Hold up hold up hold up!!!

I live here in America. Here is America we have this little thing called FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

Okay, now with that in mind we also have freedom in choice.

And with THAT in mind, why is it that this forum is so over moderated with threats of locking threads and deleting posts and everything? I agree I haven't been in the "mix" of things lately but I do have the right to speak my mind and I do choose whether or not to participate in those particular posts. I think that everyone in the questioned threads had a right to speak, whether they agreed or disagreed. I think that when you post a thread, you are opening it up to everyone. I think that when you have a thread, it is no longer "yours" but the becomes a part of the overall dynamic of the group. I do agree that some comments were nasty and uncalled for, but I also believe that everyone has a right to speak. Just because one person gets offended, then DON'T read that post (see freedom of choice above).

I think that nilly willy locking a thread because you have been queened or kinged as a moderator is ridiculous. I think a thread should only be locked if it is blatant advertising crap. Otherwise, let it ride. By not dealing with the problems and comments that doesn't SOLVE the issue, it lets it fester on other threads. Let people talk it out back and forth. Is it bickering? Sure it is, but we are a majority of women in this group, so isn't it a bit expected? Women have to hash it out to be done with it.

I think it is all getting taken too seriously.

Let people speak!!! (see above freedom of speech) Good bad and ugly.

There, I have said my 2 cents. Now feel free to come to THIS thread and say what you will because this is MY thread I have donated to THIS group, which makes it OURS.

I stay out of things like this as a rule, but I own several messageboards and have dealt with civil unrest on some of them before, a lot of unrest on one in particular, so I can see both sides of the story. So posting as a messageboard owner... (as a user/bandster, I'm still staying out of this stuff because none of it has anything to do with why I personally come here, and opinions really are like assholes).

So wearing the hat of board owner...

Messageboard users see the resource provided as "their" resource, without realizing that in all actuality, it's personal property. It's a public resource, privately funded, and in personal property. Someone owns this board. We're just guests. The house analogy above is very accurate. And contrary to what a lot of people think, messageboards are not democracies. Just as users voice the opinion that they have a right to free speech, the admin/mods have the right to delete, edit, ban. Sometimes you can forget that you're the guest, and act according to the rules you keep in your own house, until the person who pays the mortgage has to ask you to take your cigarette outside.

To the best of my knowledge, no one here is charged money for their membership. But boards cost money. A lot of money, sometimes. VB (what this board runs on) is not free, nor is it particularly cheap, so someone (I assume the admin) is paying a decent chunk of change out of his/her own so that you can have this great resource to use. If that means something gets locked or deleted, well - we probably all have bigger & better things to spend our time worrying about. In the end the board belongs to the admin and he/she has full say in how it's run. The people who really hate this idea will usually go elsewhere, where the bickering is even worse because it is overlooked (the terribly truth of really getting what you ask for), but for the most part people stay, things calm down, and life goes on. Takes about 3 days, usually.

It's also thankless. Provide a free resource at your own expense, and that goes by-and-large unnoticed... but watch the complaints come flooding in when someone doesn't like what you do with your resource.

Just my 2 cents from the other side of the tracks, worth exactly what you're paying for it.

Well said Wheetsin. I think we should all give a round of applause to

ALEX FOR PROVIDING US THIS FORUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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M

Very well put, Wheetsin. Thank you. I doubt any one of us would allow what has gone on here in our own home, ever.

The Ringleaders of the recent fights, (people who started all this troll and name calling nonsense) should read what you wrote Wheetsin. I surely did.

"Looks at Leatha_g"

I'm going to pray for you, I8.

For the record, my reference to feeding the trolls is very simple. Anytime there is this type of behavior going on. Reacting is what fuels the fire. I was imploring all to NOT fuel the fire. I'm sorry you didn't get the message, but if the shoe fits...

While you are at it, pray for yourself. You clearly started the whole troll reference name calling (that I won't mention the name of the thread) and laughed and giggled and loved yourself for that one. You WERE the ringleader for the day. Everyone that read that thread knows that it was you who clearly started that whole nonsense.

Anyway, I'm off to be productive today Leatha_g ...

It's time to get back to the business of losing weight.

the only people the Troll thread should bother is a troll them self. If you are not one then it should not offend you.

I agree with Asphalt Angel...

I want to thank Alex for providing us with this forum as well!

Also, great post Wheetsin!

I love the smell of burning rhetoric in the morning!

Hey Jenna I want some marshmallows! Unfortunately they don't agree with my band.:focus: It is everyone's right to speak freely about anything they want to. On the other hand it is not right to demean someone for their beliefs, non beliefs etc and that goes both ways. This is a great sight I love coming here. I do see alot of uneccessary posts that I find quite offensive. I ignore them and do not respond as I do with things in my day to day living. I believe that the moderators do a great job. It is hard to know when to draw the line but when that line is on fire someone has to put it out. There are some posters on here that love to start stuff. I had not posted in a while but I read postings everday, well almost everyday. If you take a break from posting and just read through alot of the posts you find a pattern with some people those people you ignore. I suggest that people do this from time to time just take a break from posting but still support the board with PM's to the newbies. You never know how much you talk until you shut up is what my grandma always says. lol. Alex thank you for this site, I stumbled upon this site when I went to search about my band last year. I think it is still the best place for support, good and bad.

DeeDee

Wheetsin~

Thanks for a great post. Most of us are very appreciative of the opportunity this forum provides for us to get and give support. Alex really does deserve our sincere thanks and respect, and we owe it to him to abide by the rules we agreed to when we joined. It's just a few people who are making it difficult...maybe we need to just ignore them and concentrate on the reason we joined...for help on our weight loss journey. I feel sorry for people who feel the need to be nasty and stir things up just for the "fun" of it.

Emily

And I'd like to thank the moderators for their undying support of--and bias in favor of--me.

But...uh...everyone else is saying this site is FREE? And when you guys gave me your addresses so I could mail you my check every month...

I say let it ride. princess_n_thep said it best, FREEDOM OF SPEECH

I say let it ride. princess_n_thep said it best, FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Again, that whole concept doesn't apply to what I get to say in YOUR living room...or what WE get to say here.