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Blake (Admin)
| Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2000 - 01:13 am: |
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Howdy from Texas. Y'all didn't miss me one bit this summer it seems. I sure missed being able to keep up with the daily banter on badweb. However, I'm happy to report that I, aboard my '00 M2, logged over 6K miles, almost all on Buell perfect roads between E. TX and Chautaqua, NY (one hour SW of Buffalo, NY). I was fortunate enough to be able to ride the entire Blue Ridge Parkway-Skyline Drive (574 mi) from Great Smoky Mountains N.P. in TN/NC to Shenandoah N.P. in VA both on the way north to Chautauqua, NY and on the return trip south to TX. And yes, I did Deal's gap in Tennessee! (What a muthah of a twisty road!!!) What are the curve specs on that hellaciously delicious section of TN 129 and NC 28? Something like a gabillion curves in 20 miles or something... dragon's tail or whatever? Someone repost those stats please, so I can brag in honesty to my riding buddies down here. Riding solo the entire round trip was a very satisying experience for me as well, especially because only two nights out of almost three weeks of travel time were spent under a roof. On the trip south I even foresook restaurants in favor of campfire cooking. I am already anxious to take off on another such adventure. Pics and tall tales to follow later. Now to my bwb admin/moderator speach (I hate this): Though I was away from the internet most all of the summer, I had the excellent help of a good friend in monitoring the board. Both he and I were very saddended to witness the tone of the GDB intermittently degenerate into direct personal insults and profanity. I think most of us feel likewise. In order to help stop that type of unwanted, confrontational, insulting, unproductive, negative content, we have finally decided to go ahead and implement restrictions on posting (we all pretty much knew this was inevitable, I am proud the board made it so long without posting restrictions or rules of etiquette). But, unfortuantely now, if we want to post on bwb we must now fill in our username and password, or let our browser fill in the fields for us. The simple and easy solution is to enable cookies in your browser so that your browser will remember your username and pw for you. Be assured that there is absolutely no sharing of any personal data by or from badweatherbikers. I hope we don't lose anyone (especially you todd) because of this really very minor change in the workings of our board. This decision finally emerged as a result of some anonymous posts that included very personal insulting remarks last week, that anonymous person has got himself IP banned, at least temporarily. There is zero tolerance for immature insulting personal attacks on badweb. I'm sorry if some of you might feel the first amendment is being trashed; I hope most appreciate our efforts to maintain a friendly, productive, atmosphere at bwb. And now to introduce our very first official volunteer moderator. Deputy, Barney Fife aka "Don Casto" will be the law round these parts until notified otherwise. Don (currently on hiatus with Team Elves at Bonneville) created and maintains the bwb "Riders Assistance Network" (a copy of which I toted along with me during the entire trip this summer; happy to say I had zero problems with my '00 M2). Don is a supremely tolerant, level-headed kinda hooligan with a positive vision for our little discussion board's future. I know Don will justly serve our ranks to ensure that we all (yep even me, right todd?) :) avoid drifting off into a frenzy of confrontation and vulgarity. Keep in mind that we can all still post anonymously as far as the vast general audience is concerned. Only the moderators (two of us) will be able to dig up the identity of an anonymous post's author. And we really don't want to be doing that; we have much better things to do. I've created a new topic in the "Suggestions" topic/page for all your comments concerning this issue (in hopes that the inevitable 1st amendment discussion will not clog the GDB entirely). Free speach is good. Anonymously authored public character attacks and insults are unnacceptable and just plain wrong. The badweatherbikers new written rule #1 is very simply that we will all strive to communicate with others as we would have others communicate with us. One well written opinion that showed up in my email was as follows:
I have decided to quit the board as the tone and content have deteriorated to more full of attitude than affinity for other Buellers. I realize fully that as the board participation grows, it will encompass a wider variety of personalities, but suggest that if there is no generally accepted standard for what is appropriate on the board, its decline is inevitable. I believe most of the problems stem from participation by individuals that are under the influence of what I've come to know as the "Halloween Syndrome." In this affliction, persons that would normally interact with a sense of respect and consideration become confrontational, belligerent and destructive believing they will not be held responsible for their actions as no one knows who they are. As before, I believe the BWB board's critical value to the Buell community is in both the camaraderie it fosters and the information it relays. When individuals use BWB as a platform to flame, insult and confront those that are there to make constructive additions, it destroys the value and interest of the board for me. At the risk of being overly simplistic, the entire problem could be almost entirely resolved by taking two steps. The first would be to publish a list of "Acceptable Use Standards" and ask participants to follow it. The second would be to permit posting only by registered users that can be responded to by verified email addresses. I am reluctant to return to the site until some sense of community and respect is restored there. And though I did not author it, the following hearfelt thorough dissertation by Don Casto sums up my philosophy concerning the bad weather bikers perfectly, and thus earned him moderatorship of badweatherbikers.
