A timely reminder to fucken behave
I think as your mum used to say, ''if you've got nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.''...……. about sums it up.
There's been so much posted recently that it's hard to keep up with everything. I obviously missed something really juicy.
Someone get on the home brew again?
Yeah what went down in da hood?
The "Coastal Councils locking down for Easter" thread turned into a right royal shite show.....
Things got very heated over the Easter break, some aspects of which had been simmering away for a while, some of which just escalated rapidly, seemingly out of nowhere.
So, it's time for a recalibration.
@Solitude. Am adhering to this phrase through increasingly gritted teeth ...
"Social media is nothing but a noisy, self indulgent shit-show."
Maybe some units on here 24/7 should stop treating these forums as their sole 'social media' outlet?
Good call Ben.
Ben I was starting to get concerned that some of the threads content would get picked up in the mainstream press, but kept thinking that you guys would be all over it weighing up the exposure.
Certainly feels like a higher tension in the air these days (around the net) but hope at least everyone is looking out for others in the real life.
Facto.....are you a subscriber ?
I Focus....zero chance of the MSM reporting on anything discussed on here. They like to keep the population isolated and of the belief that it’s only their immediate circle that thinks along those lines.....instead of the majority. They’ll gladly show some disfunctional unit making an arse of themselves on public transport but they aren’t too keen on regular people expressing concern at various outcomes.
Goofy....Blindboy returned and took up where he left off. His end game is to get me deplatformed so I can’t express the opinions he doesn’t find acceptable. His modus operandi is to lay insults and baits till I get upset and then he doubles down. Next thing he’s whining to Ben and trying to get things shut down. Same as ever.
Reset is a great idea.
I won’t be engaging in personal attacks.
Here’s another timely reminder. Take responsibility. If you cannot provide moderation to maintain the standards you wish, then shut the forums down or limit them to a manageable size. You are the publisher of whatever appears here, so yep, it’s down to you.
Generally I do the moderating but it's been hard the last three weeks with kids at home. The week ends up being frantic which makes the weekends more valuable and hence I log off, which I did the weekend just passed.
Be nice to think the forums could self-moderate, which in the past they largely have, though it requires certain qualities from commenters, summarised as:
- It's OK to be wrong. The world will keep spinning.
- It's OK for other people to say you're wrong. The world will keep spinning.
- The best thinkers are flexible in their views.
- Debates aren't won by post count.
It's a hoary ol' cliche, but robust debate is good. The world is going through profound changes and old ways of thinking are being challenged; some of the new ways are valid, some are bollocks, some are beyond bollocks - and I'll include recent conspiracy theories I've read in that category. Cut that shit out, people, it's intellectually weak, just short cuts to complex problems, often including some pre-existing prejudice or thought process.
But I digress...
If you find yourself getting carried away in the forums, typing things you'd never say, or being relentlessly critical of other people, then for your health, if not for our sake, take a break from the computer and go outside to get some fresh air.
Stu, you have many options if you get a bit creative. I stand by my point. The publisher is responsible. And if the price of keeping things cool is to ignore racism, then that is not going to work.
You ever owned or run a website, Cromwell?
You're also ramping things up in the thread created to cool things down.
Yesterday I was floating around on my own a few kilometres offshore in the tinny. Blue sky shining. Live baits swimming away in the brine , waiting for the reels to scream . Not a care in the world. Got pretty lost in watching the seabirds patrolling the ocean around me.
Then my phone rings- I always carry the phone at sea in case i require marine rescue- it was my missus telling me that her Mum’s birthday lunch was about to kick off . Cool , I say , I’ll be in shortly. Went to put my phone away and thought “ I’ll just check Swellnet. “
Next minute......
Think I might get an old school flip phone. Leave the bullshit for indoors.
Howzabout this hoary ol' nugget, "the standard you walk past, is the standard you accept"?
Not applicable in any way to subscribers obviously.
Gordian knot or what?
Geez, Facto.....you don’t even put your hand in your pocket for Swellnet ?
