Social gives the most latitude for a variety of answers.

That’s a good question, but one I think I have no real answer for. The way you look at it seems to indicate that the different sections may, or may not, pertain to certain behavioural expectations, but the way I see it is just to classify things, and types of questions, (Opinions and thoughts VS I need help with something or wtf’s up widdat.) and therefore the way something is answered seems irrelevant to me, mostly because I think the guidelines, IE no trolling, be funny and smartass as long as you at least make some effort to answer the question and blah blah encompass every kinda question.

Or so I think. Personally I don’t really see the point of having all these categories because of that, but maybe they’re trying to change things. Or maybe I didn’t understand the point of making these changes, but nevertheless, in the end, I think that since we have the opportunity to elaborate our questions via the description thing, you can use that to more or less direct the people into which kind of answer you’re looking for.

I bloody hate censorship as much as you, I’ll agree 100% with that, although it’s not really censorship if you ask for specifics. In the end, whether we like it or not, undesriable answers most especially from yours truly will find themselves everywhere and that’s never gonna change I’m sure, even if it’s not intentional.

But as I say I don’t really get dem changez so…XD

@janbb I agree, but I know that some people would prefer to have their questions featured on the main page, which means they would have to make their question a ‘general’ question, which means that any attempts at humor would be removed and for people like me, I welcome anything someone has to say.

@Symbeline You make a really great point. I agree that the categories help to classify the type of question and the types of answers the user is looking for. However, what is the definition of helpful and not helpful? There are some answers that are obviously not helpful, but I’ve also seen plenty of answers that through my perspective were considered helpful, even if there was a hint of humor in it. These answers were removed, so it then becomes a matter of perspective. The moderator obviously felt that to them the answer was unhelpful, when to others, it could have been fine or could have at least given someone a good laugh.

You can write it down on a piece of paper, which you can put next to MY SANDWICH!

<3

@bob_ Lmao.

@Vunessuh Ah, right, that. Well as you say, it’s a matter of perspective, and what you describe I see a lot of going on too. I find it wrong that people should decide what’s helpful and what’s not, unless they’re obviously flaming or trolling and shit.
I don’t like all this thought police business, and I really don’t know how to answer it, since I can’t guess what those with the power to take their perspectives further than the rest of us consider what’s helpful or not.

I consider just what it says. I asked a question about why people would cry while talking about ghosts (I read this in a study.) and I get an answer saying ’‘it makes me cry that people believe in ghosts.’’
My question wasn’t what you thought of the issue in general, but rather why does a surge of emotion occur when people discuss personal experiences. (Real or imagined.) It pissed me off cuz it wasn’t helpful, but the person who wrote it has the right to say whatever they want, so I said nothing, and wasn’t gonna flag it, either. But, to me it wasn’t helpful. That’s one example, most likely out of a thousand and one.

There may be a hierarchy here too, in fact I’m pretty sure there is, where favouritism occurs. I’m not trying to start no drama, but for the life of me, some of the reasoning round here I often can’t figure out, no matter how hard I try to follow the rules. Frivolous questions by wielders of golden spatulas will always remain, but if someone with a welfare spatula like me asks one it’s stuck up my ass as fast as it came out. Troo storeez.
So maybe helpful and not helpful revolves around darker things than we’d like to imagine?

On the other hand, I barely ever get modded for answers, so maybe I’m taking it too far and I just don’t get the structure around here.

excellent question and even better comments MsV!

Today, someone asked a really silly question…too me it was silly! Not to the person asking the question and that should always be respected. But, i made a humorous remark indirectly related to the question, my answer was removed. It was not an off color answer in any respect. in my opinion! Like on every site, the people in charge, are in charge. So, be it….but,—lighten up folks, this is not brain surgery!

What you said, totally agree…unless they are spamming, being an asshole, etc…what the heck..i come here for several things…first, have fun. secondly, have fun…and lastly… have fun. And, along the way, learn a few things and socialize with my friends.

As far as the catergories etc., that really does not bother me!

I agree with @Symbeline . I really don’t understand these changes, nor did I see any need for them. My only response is that my humor is completely switched off when answering any Fluther question now, as I don’t tend to notice what category a question is when I answer it. Bummer, but I’m not much of a humorist anyway.

