SM off topic content

conaero

Forum Owner
Messages
34,593
As the title suggests and with the aim to keep everyone happy, the mods are currently in discussion regarding the recent surge of off topic red top type content.

Over moderation has never been our ethos, we prefer members to self moderate and know where the line is and it’s worked very well thus far.

We accept that this is an alfa male dominated forum which is driven by our choice of car but maybe it’s time to pause and take breath.

The Scofield thread case in point. No finger pointing at the author by the way.

SM has a very wide global following thus people from all religions and persuasions.

So I would like you all to give us feedback to retain this places fun and friendly community.

The first persuasion is the male vs female. There are ladies present but they refrain from posting so we need to think about that. If men where on a female dominated type forum and there was posts of chaps with their shirts off you would probably get the hump.

Same goes for sexual persuasion, religion, race etc...

So to tackle this in our usual open and fair way, the moderators look forward to your feedback.

If you feel your feedback may offend, PM me.

Thank you.
 

rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
Personally my take is all threads should be allowed to be started and discussed. Then moderated or closed if it gets too heated or one sided or just there for a bashing. We don't have a history of issues and self
regulate quite well. Not many threads have been closed.

There should be caveats to this though as some topics should clearly never be allowed and shut down immediately. Most on here are different to many of the PH brigade in that we are.generally decent, intelligent, caring and thoughtful human beings. Therefore less issues to start with.

I don't really care much for the Schofield story as just am not interested. It doesn't affect me, I'm not involved or related to any party so what has gone on or goes on is no concern of mine. I don't have an opinion and even if I did it is pointless. They only important opinions are with the people involved only IMHO.

It is great and I have excercised this a bit on here to have some intelligent open discussion on many subjects not just cars. Increased awareness and discussion on mental health especially in these often alpha male environments should be encouraged and applauded. As should many other topics and discussion. If we can talk more about things, be more open and discuss more it has to be a good thing. As they say a problem shared is a problem halved.

Each will have their own opinion of course as that also should be encouraged.

I have no real interest in what any celebrity does. I just don't care really. However others might so each to their own. Needless to say I won't be an avid contributor to these type of thread anyway.

I do get your point though as Twitter and many other public social media of this type is not a good thing in my opinion. It is low rent,.low quality, high traffic tosh. There is no depth, thought or meaning to much I am sure that gets touted. I am not on many of these platforms so can't say for sure but that is my feeling.

In essence I am not sure we should ban the discussion of these type of topics. If I want to read and participate I will. If not I will if ignore. It isn't burning my eyes out and I won't lose any sleep.
 

CatmanV2

Member
Messages
48,539
I tend to agree with Dean. I think the current system works very well (cf the Brexit thread and others). If there's a little too much red top type content, I can't say I'd particularly noticed.
Of course the other question is where would you draw the line? Philip Schofield comes out is not acceptable but what if he'd admitted mental health issues?

C
 

iainw

Member
Messages
3,386
Personally my take is all threads should be allowed to be started and discussed. Then moderated or closed if it gets too heated or one sided or just there for a bashing. We don't have a history of issues and self
regulate quite well. Not many threads have been closed.

There should be caveats to this though as some topics should clearly never be allowed and shut down immediately. Most on here are different to many of the PH brigade in that we are.generally decent, intelligent, caring and thoughtful human beings. Therefore less issues to start with.

I don't really care much for the Schofield story as just am not interested. It doesn't affect me, I'm not involved or related to any party so what has gone on or goes on is no concern of mine. I don't have an opinion and even if I did it is pointless. They only important opinions are with the people involved only IMHO.

It is great and I have excercised this a bit on here to have some intelligent open discussion on many subjects not just cars. Increased awareness and discussion on mental health especially in these often alpha male environments should be encouraged and applauded. As should many other topics and discussion. If we can talk more about things, be more open and discuss more it has to be a good thing. As they say a problem shared is a problem halved.

Each will have their own opinion of course as that also should be encouraged.

I have no real interest in what any celebrity does. I just don't care really. However others might so each to their own. Needless to say I won't be an avid contributor to these type of thread anyway.

I do get your point though as Twitter and many other public social media of this type is not a good thing in my opinion. It is low rent,.low quality, high traffic tosh. There is no depth, thought or meaning to much I am sure that gets touted. I am not on many of these platforms so can't say for sure but that is my feeling.

In essence I am not sure we should ban the discussion of these type of topics. If I want to read and participate I will. If not I will if ignore. It isn't burning my eyes out and I won't lose any sleep.
I agree with dean- especially the part about the forum mods retaining the right to close the thread or delete posts. Although many people’s opinions may differ- the vast majority of the threads seems to include balanced opinion and individuals actually seem to end up agreeing on some points that they didn’t before. The more ‘moderated’ discussion there is, the better in many respects. Repressed opinions has caused so much isolation and pain for many different groups in the past.
 

philw696

Member
Messages
25,113
A very interesting topic on the subject.

As the perpetrator of these threads I only ever do it tongue in cheek and no offence meant to anyone.

What I will say for someone who has now lived in France for over a year that far toxic things have been said about the French on here of which I can say was very offensive especially around last year's Le Man's.

