heypete
Member
On April 3rd of this year, I posted a video on YouTube where some folks in Roanoke, VA had a grand time shooting machineguns with their friends and family back in 2005 (anyone have any who these folks are? I downloaded the video a while back from some site and would like to meet up with these folks if ever I make it to Virginia.).
No problem. A few hundred people viewed it, and life was pretty good.
Turns out that people have been flocking to YouTube and typing in "Virginia shoot" or other similar keywords...and that my video of the law-abiding folks having a pleasant afternoon shooting targets shows up as the very first result.
All and sundry start flooding the comments of the video with various accusations of my character ("you people are sick. you should turn the guns the other way and see how you like it."), suggestions that this group of law-abiding citizens enjoying their machineguns in 2005 somehow contributed to today's despicable act of violence, and inferences that since the children in the video were shown how to responsibly and safely use firearms in a recreational context that they're somehow going to grow up to be mass murderers.
I try to keep my various activities strictly on the high road, and use similar methods to the moderators here to remove offending comments from the video comment thread. As much as I hate to do it, I've set the video to require my approval before comments go live. Of course, people continue to post comments, and then accuse me of censorship for not allowing their off-topic comments to be posted.
While I'm willing to give people a little leeway in the wake of a tragedy, some of these comments simply go too far. Most of these people have no idea that gun-related videos exist on YouTube, or that people use guns recreationally (many of the comments are from foreign countries like Togo, Argentina, Finland, etc. where the laws differ and machineguns are not permitted), but it still doesn't justify the posting of off-topic comments.
(venting off)
On a more THR-related note, I'd like to thank the excellent moderators who work hard to ensure that this community remains firmly on the high road. Given the state of other discussion boards online, and the unfortunately common tendency of people to revert to the low road when interacting with things they're not used to and find offensive, I am always pleased to see how polite discussion at THR are.
Do keep up the fine work and know that it's appreciated by readers here. In the event that you are ever in need of additional moderators, I would gladly volunteer.
No problem. A few hundred people viewed it, and life was pretty good.
Turns out that people have been flocking to YouTube and typing in "Virginia shoot" or other similar keywords...and that my video of the law-abiding folks having a pleasant afternoon shooting targets shows up as the very first result.
All and sundry start flooding the comments of the video with various accusations of my character ("you people are sick. you should turn the guns the other way and see how you like it."), suggestions that this group of law-abiding citizens enjoying their machineguns in 2005 somehow contributed to today's despicable act of violence, and inferences that since the children in the video were shown how to responsibly and safely use firearms in a recreational context that they're somehow going to grow up to be mass murderers.
I try to keep my various activities strictly on the high road, and use similar methods to the moderators here to remove offending comments from the video comment thread. As much as I hate to do it, I've set the video to require my approval before comments go live. Of course, people continue to post comments, and then accuse me of censorship for not allowing their off-topic comments to be posted.
While I'm willing to give people a little leeway in the wake of a tragedy, some of these comments simply go too far. Most of these people have no idea that gun-related videos exist on YouTube, or that people use guns recreationally (many of the comments are from foreign countries like Togo, Argentina, Finland, etc. where the laws differ and machineguns are not permitted), but it still doesn't justify the posting of off-topic comments.
(venting off)
On a more THR-related note, I'd like to thank the excellent moderators who work hard to ensure that this community remains firmly on the high road. Given the state of other discussion boards online, and the unfortunately common tendency of people to revert to the low road when interacting with things they're not used to and find offensive, I am always pleased to see how polite discussion at THR are.
Do keep up the fine work and know that it's appreciated by readers here. In the event that you are ever in need of additional moderators, I would gladly volunteer.
