Courtesy

[LostAgain]

There have been a number of instances of posters being downright rude. Is it really necessary to be insulting?

I am sure that all most all of the written abuse would not be repeated in a face to face conversation for fear of a broken nose!

Where has the art of the tactful repose gone? Most of the people on this forum are among the educational elite, can we have a bit of decorum and greater use of the English language to put people down without being rude?

The abuse given will do nothing to encourage a greater audience or personal contribution.

[JackTheLad]

I quite agree. I have been a NopeSport reader (but not poster) for some time and have been somewhat "turned off" by some of the rude and abusive language used in discussions. I have no problem with this sort of thing in the Banter section but there is really no need for it in discussions.

The kind of abuse we have seen can only serve to discourage people from joining the sport and must certainly make people think twice about volunteering to plan/organise/help.

[old&slow]

I am glad he you raised this issue the as I have been thinking for some time along similar lines. I use several other forum and none are ever personally abusive as this one is at times. This may be acceptable in among friends under "Banter" but not elsewhere.

It is made worse when posts are anonymous but to those of us not in the know many people Logons are obscure and therefore equally anonymous. As you can see I fall under this category but I believe this is acceptable as long as I'm not offensive.

I do not feel that the line between constrictive dialog/criticism and abusive offensive comments is very hard to draw.

I believe it may be the crossing of this line that has led to the demise of the Nopesport Goodmother. I do think she also pushed the margins of acceptability however.

Given that this forum has such a wide user base now and it is so well positioned to influence the future of our sport in a positive way I believe the guidelines for its use need to be redrawn and a moderator should be empowered to remove any post which he thinks may be personally offensive.

[RJ]

Agreed.

I also feel the use of bad language is unnecessary. People often post the language with the attempt to disguise it with ***** or whatever. I cringe when I hear it spoken, and so much more so when it is written down.

There are only a limited number of posters who are abusive etc. They know who they are. Please be self-moderating... it is so much better than having a form of censorship.

[guessed]

Indeed Nopesport has reached a very credible position. The extended 'car-park' chat area is often quite constructive - and may even be influential.

But perhaps the Banter forum should be split to a separate RSS feed. That should isolate much of the unnecessary language and non-O trivia which is mixed in with the serious stuff.

[HOCOLITE]

Agree with the above. Perhaps it is an age thing. I'd find it hard to be abusive to someone I know let alone someone I don't know. I may disagree and speak out but don't think I've ever been abusive. We can all disagree ref debate between AWK and RJ, but no abuse as far as I can remember.

[bendover]

The kind of abuse we have seen can only serve to discourage people from joining the sport and must certainly make people think twice about volunteering to plan/organise/help.

agree abuse is bad. maybe i've dished some out, don't think i've been the worst..

however, being realistic, very few (if any?) non orienteers are going to find and read nopesport forums so i don't think anyone is going to be discouraged from joining the sport from what is said on here.

what will discourage people from joining the sport is controls in the wrong place, badly updated maps, unmanned finishes, brown o-suits, no razmatazz, no prizes, no banter.

the best events i have been to in the UK in the last year have been on top of this (okay there's always a few brown o-suits, i guess some people feel the need to be camouflaged in the forest).

the public image of the sport will be far more important in the long run than procrastinating about a few flippant comments on an internet forum.

[Guest]

[quote="bendover no razmatazz, no prizes, no banter.

the best events i have been to in the UK in the last year have been on top of this .[/quote]

and no-one was more prepared to do more about that than Mrs H. as you well know Ben after your banterful performance at the JK - and look what happened to her - hounded out by so-called elite like Nails, Harry and Mharky. they may have found her irritating but they didn't have to be so offensive - at least she put her money where her mouth was (so to speak)haven't seen any of the above 3 mentioned do anything to promote the sport in that regard. She's doing club development now - shouldn't imagine she'll being doing much to promote the Razz after such a vicious attack!

[SeanC]

Here's my 2p's worth.

I think there's two issues here:

a) Inapppropriate response to comments made in posts. Looks like there's a consensus on this. Personally if someone called me a (starred out description) it would make me laugh, but I used to do a job where I was regularly told to ... (starred out again). I can think of quite a few people in my club (possibly the majority) who would never use nopesport ever again if his happened to them. This can't be a good thing.

b) Negative feedback about events. This is more tricky. If I'd been the planner/organiser of the WM relays or the Scottish Champs, I would be absolutely gutted. To give up all that time and get all the negative (not necessarily abusive) feedback must be depressing - just because you made a few mistakes in the many hours of unpaid work. Having said that, the debates raised important issues and will hopefully improve standards. Does it put people off planning/organising/controlling? Probably.

Maybe it's the nature of forums that unprompted positive feedback is rare? Maybe we need more positive feedback on Nopesport to balence things out.

So here we go... thanks to Bohdan, the planner/organiser of the Saxons local at Igtham a few weeks back: nice start, well planned courses which went through the best bits of a lovely forest and an excellent car park (next to a pub).

[Ant W]

and no-one was more prepared to do more about that than Mrs H. as you well know Ben after your banterful performance at the JK - and look what happened to her - hounded out by so-called elite like Nails, Harry and Mharky. they may have found her irritating but they didn't have to be so offensive - at least she put her money where her mouth was (so to speak)haven't seen any of the above 3 mentioned do anything to promote the sport in that regard. She's doing club development now - shouldn't imagine she'll being doing much to promote the Razz after such a vicious attack!

Have I missed something? Where did this "vicious attack" occur?

[Guest]

On a forum that was eventually moderated so you can't read it now!

[Ant W]

And I thought I spent too much time here - I clearly don't spend enough!

If Mrs H has left us, that's sad. I've always enjoyed her posts...

[pyrat]

It was "eventually" moderated because the debate was rife as to whether it should be. But luckily we came to our senses and removed the unacceptable behaviour.

[Carnage Head]

Are there any clear guidelines on what constitutes an acceptable comment? Or are contributors left to see how far they can go, before they are blocked?

Also, I missed the Mrs H exchange that led to her being excluded (?). Could someone please provide a potted history?

And, for a nopesport novice like myslef, how about a rundown of other postings that have been deemed to be OTT (but with the names removed)? This would be good, for two reasons:

1 It would help contributors 'know their limits'.
2 It would satisfy nosey people like me.

BTW I like the idea of using this forum to thank people/clubs (as I have done myself). Encore!

[Lumpy Lycra]

Moderation is never going to be instant, and cannot undo any offence - deliberate or otherwise - given to the target or to those reading it, or the damage to the wider reputation of Nopesport. That is not intended as a criticism of moderators, more to underline the need for "self-moderation" - outside the banter forum in particular.