What has happened to The High Road?

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kungfuhippie

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I feel like ranting...

I have noticed that many of the postings on The High Road have not been very high road lately. Yes I've posted low road stuff here too before so I'm also criticizing myself. I don't get it, maybe I just spend more time on the forum now and notice it more. I joined THR about two years ago to get info regarding my new found hobby and found here a wealth of information and like minded folks that made living in liberal California bearable. But no so often I see posts that vaguely disguise low road comments and actions. I don't care to go into detail on everything but I've found myself spending more time in another forum lately because the conversation there seems more worthwhile.

My point is that I miss what The High Road was. I'm growing sick of what I feel it's becoming. So often now I see new members that haven't bothered to read the rules or maybe they just never payed attention to the forum's name. I just hope that we can as a forum become a light on a hill again rather than turn into what other forums are.

done ranting. Thanks for listening. :)
 
"...I see new members that haven't bothered to read the rules..." I haven't noticed it much, but most people don't read anything they should. Guys mostly. Young guys especially. They have been taught that they don't have to do anything for themselves. If we could just get them to learn how to spell and forget their instant messaging nonsense, I'd be content.
 
You are welcome.

Do we need background checks and maybe a test before a new member can post?

Or should we take the improvement and elucidation of new members as a challenge worthy of a High Roader?
 
Sorry if I post anything low road-ish, I try not to.
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If you try not to then you're not the change I've noticed. The change has been that so many arm-chair-commandos have started posting things to get a rise out of us by being low road. I swear there must have been a group purchase of trauma plates and duct tape a year ago.
 
Do we need background checks and maybe a test before a new member can post?

Or should we take the improvement and elucidation of new members as a challenge worthy of a High Roader?
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Back in the day the mods would let us know when we screwed up. I got my hand slapped for less than I've seen in a few threads this week. Yes members do elucidate, my post is part of that.
 
Do we need background checks and maybe a test before a new member can post?
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oddly enough considering this is a gun forum I am not oppossed to a waiting period before one can post. LOL I am on another forum and they do it and it seems to help very much with trolling.

Just a day seems to work fine, but tell me I gotta wait a day to buy a gun and we are gonna fight!
 
ALot of people come from other gun forums where it's all right to cuss and just act a fool as long as you don't do it to each other. This may be a totally new place for them.

I think it's alright. If this was my forum, I'd let people cuss and talk crap and do whatever as long as it's not illegal or offends a person severely(that's subjective). But it's not my forum, so I follow the rules.

I remember I got banned from a forum (won't give names....) because I disagreed with a mod on a minor political subject that affected no one. At the same time, they have a sub forum in which you can post pornography. :scrutiny:

It just doesn't make sense sometimes. But I like it here and I have not seen what I'd constitute as "low road" material yet. Nor have been treated unfairly by the mods.
 
I very rarely post here anymore. I used to post quite a lot, way back when. I noticed this same thing about 2 years ago, which is when I stopped spending a lot of time here. It has gotten worse lately. I think the mods do a great job overall, but as a forum grows, it becomes harder to keep out the "riff raff".
So it is with any place worth being. I simply have less patience for BS than I used to, so I choose not to read it.
Still one of the more polite places on the net.
 
I've only been a member for short time, but I've lurked around here for a couple of years. I've noticed a little more "low road" posts recently, but I think that's due in the main to the fact that the site has grown considerably over the years. With more members, you're bound to have more jerks. And with more members, there are more posts and consequently more work for the (already overworked?) mods.
 
If you have a problem with someone's posting you are supposed to report it to the mods by clicking on the red triangle with the exclamation point. I am probably guilty of standing up to some people I should have just reported. My one big flaw, I cant stand stupid.
 
I have noticed this a little myself. Not that we can all be "high road" all the time, as everyone will have their disagreements and opinions. That said...

If you have a problem with someone's posting you are supposed to report it to the mods by clicking on the red triangle with the exclamation point.
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Ding ding! It is not the mod’s responsibility to keep this forum "high road", but OUR responsibility as the community.
 
report.gif


The button, learn it well, carry it always.

As moderators, we depend on members to help us uphold the mission of The High Road. 1911ShooterTJ hit the bullseye.

I will allow this off topic thread to remain open as long as it's beneficial.

Really, it's not off topic I suppose, because discussing The High Road is discussing guns.
 
Low-Road vs High-Road

I find this discussion interesting. I am against swearing, offensive behavior, and baiting. I have seen my share of violence and thuggery thank-you. Retired Marine and some time as an inn keeper in a prison. I am not a sissy and can handle myself with weapons and my hands. I just choose to not have to act indecently and expect people around me to act in a civil manner.

