Looking for a volunteer moderator

[Randi]

Hi everyone,

I would like to know if anyone here would be interested in becoming a moderator for the forums?

Here's are the roles you would take as a moderator:

• Approve posts of new users
• Stimulate and nurture discussion
• Ensure that members follows the forum rules and guidelines and take appropriate action when necessary (discuss the situation with the users, delete posts, issue infractions)
• Make any appropriate action on threads and posts (move threads to more appropriate forum, merge double threads, etc.)

To apply:

• You have at least 18 years of age
• You have been a member for a minimum of one year
• You have participated regularly in the forums
• You must know how to diffuse a tense situation when it occurs

PM me if interested with why you think you would be a good moderator here.
I will be accepting submissions until december 21st.

Thanks!

[PokerFace]

Oh, oh. Moderators generally become power hungry, lazy, evil entities that need to be destroyed, not nurtured.

I have yet to come across a mod that takes enough time off (months off from moderation) to maintain the necessary humility that it takes to be reasonable enough to deal with.

Oh, and that politically correct nonsense that often comes along with the job is enough to make my skin crawl.

If anybody thinks that I'm an egomaniac now, well, if I ever became a moderator, I could almost guarantee that I would slip over to the dark side without even realizing it.

Forums can be liberating, but once a mod shows up, that feeling of expression and freedom often comes at a price that I'm not willing to pay. The forums tend to take on the moderators' views. We know what NOT to say, and what we can get away with, so most people will be posting at only half of their natural capability. It's disgusting what moderators get away with, all in the name of "encouraging" discussions and keeping things more civil.

Terrible news, but I'm glad that we had a chance to express ourselves for such a long time without much moderation getting in our way.

How do you moderate me? You can't. The red tape will just get in my way. I can't contribute properly with somebody looking over my shoulder. Once the moderation begins, I'm out.

I enjoy reading uncensored comments ... even some of the borderline comments that don't do much to stimulate conversation.

Most moderators NEVER just moderate ... they INTERFERE and force future discussions to take on their own personal views or opinions. They can't seem to help themselves. They get tired of reading things that they are not interested in, so they just skim through posts and then make bad decisions about what should be deleted.

I'd like to punch all the moderators in the face and thank them for ruining forums all across the world. Stick to your job of moderating evil comments and leave the rest to us. If you can do that, go ahead and moderate ... but after a few months or years, you'll slip over to the dark side and insist to the bitter end that you haven't changed. Nonsense!

Absolute power corrupts absolutely ... unless you're moderating a forum made up of people with the exact same opinions and interests that you have. Good luck with that.

You want one voice dictating things, or multiple voices from people who don't even know what the rules are? Rules be damned! Let the freedom reign.

Peace, out.

[Randi]

How do you moderate me? You can't.

Yes I can and I did. I let you say whatever the heck you wanted as long as you didn't insult other members with your comments. That's basically the same thing I'm asking for the moderator.

The forum is here because John, the one I created channelcanada.com with, liked having and participating in a forum. When he left, I decided to keep it up even though I didn't participate in the forums when he was there but I though that it had a small and loyal community and it would be a shame to close it down.

That was fine until 2014 when the cost of ads on the site didn't cover the cost of the hosting. The following year, last september, I had to decide to either close down shop and hang my keyboard or try and make it cover the cost of hosting again.

I won't lie to you, if I keep this up, the site will close before the end of 2016. I have to find a way to stop loosing money and I'm trying with the help of TV Gord and CDN Viewer who are helping me with the main site but I also need some help for the forums. I though bringing a moderator in would help in this matter. I'm not a good moderator/administrator, first and foremost because I'm never here. I'm a shy person and I don't like to express myself in public, I'm not good at debating and when a post gets reported, I don't feel confortable doing the police work involved.

So you think a moderator is a bad idea? Fine. Now please let me know what you, me and others can do so we can keep you here and keep this community alive because frankly, I'm out of ideas.

