Attention ALL political posters!

fisherpal2k · Nov 2, 2008

Please read this with all due respect to each and every one on here. This is rule number 6 from the guidelines set forth on this forum,



6. Political and Religious posts have been discouraged on CFF due to past issues and the potential fallout they predictably lead to. There is no strict rule prohibiting it, but if you must post such content please be aware that if it leads to offensive language or public heated confrontation it will be considered degrading to the site and a violation of guidelines. 





 We have asked that each person respect others and this has gotten way out of hand. 



YES, this is election year.

YES, there are some folks running for president.

YES, we all should have the right to vote and I encourage you to do so.





 With this being said. Please refrain from making accusing remarks toward others on this forum! If this continues, the political posts will be deleted or frozen.

 We all know how things have went and how they are going. There has been many posts started and we have received flak from everyone about deleting posts and freezing posts. 

There has been two posts that were allowed to stand. There has been some good points brought out in them and there have been some slanderous remarks against each candidate and others on the board.

Again, PLEASE refrain from doing this! This forum is liable and so are you. YOU are a member of this forum!

 Please act responsibly and leave it at that. Anymore posting toward politics and other degrading remarks and the posts will be pulled and actions taken if posting of political contentkeeps occuring!

 

beetlespin · Nov 2, 2008

why don't you mind your own business.

fisherpal2k · Nov 2, 2008

Beetlespin, I have been minding my business. I was asked a long time ago to help on this forum and it has really went down hill in the last few months.

Several of the members on this forum have taken things to an extreme. I personally do not want to be named in a law suit on this forum or any other as far as that goes.

I for one have not been afraid to put my name on my signature and do not hide behind any thing out there. I do not post much on here anymore for some of the same reasons as a lot of the older hands don't.



It seems that there are a few on here who are more than willing to let their voice be heard whether it is right or wrong. But don't let that fool you. If you have something to say, say it, and be done. Put your name on it and stand by it. I am just trying to follow the rules that have been in place from the begining.

ditchdoc666 · Nov 2, 2008

I'm not sure what has happened on here with a few folks but I for one joined this forum to talk fishing,hunting,fish tx and learn to cook some great stuff,not to hear about all the negative things some folks seem to have on there mind about politics,I am all for freedom of speech but if I want to hear about it I will go to some of the thousand sites that are geared to that topic.I try not to even open a post but some people seem to want to mention it in someone else post that is totaly unrelated and then it goes to crap from there. The moderators all do a fine job and remember they do this for us and Iagree should not have to spend there time on non fishing posts. Lets get back to why we are here and move on this has been a great site but some people must not have alot to do but think about how they can stir something up about nothing.Happy fishing and thats my .02 worth

beetlespin · Nov 2, 2008

If you don't want to participate in the off topic discussions forum you don't have to. Its a simple choice. You don't have to read it or reply to any of it. It seems like a pretty popular place to me.

Jmax · Nov 2, 2008

It got so boring on here after the last couple were deleted that Bbass started talking about hearing the crickets churpping and not much was happening. Heck even beetlespin was speechless for a day. emoBigsmile Looks to me that if you get a good pilitical debate or some other controversial topic going we seem to all come alive. emoBigsmile These winter months may really get slow if some of you other guys don't start fishing or hunting. emoAngler Jmax

Dropshot · Nov 2, 2008

Why not delete the Off Topic Discussions completely? For that matter this is a fishing forum so why not delete the hunting posts as well? Heck, if you are not going to post, why be a moderator? And let it be known that I asked to have a post deleted on Friday and it was allowed to go on all weekend.

hoggerhead · Nov 2, 2008

Hey mods, how about NO political posts, or comments period? That would solve this problem. I agree with freedom of speech, but this subject seems to bring the worst out in people. And if these same people think their "rights" are being violated, then WE DONT NEED THEM HERE ON CFF ANYWAYS! They need to go find some other website to destroy.

hoggerhead · Nov 2, 2008

beetlespin - 11/2/2008 9:47 AM

why don't you mind your own business.

Why dont you mind yours.