If I was into conspiracy theories, I’d think the “powers that be” are trying to drive certain people away..

If there was anywhere else to go where I could feel comfortable or welcome, I’d be there now. Since I can’t change the system, I must reluctantly conform to it.

Echo that in complete agreement, go girl. I’m probably going to pitch tent in social for the forseeable future,suits me fine.

@Symbeline ”I asked a question about why people would cry while talking about ghosts (I read this in a study.) and I get an answer saying “it makes me cry that people believe in ghosts.” My question wasn’t what you thought of the issue in general, but rather why does a surge of emotion occur when people discuss personal experiences. It pissed me off cuz it wasn’t helpful, but the person who wrote it has the right to say whatever they want, so I said nothing, and wasn’t gonna flag it, either. But, to me it wasn’t helpful.”

This is why I love you and it’s also why I think I expect too much out of people. If everyone was like you, we wouldn’t have any censorship issues because people would simply ignore or at least not get too bent outta shape over an answer they don’t care for. In turn, people could answer a question however they see fit without being censored or without full blown web warz occurring.
Instead, we have some truly serious Susie’s and sensitive Sally’s and they are found on all of these websites. Essentially, I would be asking people to change their reaction to an answer they don’t find helpful or disagree with, rather than want people to change/edit how they answer a question, which isn’t fair because if people can answer a question anyway they wish, then people can react to an answer anyway they wish. Ah, fuck it.
In my personal ideal web world, people should be allowed to be who they want to be and answer a question how they want to answer it because in reality, if you have someone asking a serious question, you are going to get some serious answers despite how many sarcastic/silly answers it receives along with them. I think people just need to lighten up and be a little more open to the variety of humor each individual brings to these communities.
Personally, my sense of humor, not to mention my individual mindset and how I view certain situations has been shutting down more and more these past few months on here and I hate that feeling. I feel like I have to walk on egg shells around a lot of users. There are so many things I want to say, but I constantly refrain from saying them because there are users who literally look for things to be offended over and challenge you on. It’s like their mission is to make you look like a jackass and to skew your intentions and motivations around. I loathe that shit about as much as I hate censorship.
The people that use these sites are all from different countries, different cultures, different upbringings, etc. and the last thing we should do is mold any one person in any particular way.

@BoBo1946 I completely agree with everything you’re saying. Since the majority of censorship is all about perspective then I personally think almost everything should be allowed except for spam/personal attacks. There are going to be users who appreciate what others may not.

@Everyone – Thank you all for your answers. GA’s to you all. :)

@Vunessuh good show Sport!

@Vunessuh Ooohhh that’s a bingo!!!!!! ;¬}

@Vunessuh Indeed, you’re so right about the eggshell thing. I feel that way too, although reading most of my stuff people might not think it. But it is annoying that we feel we need to be careful around certain people for fear that they’ll wanna fuck us up, but people shouldn’t feel that way. I don’t actually care, but as I said, I noticed that thing you were talking about with perfectly reasonable answers being modded outta nowhere, and I don’t want it happening to me.
I don’t know what’s wrong with places like AB or here, but it seems to me that some people make it too much a part of their lives. Not that it’s not important, else I wouldn’t be writing all this crap, but I totally agree with the idea that people should just loosen the fuck up.
And I certainly pratice what I preach, what with the amounts of conflicts and crap I’ve most likley avoided on here by not caring what the hell people have to say in the end lmao. XD
Anyways, personally I think you’re doing fine in dealing with what may be. Don’t ever change or I’ll kick your ass. But then you might end up enjoying it. :D

I am with you @Vunessuh I would like all the questions to appear on the front page only to show designation once they are clicked on.

I am wondering how much the newness is for the behalf of the moderators too (and I am not sure how I feel about this yet). It seems that it empowers them to be tighter about rules when someone challenges their perspective of an answer or a question, particularly when the moderators perspective results in removal. Now the disagreements between mods and user will revolve around “yes it is a general question because of xyz” or “no it isn’t a social question because of xyz” instead of conflict over whether or not I am being an ’inappropriate’ rule breaker, maybe.

This is just me chewing my cud over the issues. Part of me wants to run around in the general questions and be sillier than I normally would. Part of me wants to run around in the social section and be quite somber. I think this is because I hate feeling like someone is telling me what to do. For now, I am choosing to use my @Symbeline resolve and keep being who the hell I am regardless of the question category.