[Mayhem]

Oh, oh. Moderators generally become power hungry, lazy, evil entities that need to be destroyed, not nurtured.

True, moderators and admins can become "power hungry", but that's depends on the person itself, not the job of what a moderator is suppose to-do. A moderator is suppose to keep discussions inline with the topic of the thread and remind/enforce rules of the forum that has been set out. (eg. no swearing, etc).

I won't lie to you, if I keep this up, the site will close before the end of 2016. I have to find a way to stop loosing money and I'm trying with the help of TV Gord and CDN Viewer who are helping me with the main site but I also need some help for the forums. I though bringing a moderator in would help in this matter. I'm not a good moderator/administrator, first and foremost because I'm never here. I'm a shy person and I don't like to express myself in public, I'm not good at debating and when a post gets reported, I don't feel confortable doing the police work involved.

Just out of curiosity, how often does a post get reported that isn't spam?

[Randi]

Just out of curiosity, how often does a post get reported that isn't spam?

It's about 8-10 a year.

[Mayhem]

It's about 8-10 a year.

That's not too bad with 39 active members. If its in the 20-30 range then its worrisome.

[PokerFace]

A while back when the owner of another website sold it, he and others mentioned how terrible the job of being a website moderator can become. Articles were linked and after reading them it made more sense to me as to why moderators often express great pleasure in taunting some members (often sending warning e-mails that often have nothing to do with the official rules). And even when posts of others were deleted, or other members were scolded by mods for reasons that bordered on the hypocritical, it felt to me like I was witnessing bullying behaviour that became more unpleasant than the actual spam or evil comments shared between members.

Who moderates the moderators? On a small site like this, it doesn't seem like it would be a problem to warn the owner(s) of a rogue, overworked moderator, but quite often when the moderators know they can't be stopped, the abuse gets worse over time. The other moderators don't seem to care much about what the nut-job mods (Morons On Duty) are doing, so I also lose interest in defending others picked on for having different opinions, etc.

I figured these forums were mostly run on auto pilot, so if I instead think of a mod as a helper monkey, that makes the transition for new members easier (less wait time for their first posts to appear here and the comfort of knowing that this site is now run like many of the other sites), I can reduce my "fear factor" that this site will soon become a shadow of what it is now. Still, with such a relatively small total thread/post count, a mod-operated site is probably not going to reduce the post count (even without my participation) ... if the masses demand moderation, it will come, regardless of my trepidation of what it will bring.

So, if disabling ad-blockers (or whitelisting this site to allow ads) and clicking on advertising links each time we visit the site helps enough to keep it alive, that's obviously something that the members will have to think about ... before watching the next episode of South Park.

Spam is always annoying, so whenever I see that anywhere, I always wish for an imaginary spam police force to magically appear and clean up the mess. I just don't recall ever seeing any spam, but with a low membership count, I don't really expect much spam to be posted while I'm browsing this site. What goes on behind the scenes (perhaps dealing with spam bots) is something that I obviously never see.

Although mods rarely if ever get paid, they often find ways to supplement their income (on pirate sites, etc.), and also flex their ego muscles by bullying others, or letting their lapdogs take care of the intimidation. The less involvement (no contact e-mail, etc.) the owner has with a site, the more chance there is for the rogue element to appear. Some mods limit the attacks to the PMs, others attack boldly within the actual forums.

As for keeping this site alive, I never know if the advertising financial situation can be improved with the simple clicking of ads, actual purchases of items advertised here, or a combination of both.

Adblock technology is often necessary when visiting most sites on the web, so I rarely disable mine (except perhaps once a month to see if there are any new ads/offers that might interest me).

If we all ignored the ads and never clicked the links, or even rarely if ever saw most of the ads or offers that appeared here, the financial outlook would be even worse.

