Are you satisfied with how the forum is being moderated?

[gaius]

We need Jordus IRL identity of course, but once we have it we certainly can do more than squat.

====== IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ======

In celebration of the glory and prosperity that is abundant throughout the magnificent Forums of Life in Nineteen By Nineteen, I have been given, through the hands of the Party of Everlasting Freedom, the privilege of announcing a new system, that will safeguard our ever-present creative energy and spirit, and end once and for all the rampant practices of Trolls, Criminals, and other Undesirable Elements that have, untill now, so negligently been tolerated by the corrupted elite of moderators! We shall call it... the TRIAS POLITICA!

• On the First Level, there will be a democratically elected Council of Law, which decides upon the Forum Laws and Regulations. They will represent the ordinary denizens of the Forum, who have so far been suffering so heavily under its regrettable mismanagement. In celebration of this, truly anyone who is an approved member of the Party of Everlasting Freedom will be able to vote! Furthermore any and all members who have been pre-approved by the Commission of Candidacy can run in the 4-yearly elections for this prestigious board!
  
• On the Second Level, a select number of powerful individuals, so-called Moderators will ensure the orderly execution of all pre-approved Forum Laws and Regulations. None shall escape their attention!
  
• Finally, on the Third And Last Level, we will put our trust in the righteous hands of none less than the mighty Helel. As the Chair and Only Member of the Forum's High Court of Justice, he will thoroughly examine the cases of anyone whose behaviour is dubious. If any are found to have acted in Violation of the Democratically Instituted Forum Laws and Regulations, he himself will find the IRL identities of ALL that disobey. Through his hands, they shall suffer, until through the righteous torment of Justice, even the most rebellious of miscreants will Repent.

Thus shall the Party of Everlasting Freedom create a new state of everlasting well-being, in which there is no more misery, no more poverty, and most importantly - no more trolling! I trust that all of these measures will be rapidly put in place. They will improve the lives not of the arrogant present-day elite Moderators in their ivory towers, but of the common citizens like all of us, who are now toiling away day by day on our posts - and for what reward? Never more will there be needless moderation, or negligence where powerful action is needed!

Now join the Revolution! For Freedom! For Freedom! For Freedom!

Humbly, this insignificant servant of the Party thanks any and all who read all the way to the end of this piece of cr*p for their wasted attention. The precious minutes that you just spent in reading this post are now gone for ever and ever in the mists of time.

====== END OF ANNOUNCEMENT ======

[Marcus]

You took four minutes of my life and I want them back! Oh, I'd only waste them anyway.

[Joaz Banbeck]

... we will put our trust in the righteous hands of none less than the mighty Helel....

Does this mean that Helel will actually read the TOS?

[quantumf]

OK, I'll leave if you want. Many a true word is spoken in jest.

It is unusual, though not unheard of, for Mr. Fairbairn to go over a week without a post...

I suspect that most readers here ignore the "like" button, the rest, save a precious few, underuse it.

Mr. Fairbairn's 178 "likes" are the tip of a Titanic of an iceberg.

Now been six weeks

[Marcus]

Yes, I'm curious what Mr. Fairbairn is up to lately, and I miss his posts.

[TMark]

John is rather busy on a number of book projects and decided to reduce the amount of time he was spending here. I agree it is rather a pity, but you will be gaining on the swings what you are losing on the roundabouts, because it means more goes into the GoGoD Database and Encyclopaedia and, specifically, into the books he is writing. One point should be made, though. He rarely does things from pique; he felt that his postings had been "moderated" rather drastically, complained somewhat, and then saw the poll and felt that if people were satisfied with the methods he disagreed with, and considering the further comments about his preference for British English, he could spend his time more profitably elsewhere. He may return when the pressures on his time are reduced; at my last meeting with him he was speculating whether he would be able to get as many as four books published next year, provided the publisher was willing. That is rather a hectic timetable and does not take in his free-lance work, family and baseball trips.

Best wishes.

[John Fairbairn]

A message was passed to me this weekend, presumably as a result of the post above, that if I "felt inclined" to return to the forum the moderators would take action to ensure (as I understand it) that they fully respect the language and modes of expression of non-Americans like myself.

Although that in itself wasn't actually the sticking point, and I can't honestly say I am filled with any special inclination, it would seem ungracious not to respond. The real disappointment for me was that very many people supported the moderator's actions (according to a poll), and some even pitched in to call me a troll, to try some amateur psychoanalysis of me, or to try unsubtle jokes. I have no quibble with the right of readers to do all these things, and worse, but like everyone else I have no actual need to be here, and I can easily find other things to do than to be an Aunt Sally when it seems that **a very large proportion** of readers appear to want to try the coconut shy.