Guest · Nov 3, 2008

I am a member of several forums and because I quite often have a lot of downtime at work I spend a lot of time on them. The largest and most successful of these is the Brotherhood of Catfishermen. They have, in just a couple years more than CFF has been around, grown to nearly 25,000 members. On the BOC there are two sections that you have to "sign up" to get into. One is called High Intensity and the other is Religious Talk. Both of these area are for adults only and are lightly moderated. Anything the mods deem to be not fishing related goes into one or the other of these two areas. If people get too far out of hand their posts get deleted but man it takes a lot.
It is my belief that you cannot stop people from discussing things that they are passionate about. Just go into most any cafe or Hardees or McDonalds in the country in the morning and you can see. The CFF is like those gathering places. Folks talk about what is in their lives. Politics,religion, family, fishing, hunting etc. Sure you can delete posts or even "take action" which is a turn head term for banning someone. Why not make such an area on CFF that all the non fishing stuff goes into. Put warnings in place and make it more difficult to enter than just clicking on a link. Then if someone makes a post that is out of bounds put it in there. The ones that don't want to opt into a high intensity area can just stay out.
My point here is that the OFF Topic area is too broad. Leave it as a place for general non fishing discussion but narrow down the allowed subjects. All subjects that draw passionate debate go into a high intensity type forum.
Just a suggestion guys but if management decides to to something like this I will volunteer some of my time to help out.

beetlespin · Nov 3, 2008

its a nice suggestion but I don't think anything needs to be changed. We probably already have to many forums on here. Just my $.02

tyler ware · Nov 3, 2008

I think these politicalpost show the uniqueness of all of us. I am sure they will go away after the election, but at this time in history this is a big discussion. Even other coutries are watching our election, they have a full page in a London newspaper each day.

fisherpal2k · Nov 3, 2008

I agree with most all that has been said. 

Cheez, I do not agree with the definition you put with my term of "action". I do not have the power to ban anyone and do not wish to have it. I do have the job that was asked of me and that was to keep the forum clean. My definition is that I would politely pm the offending person and ask they do better. If that don't work then its up to the admin's. or owner to correct it.



I personally pm'ed Doc1 and told him what was happening to his post. He asked very plainly to "keep it civil" in the opening lines. This was not done. It was delelted by me.



 Grown men calling each other out by calling them "stupid" and asking if they are off their medications or asking how crazy can they be or whatever, is more than "degrading" to this site.



 It has been asked to have a forum area that you would have to log in to for just this type of comments. I do not have the power to create such an area, if I did it would already have been here. But as with anything else, there are so many on here who do not use a "real" name and age is hard to verify.



 As long as the post stays clean and we keep away from name calling, and such childish things as this, I wouldn't care what is in the forum. BUT, I do have a 9 yr old that loves to sit and read and tries to learn from a lot of the folks adventures on here. Right now she has access to all the forum just as you or I do. I am trying to teach my child respect and dignity and that is hard to do if she follows some of the examples set forth on here.



 With that being said, all I ask is to keep it clean. If you do not like my work then by all means please do the right thing and pm the owner of this site. "First Light" and ask to have me removed.



 I still post on here and yes, I still get on and read as much as I can. I haven't had the luxury of going fishing lately or hunting. There are a few on here that knows why and I don't care to tell you. The past couple of months has been really tough for me and my family. 



 My wife was diagnosed with cancer and we have been dealing with that. She has had two surgeries and is now doing better. I thank God for that and don't worry about any short coming of saying so. Now fire away.

BassERT · Nov 3, 2008

Peace to you and God bless you and yours!

Fishin Fool · Nov 3, 2008

This is just my opinion about the political posts and is not met to start a argument.

This forum is a LOCAL forum, as opposed to many, which are national or regional. With it being a local forum there are many, many good friendships that result because of it. There is also the potential for many, many more friendships. When Dhaun created this forum his expressed wish was that it would provide information to anglers, and allow them to meet and learn from one another about fishing and hunting. It has accomplished that goal many times over.

