Most forums have a trash bin where discussion that is spiraling to ground ends up. Why don't we have that? This section is not indexed, not searched, not tagged, not counted as post count and not thanked. Any discussion can be finished there up to a point where it either becomes illegal or utterly below the moral norm of a decent forum (includes pointless flame wars). Think of it as multiplayer PM.

Better yet, fork the thread, assuming the tech is available. Crack the thread in two, the destroyed version ends up in Trash, to continue, and the on-topics are kept intact. This will probably spike the mods' CPUs though.

I've hit this issue before when things got heated up on the Foxconn discussion. I would have very much liked to dot a few i's there, but the thread was closed because discussion was becoming political. I admit, I'll probably have political arguments in there, so we're cool, it was the right call. I would have liked a warning system, or a trash folder. I doubt anything could be salvaged in that thread, though. I'm speaking in general terms.

This could help: Instead of locking a thread, the mod can mark it as -say- politics. All users viewing the thread have a visual clue the tread is marked for locking, -say- text is red-on-white. Or a large-font warning just above the reply box. This would give users a chance to revert to the original topic, if any fun any more, or continue head bashing and, in doing so, have continued their disruptive behavior despite clear warning.

In real life, when you get annoyed at someone doing -whatever- and you start raising your voice, other people start looking at you. You get feedback, a silent sign you're irked above the norm and this allows one to rethink their strategy. Realize they've had their fifth Red Bull.

Forums don't have that. Few re-read their posts and I admit myself in my lifetime I must have abandoned typed responses just before I hit submit enough to start my own forum. Even so, the next day I wish I have rephrased a few things. And that's with me being able to just shrug and move on. It's quite hard for someone who HAS to take a stance. Like a mod.

I'm guessing none of you are strangers to the feeling. If you haven't apologized to someone yet, you probably should have and didn't. A little aid would help filter pro trolololers from just a bad day, and improve SNR.

Frankly, I'm the opposite of Texrat when it comes to moderation. If it were up to me, warnings would be per-post and per-user, rather than per-thread. Shared responsibility is the worst thing to hit social interaction since the advent of the pointy stick.

I think that it would help general quality if a person would be warned they are replying to a post modded OT. But then again, I've said this before, no need repeating it. IMO, a better community is better than a larger community, but to each his own. I (still) like it here, even if I'm now basically having my own little forum via subscriptions and include-exclude threads as they derail.

In another attempt to bring this back to topic, spitball ideas, what can be done?

Create Complaints forum?

Move offending threads to Complaints forum, with clear warning to the creator if a second complaint thread is created by them outside the complaint section they will be banned.

Complaints threads will not show up in active topics.

Perhaps an expiration of all threads in this forum based on some date 30/60/90 days? Perhaps this may be a bad idea?

Monitor threads as normal, still with the ability to close threads in the complaints forum as needed.


Other ideas?

I have heard someone say voting users up and down on posts. My concern is people with bad ideas or poor communication skills be degraded unnecessarily.

Spitball, brainstorm, whatever, ideas??

Many of the things you mention are very much on topic. The problem is that you make the statements without providing any reasoning to support your statements. That reasoning would actually help everyone since it would be guiding in the work to change this forum.

So, if you've spent the time thinking about these things, it should be easy to sum up how you reached these conclusions and help the rest of us.

I have found this perspective to be helpful:
Think of this web site / forum as a privately owned pub/bar/restuarent/floral shop/etc and act accordingly.
Would you do it/ say it there? If not then do not do it / say it here.

Sorry here are some suggestions for rules etc:

Rules to remember:
1) This is a privately owned site and as such full power to allow, disallow, remove content is at owner's discreation.
2) The owner(s) make the rules and have the right to make new ones or strike existing rules at any time.
3) The owner(s) of this site have invested this power of authority into the moderators.
4) The moderators are to execute their duties to best match the wishes of the owner(s).
5) Posts that are not allowed include but are not limited to (see #2 above):
a) Topics discussing moderation
b) Racial, Religious, Gender, etc discrimination
c) Personal attacks (name calling etc)
d) Advertisements for products or services not related to Maemo or devices that run maemo.
e) Any post that the moderators feel that the owners would not like.

6) Any user that continously flags incorrect violations (anything outside of rule #5 above) is subject to action by the moderator(s).
7) Please see rules 1-4 for anything else.

Change the FAQ:
Dealing with Troublesome Users
Can I block posts, emails and messages from specific users?

If there are particular members that bother you, you personally find offensive but do not violate rule #5 above and you do not want to see their posts or receive Private Messages and Emails from them, then you can add these members to your 'Ignore List'. There are several ways to do this:

Through your User Control Panel: User CP, Settings & Options, Edit Ignore List. Then, type their name into the empty text box and click 'Okay'.

What if I see something that violates rule#5?

You will find 'Report' links in many places throughout the board. These links allow you to alert the board staff to anything which you find to be in violation of rule#5.

The rules should either be at the top of the FAQ or on a separate page with a dedicated link so they are easy to reference and/or find.

I hope this is helpful if not that is ok as well. I am not certain how this cut and paste is going to format or if I can edit it so please forgive me if this is just a big mess.

Ok i guess for some i am just not explanative enough and for that i do apologise.

I just feel it is a shame the forum does get somewhat out of hand and as it has been pointed out on here it only takes a comment from someone that is read the wrong way and off it goes.

While you lot talk about threads and behaviour etc i am busy doing mod's to the hardware that makes a difference to the N900 but this thread is not the place to discuss that so i say it in brief.

Sorry i am not understood fully but anyone with knowledge of design will understand what i am briefly saying.

The only way to stop the nonsence is to simply delete it gone out of sight but that takes more work for the mod's and i do feel this forum is rather filling up with mindless arguments in a lot of area's so that is something a mod can sort out.

Please tell me what i need to explain more and i surely will.

Hi and welcome

I think you may misunderstand the situation here. Unlike Linux Foundation, Symbian, etc., Maemo.org does not exist as a recognized entity and thus does not "own" this site. The domain name is registered by Nokia, who has explicitly and repeatedly stated that it does not want to dictate how the forum is run. Maemo.org is not a top down organization, but is a community and so the community is in the process of discussing how the moderators should execute their duties. A bit of an imprecise process and it can be frustrating some times, but it is what it is until maemo.org decides to be more formal.

This place is doomed.

ysss did some bold markers in one of your previous messages. If you were to provide the reasoning behind these statements, you'd be helping a lot.

Actually according the to TOU (Terms of use) Nokia has laid out guidelines.
http://maemo.org/legal/terms_of_use/ in section 3 unless I am misunderstanding what they are for.

Nokia has disavowed those terms.

http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...&postcount=166

The community has yet to write its own terms of use.