Eric Posted June 2, 2013 Report Share Posted June 2, 2013 1. Tax season has ended, and the software issues are no longer so numerous that they need their own forum. I'm going to remove the Software Issues forum, and bring the threads back into General Chat now that things have calmed down. 2. If you people can't keep your political zealotry to your own threads, I'm going to make some changes to the forums. I'll create a new Politics forum, where anyone who wants to can go bananas. We'll keep it out of General Chat entirely if on-topic threads continue to get derailed. It shouldn't be necessary, but discussing things like politics and religion make people lose their minds. It's usually hilarious to watch, but not when you're trying to keep a friendly atmosphere on an internet forum. Then it's just obnoxious. I'll also write a script that filters every post in General Chat for political terms, and hold those threads in a moderation queue where I'll either publish if it's not a political rant, or delete it before it can go public. If that doesn't work, I'll start with the warnings and removing post rights for periods of time. I don't care if people want to discuss politics, but you guys are destroying on-topic threads with your lunacy and risk alienating politically moderate members, which is likely most of them. Cut it out. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Taxed Posted June 2, 2013 Report Share Posted June 2, 2013 Thank you Eric. I am going to abide by your new rules. It is unfair to the original poster to have their thread sidetracked completely with political bantor. I hope my friends on the other side of the political spectrum respect this policy as well. We can discuss politics to our heart's content in the Politics forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rfassett Posted June 2, 2013 Report Share Posted June 2, 2013 Here, here! Now that said, I have a tendency to be somewhat. OK, blatantly obvious from a religious perspective with some of my posts. If I have offended anyone, I would like to say I am sorry, but I can't. Because you see, there is no separation in MY life between religious and not religious. It is who I am. And who I will always be. Moderate if you must for the good of the order. But politics is another story all together. I have read some of the posts and find them to be very disturbing. Common sense, decency and respect are lost, not just in this forum, but in the general society in which we live. Please moderate! And thank you for stepping up! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Posted June 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2013 I probably shouldn't have mentioned religion, because it's never been a problem here. I just threw it in there because it's another subject that people tend to feel very strongly about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jainen Posted June 2, 2013 Report Share Posted June 2, 2013 >>keep your political zealotry to your own threads<< I agree, and offer two more aspects. First, The IRS is inherently political, so even technical issues might bring up legitimate political questions. For example, tax professionals must deal with the new fraud and identity theft initiatives. Tax planning also calls for understanding politcal trends in tax rates, deductions, AMT, etc. But what made me sign off a few weeks ago was the name-calling and other personal attacks. That shouldn't be tolerated, even in a political forum. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee B Posted June 2, 2013 Report Share Posted June 2, 2013 Eric, I really appreciate that you are being proactive on this. Thanks, Lee Barckert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Posted June 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2013 >>keep your political zealotry to your own threads<< I agree, and offer two more aspects. First, The IRS is inherently political, so even technical issues might bring up legitimate political questions. For example, tax professionals must deal with the new fraud and identity theft initiatives. Tax planning also calls for understanding politcal trends in tax rates, deductions, AMT, etc. But what made me sign off a few weeks ago was the name-calling and other personal attacks. That shouldn't be tolerated, even in a political forum. I know there would be some grey area. I wouldn't enjoy having to judge the posts to determine what stays and what goes. I guess I would decide based on the tone of the post, and how relevant it is to the thread. We've made it 6 years without having any issues like this. Here's hoping the changes don't become necessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcb39 Posted June 2, 2013 Report Share Posted June 2, 2013 I have been wondering if there was a polite way to ask for just such action. Thank you Eric! Some of us were very disturbed by the tone of your board ; especially the derailment of legitimate topics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack from Ohio Posted June 3, 2013 Report Share Posted June 3, 2013 I have been disturbed for years!! Sanity is WAY overrated!