Regarding locked threads.

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  • odusgolp
    odusgolp Posts: 10,477 Member
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    Moist.
  • Tiffanydepiano
    Tiffanydepiano Posts: 169 Member
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    JoyousRen: Thanks for posting BTW.
    I suspect Mike makes his income from advertisers on the page. I am guessing of course but it most likely is based on the amount of users to the site. When advertisers see a drop in the number of users they will pull their ads.

    Does that sound right?
    I mean accurate?
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
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    @Fairymiss; This was my though exactly. There is not much to discuss when everyone is like minded. We could all sit here and repeat each other and pat us on the back for being in total agreement I guess. That would be entertaining for oh...15 or 20 seconds.


    right? So, we are going to HAVE to invite others to debate with us. It will be up to the group if they want to do so, and the person if they choose to accept, without getting all butt hurt once in the group.

    Exactly. For example, I'd like to be able to discuss religion but I'd want atheists, non-Christians, and Christians all to be able to discuss certain issues without name calling and getting ugly. With groups, you can choose who you want to have debates/dicussions with.

    I've NEVER understood why these things can't be discussed without issue.

    Agree to disagree, it shouldn't be that hard. I think you learn so much more about people and the world through healthy debate.

    Agreed.

    I think the problem is that alot people feel like if you dont agree with them,then you are attacking their beliefs.
  • macpatti
    macpatti Posts: 4,280 Member
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    @Fairymiss; This was my though exactly. There is not much to discuss when everyone is like minded. We could all sit here and repeat each other and pat us on the back for being in total agreement I guess. That would be entertaining for oh...15 or 20 seconds.


    right? So, we are going to HAVE to invite others to debate with us. It will be up to the group if they want to do so, and the person if they choose to accept, without getting all butt hurt once in the group.

    Exactly. For example, I'd like to be able to discuss religion but I'd want atheists, non-Christians, and Christians all to be able to discuss certain issues without name calling and getting ugly. With groups, you can choose who you want to have debates/dicussions with.

    I've NEVER understood why these things can't be discussed without issue.

    Agree to disagree, it shouldn't be that hard. I think you learn so much more about people and the world through healthy debate.

    Agreed.

    I think the problem is that alot people feel like if you dont agree with them,then you are attacking their beliefs.

    We can respectfully challenge or question each other's beliefs without attacking or making fun of them. I see the attacking/making fun of happen on both sides, and that's when the discussions go bad.
  • magichatter06
    magichatter06 Posts: 3,593 Member
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    The locking threads thing is relatively new. I can only assume Mike received too many reports about people being mean. I've been here for 4 years now and in the past I might see a particularly heated thread (usually about politics) get locked maybe a couple times....but just in the last half hour there were two threads locked.


    Agreed :flowerforyou:
  • Tiffanydepiano
    Tiffanydepiano Posts: 169 Member
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    Fear: I think that is completely accurate. It also seems that people get really angry when we don't believe as they do. Almost as if they can bully you into their belief system.

    ie: Those of us who are not entirely convinced that there is a God/Goddess or what have you of any kind are labeled blasphemous and dangerous thus inciting anger.

    Oops, not intending to create a religious discussion. :flowerforyou:
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
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    @Fairymiss; This was my though exactly. There is not much to discuss when everyone is like minded. We could all sit here and repeat each other and pat us on the back for being in total agreement I guess. That would be entertaining for oh...15 or 20 seconds.


    right? So, we are going to HAVE to invite others to debate with us. It will be up to the group if they want to do so, and the person if they choose to accept, without getting all butt hurt once in the group.

    Exactly. For example, I'd like to be able to discuss religion but I'd want atheists, non-Christians, and Christians all to be able to discuss certain issues without name calling and getting ugly. With groups, you can choose who you want to have debates/dicussions with.

    I've NEVER understood why these things can't be discussed without issue.

    Agree to disagree, it shouldn't be that hard. I think you learn so much more about people and the world through healthy debate.

    Agreed.

    I think the problem is that alot people feel like if you dont agree with them,then you are attacking their beliefs.

    We can respectfully challenge or question each other's beliefs without attacking or making fun of them. I see the attacking/making fun of happen on both sides, and that's when the discussions go bad.

    true
  • alcon79
    alcon79 Posts: 193 Member
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    I also think that the way a person posts - words they choose, how they start off their post - says a lot about the tone to come. It's easy to tell if the person is going to respectfully disagree with the OP or topic or if they're clearly interested in just being a jerk.

    A board that I've been on for years had simple posting rules which went a long way in keeping things civil, which could be useful here in addition to the others already established.