Who knows, @Symbeline, maybe the new designations will replace all our lost up the ass spatulas with a golden spatula. I am reserving judgement and watching for a bit.

@liminal “Part of me wants to run around in the general questions and be sillier than I normally would. Part of me wants to run around in the social section and be quite somber.”

Ha! I thought I was the only one! I feel this way too. :)
Ya know, I’ve been on 5 different q&a sites and I’ve never felt discouraged from participating on any of them as I do here. It doesn’t necessarily change how I answer the questions I answer, but it does change what I choose to answer. I’ve gone from answering whatever I wanted to, to only answering maybe 2–4 questions a day.
But, it’s not like I get my answers removed constantly. In fact, I’ve only had several removed that I know of, but like I said above, there are people here who take offense to anything and you may have meant your post one way and then they take it an entirely different way and skew your own intentions, even while you try and explain how you meant something. It’s happened to me and I’ve watched it happened to tons of other users. The amount of people who do this is much higher here than any other site I’ve been on. I mean, don’t get me wrong, debate is fine and encouraged. I enjoy debate. What I don’t enjoy are people constantly challenging me on a seemingly harmless response. Someone once argued with me about airports. I said that one airport in particular was a hellhole and they disagreed and got all pissy about it. What. The. Fuck. Shut the hellz up. Stop arguing with me about lawnmowers and my favorite shampoo. Goddamn. XD

In the end, all I really care about, is people being able to keep their own individuality and uniqueness and not be forced to mold their personality and what they find funny in any particular way.

@Symbeline I promise I won’t change, but can you kick my ass anyway? I’d like it. :D
This reminds me of the time someone asked yet another question about evolution over on AB, and I responded with, I like pickles. Which was basically a, ”shut the fuck up, this has been asked a million fucking times.” Bahahaha. Oh man, I enjoyed that freedom. :)

@bob_ Well, since you asked nicely… * goes to make Bob a sandwich *

@Vunessuh – if you don’t care how someone answers, put it in the social category.

I really don’t believe it’s censorship to pre-emptively categorise how you’d like someone to answer – it’s just good strategic discourse management. I recently asked a rather technical question about shared computer resources in an education context. The last thing I want from the responsders is a “lol” or “buy a Mac!” response. I would have had less recourse to the moderation team before the split. It’s important to communicate exactly what kind of discourse you expect from an initiation of communication. In real life, this is less of an issue as there are social, linguistic and contextual clues to the nature of the expected response. On the internet, in an open community, transparency of standards is more than a good idea – it is necessary.

Ultimately, a community such as this is based on the needs of the users. There are obviously users who need quick, unambiguous answers, just as there is a community.

This is a great question. I’m just watching and waiting at this point and don’t have a definitive thought – beside my first post – to add to the discussion, but it’s making me think.

I just tread where I will, ignoring categories (and eggshells) and speaking my mind. I fully expect to be thrown off eventually.

@the100thmonkey You’re absolutely correct. The members of this community do deserve decent answers/opinions/suggestions to their questions. I just don’t think it should be at the expense of limiting/editing/censoring how that is done. Like I said above, when you ask a question, you’re bound to get a mixture of serious answers and humorous answers. With one usually comes the other, so it’s not like every single answer is going to be unhelpful or useless. At the same time, what I find helpful might be ridiculous to you and vice versa. We all have different perspectives so it’s difficult to dissect what should and shouldn’t be censored. I asked this question because I feel there is far too much censorship going on which in turn discourages participation. I never said it was censorship to categorize a question, but rather censorship to delete responses that a mod may find unhelpful. It could have been helpful to someone else. I may not appreciate what someone else does, and I may totally appreciate what someone else doesn’t. If we continue removing answers based on perspective, then we’re essentially depriving users of those answers that they could have found helpful, or that could have led to other discussions and/or enlightenment.

@janbb Thank you, hon. :)

Does this new regime mean we’re not allowed to go off-topic even in whisper?

@Vunessuh – I appreciate what you’re saying, but how often do you go into a shop expecting to be regaled with tales of the 1,001 Arabian nights?