It has been suggested to me that I misread the poll. Maybe. I am planning later this evening to post a couple of things that I would have posted in the normal run of things. I'll see how that goes as regards continuing, but I also plan to be wary. Please don't read into that any wish by me to deny anyone else the urge to disagree with me or criticise me, or to expose my own prejudices and ignorance. But if I am to use a noticeable portion of my time, I do wish to feel that I am on the same wavelength as most of the other people in the room with me. I had had that feeling before, and it was learning that I was apparently wrong that irked me so much.

To the person above who asked for a book on shogi tesujis, I haven't done it in book form but I covered this topic at book length in SHOGI magazine, and I believe most issues are still available. Some people may not know that George Hodges, who established shogi in the west, passed away in August 2010. His wife Angela is continuing to sell off the still considerable stock. If anyone **genuinely** wants to buy shogi books, magazines or equipment (including all the shogi variants), send me a PM (I will temporarily turn on my forum mail link) and I will pass your message or address to Angie.

[Joaz Banbeck]

A message was passed to me this weekend, presumably as a result of the post above, that if I "felt inclined" to return to the forum the moderators would take action to ensure (as I understand it) that they fully respect the language and modes of expression of non-Americans like myself....

I was the mod referred to above, and, as promised, I just now changed the 'naughty words' file so that posters can use the word 'ass'. Welcome back, Mr. Fairbairn.

[daniel_the_smith]

... I can easily find other things to do than to be an Aunt Sally when it seems that **a very large proportion** of readers appear to want to try the coconut shy.

I have no idea what that means but I'm very glad to see you back

Ah, and I'm glad to hear Joaz has uninvited the donkeys, that was very strange. If a word is really worthy of being in the "naughty words" file (a futile endeavor in my mind, but whatever) it ought to be replaced with something that makes it clear what happened...

[TMark]

A message was passed to me this weekend, presumably as a result of the post above, that if I "felt inclined" to return to the forum the moderators would take action to ensure (as I understand it) that they fully respect the language and modes of expression of non-Americans like myself....

I was the mod referred to above, and, as promised, I just now changed the 'naughty words' file so that posters can use the word 'ass'. Welcome back, Mr. Fairbain.

Fairbairn!

Best wishes.

[Joaz Banbeck]

... "naughty words" ... a futile endeavor in my mind...

It may futile. I don't know.

It certainly was never intended to be a cure-all for abrasive posters. That is indeed futile, if not counterproductive ( I can recall the furor that arose when AOL censored the word 'breast' and inadvertently shut down the breast cancer survivors group. It was more disruptive than the porn that it was trying to prevent. )

Rather than a cure-all, the 'naughty words' file is intended to be one of a handful of tools that admins have to prevent disruption of the forums. Its primary virtue is that it is online 24/7, unlike the admins who cannot scan every post. It is intended to blunt the otherwise offensive words of the occasional poster who is acting rashly, and to slow the escalating fight that ensues as the offended parties counter-post.

It is sort of like the auto-stop mechanism on a runaway elevator, stupid but quick, and always on duty. It does its job, which presumably prevents things from getting worse really fast, and then leaves the more subtle corrective decisions - if any - to those with more intelligence and discretion.

I don't mind taking the stairs occasionally if it ensures that I never get splattered in the basement.

[John Fairbairn]

Please be careful. This is starting again to make it sound like I want to use "naughty words". My many posts show that that is not my style. The whole point of my beef was that in British English ass is a "funny word" rather than a naughty one. We have our own naughty equivalent, which I never use, even in speech.

I got mixed messages as to whether ass is objectionable in American English. Since it appears to be so to some people, I intend to avoid it here in future.

In fact, I have no objection to the idea of a naughty words file in principle, but it's tough to make it work internationally.

[hyperpape]

The data is a bit scarce, but I thought it sounded quite a bit more like they were wandering into an abstract discussion of the merits of naughty word policies, not trying to comment on your use of funny words.

[daniel_the_smith]

Yes, what hyperpape said.

Also, I don't really think "ass" is a very naughty word very many places anymore.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I heard that in British English "naughty" is a pretty serious charge. Here in the states "naughty" is sort of a joking way to phrase things, so "naughty word list" is sort of humorous way to say things.

And I certainly didn't mean to insinuate that I thought you (John) were violating some sort of decent language barrier or something, so hopefully it didn't sound that way...

[Marcus]

Putting aside linguistic discussions, welcome back, John! While I may rarely add commentary to your posts, I do thoroughly enjoy the great substance of your posts.

A side note, your short sabbatical from the forum here prompted me to check out your book "Invitation to Go". I enjoyed the read, and my wife (who is not really very interested in Go) also read through it and found it enjoyable. I should look up to see if they have any others of your writings.