In my opinion, after several years of participating, the board is at its best when it encourages participation from all Buellers. The Buell owner demographics seem to favor males heading toward gray/balding/expanding waistline type. Although I feel very comfortable in that crowd, as they are me, I would very much like to see the Buell experience expand to include more participation from a wider base of enthusiasts. The BWB can be instrumental in this if it can be guided toward a more "all comers welcome" tone. My personal barometer for this goal has been to note the number of female contributors. I have always believed that since my computer sits in a family home, the web pages I access on it are in a sense "guests" in my home. I believe BWB has been remarkable amongst the motorcycle related sites I have visited in providing critical resources without bringing along with it the "men's magazine" behaviors favored by a minority of motorcyclists. Your efforts, particularly in the use of the profanity blocking, have been a primary force in this very unique characteristic of the BWB. Although my advocacy for a "family and workplace friendly" BWB has given some people cause to see me as a prude, I feel the label is not entirely accurate. I spent too many years in the bar business to be shocked or offended by anyone's off-color behaviors, and in many cases I am as entertained by the outrageousness as much as anyone else. I have always believed that the best of the postings on the board have offered insights, opinions and information mixed liberally with a sense of humor and with the intention of offering no real offense to any reader. I feel that BWB has always been able and willing to absorb and encourage a much wider variety of opinions than other Buell specific discussion boards. This is a huge point in BWB's favor and again speaks to your benign guidance and moderation. Although there has been an occasional straying into long debates on non-Buell topics (gun control comes to mind), it speaks for the resiliency of the BWB that after all the opinions were laid out, everyone agrees to be friends and goes back to discussing more Buellish topics. I have seen a substantial shift in the editorial position of other Buell specific discussion boards, as they seem to have sold out objectivity in exchange for an "insider" track to BMC. They have embarked on what appears to be actively discouraging any posts critical of Buell up to and including deletion of contributions that Buell might find embarrassing. To a lesser degree, there has also been an incremental increase in the "love it or leave it" attitude on on the popular Buell discussion boards. For varying reasons some Buell owners feel threatened by anyone finding fault with their Buell or the corporation behind it. Although this is not new phenomenon, I have perceived less willingness on the part of more moderate BWBers to suggest that all opinions and experiences are welcome at BWB. I believe this is one component of the change in "tone" at BWB. My biggest concern, however, is the increase in rude, insulting and confrontational posts and the uploading of "adults only" photographs. Although there is plenty of gray area here, those that were most objectionable had absolutely nothing to do with anything Buell and were posted in a gratuitous and irresponsible manner. Several of the long term BWBers attempted to remind the board that you had previously outlined that non-Buell related and pornographic photos were not appropriate and that they made viewing of the site a significant risk for those accessing from work or in a location where children might see the screen. It was also mentioned that you had previously posted a request for only "Buell related, no visible, below the waist pubic hair or mucous membrane" photos. Although the photos were not appropriate and were detrimental to the BWB, the persons responsible may not have been aware of the previous incidents and may have felt there was nothing wrong with their actions. In my opinion, there were far too many contributors that fell into the "no censorship, 1st Amendment right to freedom of expression, if you don't like it scroll down or go away" type of response. In the absence of any authoritive - corrective input (but I really am glad that you enjoyed a great riding vacation summer), the board took a noticeable turn toward the sleazy and self-involved tastes of a very vocal few. I think virtually all badwebr's would more appreciate the board as a gathering point and clearing house for Buell/Bueller related interests and jovial cameraderie. My suggestion is that you take steps to encourage responsible contributions to the site and discourage objectionable, abusive, hostile, insulting or destructive behavior by its participants. In my opinion, making each contributor personally responsible for their posts is critical to this effort. I also believe that providing a clearly written and enforceable set of