I feel that the point you’re missing is that context defines discourse.

Fluther is (somehow – I run Adblock Plus and thus rarely see ads so can’t confirm my hypothesis) a business. The administrators need a clear way of driving visitors (and therefore revenue) to the site, while at the same time enabling the long-termers to enjoy the community they have created.

I have a question that needs an answer (let us thank the internet gods that no one has (yet) asked us to explain how babby is formed); Fluther provides a way for that question to be answered with the strength in depth that the community has to offer, while not ignoring the strength in depth that general social bonding confers on a community.

I just don’t see the bad here.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land I have been doing it without negative consequence.

@the100thmonkey People are leaving because of it. That’s the bad. Since the changes, people have expressed plenty of displeasure toward the new guidelines. They don’t like the separate sections. They don’t like that only the “general” questions are featured on the main page. And like @liminal said, they don’t like the feeling of people telling them what to do or how to answer a question. People don’t like it. Period.
”The administrators need a clear way of driving visitors to the site, while at the same time enabling the long-termers to enjoy the community they have created.”
I agree 100% with this, but if this is their goal, they aren’t doing it justice.
I just found out several minutes ago that Astrochuck is done with this place. Since implementing the changes, the mods have censored him up the waazoo and he’s sick of it. It’s either get censored or limit your participation. That isn’t fun for anyone. So people are leaving or not participating as much as they use to. That’s the reality. I respect and appreciate anyone who loves the changes, but it’s not right to ignore the many users who disagree with it and the fact that someone who has been here for 2+ years, has left.
Like I said, everyone here deserves decent answers to their questions, but not at the expense of censoring/limiting how that is done. It flat-out discourages individuality as it did to Astrochuck and many others. You would be a fool to constantly only expect dead-serious answers to your questions. With the serious comes the humorous and vice versa. People need to be more open to that concept and understand that everyone’s mindset and perspective is different. We’re all here to share stories and opinions and ideas and facts and we’re all here to learn and laugh and be enlightened. This can’t be done to the extent that it should be done with such strict rules and censorship. That’s all I’m sayin…

I just found out about AC leaving and am so sad about it. I can’t imagine the place without him.

And I think we can still whisper. There I just did

Congratulations. That’s the second “great question” I’ve ever clicked, and the first I’ll remember.

If a stupid question asked in all earnestness can’t be skewered, then the hell with Fluther.

Please note that this comment is a personal opinion and not necessarily the views of Fluther ownership or management.

I realize that a lot of people are having difficulty with the changes, and examples of folks leaving Fluther is sad (although I can’t help but feel that it just wouldn’t be that big a deal for AC to answer in the “social” section if he wants to crack jokes – the guidelines are pretty simple).

But what you guys don’t necessarily see is the number of people who come to Fluther and don’t stick around because of the joke cracking, inside jokes, snarkiness, crappy spelling and grammar, running gags, and internal arguments and fights. Fluther is, after all, presented as a “question and answer” site, not a “social” site. As it happens, there’s a great community here, and a lot of socializing; there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that – it’s fantastic, as a matter of fact. Surely you guys don’t have a problem with Fluther having serious, high quality answers to questions – and shouldn’t that be the first thing that a newcomer sees?

And please, take it easy with the “censorship” accusations. Fluther allows people to say what they want to say, have the opinions that they want to have, and express themselves however they want as long as they follow the established guidelines. Having rules is not censorship, it’s an attempt to have consistent quality.

Instead of slamming on the designers (who have done a tremendous amount of work in an effort to improve the Fluther experience for users), slamming the moderators (who have been inundated with flags, pms, and complaints and who volunteer their time, by the way, because they think Fluther is a great site), why not give it a few days and see how it goes? If you don’t like it after giving it a fair chance, then give feedback and helpful suggestions on how to make things better rather than bitching.

I can’t even imagine why this question would come up. Isn’t it clear to everyone that General is for ‘real’ answers and Social is for everything else? It puzzles me why people don’t seem to get this.

And by the way – AC is alive and well on Social

@syz What you said makes an awful lot of sense.

@YARNLADY He has said that he’s leaving.

