There has been considerable complaint of late about the moderating team and our practices from several quarters. There has likewise from these quarters been a distressingly common tendency to focus on personalities and to attack individuals and forum members - treating them with disrespect. (Note this is not siding with either side - both have behaved disgracefully in some instances)
Frankly this behaviour turns propertytalk from a valuable discussion forum into a kindergarden - and not a very fun one.
In the interests of cleaning things up, we are taking the action of removing several posts on several threads that have been deemed to be damaging to the good natured discussion that we aim to foster on Propertytalk.
Any posts containing personal attacks on forum members or others will be removed in their entirety from now on (we have in the past aimed to edit these posts - we shall do so no longer). And at the moderators discretion the individual posting the personal attack will be added to the watchlist. This includes making sniping comments, throwaway jokes and derisive implications.
This does not mean that you cannot be critical or ask questions of a company's or person's actions or activities - however you need to provide evidence for critical comments, and make them in a civil, well mannered fashion. Making allegations without providing evidence is inappropriate. Robust questioning conducted appropriately is permitted - since this is a property discussion forum the discussion of property related companies and personalities are a fair topic of discussion - as long as it is conducted well.
Likewise, these comments ought to be made in an appropriate place (ie by starting a new thread) rather than derailing a thread on another topic.
As I noted above there has been a distressing tendency to moan publicly about moderation and the moderators - both because we (according to some folk) over moderate and (according to some folk) under moderate. While we appreciate that this is a public forum and there is some reasonable scope for discussing what we want our community to be like, and this includes how and what we moderate we would appreciate it if you had the courtesy to raise concerns first via PM and give the moderators some time to respond. And given that these posts usually derail the conversation in the original thread where the moderation occurred if made in there, or in a fashion that breaks other rules of PT (ie contains obscenity or personal attacks, threats) these posts will often be removed. While we endeavour to reasonably explain and justify our actions - ultimately we are the final arbitrator and if you aren't happy with that, we suggest you find a different forum with different rules.
This also goes for if you feel that a post is inappropriate rather than reacting to it in the forums please report the post stating clearly which rules it breaks and which aspects of it breaks those rules.
We are also aiming to clean up the usage of inappropriate language on the forums - these are a public space, and while you might be happy with obscenities - many aren't.
We will shortly be introducing a new points based system of moderation where posters who break the forum rules will automatically be given points, and when enough of these are accumulated they will be watchlisted or banned. Hopefully this new system will encourage those of you who cannot play nice to either shape up or to be frank ship out.
The Moderating Team
Frankly this behaviour turns propertytalk from a valuable discussion forum into a kindergarden - and not a very fun one.
In the interests of cleaning things up, we are taking the action of removing several posts on several threads that have been deemed to be damaging to the good natured discussion that we aim to foster on Propertytalk.
Any posts containing personal attacks on forum members or others will be removed in their entirety from now on (we have in the past aimed to edit these posts - we shall do so no longer). And at the moderators discretion the individual posting the personal attack will be added to the watchlist. This includes making sniping comments, throwaway jokes and derisive implications.
This does not mean that you cannot be critical or ask questions of a company's or person's actions or activities - however you need to provide evidence for critical comments, and make them in a civil, well mannered fashion. Making allegations without providing evidence is inappropriate. Robust questioning conducted appropriately is permitted - since this is a property discussion forum the discussion of property related companies and personalities are a fair topic of discussion - as long as it is conducted well.
Likewise, these comments ought to be made in an appropriate place (ie by starting a new thread) rather than derailing a thread on another topic.
As I noted above there has been a distressing tendency to moan publicly about moderation and the moderators - both because we (according to some folk) over moderate and (according to some folk) under moderate. While we appreciate that this is a public forum and there is some reasonable scope for discussing what we want our community to be like, and this includes how and what we moderate we would appreciate it if you had the courtesy to raise concerns first via PM and give the moderators some time to respond. And given that these posts usually derail the conversation in the original thread where the moderation occurred if made in there, or in a fashion that breaks other rules of PT (ie contains obscenity or personal attacks, threats) these posts will often be removed. While we endeavour to reasonably explain and justify our actions - ultimately we are the final arbitrator and if you aren't happy with that, we suggest you find a different forum with different rules.
This also goes for if you feel that a post is inappropriate rather than reacting to it in the forums please report the post stating clearly which rules it breaks and which aspects of it breaks those rules.
We are also aiming to clean up the usage of inappropriate language on the forums - these are a public space, and while you might be happy with obscenities - many aren't.
We will shortly be introducing a new points based system of moderation where posters who break the forum rules will automatically be given points, and when enough of these are accumulated they will be watchlisted or banned. Hopefully this new system will encourage those of you who cannot play nice to either shape up or to be frank ship out.
The Moderating Team
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