Some websites, including many of the UK official TV sites, ask for adblock technology to be disabled if you expect the videos to play. This was a fairly recent undertaking, so obviously as more people become annoyed with constant popups, ad banners (etc.) [even South Park's current plot involves the "invasion" of the Internet popups and the attempted takeover of society by the advertising industry] ... the desire for adblock tech becomes even more desirable.

Even if the television industry needed ALL of us to actually watch commercials (without leaving the room, or scanning past them with our recording devices] to stay alive {so that more products are sold}, I'm not so sure that the now "habit" of ignoring almost all of the advertising thrown at us, could easily be altered.

Social media is also growing, so it becomes a more common replacement for forums like these. "Video killed the radio star," and social media helps to kill or diminish the necessity of sites like these.

I find the whole idea of posting to a very limited audience quite appealing. However, once something is posted on the Internet, Google searches/results can quickly expand the number of views, so you never really know who is reading what we post here.

I like the idea of having a moderator being too busy deleting spam and catering to new-member-first-post activations, rather than having mods with too much time on their hands, possibly interfering with the forum proceedings ... it might seem like a counterproductive thing to ask for, but after watching so many community posts being deleted and members attacked by mods in other forums throughout the years, for less than solid reasoning, I often get too upset to stay involved as an active member when I become aware of the deletions or scolding perpetrated by the mods. However, I do think that for most people, NOT having a moderating presence in the forums seems to upset them more than having one. I'm obviously not the "typical" poster ... if there is such a thing.

Ads are a terrible thing to waste ... so read them, click the links, and make mad, sweet love to them ... resistance isn't just futile, it's also counterproductive to the survival of this site.

Hmm, how do I avoid seeing my own posts? Oh yeah, I just have to use the account settings to Ignore myself (just select Egomaniac Protection and Voila!, we are all safe from harm).

[TVViewer]

That was fine until 2014 when the cost of ads on the site didn't cover the cost of the hosting. The following year, last september, I had to decide to either close down shop and hang my keyboard or try and make it cover the cost of hosting again.

I won't lie to you, if I keep this up, the site will close before the end of 2016. I have to find a way to stop loosing money

It appears all television discussion forums are experiencing a major loss in traffic and posting. Even the television section on DigitalHome is quite inactive. It's terrible that you are losing money operating these forums and I think everyone here would much rather see the forums close than have you lose money keeping them open. It's upsetting enough that you have lost money on the forum since 2014. :blue:

[InMontreal]

That was fine until 2014 when the cost of ads on the site didn't cover the cost of the hosting. The following year, last september, I had to decide to either close down shop and hang my keyboard or try and make it cover the cost of hosting again.

What ? Just like Channel Zero, you didn't mention the financial situation to your members ? How dare you ! :)

One of the positive sides of Channel Canada, you kept the archives, this is where I look for any 2003-era information. You also didn't archive parts of the forum, so I found fall 2006-era informations as well.

Forums in general, just like IRC, moved to social media apps. Maybe we should lobby the CRTC to create some sort of fund to subsidize online forums. Who knows ? :p Oh, and the forum is less active since TVViewer finally decided to ignore my posts. Donovan's Monkey's and Pokerface are mostly keeping up the mood, not to forget the "does anyone know..." question of the month...

I don't see the point of keeping Falltvpreview.com running. As of writing this, "New website coming in 2014!" is displayed, and the recent schedule has NBC's Revolution still on wednesdays at 8pm... I don't know if it's a seperate hosting or came with a bundle, but if you're looking to cut off the costs, start with the obvious.

[TVViewer]

There is no way for this forum to grow as long as members who don't respect each other exist. I'm one of the top posters, and I finally put one of the other top posters on ignore because I think he's just to terrible of a person to respond to. Is anyone really going to join a discussion forum where one member disgusts another member to the point of refusing to read or respond to his messages? I have no desire to get along with people who disgust me, yet at the same time I also have no desire to be detrimental to Randi's attempts to get new members to join, and I certainly don't want to be part of the reason for why this discussion forum is unprofitable, so I have decided to leave the forum effective immediately.