Fair call Swellnet, that was spinning its wheels for a while . Good on you providing forums without moderation (until things spill over anyhow) . If people don't like it (i.e. blindboys new easter resurrection moniker as cromwell) surfline is a viable alternative bb/crom , everybody is really nice or gets moderated and disappeared , it might be more suitable?
@Pupkin,
I can only recall a few incidents where we had to take posts down and cancel an account. Those were most definitely 'standards we couldn't accept'.
There've been a great many posts that I don't agree with, even find distasteful, but I wholeheartedly agree with the spirit of Ben's post which I think answers your question.
The mention of subscribers is complete bollocks and it pisses me off. People often try to pull that shit on us, say that we're favouring such and such because they subscribe, but the truth of the matter is our liberal stance jeopardises many subs.
Lot of people would prefer tighter reins on debate and they let us know that.
Maybe you should listen to them. Anyway, I’m done. Good luck.
Thanks. You too.
Good call and well explained Ben
These forums are one small part of the internet Worth engaging with, here’s to these spaces continuing
I must have missed some thread comments, i didn't think it was that bad of late or maybe i just haven't been involved so didnt notice..
It all went haywire with vic local non stop banging on about not surfing and trying to force rules that aren't rules on everyone, then as soon as china and chinese was mentioned it hit the fan with him and Cromwell who ever they are accusing those as racist.
That was the gist lol.
Thanks for running a great website Ben and Stu. Hopefully the miscreants on the forum will tone things down a bit. It’d be a shame to lose the forum.
Cheers Spud.
Even though I am rather sporadic on here these days, I have always enjoyed how the forums here are generally self moderating. I think the guys do a great job and it would be a shame to have them shut down due to a few morons. It is the only surf site I logon to.
Keep up the good work Ben and Stu.
Great heading too by the way!
All good Ben but could you please remove the word 'fucken' from the thread title.
I find gratuitous profanity highly offensive and in 2020 you know you don't want to OFFEND anybody.
Cheers,
RM
I'm always surprised at how much time and dedication it wold take to be a vigilant keyboard warrior in some of these threads! But yes well said Ben and Stu, breathe and recalibrate. I quite like the forums here, never thought I'd get some shit hot gardening tips off a surf website!
Stu....which conspiracy theory are you thinking of when you say that ?
China intentionally spreading the virus ?
I love the forums.
Some people's posts I don't like, so be it.
The people I've seen on here who have 2nd and 3rd accounts appear to be engaging in deceptive and disruptive behaviour.... often feels like that is their only reason for being here. It's only two that I know of but it's very annoying, childish and a touch cowardly.
Hot heads are ok. They generally stay (passionately) on topic.
I think the word should be spelt fuckin', a contraction of fucking. Please amend.
Top site fellas.
That's just one of them, Blowin.
Think about it: How would any bog ordinary bloke have access to information that other people don't? Don't gimme lines about "media gatekeepers", this isn't 1989 anymore, there're millions of media outlets.
Conspiracy theories mirror already held beliefs of the conspiracy theorists, and that's why they shouldn't be trusted.
I don't 100% discount all conspiracy theories, there's a faint possibility they could be true, but I'm not going to invest my time in them because...well, because they're largely a waste of time. People debate them, not to ascertain truth, but to affirm their biases and prejudices.
Conspiracies also demand broad organisation, trust and confidentiality across top levels of government and I don't think humans behave that way. Our public mask shows we're incapable of it, why would the private one be any better?
Occam's Razor all the way.
@thermalben, is this all because I made blowin Judge Judy?
Cause if it is, I’m sorry.
Clearly you are Judge Judy.
Here ya go
lol Judge Matson ( Vote 1 )
That's the worst Photoshop I've ever seen, Shorey.
Like the $2 Photo Shop
Hahaha, made me laugh..
I didn’t have any belief in a conspiracy theory along those lines. I’d never heard of any theory.
I came up with that idea myself and have since found that others believe the same.
