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hot topics policy

Carl H.

Distinguished Member
Distinguished Member
Is there a policy regarding "hot topics" in place here that we should be aware of?
 
Are you going to discuss the weather in Phoenix? It has been kinda toasty, lately.

Are you referring to what threads get labeled as "hot"? That's based on the number of posts in a thread and I can change that.

Are you referring to topics you can't discuss? I'm sorry, I can't discuss those.

:p

Seriously: if it's question #3, above, shoot me a PM or e-mail.
 
Actually it might be a good idea if everyone knew what was best not discussed here.

It would save work for you Mods/Admins, and the humiliation of having a thread deleted accompanied by a reprimand.

I, for one, get into enough trouble as it is.

Food for thought.
 
No big drama or secret. What brought this thread to existence was someone taking a shot at a politician in a currently active thread. Is this sort of speech acceptable here or not?

How about infamous pics of a bari sax player?
 
Actually, it has been my experience that if someone says that he's wondering which topics SHOULDN'T be discussed, he probably has something in mind :D.

Anyhow,

* As a rule of thumb, as long as the post isn't illegal (includes libel, by the way), it's discussable, here.
* Please don't ask, in a thread, who has been banned or why. Bannees have been known to throw up lawsuits for that. If you have a "need" to know, contact Ed, Jim or me to APPLY to be a Content Expert.
* There is a particular dealer/manufacturer -- not who you think -- that we had some issues with on SOTW a LONG time ago and, while discussions of his products aren't banned, we keep a close eye on 'em.
* I think there's a comment that all posts/topics should be "suitable for work". In other words, keep it PG-rated.
* Don't use too much profanity. Again, keep it PG rated. (If you get Scarface Syndrome -- rent the movie, if you have no idea what I'm talking about -- the admin staff will delete your post and have a chat with you.)

Again, the above would be kind-of a "rule of thumb". I don't want to start writing out specific instances of things you can't say/do, because that's counterproductive: someone will try to be a lawyer (no offense to the lawyers) and say, "Well, Pete didn't mention $topic, so I can discuss it and can't be banned! Neener, neener!"

As it says in the official rules, "Be nice".

Carl, if you're gonna post pics of Goodson in his RED suit with the PURPLE bari, it's been done before. :p

I haven't had anyone report the post you mention, though. My opinion is that this isn't a political forum and if it's a non-sax post/thread, it gets deleted at WF staff discretion.

(BTB, I'll move this thread into the FAQ area ....)
 
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Hmmm,,, red suit...

I was thinking more along the lines of the wrinkled pink suit.:???:
 
Nah. Haven't seen that.

FWIW, if the picture(s) are copyrighted, make sure you get permission from the copyright owner before you post -- or that you're using them in accordance with US/international "fair use" clauses in the copyright law.

Yes, I'm serious.
 
Yeah I saw someone's comment relating to a presidential administration and thought, do we have to go there? If we give definitive rules on how to behave, there will always be someone pressing to see where the limits are. So it would appear we are just a bit laid back here on purpose but if someone really steps out of line, we'll be forced to take care of the situation.
 
Yeah I saw someone's comment relating to a presidential administration and thought, do we have to go there? If we give definitive rules on how to behave, there will always be someone pressing to see where the limits are. So it would appear we are just a bit laid back here on purpose but if someone really steps out of line, we'll be forced to take care of the situation.

If anyone starts going on about BO...I'll start regaling them with tales of the Canadian political landscape.
 
If anyone starts going on about BO...I'll start regaling them with tales of the Canadian political landscape.

That's the ticket Merlin. That'll put them to sleep for sure, and we won't have to worry about further discussion. Narcolepsy as the cure. Brilliant! ;-)
 
The sidestep

Some forums (fora?) simply set aside a section for completely off-topic threads, and shunt threads into that section when they begin to seriously diverge from the forum topic. Of course, someone still has to keep an eye on those, so that they don't completely degenerate, but everyone likes such an outlet sometimes :emoji_relaxed:
 
Generally speaking I would prefer that we all keep on the topics of the given areas. If you can throw in some interesting and intelligent remark and no one says boo to me then no problems. If someone goes off on politics or religion then that's going to cause friction.

I'd rather concentrate on the things that bring us together than the things that drive us apart.

And if I never see the picture of the naked guy holding the bari sax I will be quite happy. I don't need to explain that to my seven year old. I also would not want to sear that image into such a young mind. Let's wait until he is old enough to cruise the internet on his own.
 
Yah. The Lounge.

When Ed, Jim and I started the WF, we discussed havening a "Lounge" area like on SOTW. While I like the idea, in general, you can see that it got way too out of hand over there.

So, we all lean toward, "This is a saxophone forum. Post about sax. If you post about something else, it may get deleted."

