Question for the Masses

“Ok, you know it's bad when the webmaster is tired of all the political chatter happening on the board. So I am holding a pseudo election/town hall meeting/bribery party/poll/shindig.

One idea I had to was to move all the polictical threads to the bottom of the page. This way all the backpacking messages would be towards the top, and all the politico feeders would still have their messages to spew forth their brainwashing. This also benefits newbies to the site because they would see the good messages first, before being sucked into the underworld.

So what do you say?”

“Sounds like a winner to me. Rather than political, perhaps moving all the chatter threads to the bottom and BP threads to the top.”

“Just ban Dunadan and the world will be right.”

“Matt, you da man!”

“I like that idea Matt. Also maybe a separate icon for political threads may help. Thank you for trying to always improve this site.”

“Right after you ban him, your plan sounds reasonable.”

“Hear hear to the separate icon for political threads.

Or, you could tell all the politicos to take the political crap to a political board.”

“Separate icon for political threads, and we know what hand gesture she's talking about!”

“I think it's too late. All the good people have already been run off by all the daily political cockfighting.”

“Thanks Matt
Personally I would prefer that you move them to another website but the bottom is better than nothing.:)”

“to the bottom of the page with 'em..and another icon would be appropriate..like a skull and crossbones;)”

“yeah, I was thinking about a seperate filter just the other day. Instead of "chatter" one for chatter and one for "political crap" LOL”

“Go for it, Matt.”

“Good call, the political threads are getting waaaaaaaaaay out of hand. Why they've caught wildfire on a backpacking board is beyond stupid. Seperate icons would help some, but I have a feeling certain posters wouldn't use them because then they feel their messages aren't being heard. If you need help in having somebody monitor and delete all political threads, I volunteer!”

“in this election, will florida votes count?

if so, i cast my vote for your idea matt.”

“How about a steaming pile-o-doo icon?”

“"I think it's too late. All the good people have already been run off by all the daily political cockfighting"
Nigal

This statement has something wrong with it. I mean what constitutes a "good person" any newbie that comes to this board can be just as good or better than any other "good" person we had before...”

“The only good people starting posting in the Summer of 2001.”

“You can delete all of them for all I care.”

“I do miss the old days. Where did everbody go?”

“The chatter and bp I enjoy. That's part of the fellowship of this board.
The political threads have little to do with backpacking and are just namecalling and turd throwing. This board IS hostile to anyone of less than radical left leanings. God help anyone that said they liked Bush or went to church.
A separate icon (maybe a pile of turds?) is needed and puting them on the bottom.
Of course you will have to ban a few people because some will not use the political icon.”

“Or how about.... a tiny skull and crossbones, toxic-like!”

“I've been known to chime in from time to time on the political threads, but really, there are way too many of them, and they are way too wordy. Mostly I don't read the long cut and pastes, and wonder why did I click on this.

I think I agree that this board needs to be a backpacking board, which, of course, includes chatting about everything and anything. Just like around the campfire.”

“I like that idea Tilt

Have a Jacksass or an Elephant depending on the thread contents”

“Good Idea”

“And a tiny Rebel flag for the Rednecks! Cool!”

“I think we definately need a seperate icon, or some way of distinguishing between "backpacking chatter" and "political chatter"

some threads relative to the topic have been banished to the bottom, and some newbie might post new information on "backpacking chatter" and the thread would be lost”

“I vote for Matt's Idea!”

“if it stops the whining then sling em down the bottom.”

“BTW - Thanks for giving us a forum.”

“Seperate icon.

People go to NASCAR races not for the race, but for the crashes.

People watch football not for the plays, but for the hits.

People watch boxing not for the sport, but for the punches.

Backpacker go to TT not for the backpacking information, but to watch a whole lot of, as StoveStomper said, "radical left" beat the living daylights out of anyone who is in the center or to the right.

Remember Vince Lombardi's saying. "Defense wins games. Offense sells tickets."”

“What I want to know is where do the drinking and hooters threads go.


”

“LOL @ om!

Hey sweetheart! Long time no read!”

“While prosecutor's got it all wrong as far as his skewed world-view ;) I'd like to see a separate icon as well.”

“No problem with me either way. I don't recall anyone forcing me to read anything I didn't want to read. I kind of like to scan the political threads hoping eventually I'll find someone dumber than me. Personally, I'd prefer a little more obscenity.”

“"Or, you could tell all the politicos to take the political crap to a political board."
bitpusher
04:45:59 PM
03/22/04

Sounds good to me...”

“KILL 'EM ALL!”

“I want a Raddy filter.”

“Matt, go with your idea or totally delete them.”

“i vote for rad's idea...and if not that....matts”

“And an Opie filter too.


No seriously, Just make it an icon and let folks make up their own mind with by using the filter.”

“just wondering, I just posted to the Dating Sucks thread and it stayed towards the middle/bottom. I reset my views, got out and came back but it stayed where it was at. What is up with that, a glitch I hope.”

“That glitch has been around a while, Ewker.”

“Add the political icon, and those go to the bottom of the list. Then, if there are threads that are political and not iconed as such, the icon could get changed to the political icon by... the webmaster, who has every right to run this board as he sees fit.

It would be nice to chat about gear and hiking here. Sports chatter every now and then is nice, as is kayaking and other things....”

“Treebait, that is the first time I had noticed it. As you scan down the threads you can see a big gap of threads that were posted on today but other threads from 2 days ago are ahead of them.”

“That is a very good idea.


8)”

“Why not divide the types of threads into different pages like they do over at www.highsierratopix.com? It should include a politics page and well as all the other divisions of interest.”

“The "Legend" is actually pretty clear, I would just add another category, perhaps entitled "Religeon & Politics", as a place for those (sometimes) inflammatory subjects. If someone doesn't want to see that content, they have the option to choose. Then your webmaster (you or your designate) can simply move any threads over into the appropriate category that degenerate into politics, or should have been there to begin with.

Problem solved. I've been around quite awhile, and I think the board was better off whenever we had more participation from some (no all!) of the "old timers". The point is... the board would benefit from, and should be a home for anyone interested in BP'ing... not just those who happen to be strong enough to resist the #$%@# thrown by more forceful individuals.

My $.02.”

“RIDE THE LIGHTNING!”

“I think you should dump the backpacking theme and devote the site to politics, which is what it is anyway.”