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnH Posted June 3, 2013 Report Share Posted June 3, 2013 Thanks Eric. None of what's posted from either perspective bothers me - I like the give-and-take even when it gets a little out of hand. It's easy enough to skip over when it gets silly. But if it disturbs others then I'm fine with your guidelines and will certainly abide by them. We need to keep as many as possible engaged to suit our professional purposes. I appreciate your dedication to this forum. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulldogTom Posted June 3, 2013 Report Share Posted June 3, 2013 We've made it 6 years without having any issues like this. Here's hoping the changes don't become necessary. I wonder what changed in the last couple of months to bring up these issues? HMMMMMMM......just thinking here. Any new members who have come on in this time frame? HHHHMMMMMM..... let me think.....anyone at all who was not here 3-4 months ago who now posts on every post...... HMMMMMMMM.... let me think......someone who is so very political that the rules need to be changed after 6 years..... HMMMMMM....let me think....who could it be..... (in the voice of dana carvey as the church lady on SNL)..... COULD IT BE........SATAN.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????????????????? Close...but we all know who came on the board a few months ago and started all this crap........hmmmmmmmm...who could it be........ I hope it all works out for you. Let the dust settle and let the newbies run the threads. Nothing important being said anyway, and nothing I can offer that is not offensive anyway. Just being a red blooded, true American makes me the scourge of America to some people around here. No need to stand up to anyone who wants to show that they know everything by posting on every thread, and inserting political and racial comments........hmmmmmm......who does that around here in the last few months? HMMMMMM....I think I will retire from this board for a while. KC, please give me your e-mail.....I will miss you more than you know. Jainen, I love you man. Catherine, hope to see you in Boston next year when I drop my kid off. Jack in OH and Old Jack, you are good people, and I learn a lot from you. My brother Eli, hope to see you in Dallas. Eric, you are a good dude. Thanks for putting up this board. Too bad the DAL's have run it down. I can get this on the other board, so that is where I will go for a while. Peace out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaxMan60601 Posted June 3, 2013 Report Share Posted June 3, 2013 I never thought that I'd be just the man who would say this but people, please chastened! Should I start to think that JohnH is the only normally thinking person on this board!? "Common sense, decency and respect are lost, not just in this forum, but in the general society in which we live." Yes. but aren't you, me, all we part of this society!? "Please moderate!" No. Please moderate but YOURSELF first! Democracy means freedom but not liberty! Freedom to control all you acts and behavior, but not freedom to do(write) whatever you want breaking all human (moral and ethic) rules. Do you think that Eric has nothing else to do but sit and moderate posts all day long!? Tom, please shut but do not lock the door! You know what I mean. Eric, two suggestions of mine, if you don't mind: except politics and religion, can you also think about 'sport' (another subject for which many people think they are world class specialists ) and 'relax area' for all the rest. Thank you! And (as JohnH said), me personally really do appreciate all your dedication to this forum (I've learned a lot here), and believe you can not afford to lose anyone. Otherwise, the rest you know - just ignore and "skip over when it gets silly" ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcjenkins Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 Tom, I will contact you directly, don't want to lose touch, for sure. You may have noticed I've been pretty much staying out of most of it, [my tongue is getting pretty sore ] but I think those couple of new members who have been flinging gas on the fire may get bored soon. Eric is right, it has gotten out of hand, because certain posters can't respect any difference of opinion. Hopefully, it's going to improve. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelmars Posted June 4, 2013 Report Share Posted June 4, 2013 Eric- I find the political banter at times funny, informative and amazing. I find the ad hominem attacks totally inappropriate. I think the hijacking of threads just plain wrong and welcome the separate forum where those of us can read, post, etc without disrupting the flow of tax talk. I just caution that some political talk, is appropriate in that it affects taxes, tax planning etc. Data mining with you reviewing questionable posts is going to be very time consuming with our current breed of new posters. Perhaps a like or report button for each post would make this self monitoring and "like/report" clicks by certain members whom you trust could go to you to generate a warning? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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