That being said, even with me gone, I think this forum is unlikely to attract new members given some of the people who post. Even when this forum had far more active users, it was a forum at war. Lots of the users who posted hated users like InMontreal and Donovan's Monkey. It's going to be next to impossible to find enough users willing to join a discussion forum where users like InMontreal and Donovan's Money exist, let alone participate in discussions with them.

[InMontreal]

There is no way for this forum to grow as long as members who don't respect each other exist.

Lots of the users who posted hated users like InMontreal and Donovan's Monkey. It's going to be next to impossible to find enough users willing to join a discussion forum where users like InMontreal and Donovan's Money exist, let alone participate in discussions with them.

Well, you're giving the perfect example. Pointing fingers once in a while.

I don't understand, you say you've put me on ignore, but if so, you just replied to yourself in this very thread, but instead, you're reacting to my message without quoting or allusions to it. Another proof, last month in this thread : http://discuss.channelcanada.com/sho...e-or-Satellite . A new user (yay!) asked a question, you took the opportinuty to insert a shameless plug for Shaw Direct while begging him/her to not cut cable, because « I think it's very selfish for people who cancel cable... » And after, you gave that new user detailed instructions on how put me on ignore. C'mon !!! Your welcoming committee needs some review. It's like the new guy entering a school cafeteria, forced to pick a crowd, and you want him to be on the same page as you, instructing him how to dress cool (Shaw), who to avoid, never cut the cord or you'll no longer be my friend...

Ah yes, I remember when I announced on this forum that I've cut the cord, and you went on with allusions about how I hate canadian broadcasting, that I wished for people working at channels to lose their jobs, and so on... none of which is true. But why did that bother you so much ? That was my choice, a financial one, and a practical one too as I don't have time anymore for cable shows. But our feud started with the big disagreement we had on Fee-for-Carriage. Sure, you wanted to convince everyone about the idea, I had a dissident opinion, concerned about increasing cable rates, but more cable provider regulations was on the table, including the ridiculous US station blackout when simsubbing wasn't possible...

And here we are today with the ultimate "It's me or it's him. I have inside information from my employer that you're gonna miss if I leave. This is my final goodbye. If you want me back and want the forum to grow, get rid of those two users". I'm sorry. None of us made a donation to Randi to keep this ad-free forum alive (Hint, invasive advertisements is what will make me go away. Hint).

[PokerFace]

Wow, I certainly didn't see that coming. TVViewer leaving? Hmm. If we go back to find the cause of this, I could easily blame myself.

What if I had just kept my mouth shut and not posted in this thread? Would Randi have mentioned that this forum was in danger of disappearing within a year? I don't know for sure, but if he hadn't, perhaps TVViewer wouldn't have left. However, as soon as TVViewer put InMontreal on Ignore, that was the beginning of the end, simply because the constant back-and-forth "discussions" between the two of them made for some classic confrontations and spewing of knowledge that always entertained me.

In fact, if it wasn't for the heated discussions/attacks between the two of them (regardless of who brought the "heat" first), I would not have returned here as often as I did ... before I was a member, and perhaps even now.

Still, the "elephant in the room" and the number one reason for the heated attacks, almost always seems to stem from the fact that TVViewer was thought of as a Shaw employee (sure, the fee-for-carriage issue was also big, but that still would often lead back to the shill for Shaw opinion). Regardless of where TVViewer's knowledge came from, it never bothered me that he wanted to keep what he did for a living, private. It was none of my business, and I was just glad that he never stopped posting things that I didn't know (and I'm also of course grateful for the knowledge posted by InMontreal and Donovan's Monkey as well). Still, with every informative post, somebody would eventually respond, and then TVViewer would often come back with more info to counter what he thought was misinformation. And then the threads would go on for days because of that interaction between the "warring" parties, rather than ending after just one or two posts. Entertaining stuff (even though the "battles" did get a little too "heated" at times)!