    1. Don't start a post with Ummmmm...... (read the ones that do - they always come off rude)
    2. Same thing with No offense, but..... (we all know where that's going)
  • Yanicka1
    Yanicka1 Posts: 4,564 Member
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    Easy the only reason is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

    I am not dissing Mike wanting to make money, but not at the expense of the users

    You mean the users that don't give him a dime? Hmmmmm?

    we are still the one that generate the ad revenus. I would be ready to pay for MFP !!!
  • hannahlbur
    hannahlbur Posts: 221 Member
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    1773_1273558184030.jpg

    Smug dog approves of this hijack!



    Aww cute!
  • JustEllieK
    JustEllieK Posts: 423 Member
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    As they have said, they are not stopping use from having simple arguments or debates. It is when people attack others that it causes a problem. Or if some emotional person THINKS someone is attacking them and calls the MFP police.
  • bry_all01
    bry_all01 Posts: 3,100 Member
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    @Fairymiss; This was my though exactly. There is not much to discuss when everyone is like minded. We could all sit here and repeat each other and pat us on the back for being in total agreement I guess. That would be entertaining for oh...15 or 20 seconds.


    right? So, we are going to HAVE to invite others to debate with us. It will be up to the group if they want to do so, and the person if they choose to accept, without getting all butt hurt once in the group.

    If I get invited to your group, I'll argue with you just for the sake of arguing.

    you will NOT. I'm telling!
  • Jennolli
    Jennolli Posts: 17 Member
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    I think they afraid there will be tears. :sad:

    People can discuss things, but when it starts getting heated and the name-calling begins, the mods intervene. I think a better question is why people feel the need to resort to schoolyard tactics.

    I am kinda leaning to this also. I have noticed in the past that as soon as people start really picking on people that the threads get locked. could it also be a request by the person getting picked on?
  • bry_all01
    bry_all01 Posts: 3,100 Member
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    I think they afraid there will be tears. :sad:

    People can discuss things, but when it starts getting heated and the name-calling begins, the mods intervene. I think a better question is why people feel the need to resort to schoolyard tactics.

    I am kinda leaning to this also. I have noticed in the past that as soon as people start really picking on people that the threads get locked. could it also be a request by the person getting picked on?

    ding, ding, ding! Though, I wouldn't say "picking on," I would say got butt hurt by, because of their perception...
  • maidentl
    maidentl Posts: 3,203 Member
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    There are also some people who like to provoke others without themselves breaking any rules. So they provoke until the other person says something "rude" and then they run and tattle. I don't think they ever got over the junior high mentality.
  • Gigi_licious
    Gigi_licious Posts: 1,185 Member
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    There are also some people who like to provoke others without themselves breaking any rules. So they provoke until the other person says something "rude" and then they run and tattle. I don't think they ever got over the junior high mentality.

    ^^^ This!!! Exactly this!!!
  • Scott613
    Scott613 Posts: 2,317 Member
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    While everybody was busy I raided everyone's lunch
  • Steven
    Steven Posts: 593 MFP Moderator
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    At the risk of winning this year's nickel-plated irony award, I'm going to lock this thread.

    I'll try to respond somewhat authoritatively from the mods point of view, and hopefully that will end the need for any speculation.

    It's Mike's vision that MyFitnessPal be a place where every user who wants to succeed with his or her weight management goals finds support, encouragement, practical information, and positive peer pressure. Threads which become firing ranges for insult and attack scare off many of our members who might otherwise use the forums as a place to find encouragement and support.

    We do our best to let threads in which debate is taking place continue, if the posters are discussing the topic on its merits.

    However, it is very often the case that posters begin to make it personal: using unkind adjectives to describe other members or their ideas.

    Often, it becomes more work than it's worth to sift through these posts and edit out the unkindness, because other obligations beckon. In these cases, it becomes much simpler to lock a thread, hopefully taking the time to post a brief explanation for the lock.

    For instance, if someone has begun trolling the site and posting spam left and right, I'm going to turn my attention to that and slap a quick lock on a thread in which posters are getting over-heated with each other, rather than take 20 minutes to find every rule-bending post and edit or delete them. My assumption is that perhaps a new, cooler thread will be started in response, and the over-heated thread will drift down the lists.

    We used to do more deleting of topics than locking, but we got lots of feedback that this was a very opaque way to moderate the boards. So I don't think there's necessarily more moderation going on than before, rather that we're trying to do it a little more out in the open so that members can see what it was we found inappropriate and why. This way the moderated threads can stand as sort of an object lesson.

    In the next few weeks, Mike will be debuting some excellent and subtle new moderation tools that will give us ways to keep many more threads unlocked, even while we're dealing with the turmoil within them.

    I hope that helps. It may be naive to think that we can maintain a supportive, encouraging atmosphere on the boards, but we're darn well going to try.

    Regards,
    Steven
    MyFitnessPal Staff
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