@syz Wouldn’t you say this is a good way for people to figure out how they are feeling? I am hearing people say they are watching and waiting. I am hearing people say they like it. I am hearing people say they don’t like it. You coming in and offering further information, that others don’t have, even makes the picture more complete. Doesn’t talking such things through help people understand what they feel and maybe gain better perspective on what is going on?

@liminal Perhaps I’m being overly sensitive. But how many times did the word “censorship” occur in this thread before I posted. Personally, I find it offensive that I get accused of censoring free speech for enforcing clear guidelines. And questions like this don’t tend to make me think that people are reacting in a very open minded manner.

You just did it

@syz Was your sentence was cut off? I don’t think you are being overly sensitive. I don’t think anybody is. I think change stirs reaction and the best way to get to an accurate picture is to muddle through by questioning, affirming, and challenging each other.

For me, it feels like the normal birthing pains of organizational change. If it is done out in the open there is a better chance of having people make educated decisions rather than having isolated reactions. I want you to notice sentiments you disagree with and challenge them, even mine. It helps me gain understanding. As part of the community I hope to do the same myself.

Oh dear, @yarnlady, I hope real answers will happen in the tide pool of the social tab also.

@syz Learn the definition of bitching before you accuse people of doing it. Everyone on this thread has offered great suggestions and opinions about what they do and don’t like. If we wanted to bitch, we certainly wouldn’t be dishing out such well-thought out answers and would instead resort to lame one-liners like, ”Fluther sucks!”
We also haven’t slammed the site owners or the moderators. The only thing I said was that I feel like too many answers/questions are being moderated and it discourages participation. I gave my suggestion in my details about how I feel that all of the questions should be featured on the main page rather than just the one’s in the ‘general’ category.
You’re right that people don’t stick around for the snarkiness and fights, but apparently people don’t stick around when they are told that they can’t provide humor in an answer in the ‘general’ section because to them they are essentially being told how to answer something or to just simply not answer it. People don’t like that. It’s a form of control and it rubs people the wrong way. Why is it so hard to understand that with the serious well-thought out answers come the light-hearted humorous answers as well? They may not be as helpful or useful, but people do come here to have a good laugh just as much as they come here to seek advice and information. We should allow everyone’s personality to shine through as it truly is. If an answer is spam or a personal attack, it can be removed.
But if it’s something you don’t like or disagree with, then just ignore it. I’m sure someone else will come along and perhaps appreciate something that you don’t care for.

I don’t have an issue with high-quality answers, but are you saying that the answers and questions in the social section are incapable of being high-quality? Bullshit. The questions in both categories should be featured on the main page. Like I said, it gives everyone’s questions the chance to be equally seen and heard.

In the end, I got the answer to my question that I was initially looking for.
Since I don’t care how someone answers a question of mine, I will post in the social section. But I do think the owners should look into blending all of these questions on the front page.

@Vunessuh. I’ll be open here – Astrochuck isn’t in my fluther. It seems that they aren’t active in the general areas that I respond in. I recognise that they’re a respected poster here, but from my perspective, the issue is what have you/we/I lost? as far as I can see, the answer is nothing. Being asked to post in a way that is appropriate to the question is, again, not censorship. Would you consider a teacher asking a pupil to answer a history question, as opposed to relating how many frags they got last night in Gears of War, censorship? I would venture to suggest that the answer is no, and ultimately education – of some stripe at least – is the purpose of a site like Fluther.

The purpose, for which it seems that many of the long-term members of Fluther come here, still exists; there’s just a section now where users are asked to stay on-topic. I wouldn’t consider it a loss per se, rather an addition.

@syz That had exactly the same tone as AB administrators “lecture” just before most of the old-timers bailed out.Now I’m worried.