What would Tennis be like if Borg or McEnroe left the game while in their prime? What would Batman do without Robin, or perhaps even the Riddler? These often heated interactions are good for the entertainment game, but can often lead to too much emotional pain for the participants (hello, Ignore option).

InMontreal has already mentioned that he would prefer not to be ignored, so it's not as if he's happy to lose his #1 sparring partner. It's just too bad that the two of them were so good at getting under each other's skin, that one of them had to retire (and use the Ignore option) while still in his prime. At least one other person has mentioned that they would stop posting due to the mean comments directed towards them, so it's not as if leaving these forums is necessarily a rare occurrence, but even the other website forums filled with moderators trying to stop the "wars," still have people leaving every day (I was even one of the retirees, then reappeared, then retired again to maintain what sanity I had left).

I know of four people in various other forums that make my skin crawl when I see their dirty work posted. I do my best to skim through their content, looking for knowledge, while still protecting my brain from any pain that might occur in the process of reading the hateful or delusional parts of their posts.

Anyway, although I sometimes cringe when I read some of the hateful, or questionable comments that appear in these forums on occasion, I still keep coming back for more. I always hope that anything I post, or anything that others post, won't be misunderstood as being intentionally evil (even if the evil is intended, I like to assume the person is just having a bad day, week, or even year, and will eventually go back to talking about rainbows and kittens). I'm sure that I've also upset several people over the years, but I'm only human, so I hope that what I say is taken with a grain of a salt ... and my forum signature does remind everyone that I'm not playing with a full deck (and it's not just me trying to be funny, either).

So there you have it. I love these forums, but like most things I love, I often take them for granted, until they disappear. That's when I truly realize how lucky I was to be part of something great.

That's why, effective immediately, I have decided to leave politics and instead join the circus (what's the difference?). I miss the lions and tigers and bears. I miss the smell of excrement and urine, but most of all, I miss the "elephant" in the (bed)room.

I told you that I wasn't playing with a full deck, and now you know I wasn't kidding (yes I was, no I wasn't ...).

Anyway, since I'm addicted to expressing my thoughts here, and truly enjoy reading the posts of others even more (yes, it's true, my ego isn't as big as I pretend), I will continue to post here until the bitter end.

To infinity and beyond! :cheerful:

[Randi]

There is no way for this forum to grow as long as members who don't respect each other exist.

You've had your share of infractions/warnings over the years. Perhaps you should try and do it yourself before telling others to do so...

My solutions to this is quite simple and I've repeated it over and over through the various moments when I was called in to resolve a dispute here: Agree to disagree. At some point when everything has been said and done and you're tried to hammer your point of view over and over and the other has done the same and still no clear winner, take a step back and concede that you'll never agree on this point. Respect that the other has a different opinion that you on this matter, is that really that difficult to do??? This is the main reason I've asked to a moderator, since he would be a frequent reader and poster, he would see those situation come and try and diffuse them before they explode.

I personally don't wan't you to leave but I know others want you to and PokerFace seems to hate you but wants you to stick around (I think!). I can't force you to stay but if you do leave, I wanted to thank you for being such a long time member and frequent poster here.

I have to say that I didn't do this thread to put blame on anyone and I'm sorry if this is what it appears to be. The forum and the main website have 8 times less visits than in 2013 and the main reason is that I the frequency of new posts on the main site has come down dramatically due to a lot of personal reasons. So I'm primarely responsible for the financial problems of the sites. I beleiv we've always kept around 40-60 activer members and that is fin with me. I'm just trying to get it back to the 50's or 60's.

I don't see the point of keeping Falltvpreview.com running. As of writing this, "New website coming in 2014!" is displayed, and the recent schedule has NBC's Revolution still on wednesdays at 8pm... I don't know if it's a seperate hosting or came with a bundle, but if you're looking to cut off the costs, start with the obvious.