standards for postings will keep our written contributions to bwb on track, entertaining, and productive. I think the first task will be to remind anyone accessing the board that although access is open, posting to the board is a privilege and subject to revocation under conditions determined by the board moderator. There seem to be more than just a few people, mostly new to bwb, that feel they are entitled to post whatever they want without regard to what anyone else says and without taking any personal responsibility for what they submit. I am sure some of this comes from a lack of perspective on where the BWB originated and how much some of us came to rely upon it for Buell related contact. I am also convinced that those that never went through the Buell "Dark Ages" have no idea why I am so concerned about where the board is headed. As I mentioned previously, I have concerns as to whether any anonymous or untraceable IDs serve the general interests of the BWB community as much as they encourage destructive behavior. Although I have no real information to support my contention, I have to think there is a way to have all postings linked to a real world name and email address without eliminating the rare occasion where a responsible participant needs to protect his identity ("Anon R" for instance). I am sure that any "Acceptable Standards" or change in the open posting/anonymous posting provision on BWB will meet with plenty of loud protest from the "no censorship" group intent upon protecting their delusional belief that it is their inalienable "right to post" as they so choose on BWB. There may also be accusations of making BWB exclusionary or elitist. These individuals will need to be reminded that if BWB is to be accessible to all Buell enthusiasts, it needs to accommodate a wide set of sensibilities. Any change in this direction will also require more monitoring and participation from BWB moderators. It may be necessary to solicit the voluntary services of some person or persons willing to become the dreaded "web police." The whole subject of enforcement is a cyber minefield, but without providing some sort of repercussions for irresponsibility, no effort will have any long lasting results. Although I have no compelling desire to hold myself up as the poster child for a more middle of the road BWB, I will be happy to assist in whatever way I can. I say this knowing that my opinions on the subject may have put me in a small minority. There is an excellent case for letting me and my opinions head off toward finding a site more suitable for our delicate sensibilities. Sorry for the length of the message. Although I have never been accused of being sparing with my verbiage, the BWB and its place in the Buell community is a subject on which I have very strong feelings and more than just a little to rant about. I for one stand and applaud everytime I read Don's message above and I am sure that we can all continue to enjoy badweatherbikers in our traditional hooliganistic ways. Now. Where are those naughty pics anyway? Blake PS: Has anyone heard from ole Ferris Bueller? PSS: If anyone has any clipart they would like to see available for posting using the badweb "\clipart" formatting command, please email it to me at blake@badweatherbikers.com . Files should be no more than 5 KB. |
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Dave Tripp (Tripper)
| Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2000 - 08:40 am: |
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In support of Blake's decision to implement minimum filtering, I say Hoorah! Welcome back Fidel, missed your insightful & helpful posts. |
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Timothy R Smith (Smitty)
| Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2000 - 10:09 am: |
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A'men |
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john macpherson (Jocklandjohn)
| Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2000 - 03:41 pm: |
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I too applaud the move towards a more moderated Badweb. One of the reasons why I love reading the site is that it is not a tit'n'bum fest, with all the kind of macho I can get in the pub of my choice, or some of the biker mags, or in any number of other web sites. This site embraces a huge range of individuals, and serves as both a repository of (vast amounts) of information/experience but also a (loud) voice for the Buell community, and that is an incredibly valuable resource. If this site can appeal to a broad range of people and attract more people to the joys of biking, and the camaraderie that goes with it - great! I have to confess that I was tipped over the edge from being a Buell wannabee to actually owning an M2, simply by reading the wealth of knowledge on this site..........the user experiences, fixes for 'problems', suggestions for more 'fun' (read HP!) and the overwhelming feeling of belonging to a group of people committed to enjoying and exploiting the possibilites of the Buell (even CecilBrianH !!). This is all too valuable to lose as a result of the actions of a careless and thoughtless minority. Go Elves!!! |
