Max said:

Don't sweat the rules, cause there aint none.

Joe says:

Abuse of Thread Creation
In addition, it seems are a very few people who create a very large number of our threads - and most of these threads have nothing to do with music, which is the primary focus of this Forum. All of us are concerned about the current political situation, and we all have a need to voice our opinion. However, I can't see why we have to split this discussion into so many pieces, why it is so important for these few people to start so many new threads on more-or-less the same thing.

I've experimented with various methods of controlling this mess, and I haven't found the perfect solution. I'm open to suggestions, and I will continue to try a variety of things. When things get out of hand, you can expect to see threads consolidated or renamed, and frivolous threads deleted.

I count 14 Iraq threads active today. I'm mad as hell about Bush's statement that he "respectfully disagrees" with the millions who protest his Iraq war - but I don't know where to put my comments, or whether somebody else has already said what I have to say.

I'm frustrated. What can we do to put a sense of order into our discussion of the political situation? How can we allow everyone to say what they think, without allowing the Forum to be dominated by a few idiots who overwhelm us with their verbosity?

I'll tell you one thing I'm going to do: if you start a thread with a cut-and-paste non-music article, I'll delete the whole damn thread. The policy on cut-and-paste is clear. Follow it.

Another thing you can expect: if you start more than one political thread in a day, expect them all to be consolidated with others. Your limit is ONE PER DAY, and fewer would be greatly appreciated.

-Joe Offer-

The Shambles says:

Do we not already have all the filters required? If someone chooses to start a thread - it is really only their business and if no one posts to it, the thread will fall off the bottom. No one forces you to open the thread and I undersatnd that is now possible to filter out the BS section entirely - is that not enough?

Have suggested guidelines by all means and encourage folk to follow them, but please can we accept finally - that no one has any control over the posting of others. Our volunteers getting annoyed or frustrated with and complaining about the actions of fellow posters and encouraging others to do the same by setting this example , just shows how far from the original open and tolerant nature of our fine discussion forum we have come.

Am I really the only one who finds all of this imposition, secrecy, judgement, threats and the setting of quotas upon fellow posters - completely out of all proportion and just as importantly - completly ineffective and counter-productive?