Falltvpreview, the forum and the main site are all on the same server. I kept falltvpreview.com because I always wanted to revamp the site eventually but as I said above, life didn't allow me enough time to do so. It's a shame because I loved doing the fall tv preview stuff even though it was very time consuming and I think I presented the fall season information in a way I didn't see anywhere else.

Anyway, since I'm addicted to expressing my thoughts here, and truly enjoy reading the posts of others even more (yes, it's true, my ego isn't as big as I pretend), I will continue to post here until the bitter end.

:cool2:

(Hint, invasive advertisements is what will make me go away. Hint).

I'm sorry but I don't know how having no ad will help the problem at hand. I can try and disable the medium rectangle that is displayed only to people who are not logged in but I doubt this will have any effect. And you think the ads are invasive? Reallt? Interstitials, sponsored posts/threads, those are invasive IMO, not the small banner above and at the bottom of the page.

[InMontreal]

InMontreal has already mentioned that he would prefer not to be ignored, so it's not as if he's happy to lose his #1 sparring partner.

Nah, debates were good. Stepping up to name calling, trying to profile me and use it against me, that's borderline harrassment. So, I'm glad he "decided" to mentally ignore me. But obviously, he kept reading my messages and did something mentally strong to try to resist replying... and caught himself in his own game.

... will eventually go back to talking about rainbows and kittens).

Ooooh, my heart is racing just mentionning those topics ! :)

I have to say that I didn't do this thread to put blame on anyone and I'm sorry if this is what it appears to be. The forum and the main website have 8 times less visits than in 2013 and the main reason is that I the frequency of new posts on the main site has come down dramatically due to a lot of personal reasons. So I'm primarely responsible for the financial problems of the sites. I beleiv we've always kept around 40-60 activer members and that is fin with me. I'm just trying to get it back to the 50's or 60's.

No blame. I initially tried to explain the decrease of the forum popularity, mentionned the TVViewer ignore thingy, which in turn became a blame game...

Don't take it personally. There's always a cycle in things. When I had dialup in 1998, I went to newsgroups, started going to IRC, but around 2002 there was AOL Messenger, ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo was replaced with Google as search engine, then came MySpace, blogs, and finally Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Online forums are still being used by older demographics on their computer, because there's just no "app for that" for younger generations to use... and their SMS-style grammar ain't welcomed on forums anyways.

I'm sorry but I don't know how having no ad will help the problem at hand. I can try and disable the medium rectangle that is displayed only to people who are not logged in...

I just disabled my ad-blocker that I use for years, refreshed and saw those. But I was reffering to other forums using different techniques like automatic linking to keywords (which is disrespectful as a contributor), or sponsored posts automatically added in the middle of the thread pages so then as a general rule, you aren't allowed to mention one of its competitors (seen as spam) in your messages, missing out of good deals (think Black Friday), and you end up with demerit points or some similar penalty system. What I meant was, implement those (or elect TVViewer as moderator) and I'm gone... ;)

P.S. : This is my 4000th message... been here 8 years ! :)

[PokerFace]

I don't hate anybody here, but I do fear people who have the power to create a "culture of fear." Owners and moderators often have the power to use intimidation much more effectively than a "regular" poster, simply because they have the power to eliminate anybody they want (using the banning threat, or constant infractions tactic).

TVViewer is very intelligent, and as he has (roughly) stated several times before, if you say something often enough to him that he sees as an insult, or it's something that might be seen as being disrespectful to somebody else, he will respond in a way that you might not like. Treat others as you expect them to treat you, isn't always easy to follow each time we post something after either being provoked, or cleverly led down a path that makes us feel like we are being bullied.