China cancelled all domestic flights out of Wuhan whilst allowing international flights out of Wuhan to continue. The CCP doesn’t let anything happen without their dictate. This is the mob that told 1.3 billion people that if they had more than one child that they would be forcibly sterilised as the start of their punishment.
Occam’s razor said that the CCP spread the virus intentionally.
This : “ Conspiracies also demand broad organisation, trust and confidentiality across top levels of government and I don't think humans behave that way. “ ....is just ridiculous.
Australia is still one of the world’s most open and accountable places in the world. Yet , until it was revealed very recently, were you aware that there was an official ( though officially unspoken ) covenant between the ALP and the LNP to never allow the issue of population to become politicised ?
Isn’t that a conspiracy ? Both sides of parliament colluding to clandestinely exclude the public from perhaps the single most influential issue in Australian politics ?
If you think that the Chinese government isn’t capable of the most heinous acts ever committed by officialdom in the history of man then I think you haven’t been paying attention.
Conspiracy theories don’t happen.....tell that to the people of Guatemala when they dared reject United Fruit. Or the soldiers sent to Vietnam to “ fight communism “ in 1970 . Or the war predicated on Weapons of mass destruction which killed hundreds of thousands.
Did you ever watch the “ Century of Self “ documentary I suggested the other day ?
To say you 'encourage' over 'tolerate' some of the racist, vile, bigoted and threatening rubush floated lately is at least poorly worded
Sorry , was that directed at me ?
"Conspiracies also demand broad organisation, trust and confidentiality.... " bang on Stu, Occam's razor nowhere near as exciting though and doesn't bring in the ching, ching. Seen Icke's income? Lizards are lucrative! Also, sorry ben/Stu if I've fanned the flames in here. Over time I've taken exception to a couple of comments I've seen as truly ignorant, but generally delete my responses anyway. Nonetheless, what I deem as ignorance has every right to be expressed where speech exists, so thanks to both for providing such a space.
Stupid iriots...
Just as an aside, a quick search would indicate that there has been no real research done in quantifying the value of the conspiracy theory industry as a whole. Low hanging fruit for any social scientists that frequent swellnet...
Terminal....If you’ve only got contemptuous posts drawing parallels with something about space lizards then I appreciate you not wasting anyone’s time with your vacuous posts.
If I’d told you 70 years ago that China was going to commit genocide ( 45,000,000 people = equal to 7 Holocausts ) by determining their new system of governance you would have said conspiracy theory.
If I’d told you 40 years ago that China was only permitting each couple to have a single child you would have said conspiracy theory.
If I’d told you 10 years ago that China was going to raise islands on submerged atolls and build military bases so that they could usurp 90 percent of the South China Sea you would have said conspiracy theory.
Just because your vision and scope of ambition is limited , don’t presume that everyone else in the world exists at such a diminished scale.
I don’t live any bigger than you but at least I am aware enough to notice that some people are not intimidated by what you and I consider impossible or unlikely.
Perhaps your opinion hinges on the belief that a government would never act immorally enough to commit such an atrocity ? Unfortunately, history has all too many examples of such acts . Perhaps only the scale separates the injustice. From poisoned waterholes for indigenous Australians to small pox covered blankets to the Cape Town Hottentots to the aforementioned Holocaust ( by sweet , sane , rational and steadfast Germany, no less ! ) .....It’s all been done before .
When China is strongly petitioning the world to allow Chinese arrivals whilst they know they may be transmitting an unprecedented disease and then shortly after they close their borders to the world to protect themselves from the same virus , what does Occam’s razor have to say about their motivation ?
Hey Blowin, surely there’s another thread or forum to take this up on?
Conquistador of Mexico, the Zulu and the Navaho
The Belgians in the Congo short memory
Plantation in Virginia, the Raj in British India
The deadline in South Africa short memory
The story of El Salvador, the silence of Hiroshima
Destruction of Cambodia short memory
Short memory, must have a, short memory
The sight of hotels by the Nile, the designated Hilton style
With running water specially bought short memory
A smallish man Afghanistan, a watch dog in a nervous land
They're only there to lend a hand short memory
Wake up in sweat at dead of night
And in the tents new rifles hey short memory
If you read the history books you'll see the same things happen again and again
Repeat repeat short memory they've all got it
When are we going to play it again
Got a short, got a short, got a short, got a short
They've got a short must have a short they've got a short aah
Short memory, they've got a.
