general disagreement about the excessive censorship in the earlier UK Maserati forum?

I'd hate to see the formation of another splinter group. We lost a wealth of information and experience when the original group closed down and I really don't want the same to happen again.

 

[Corranga]

It’s not about censorship though is it, it’s about the forum and what’s best for it.

The argument that censoring topics means the forum will become a small group of chums when everyone is driven away clearly ignores that highly continuous and polarising topics being rammed down everyone’s throat makes the place seem volatile and aggressive. That drives away a whole other group and also means that new folk are less likely to join or leave quickly.

Moderation is always needed online as people have a habit of forgetting the 2 most basic rules when posing online:

1. Don’t post something you wouldn’t say face to face.
2. Freedom of speech did not over rule other’s freedom not to listen.

The first rule is why meet ups generally work.
The second rule doesn’t mean “just scroll past it” is the solution, it means, don’t post the same old thing 25 times when it seems other people aren’t listening to you.

 

[c4sman]

Give the man a coconut!

Clearly it's on line, so it has to be a virtual one.

C

Doh!

 

[Bebs]

More of look how large my cigar is

They’ve actually mostly been Petit Coronas, and that’s nothing to boast about

 

[Gooner]

FWIW @conaero is spot on in my view. Personally I’d be quite happy if there were only 2 or 3 posts a day, if they were just about the cars. More would be better of course.

The friendly chat between mates is OK, I can skip past that. Swerving around the mildly sexist and homophobic banter and the constant rolled eye comments about ‘woke’ etc. gets tiresome to be honest. That’s before you get to the so called contentious topics.

I feel like I’ve got Maserati in common with people on the forum, but at times it seems not a lot else. That’s fine, I could go somewhere else, except that this is the only Maserati forum worth being on and has some really friendly, helpful and knowledgeable members that I’d like to stay in touch with.