@the100thmonkey A lot of people feel like they have lost their voices. This results in people deleting their accounts or severely limiting any participation. I get that people shouldn’t spam or personally attack anyone or stray severely off-topic, but I don’t understand the reasoning behind any other moderation which in my eyes looks to be censorship. I’ve participated on many other q&a sites and they’ve given users the freedom to participate how they wish (with the exception of spam, personal attacks or offensive material) and these sites have thrived. I’ll say it again, if you ask a serious question you will get serious answers along with some humorous ones. Implementing these rules is not going to stop someone from answering the question seriously if that was their intention before or after these changes. However, it does stop all of the other people from being able to participate how they want to or how they use to. That’s why people are leaving. You ask what have we lost? Voice and individuality. You may not have lost anything and if that’s the case, good for you, but some others feel like they have and to ignore this is foolish. The guidelines are constantly preached and obviously we get them and we have adjusted or we wouldn’t be here. However, that doesn’t mean that we have to like them, so if we feel like speaking up and expressing what we don’t like, then let us. This doesn’t make us close-minded and it doesn’t mean we’re bitching.
It may be easier for some people to resort to calling us close-minded and to tell us we’re bitching, but that’s only an excuse to ignore our concerns and in turn not have to deal with them. Bad form.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land ((shutters)) That’s exactly what I was thinking.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land she was speaking from her reactions as a person just like everybody else. She is being clear about not speaking for fluther.

Personally, I have always wondered why there was such a wide acceptance of ‘joker’ answer on a Question and Answer site, when there are so many other sites set up specifically for the ‘light hearted’ user.

For at least two decades, the Internet has been a democratizing force, enabling we the people to speak our minds with equal volume. When I joined the Fluther community two years ago, I was impressed by the depth and diversity of it’s members, and the intelligence and humor with which they responded to questions.

The designers have since in every way moved to control speech, which, in my definition, is very much censorship. They and the moderators police the “quality” of questions and answers. This model, where the “powers-that-be” categorize and assess the value of our thoughts and responses, clearly reverses the flow of democratization. Yes, questions should be structured so as to illicit thoughtful responses. Yes, serious consideration should be given to answering questions respectfully. But beyond that, let the community be a community, where there is messiness, where not all pegs are either round or square, and where meanings and intentions shift, become reformed, and grow as they will. This is how we become enlightened. By free exploration of ideas. We make our own categories. We determine our own priorities. We decide what is funny and what is serious, and what is both. Let the community be its own enforcer, and the quality of the questions and answers will remain strong.

As the grip gets tighter, and as the designers and mods decide more and more what can and cannot be asked and where, those of us who have enjoyed the diversity of thought and openness of the past will move on.

Amazing answer. Thank you @simpleD .

@simpleD Great answer! Para2 Sent3 “ellicit”

@stranger_in_a_strange_land Oops. Thanks for pointing out my malaprop. Perhaps I subconsciously intended to elicit illicit thoughts.

Is anyone ever satisfied here?
;)

@HTDC Satisfied implies no room for improvement or innovation – so NO

It’s simple- put in in Social. If you don’t want anyone dropping a one-liner only in their response to your question- put it in General.

I’m really confused at the confusion. Then again, I could use some coffee so there is that.

Well, damn, I agree with pretty much everything that’s been said here. GA’s all around.

I do, however, feel that an important positive outcome of the changes has not been mentioned: if the stricter guidelines mean no public spelling corrections, this will be a better place.

@Vunessuh Why, thank you for my sandwich XD * gets V some of these *

@stranger_in_a_strange_land I’ll tell you what this new regime is about: it’s about you having to DROP AND GIVE ME FIFTY, SOLDIER! And then go make me a sandwich.

@syz “guidelines, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder!

After i made my comment on MsV’s post yesterday, several of my comments were deleted. But, some, must have their fun…so be it!

@stranger_in_a_strange_land ditto….........

(after re-checking the question category) Yassuh! Paint it, polish it or salute it! Who gets the ham and cheese on rye?

@stranger_in_a_strange_land Actually, I kind of prefer pastrami, if you got any lying around in your fridge.

@bob_ Why certainly! (and I did the fifty Airborne fashion).

@stranger_in_a_strange_land Airborne fasion? Is that like Rocky’s one-handed push-ups? ‘Cause those are badass.

@bob_ clapping in the air between them.

