MP Forum Tone

Stich wrote:pansies

That has been used as gay slur, you just microaggressed.

Scott O wrote:I came over back in the day from the old rockclimbing.com forums (are those even still a thing) because MP.com was in general a friendly and welcoming place, while RC.com was overrun with trolls and assholes. The dynamic here has certainly changed over the last few years.

This. BITD Mountain Project was a civilized alternative to the mess at RC.com and ST. Now...not so much. But maybe again soon? Thanks, Nick, for drawing the line.

Stich wrote: Vaginas are actually very, very tough you manly men.

Didn't some comedy gold came out of one of the threads either here or rc.com, where if I remember the artist formerly known as "foshizzle" suggested testing this theory by banging his scrotum against a forum member's vagina & see who gives up first? I didn't think anybody's feeling got hurt then...

Stich wrote:Stop calling each other pussies and lay off the faggot thing while you are at it. I think that is rarely used, but it pops up from time to time. People who are weak are called weaklings, wimps, babies, pansies, and other non-gender based words.

And 95% of the time it's directed at the insecurity of someone's masculinity, rather than any attempt at misogyny. And that's the thing, people will attack what you are most sensitive about. Not saying that's acceptable.

Stich wrote:I think we are operating on some false assumptions here. One is that there is this army of lurkers and people who seldom post because they are bummed out about the decorum. I think it's safer to say that these people don't post on any forums on a regular basis. Making the forums safer, more restrained, and frankly bland is not in fact going to bring these legions out of the dark. They might pop up once in a while and say, "Nice job!" but then they will go back to lurking. What you will have left over is a wasteland of no traffic at all. That's what rockclimbing.com is today. There is no longer any community. It just evaporated. Now those of you here that suspect you are on the short list to be banned, let's open up a discussion of just what it is you yourselves think might make this forum nicer. We can let others set standards, or we can offer ideas ourselves. First of all, let's end this denigration of all things weak by declaring them female. Vaginas are actually very, very tough you manly men. Stop calling each other pussies and lay off the faggot thing while you are at it. I think that is rarely used, but it pops up from time to time. People who are weak are called weaklings, wimps, babies, pansies, and other non-gender based words. But you can imply all of these insults with sneaky snarky verse, so work more on that when you need to.

+1

I wonder what evidence exists of a legion of intimidated would-be contributors?

Like Stich, I don't care to see crude personal attacks, racism, misogyny, etc and believe they do threaten MP.

If I feel they get out of hand, I flag them. If Nick wants my phone number to prove it's not just a vendetta, I give it.

You'd have to ask Nick, but I think BB got banned when he started calling specific posters racist pedophiles.

I'd be happy to see him back, but doubt he'd fit into our brave new world.

People talk about how "nice" it was in the old days. Does anyone else remember JLP? He was harsh, but knew what he was talking about. I was sorry to see him disappear.

I chose to use my real name as my ID because there were so many offensive anonymous cowards bitd. I vowed I'd not only use my real name, but even my freaking middle initial. IMHO the most offensive ACs have wandered off elsewhere.

I've been called a lot of things here (thanks Seth, Greg, Matt and others!)
I learned some things about myself from the experience and honestly think I'm a better person for it.
I can disagree with people, even vehemently, and still respect them.

I still find it hard to believe that folks can practice a dangerous, potentially life ending sport, yet cannot find the courage to post on MP because some anonymous internet user might not be nice enough to them in reply.

Ha! Good point.

Agree with everything Stich and Mark Dixon said. I miss JLP. His comments and observations were astute, but some people got hurt. If the forums get sanitized, all we end up with is bunch of polite know-nothings that perpetuate stupid (and sometimes dangerous) practices.

doligo wrote:Agree with everything Stich and Mark Dixon said. I miss JLP. His comments and observations were astute, but some people got hurt. If the forums get sanitized, all we end up with is bunch of polite know-nothings that perpetuate stupid (and sometimes dangerous) practices.

SO following this logic, those who are posting and polite are know nothings; hence guides, people w/20+ years experience, pros, are either not posting or know nothings?
I beg to differ.

The person who started the locked thread, Comanche, is a personal friend. His account was deactivated without notification or any information.