The reason I make the point about this being a local forum, is that when you begin an argument, insult someone, slander them, or for any reason disrespect them, you have lost a chance to make a friend locally and probably many more besides. I know some of you don't see it as a popularity/friendship contest, but if you don't want fellowship about fishing and hunting then what are you doing here besides gathering free information for your benifit? This forum was created for all the stated reasons above, but it has also become a CFF family. I make it a point not to argue with my own family about politics, what Church they attend, and I do the same with my friends. I've seen some families split for years because they can't follow those simple rules of respect. I was told by my granddad over 40 years ago that the quickest way to make an enemy was to argue religion or politics. My question is why do it on a fishing forum dedicated to fishing and hunting?

By the way, Britt is one of the fairest moderators on CFF!

We have very simple rules in place regarding this and they are posted as a "sticky" at the top of the "off topic discussion" area. Political posts and religious argument are discouraged. Getting mad at the Mods and Admins for doing their jobs isn't the right thing to do. I did the job for a few years and I know how hard it is sometimes. I've intervened in arguments that most of you never ever knew about simply because we reacted quickly and within the rules to keep them from blowing up and becoming a public issue. Moderators and Admins are simply following very WISE rules. David knew that most of those type posts degrade into argument and insults. Why make your neighbor angry with you? Go vote as you choose, and go to the church you like. You don't have to use the Chattanooga FISHING Forum as a place to beat your chest and declare your beliefs. There are plenty of other places on the internet for that. Insult those people on the other sites all you like, you won't need their help one day when your boat is stranded on the water. Let's try and keep CFF a family and continue to make friends, and if we argue, let's do it about fishing or hunting.

ditchdoc666 · Nov 3, 2008

emoApplause emoApplause emoApplause AMEN

hoggerhead · Nov 3, 2008

Well said fishinfool, i agree 100% emoApplause emoApplause emoApplause

RangerRob · Nov 3, 2008

Dropshot - 11/3/2008 12:19 AM
And let it be known that I asked to have a post deleted on Friday and it was allowed to go on all weekend.

And let it be known that we don't typically snap to attention just because you seem to have had your morality feathers ruffled, either. Don't fuel the political posts and then run crying to 'Admin Mommy' because someone says something that goes against your beliefs. If you wanna play ball, then get in the game and PLAY BALL. If you want to post your opinions without others being able to post theirs, then you're expecting a wee bit too much.

Did you see the movie "Stripes?" Yeah?

Well then ... "Lighten up, Francis."

Buoy-Master · Nov 4, 2008

Dropshot - 11/3/2008 11:17 PM

Maybe if the admins would do the job they claim to do except when they feel like it or get a wild hairand stop posts when the profanity and name calling starts it would be Ok. It seems that there are different rules for different people.

I was asked to stop posting by another member who said their kids visit the site because another member decided to go off the deep end and it appeared to be aimed at me. I was called a lair for presenting facts backed up with references. That is when I sent a private message to the admin, andnothing was done for nearly three more days. If you are going to be a moderator, then be one. Otherwise, get someone else to do it who can and will do the job.

If you are going to allow it to go on, you should actually try and control the language.

I'll say this as nice as I can. Admin and Mods WERE DOING THEIR JOBS! It wasn't until a group of members started their "Freedom Of Speech" issues that we stopped. That's right, we let you guys have at it and look whatit got us! As for your post Dropshot...you asked me to delete an entire thread. I would have gladly deleted your post if you asked me but not a thread. (same reasons above)



Now, we will be discussing how to eliminate these situations today and make a post this evening. What ever we decide will be the Golden Rule. If you feel like your Freedom is violated at that point, please move along to another site. CFF IS NOT a soundboard for Political feelings and discussions. It was designed for FISHING, which by the way, is what we all have in common here! Just because you log in dosent mean your handed a microphone. Off Topics are great but it does have a limit on what's need to be posted. I personally like the area as it can be fun at times. Jokes, Sports, Cars, whatever but as you can see, there are threads that really don't need to be.



We have seen this before and here we are again. This time we, Admin and Moderators, just let the rope go to prove a point. It not any ones fault this stuff gets out of hand, its just the human nature in us all and the fact we are passionate about things. Lets see if we can get back to the real passion here...FISHING. 

I'm locking this thread and I hope everyone understands why. 



If you feel compelled to discuss it further, PM BPrice or myself. All post regarding this will be deleted! PM US please.emoThumbsup 

-Thank You

Attention ALL political posters!

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