Don't change what I write. If you don't like it... due to some profanity, then erase it. At least for me, please refer to me that you've erased it. Please don't change the content. It's Kill or Fill. Nothing more.
Are you of the opinion that the police officer needs to be threatening and belligerent to be effective ? Your final paragraph is unnecessary. There's really no need to wave the big stick. Elite Trader is not a business in the sense that content is paramount and neither is it a newspaper where content needs to be edited. Profanity, idiocy and even garbage are frequent ingredients in vigorous debate and Elite Traders should reflect vigorous debate. Your sanitised view {and rib's} of what these forums should reflect is unfortunate. Maybe a new forum can be created for deleted posts where we can admire your deletions ?
Left unchecked, "profanity, idiocy, and even garbage" would rule the day on Elite Trader. That has already been shown. Approach any police officer with "vigorous debate" such as you describe and see what happens. You'll be escorted from the premises at least, and perhaps even cited for public disturbance. The mere presence of a police officer is enough to remind most, but not all, of the citizens to act appropriately. It is for those few who don't get it and can't control themselves that the mace, the stick, the cuffs, and the gun are carried. Only the citizens who find it difficult to be civil feel threatened. Do you see political candidates debate vigorously as you describe it? How about the high school debate teams? How about the Supreme Court? Or your local city council meetings? What happens when the citizens start yelling their "profanity, idiocy, and even garbage?" The gavel comes down hard and order is restored. As for Elite Trader as a business, pretend for a minute that you are a commercial entity outside of ET seeking to attract new clients. You look inside ET and see that it is full of "profanity, idiocy, and even garbage." Is this going to attract you as a sponsor? Are you telling me that you want customers who cannot express themselves without using "profanity, idiocy, and even garbage?" There is only one correct answer.
inandlong, you know i think you're a good guy. my disagreement here is nothing personal at all. i think moderating is removing personality. it is normalizing people. for the life of me, i can't understand what makes a word "bad" in the first place. a lot of this nonsense stems from traditions that have no legitimate meaning in today's world. i remember when i was like 17, i got pulled over by a cop and i had a hat on. HE GRABBED MY HAT, TOOK IT OFF AND THREW IT ON THE GROUND, WHILE YELLING AT ME THAT I SHOULD TAKE MY HAT OFF. WHO HAD THE PROBLEM HERE?!?! what did my hat have to do with anything????? why should his wanting me to not wear a hat trump my wanting to wear it? why should your preference to delete "bad words" trump my choice to use them? i know baron makes the choices around here, i'm just hoping he thinks about things. anyway, when i was about 12, i remember i was at a pizza place eating with my friends. it was just us guys, no parents. there was an old guy sitting at a table next to us. once again i had a hat on. as i ate my pizza, the old guy got angry and said to take my hat off when i eat. WHO HAD THE PROBLEM HERE? i've used this other example before when i walked into a courthouse a few years ago to fight a ticket. when i walked into the courthouse, some guy told me to take my hat off. WHAT IS WITH THIS?! WHO HAS THE REAL PROBLEM, ME, THE "OFFENDER," OR THE ONE CLAIMING TO BE OFFENDED? as for ET, we have an ignore function, so i don't see why "bad words" need to be removed, etc. if i swear and someone doesn't like that, they can put me on ignore. if ET is where the traders are, advertisers will be here; swears or no swears. maybe a very small % would choose to boycott. in fact, if i was an advertiser, i'd want to SUPPORT tolerance.
GG you always make sense to me, and I appreciate your reply. Having communicated with you a number of times I know you are a person with a truly good heart. When I delete profanity, it is just to make the place more presentable and less offensive. There are times and places where we all are more careful about what we say and how we say it. I happen to think that Elite Trader is one of those places. I rarely delete the profanity right away anyway. It is there for a while for all to see. There is no reason to memorialize it and it never adds meaning to a thread. There are other ways to add emphasis, which is typically all it does. I seriously doubt that anyone completes a post, sits back and says, "yeah this is good, but it needs something", adds "you f**king idiot" and then clicks the Submit Reply key with the satisfaction of a job well done. Anyone who does is completely lame. Oh yeah, about the ignore thing, that is a good option for people who never have anything substantive to say, but there are plenty of members who have excellent thoughts that are sprinkled with stuff that doesn't belong. Of course for a moderator the ignore button is not an option.
It was in the travel itinerary of the all-expenses paid vacations Baron gave us for Christmas - but you came on board after that. I went to St. Thomas this year with my family. The cool thing is you get to use the Elite Trader corporate jet. Just one of the many perks for your hard work!
Yes that was great. I chose to stay on the ET island. Had a great night out with George Soros and his wife. Rumor has it that this year Baron will be issuing a memo that will allow all moderators the ability to not only censor the minnions, but to send an electric charge through their computer, straight to their keyboard and mouse. He's just working out the legal ramifications. I'm thinking that this year I will go back to the ET island at xmas but will not take my wife. Last year I couldn't take advantage of the female perks that Baron provided.
I heard that and I also heard he is working on the ability to send a stored charged, so if the member isn't online at the time, the next time they are online the charge goes off.