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Sean Pepper (Rocketman)
| Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2000 - 04:24 pm: |
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Blake,.......... With all these name changes going on, can we have a list of old names alongside new names please ? Perhaps on a printable page ? I'm confused and have a poor memory for names !!!!!!!! Rocket in England |
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Hans Idzerda (Hans)
| Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2000 - 05:59 pm: |
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Not me. Not at all pleased with mild moderation. The waves from unwanted contributions damp themselves out. The selfmoderation I found a real strong and attractive point of this board. We will miss a few good contributors. For instance Anon R because he might be not willing to be traced by any line and Todd because he wants maybe not be moderated on this way. Maybe some distributors can`t pass the firewall of their systems if cookies need to be set. However, not pleased but it is a sound decision. Is it possible to create an unrestricted area where can be posted really anonymous and where the only rule is that the moderators will remove without any consideration or comment what makes them really sick ? TEAM ELVES: Best luck and GO. Hans. |
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00' X-1 Race Stripe (Ccryder)
| Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2000 - 09:31 pm: |
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Blake, Fidel: Most of us don't want it to happen, but in this "free form" forum, there are always individuals that impose their rude and selfish opions on everyone else. Blake, Fidel I have the faith in you to keep up this forum in a manner that will contribute to the best of Buelldom and the Buelligans that have made this BBS the great means of communication that it is. Neil Schwartz |
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'00 M2 (Blake)
| Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2000 - 10:46 pm: |
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Hans: I've always moderated this discussion board, well except during my absence this summer. Anyone can still post anonymously to the general audience. To discover an anonymous post's author, a moderator will have to enter the administration program (yawn) find the offending post (yawn) and pull the username from the log file (double yawn); not a quick or simple proposition, but one that is available in the case of a serious offense, so that a moderator can then send the offender a personal email in hopes of solving the problem. Accepting cookies is not required to post on the board, a badweb cookie just makes entering the username and pw automatic, at least on MSIE 5.0 if it is configured to do just that. What is the big deal about a little cookie anyway? The DISCUS BBS program that runs badweb is the most popular and reputable BBS software on the web. Really the only change in the board will be the fact that we all have to enter our usernames and pw's if we want to post. The messages will not be held in que or anything like that. Blake |
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'00 M2 (Blake)
| Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2000 - 10:53 pm: |
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Oh yeah... an unrestricted discussion page? Try the aol chat rooms? I dunno bout that. We have set up a page for mature audiences (nothing more than R-rated type material though please), but usernames and pw's are still required. I think Don set the new page up as a subtopic of the GDB. Blake |
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Don Casto (Doncasto)
| Posted on Wednesday, September 20, 2000 - 11:31 pm: |
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Neil: Being the loose cannon that I am, I am not sure that I qualify to be in Blake's company in being deserving of your faith. However, Deputy Barney Fife (my alter ego) hopes to demonstrate his worthiness. Blake built me the seperate ID in hopes that I would be able to follow his example of moderation in the moderation rather than lapse into my usual ranting , raving and speaking from where the sun don't shine. I figure the worst that could happen is I will become scitzo and require heavy medication .... Moderator......... SLAP! .. ........Loose Cannon...... .........SLAP!.........Moderator.........SLAP!........Loose Cannon............ Perhaps it is already too late for medication. Naw, its NEVER too late for medication! Fidel........SLAP!........Barney...........SLAP! |
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