Pretty crazy if you can’t call out the actions of certain governments of the world without fear of being called racist. Good people get called racist everyday totally unjustified. Very dangerous behavior.
IThe word is starting to lose its true meaning. Let’s save it for true prejudice instead of anytime someone points out something negative about a person, group, govt that is anything other than a full whitey.
What if it was the Russian, French or US govt behaving just like China?
So weird creating protected species free from scrutiny.
Oh yeah and Epstien killed himself, no doubt. No conspiracy there.
Exactly.
No one seems to think it’s racist when I point out the injustices perpetrated by the US government .....strange.
Blindboy used to sign off his posts with “ God Fuck Amerika “ . But now it’s inciting violence and irrational bigotry to raise the issue with the CCP.....?
OK....point taken , Etarip.
I’ll give it a rest .
Oh FFS, can people not control themselves?
Swellnet “is a surfing website. We provide surf reports, forecasts, surfcams and surf editorial.“
Your words Ben
A lot of negativity, insults and the line have happened over the issue of your covid 19 don’t travel to surf banner
It’s given justification to localism of the most petty sort and is disconnected from the actual legislation in this issue
If swellnet is a surfing website as you say, how about removing the banner and just letting the lawmakers police etc do their job without your opinion on what people should or shouldn’t do with regards to travelling to surf?
OK, let's all take a deep breath.
Swellnet is a surfing website. We provide surf reports, forecasts, surfcams and surf editorial. The content is updated daily, so you lot keep coming back daily to read, watch and interact. We've been doing this for exactly eighteen years.
We've also got a robust community. And there's a lot of opinions out there. That's great.
Gotta say, I don't agree with more than half of the stuff that gets posted, but I feel that surfers are a unique cross section of the community, and therefore our forums offer a glimpse into just how diverse the world is that we live in.
That's the reason why we are very flexible in our moderation.
To simply delete comments we didn't like would be to live in a bubble of self reinforcement; an echo chamber. Not only would that become terribly boring after a while, it wouldn't be a true reflection of the surf community. Like it or not, there are a lot of surfers with wildy different ideas about how the world should be. I've certainly paused, or even altered my own thoughts following some discussions in our forums.
So, we tolerate - no, we encourage - everyone's opinion.
Because, everyone is entitled to have their own say, and be allowed the opportunity to debate their opinion - and that of others - in a safe environment.
And, I don't have a problem with colourful language as long as it's in context, and not a personal attack.
But, we won't put up with bullshit anymore. Yeah, we've said this before, and I admit - we've let quite a few threads get out of hand, and a few personalities override unrelated discussions.
My excuse for that has previously been that the Swellnet forums are a very small part of our website, and therefore receive a proportional amount of resources (i.e. bugger all). The forums generate zero income for the business so it's pretty hard to justify spending money on 'em.
Many, many websites have reached this point over the last few years, and simply pulled out the plug on their communities - or worse, redirected everyone over to their Facebook page.
I totally get it, too. Forum communities can be to hard to deal with, and there's absolutely no financial benefit in keeping them running. We could certainly be spending our time working on the more important parts of the business.
But, in a world where minority views are becoming harder to hear through mainstream news channels, and social media is nothing but a noisy, self indulgent shit-show, I'd like to think that the Swellnet forums can be a place where we can discuss a wide range of topics with a bunch of people who we may not know by face, but have a common denominator: the surf.
I suppose it's a level of acknowledgement: I may disagree with your views on this topic, but we all understand the anticipation of a new south swell at sixteen seconds.
So, please have another look at the Code Of Conduct rules (here). Please don't attack or threaten anyone personally. Please respect other people's opinions.
Thanks for listening. And thanks for your contributions.