Nick Wilder wrote:I, my colleagues, and many MP members are disturbed by the increasingly hostile and misogynist posts in the Mountain Project forum. We are going to take some steps to address this: 1. We will more aggressively delete posts that violate our only rule: don’t be a jerk. 2. We are asking you, the community, to use the “Flag” button to point out problems. There is too much volume for us to proactively review all posts, so we rely on that feature being used. We take the Flag notifications very seriously. 3. Long term, we are going to add features that will reduce the admin role and empower the community to act as moderators. We believe that most problem posts get an outsized amount of attention from a small number of members, and we think we can build tools that will make topics more balanced. I am proud of the Mountain Project community we have built together, and while I don’t expect to like or agree with every forum post, we will work harder to maintain a respectful forum that we can be proud of too.

Thank you!!!

grog m wrote:The person who started the locked thread, Comanche, is a personal friend. His account was deactivated without notification or any information.

So pointing out that most of the posters on here are male is misogyny?

noun: misogyny

dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women

I didn't see the latest posts on that logo thread, did things go further down hill?

grog m wrote:The person who started the locked thread, Comanche, is a personal friend. His account was deactivated without notification or any information.

"Comanche" was more than a "personal friend" - it's actually a troll account created by the same human as "grog m". We're not perfect at identifying duplicate accounts, but this one was easy to prove.

Nice try.

Stich wrote:I think we are operating on some false assumptions here. One is that there is this army of lurkers and people who seldom post because they are bummed out about the decorum. I think it's safer to say that these people don't post on any forums on a regular basis. Making the forums safer, more restrained, and frankly bland is not in fact going to bring these legions out of the dark.

Bingo.

doligo wrote:Agree with everything Stich and Mark Dixon said. I miss JLP. His comments and observations were astute, but some people got hurt. If the forums get sanitized, all we end up with is bunch of polite know-nothings that perpetuate stupid (and sometimes dangerous) practices.

Apparently Stich got put in timeout for his post.

Yep, this is happening...

Seth Jones wrote: Yeah, that chalk thread got a little out of hand. Sorry about that, Mark. I still have plenty of respect for you and your contributions and would be happy to rope up with you anytime!

Thanks Seth, that's nice of you to say. I don't know how that thread got so hot!

I'd be happy to climb with you as well. Bet it would be a good day.

@Helen-

quick tip, if you are near/at your post limit, you can still edit prior posts...

I was kind of disappointed Hank didn't reply publicly after his rant. Not sure what got into him that time. I don't know him personally, but I think he's actually the decent friendly guy his posting typically suggests. Anyway, most of us end up posting some things we regret, part of being human really. Sometimes you just have to say "man did I just embarrass myself!" make amends and move on.

I know when you joined up I was convinced you were Elena.
I'm sorry if that was hurtful and I'm glad you persevered.
You have a voice on MP that is genuinely unique and appreciated.

Seth Jones wrote: Working in network analytics, I'd be curious to hear how you think you've proven that it's the same person. IP address, MAC address, similar email addresses for both users?

Lookup "device fingerprint" on wikipedia or Google browser fingerprint.

I would hate to see all troll accounts disappear. I get a kick out of Alex Sebastian though lately he has been stepping out of character. My favorite is Bruno CX, I hope smarm is not a banning offence.

I have been with MP longer than just about anyone on here. It was not "nice" in the old days. Probably the same really. The trolls were more inventive.

Interestingly many of the old trolls of MP who were banned have gone on to be successful celebrated climbing authors!

I feel like websites benefit from a benevolent dictator sort of approach, selective and not heavy handed moderating. You need some spice in the forums, some personality but people shouldn't be allowed to be bullies. I wholly agree that over-moderation tends to kill websites. It is debatable if Rockclimbing.com was ever a good website though.

Supertopo is full of raucous banter. I am too afraid to ever post much, but I love reading it!!

If you are unwilling to draw a line of self-restraint, someone else is bound to step up and draw one for you.

I'm often reminded around here of how DLFA members used to brag about pissing on people from the top of the cliff.

This post violated Rule #1. It has been removed by Mountain Project.

Rick Blair wrote: Will saying "admin temper tantrum" get someone banned?

Goodbye, Rick. :)