Me personally as a bit of a middle-aged Hippy with an openly Gay brother for many years and I'm the oldest of 8 boys so you can imagine how hard that was for him I Love everyone x
 

Andyk

Member
Messages
61,038
I would like to see the forum have a more diverse audience. As you say Matt we are mainly a male dominated forum and this will continue while we are become a tits and **** forum....I'm not having a go at the threads or anyone that has posted as I like things of beauty as much as the next person but it's just an observation. While we are getting deeper into this side we will only ever be a male orientated forum and this is 2020 not 1970. Again I am not having a go at anyone just my thoughts. I also like the fact that we have so many great characters on the forum with diverse tastes and views...Its what makes this forum great.
 

Silvercat

Member
Messages
1,166
I would like to see the forum have a more diverse audience. As you say Matt we are mainly a male dominated forum and this will continue while we are become a tits and **** forum....I'm not having a go at the threads or anyone that has posted as I like things of beauty as much as the next person but it's just an observation. While we are getting deeper into this side we will only ever be a male orientated forum and this is 2020 not 1970. Again I am not having a go at anyone just my thoughts. I also like the fact that we have so many great characters on the forum with diverse tastes and views...Its what makes this forum great.
So what was wrong with the Benny Hill Show?:rofl5:;)
 

JonW

Member
Messages
3,259
Interesting read, and I like the fact that as a forum we are open to discussing it...

I may get criticised for this, but I have to admit that, occasionally, I find some of the pictures of women to be poor taste... it doesn’t stop me participating in the forum, but it does make me wince a little, and think, really, we’re in the 21st century now...

I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything on here that is really offensive though, so I’m not sure what the answer to this is, other than maybe to suggest people think about what they are posting and whether others might be put off by it?
 

zagatoes30

Member
Messages
20,758
Forums are all about the contributors, and I think this is one of the best balanced forums I have ever been on. There are odd threads where I raise an eye brow but even those are controlled and managed respectively. There are now some threads I can't open in the office but I generally know where these are and avoid accordingly. However I can see newbies may struggle to grasp the context of some threads, those of us who have been around know the people whose comments are tongue in cheek and take that into account.


Some of the thread drifts here are great, people share opinions on much more than just cars and that is because I think most of us consider each other as friends even though many of us have never met.
 
Last edited:

Felonious Crud

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
21,011
I may get criticised for this, but I have to admit that, occasionally, I find some of the pictures of women to be poor taste... it doesn’t stop me participating in the forum, but it does make me wince a little, and think, really, we’re in the 21st century now...

No criticism from me, Jon. I've actually stopped looking at the forum if I'm somewhere where someone can see over my shoulder because it's embarrassing if some gratuitous picture of a half-naked woman suddenly appears.

PS - it's not that I'm unappreciative of the female form, you understand.
 
Last edited:

Marco07

Member
Messages
373
I'm with JonW on this. Well put.

I would like to think that as responsible adults we can self-regulate. I’d go further and say that administrator intervention should be an absolute last resort and that us rank and file members should make the administrators jobs simple and easy.

I really only contribute to the car (and bike) related topics and try to be generous with my comments and would simply urge people to think about how their contributions might unintentionally offend.
 

rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
I agree with most and with most things in life that it is all about balance. I understand Jon your view and do wince a little sometimes same as Andy but it doesn't offend at all.

I keep an open mind about most things and for me this is key. Many of our forebears lack this openness of mind and this is where some issues can occur I feel. It is 2020 and not 1970 but I think we have good balance. I don't see an overbearing amount of t1ts and **** so don't have an issue. I think if there was too much imbalance yes I too would have some issue but I think we have it pretty good.

The only obvious overbearing imbalance should be of course towards the cars
 
Last edited:

Felonious Crud

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
21,011
Oh, as for the Philip Schofield thread, good luck to him. There were some pretty ignorant and offensive comments on there, but I ignored them. If other people enjoy them, crack on.
 

Oneball

Member
Messages
11,071
I’ve never been particularly offended by anything on here although perhaps some post are close to the line but it’s nothing like most other forums. I’d like to think I’ve never posted anything anyone found offensive but I’d also like to think if I did someone would say.

I joined here for the cars and am sure I would do so again. Irrespective of off topic meanderings this place is far more helpful and to the point in car topics than most other forums.
 

sionie1

Member
Messages
1,310
I was going to reply, however Rockits summed it up, so x2 for his comments. As for new members I’m sure they do join for the cars, however as many of you live near/ have been on trips together there’s always going to be an element in in jokes etc. I’ve never felt excluded because of that. I contribute when and where I can, and if a thread is going off piste I self moderate and dip out.
 

Ewan

Member
Messages
6,756
I tend to choose not to participate in non-Maserati based threads, though I do enjoy reading the others and can find humour in the occasional non-PC comments. If the threads were more tightly moderated I’d probably find it a little dull, but maybe I’m thicker skinned and mentally tougher than some. I put it down to all those years of boarding school and rugby changing room ”banter”.

Overall I’d say I’m happy with the current content/balance. But if others think differently, that’s fine by me.
 

zagatoes30

Member
Messages
20,758
Keep it coming....

One further thing to consider is new members. They join for the cars. Are they being put off posting?

Is there an option for Newbies to have reduced access initially? Not quite sure how as strange topics appear in all areas on occasion but might be worth some thought.

I wasn't overly sure when I first joined but I was quickly made welcome and have become use to the characters on here and their foibles ;)