Let's say that I made the mistake of calling TVViewer a Shawbot over and over again (not to just make him chuckle, or to side with the popular opinion because it seems like a more obvious choice in a specific thread), and then mentioned that all of his posts should say that they were sponsored by Shaw. Do you think he would like that? And yet, I'm pretty sure that I talk about piracy more than anybody else here, but since my opinions are not directed towards him, I'm not worried that he'll call me a useless dirt bag (even if he truly believed that). InMontreal once even mentioned my love of piracy to him because he couldn't understand why TVViewer leaves me alone for similar behaviour. I think that's the key thing to keep in mind ... Don't be mean to TVViewer ... don't provoke him, even if he "attacks" your opinion. Does he ever "attack" my opinions even though he disagrees with me? I can't recall a time when I felt attacked. One time I even forgot about something that he had mentioned several times before, but instead of calling me an idiot for not paying attention to his posts, he instead took the time to post the same thing again, with an extra emphasis on what he thought might need further clarification. That's why I love TVViewer; he's like a teacher (so is InMontreal - he's especially great at History) who enjoys sharing his knowledge (over and over again if necessary), but you better not complain too often about his knowledge or opinions being Shaw influenced, or he might promptly end the lesson, or even hit you with a ruler (ouch!).

As a junior high school student, I once used an infraction points system to deter a school bully (who later became a friend -sort of) from constantly wrestling people to the ground for no reason. He only let the points system work because he found it funny that I would think that giving him points for good behaviour, or taking points away for wrestling, would actually influence him to stop his nonsense. It worked 95% of the time to keep him in line, but every once in a while he wanted to see how many points he would lose if he knocked three people to the ground in less than an hour. He laughed when I deducted points, but at least he was smiling and didn't wrestle very often (wresting was huge, back then) after he lost points.

What intelligent person lets an infraction system based on a childish point system, stop them from speaking their mind? I'll tell you what usually happens when you can't fight back with a response to clear the air (because they ding you with more point infractions). You get frustrated, angry and basically dare them to ban you. They'd be doing you a favour if they just shut up and banned you, even though they totally misinterpreted what you said. You really think that a busy mod doesn't make endless mistakes that go unreported? And when the owner of a site throws more ridiculous tantrums than even the mods he hires (not on this site, obviously), that's when I can't see any way to fix things. Then when the owner later admits that he often lost his mind (because of all the real idiots he had to deal with), it's simply too late to repair the damage.

If I suddenly started drinking, or lost a loved one, it would obviously influence the way I handled myself here. If I crossed the line and called InMontreal a moron or a d-bag, he would know almost immediately that something wasn't right with my head.

With any "war" between posters here, it's often a fair fight because nobody has the power or authority to shut the other one down. And in any "fight" between InMontreal or TVViewer, it could eventually lead to something that might resemble a war in The Middle East. Some of the battles were "epic." You're unemployed! ... You're a Shawbot! (I think that was my playful way of participating in one of the battles) ... Your mother wears army boots! ... You're a Justin Bieber fan! (ouch, I'd rather be called a d-bag).

I actually love TVViewer and InMontreal, and they quite often post things and express themselves exactly in the same way that I would. I see their posts and realize that they just saved me some time, so that I can instead post something else, or read other things.

I obviously don't want anybody to use the Ignore option, or mention that somebody is unemployed or was fired (as if that's always a bad thing) out of the blue, as a way to discredit someone, or curry favour with new members, but that kind of behaviour does popup from time to time during various Middle East skirmishes (insert laugh track here) ... so that's why I always mentally prepare myself before I enter into a war zone between two or more skilled warriors (such as: InMontreal and TVViewer).

Yes, agree to disagree is the simplest way to resolve things, and obviously since that rule of thumb isn't always followed, moderators then step in and try to at least delete the most obvious things that crossed the line, followed by a slap on the wrist (not with a ruler, but with a warning, or points loss).

That's why I say I can't be moderated, at least effectively (although for content, it's a bit easier - especially if I post a link that crosses the line). I don't believe the system works. If I posted something, it's usually because I think it should be posted. Sure, it's often too easy to misinterpret what someone means when other members are just reading text, but to freak out and assume the worst, is something that always seems to happen if I make enough posts that a mod/owner reads. They can't see my facial expressions or read my body language, hear my voice, or even let me quickly clarify what I meant if I see them getting ready to ban or punch me.