I’d like to think that we’re discussing the matter, rather than bitching about it, despite the colourful way some of us have of expressing ourselves.
I certainly agree about the wait and see thing when it comes to the new structure which has been implemented, but a lot of what I was bringing up were things that were occurring long before the changes were made and how this nature is too strong to be pillared by what is, essentially, technical changes, and I don’t target the moderators in general, rather than anyone who thinks they’re entitled to more respect or ass licking because they’ve got either some kinda position or reputation here that I’m supposed to perceive as godly. Nobody can deny it happens.
What was said about people leaving Fluter because of running gags, inside jokes and shit is all too true, and I’ll admit, to this day, a lot of it still intimidates me. But because I still find it clever and unique I’d never dream of wanting this to stop entirely, of course, as long as the guidelines are still followed, right? Thing is, if I flagged someone for fucking around in one of my questions, in the rare times that I have it didn’t seem to be good enough…
I also don’t trigger Fluther as the sole bearer of such a thing, I’ve seen it on every Q&A site I’ve ever been to. I’m not carving it on stone, I mean I might be wrong, but some of my points in the encampment of the stop bitching issue were ignored. I said myself I didn’t see much of any censorship aside from what I perceive as unfair moderation at times, but the point here was made that Fluther requires sticking on topic, proper spelling and no flaming or smartass one liners.
And that’s fine.
I don’t quite agree with the comparison of Fluther to a car parts shop, but it needs to maintain its concept, except that I often see certain people get away with flame quips, one liners while others who might do them get slammed. Why is this, exactly?
I’m sure the mods have enough work as it is and probably get flags constantly, so maybe it’s my own problem for not flagging anything unless it evidently breaks the rules. I just get overwhelmed by how some parts of the community seem to decide what is and what isn’t. For example I remember this one user who was banned for being rude and asking stupid questions…but what I observed is that all the users who answered were flaming him and being smartasses towards him for being an idiot…it just seems so weird, and all those people didn’t appear much better than that guy.

I think the main point here was the issue on people deciding what is a quality and what isn’t, how it doesn’t seem to apply to everyone in the same way, and the execution of such goes far beyond the guidelines to which I’ve always agreed, are quite sensible and simple.

Am I wrong? I’d love to be, for sure. If someone can get my foot out of my mouth for me, I’d love to learn.

When I read the explanation, I felt that it was pretty straight forward. If I were you, I’d post in social.

@syz – Are you a moderator on this site? Your response sounds like you are. If you are you have no business responding to this question, but apparently you do have the right to delete it.

@evandad Who gave you the right to decide who does and doesn’t answer questions? The moderators are users, just like you and I, and they respond regularly.

@YARNLADY – You’re not syz. Think about it. Do you really think the moderators should respond to a criticism regarding moderator censorship? Sure, they have the right to according to the site’s policy, but should they? I would still like a response to my question.

@evandad If you would explain exactly what part of the guidelines you don’t understand, I will try to help you.

my comment regarding was just to make the point that users don’t choose who can and can’t answer their questions

I agree with evandad that moderators shouldn’t answer questions, especially when the questions are critical of the moderators.

@YARNLADY – Now I’m thinking you’re a moderator as well. The only thing I’m unclear about is why people respond to questions with questions. Maybe it’s because they’re evading the point. What do you think?

@evandad Oh, you wanna know what I think, don’t you? I mean, um, nevermind.

I don’t really care who wants to answer a question of mine, moderator or not, I just don’t like being accused of something that isn’t true. In this case, it was bitching, being close-minded and slamming the mods. It’s very patronizing to do that to someone and then leave and ignore anything else that person has to say about it. I guess it’s easy for people to disregard someone like that and say they’re bitching as an excuse in order to blow off their actual concerns. In my opinion, mods shouldn’t behave that way, but am I surprised? No.

Again, thanks to everyone for giving your feedback and sharing your opinions and suggestions.

@Vunessuh your welcome

I don’t see why mods shouldn’t answer questions, especially if their position is brought up in it, like this one. In fact, it would probably help us a lot of they did, in case I’m off to Wonderland with what I think.

@Vunessuh
It’s very patronizing to do that to someone and then leave and ignore anything else that person has to say about it.

Agreed 100%. Still, I don’t even know if that person was a mod or not.

@evandad What question are you refering to?

I could never be a mod, because my idea of following the guidelines is much stricter than the owner’s idea.

@YARNLADY – A question for a question again. Being deliberately vague works too. So you know the owner, then? Anyway, this reminds me of watching my dog chase his tail. He has great fun, but I get bored watching him. Keep those cards and letters coming. Bye.

Oh I got some ideas… is the question waterproof?

Fluther is great for getting serious answers to serious querstions. But to answer your question, ”...then where does my question go?” some other site, unfortunately.