As far as a test I find myself perplexed. If your high road includes higher education I may as well leave now. I may sometimes misspell or misspeak. I may sometimes be very attached to my beliefs. I believe my giving my health in service of my country affords me some privileges.

As a new person may I ask for further clarification of what we are discussing here?:confused:
 
Young guys especially. They have been taught that they don't have to do anything for themselves. If we could just get them to learn how to spell and forget their instant messaging nonsense, I'd be content.
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Hardly. The absolute worst grammar/spelling offenders are typically either over 50 or under 15, from what I've seen. You need to include the old illiterate people, too.

I use instant messangers all the time, and I capitalize, punctuate, and spell properly on there. Well, maybe not spelling. Some words are tricky.
 
If you have a 100 members and 1% of them are schmucks, you have 1 schmuck.

If you have 10,000 members and 1% of them are schmucks, you have 100 schmucks.

As we grow, even if the percentage of schmucks doesn't increase, the absolute number will.

THR has grown a LOT in the last year.
 
The button, learn it well, carry it always.

As moderators, we depend on members to help us uphold the mission of The High Road. 1911ShooterTJ hit the bullseye.

I will allow this off topic thread to remain open as long as it's beneficial.

Really, it's not off topic I suppose, because discussing The High Road is discussing guns.
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You also make a good point, but much of the problem (as I see it) lies with statements that are ignorant or just plain incorrect. I often find myself 20 or so posts into a thread and leaving in disgust due to the level of misinformation and utter nonsense I'm reading...

Unfortunatly there is no way to report this...
 
Content, Not Writing Style

Kungfuhippie isn't so much objecting to the style of writing (although I often wince at some of the more egregious punctuation/spelling/grammar/capitalization stuff).

I think he's talking more about the occasional confrontational jerk, the random SHTF fanboy, and the trolls who show up for the sole purpose of disrupting things.

There aren't very many mods to go around, and recruiting new volunteers to take abuse and sort the wheat from the chaff is a slow process, and barely keeps up with the attrition that afflicts that kind of job.

We add new members at a substantially higher rate than we can grab hours to dedicate to the task.

Can't be everywhere at once.

You guys can certainly help us out when you see a thread or a post headed for the cliff.

The other thing you can do is simply starve the troll.

Someone jumps into a thread, starts posting rubbish, won't leave, punch the red triangle and DISENGAGE!

You can't win a war or words with a fool. He'll just drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

We're always gonna have gamers, noobs, arrogant jerks, and trolls.

Help the ones who can learn. Ignore the ones who won't learn.

And always endeavour to raise your own standards.
 
As far as a test I find myself perplexed. If your high road includes higher education I may as well leave now. I may sometimes misspell or misspeak.
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Not at all. It's sometimes hard to quantify a general shift in "feel" on the forums, it's easy to refer to a post or an attitude as "stupid" without any intent to refer to the posters education or intelligence, but rather attitude.

Case in point, your post was polite, to the point, you said what you had to say and asked for more information before getting offended or upset. That's more than fine, that's the sort of temperament we love to have here.

What KFH was after, and what a lot of other posters, myself included have noticed in the last month or so, is a sizable increase in unchecked poor behavior from new(er) members including baiting, threatening, bashing of social and sometimes ethnic groups, and just general incivility.

Doc hit it on the head I think, it's part of our collective responsibility as members to keep an eye on, and educate new posters in the sort of behavior that's expected and encouraged here. I'm sure a lot of these guys would fit right in with a word or two, after all, most of them are new to THR, but well versed "the interweb", am uncouth world where being a bit of a bastard is not only acceptable, but encouraged. I know when I first came here I had a few words with people before I realized "Oh, we don't s*** in the house around here, well, that's a nice change, actually.".

I too hope the recent trend reverses, but I think the onus is mostly upon the older and more prolific posters to see that it does. Here's hoping that we're fair and vigilant in that effort.
 
I do agree that we as a community have a responsibility to keep things high road, and I do frequent this forum more than the others because of the culture here.

BUT- I have also seen many "debates" on here lately where when someone disagrees with a users post, and replies back with not so "PC" language, they get blasted for being low road. Just because someone tells it like it is and doesn't sugar coat it, that doesn't mean they are taking the low road.
 
I've got to be honest. I've never used the triangle button once. I haven't seen things that are too bad yet, Maybe I haven't been around here very long but apparently I'm a senior member. The worst I've seen were some low road comments on someone's very nice gun room. Oriental carpets indeed.:rolleyes:
 
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