Moderators are people too. Bulls***! Uh, I mean, I agree to disagree. :beaten:

Please be kind and rewind!

[CDN Viewer]

Well isn't this an interesting turn of events, Randi announces that he wants to bring on someone to moderate the forum and the next day "The Divisive One" announces that he is leaving the forum- quite telling don't you think?! I don't believe he is going anywhere, this person loves stirring up trouble and creating controversy (constantly attacking people's opinions and comments and then if you dared challenge him, he would escalate and resort to personal attacks), I don't think his personality will allow him to leave. His account is still active which means he will reappear again at some point, maybe even under a different username although that won't work IMO as you will still know its him due to his unique style of posting.

I hope he actually does leave as some former members who no longer post here on a regular basis (like myself) might decide to return and breath some new life into this forum. He is the reason IMO that this forum has fallen to the point it has where there are only a handful of active posters, his divisiveness has driven people away or perhaps kept new members from signing up and joining the conversations. He constantly attacks those he doesn't like (mo matter what they post) and also attacks all comments in general that go against his personal views. I am sorry but this is a DISCUSSION forum, people are going to have different views on various topics, that is a fact of life as every person is different. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I don't think you can really say whether someone's opinion is right or wrong as "The Divisive One'" loved to do. Differing opinions are what bring about heated discussions or debates, you can't go around trashing others just because they say something that doesn't fit with your view of the world.

I have to say that I didn't do this thread to put blame on anyone and I'm sorry if this is what it appears to be.

There is no need to apologize Randi, a moderator is quite overdue IMO and very much needed to help keep things in check and keep the discussions civilized. I don't see a moderator being a terrible thing as Pokerface appears to think. I trust Randi's judgement that the person he appoints as moderator will not be someone with a dictator personality who will rule with an iron fist but rather someone who will act more like a mediator- keep things in line and ensure that people remain respectful to one another and that no one member is allowed to harass others and put down their opinions.

[Mayhem]

There is no way for this forum to grow as long as members who don't respect each other exist. I'm one of the top posters, and I finally put one of the other top posters on ignore because I think he's just to terrible of a person to respond to. Is anyone really going to join a discussion forum where one member disgusts another member to the point of refusing to read or respond to his messages? I have no desire to get along with people who disgust me, yet at the same time I also have no desire to be detrimental to Randi's attempts to get new members to join, and I certainly don't want to be part of the reason for why this discussion forum is unprofitable, so I have decided to leave the forum effective immediately.




That being said, even with me gone, I think this forum is unlikely to attract new members given some of the people who post. Even when this forum had far more active users, it was a forum at war. Lots of the users who posted hated users like InMontreal and Donovan's Monkey. It's going to be next to impossible to find enough users willing to join a discussion forum where users like InMontreal and Donovan's Money exist, let alone participate in discussions with them.

Alright, your always welcome back, but remember you've been given more leeway on this forum that other forms would have allowed, so don't play the victim card when you, yourself, have started some fights.

[LOSat]

After reading this thread and having left for reasons that shall remain nameless ;) I have returned.

[CDN Viewer]

After reading this thread and having left for reasons that shall remain nameless ;) I have returned.

WELCOME BACK!!!

Here's hoping 2016 will mark the start of a New chapter for the Channel Canada forums and lead to more former members returning as well as some new ones coming on board.

Also, Congrats Mayhem on being appointed the first Mod of the Channel Canada forums! This is a great little indie forum (as I refer to it) that you are taking the reigns of, with a good core group of members. I think you will do a fine job keeping this rowdy bunch in check but remember power corrupts so don't let it get the best of you. ;)

[musimax]

...so I have decided to leave the forum effective immediately.

Ding dong the witch is dead. Which old witch? The wicked witch! Ding dong the wicked witch is dead!