As always, there's the little
report.gif
icon you can click if you see something that's out-of-line.

Now, while I really do enjoy banning people and deleting stuff, what I try to do (and Jim really does a lot of, too) is try to promote community here. I tend to think that a political discussion is almost by definition disharmonious. Ed's got a degree in something political, IIRC, so y'all can be overwhelmed by his brilliance if you get too far :).

So far, we've really had little problem. I really just want to stick to the, "Play nice and respect the Admins/CEs" rule and not have to really set other rules in stone.

(Believe it or not, I've generally been the one -- both here and on SOTW -- to not ban people. That's bitten me a couple times, but I want to believe some folks straighten out after talking with 'em.)
 
Hot Topic area? Slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch.........:D
Seriously, don't do it, not for a minute. Don't even mention it again if you know what is good for you, mark my words! ;)
 
Generally speaking I would prefer that we all keep on the topics of the given areas.
The WF equivalent of the "Lounge" seems to be "General Discussion," which hosts, "Posts that concern multiple or general woodwind issues or other topics tolerated at the whim of Ed ..." [emphasis added]

"Hot Topics" was an experiment that seems to have succeeded in the views of most members and failed in the views of most moderators. Actually, as an experiment, it succeeded, because everyone learned something from it. Not all experiments teach you what you want to learn.
 
To Ed and the other bosses, I would add: Since you prefer to not post rigid rules, which is nice, when you do delete somthing or sanction someone for cause, figure a way to let the membership know that it happened and why.

That way, eventually, your "whims" will become understood and others will come to know where the uncrossable lines are.
 
> when you do delete somthing or sanction someone for cause, figure a way to let the membership know that it happened and why.
Al, that ain't gonna happen. I think I've already mentioned that there are webmasters that have been sued because they've posted something like, "$Idiot was banned because he did $something_idiotic".

If there happens to be a thread where cuts are needed, the people that have posted in the thread will be contacted, because they're the ones that should be concerned about that thread. If a minor edit needs to be done for whatever reason, you'll see a note in the post.

If it's spam, it just disappears. I see no reason to contact anyone about that, other than the fact that we keep a copy of it so we know WHY someone was banned.

"All other topics tolerated at the whim of Ed" (yes, I wrote that) means, "If it's non-sax, it probably won't be here for very long. Unless one of the WF staff deem that it's interesting enough or has some relation to us." It's a nice way of saying, "We're gonna be laid back about it, but find another forum for off-topic stuff."

=========

The "Hot Topics" experiment on SOTW was a mistake. They have too many users from too many places and too many age groups to have a completely non-moderated area. Again, I like the idea of havening a place to kick back and discuss non-woodwind stuff with other people that share something in common with you (i.e. music), but I have no desire to moderate such an area 24/7.

While a lounge/off-topic area might work better here because most of our members are professional or retired professional musicians of one sort or another, I'd still argue against having one.

One of my "functions" here, at the moment, is to listen to suggestions from Jim or Ed (and the Staff, when they make 'em) and come up with reasons WHY they won't work -- that kinda "happened"; I didn't volunteer for that. Yes, I have no problems being overruled or being proven wrong, but I'd rather be proven wrong without havening to hurt a lot of people's feelings in the process. I not only think, I know that happened with the "Hot Topics" area on SOTW.

Again, to keep the bonsai harmonious and promote proper growth, you must trim branches. Or something like that :).
 
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"All other topics tolerated at the whim of Ed" (yes, I wrote that) means, "If it's non-sax, it probably won't be here for very long. Unless one of the WF staff deem that it's interesting enough or has some relation to us." It's a nice way of saying, "We're gonna be laid back about it, but find another forum for off-topic stuff."
That's a good thing that you just posted along with the list in post #5. Now we know more about what the statement about whims really means.
The "Hot Topics" experiment on SOTW was a mistake. They have too many users from too many places and too many age groups to have a completely non-moderated area.
It was moderated as I recall. Perhaps the mistake was in thinking it would not need much moderating.
Yes, I have no problems being overruled or being proven wrong, but I'd rather be proven wrong without havening to hurt a lot of people's feelings in the process. I not only think, I know that happened with the "Hot Topics" area on SOTW.
I guess that was insider executive session stuff from which the membership is shielded.
 
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To Ed and the other bosses, I would add: Since you prefer to not post rigid rules, which is nice, when you do delete somthing or sanction someone for cause, figure a way to let the membership know that it happened and why.

That way, eventually, your "whims" will become understood and others will come to know where the uncrossable lines are.

Al we are fortunate right now in that we have a wonderful core group of folks. I generally let people know back channel if something had to be deleted. They generally let everyone else know.
 
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