Forum admins, im just curious

[Madball6]

Im not looking to get banned or censored or whatever, but im really curious as to why the thread "LCP - Awesome little gun" got locked so quickly? I saw no rule breaking comments, nor any arguements or angry comments.

Lets not get so into protecting the 2nd ammendment that we forget the first. There was nothing in that thread that made me feel like "FIRE" was shouted in a movie theater. I'm guessing I'll either get an interesting answer here, or i will get this post deleted and have to worry about censure in the future.

Admins, for the sake of the 1st ammendment, please reply?


-Keith

[kylen]

This is not a related topic. So it will undoubtedly be closed. Please read forum rules and if you have a problem address it to the admin that closed the thread via private message.

[hoghunting]

You're fairly new to the forum, so you probably don't know that it is much easier and nicer to send a Private Message to a Moderator for clarification on a thread instead of asking him/her for a public airing of dirty laundry.

The Mods do a great job here and will be more than happy to respond to your PM.

[Auto426]

While I have not viewed the thread in question, I can assure you that forum administrators not only lock problematic threads, but they clean them up as well. If a thread gets out of hand and there are posts of an offensive or derogatory nature, then they will delete those posts in addition to shutting the thread down. The people who posted those problematic posts will also sometimes have disciplinary actions taken against them, depending on their history with the forum.

There is also the issue of the recent announcement made towards cleaning up the handgun forums. Any posts made in section where they don't belong are now being deleted instead of moved. It seems in recent times some members have gotten accustomed to moderators cleaning up their mistakes, and they just kept making them. sometimes you just have to put your foot down and say enough is enough.

[C Philip]

Read the announcement at the top of the page (http://thefiringline.com/forums/anno...t.php?f=1&a=97). I guess moderators got tired of moving threads and now simply lock them.

The LCP is a semi-auto, and therefore discussions about it belong in the semi-auto forum, not general handguns.

Also, this is a privately owned forum, so 1st Amendment does not apply.

[Madball6]

So the issue is that it was not posted in the Auto category? Not sure what the general handgun forum is for then. obviously all handguns are auto's or revolvers. But if threads are going to be censored for being in the handgun forum for being on or the other, then the admins should just shut down the general handgun forum and force members to post in one or the other. I'm not trying to be a pain in the ass here, its just i wanted to post on that particular thread which seemed to be acceptably placed in the general forum (maybe better served in the auto forum, but if a general handgun forum doesnt have any wiggle room, whats the point of having a general handgun forum?)

Also my issue extends to the fact that the thread wasn't moved, it was simply locked. With nary an offensive comment. Perhaps the admin who locked it is anti-ruger? I have no idea nor am I insinuating, but it definatly seems odd given the content of the thread. I would appreciate an admin's insight to this. I would hate to have to write off this entire website because of unfair censure.

What I mean by that is, while i truly believe this to be a website that promotes and furthers the cause of all gun owners, If it starts randomly locking down reasonable threads, I'll be forced to ignore it and urge other friends to do the same.

I love my guns and i Love discussing them. I have seen many locked or moved threads and have agreed with most of those decisions.

I just can't see how this particular instance makes any sense.

And before anyone else starts lecturing me about how "It's just one thread, let it go" Freedoms anywhere, in the real world or the cyber world start with just one censorship.

Not sure why i have such a bit in my mouth over this one (I don't even own a LCP) but the procedure of it leaves me leary.

[Auto426]

The description for the General Handgun Forum is: "A wide open area for Handgun posts that don't fit well in the Revolver or Semiauto Forums. Ammunition selection to shooting technique and more."

Since the LCP is a semi-auto handgun, a discussion about it rightly belongs in the semi-auto forum. The moderators gave fair warning that they were tired of moving posts that were placed in the wrong forum, and you can't blame them. I'm sure a large portion of their day is spent trying to figure out where a topic belongs and moving it around. This new method forces people to recognize that you need to follow the rules about posting, and make a careful selection about where your topic belongs.

[Madball6]

Thats perfectly fine and i can respect that. But i can also say that up to 50% of the whole forum "general handguns" could easily be shunted to the auto's or revolver forums. Just struck me as odd that that particular thread got locked down in less then 2 hours from original post. And the original poster was a first time poster, who will now most likely never come back since his first post was locked down less then 2 hours from his registration without comment.

-Keith

[Madball6]

So yeah, gratz on scaring off the newbie

[Madball6]

I Reread the posting guidelines and realize this thread was probably misposted in the general handgun thread. But at the same time I'm disappointed that a first post new member got locked out so quickly. I'm just afraid that a generalized policy of locking out potentially mis-posted threads may discourage new users.
I say this because the thread in question was started by a new user, and i'd hate to lose a user just because they didnt understand what each forum was for. So i would ask the admins for a little more leeway with new users in a forum that is by its very definition "General".

-Keith

[imthegrumpyone]

You all be careful, they don't like to be tounted, your fixing to get the hammer dropped on you.

[MidwestRookie]

stop being so touchy, it's the internet. they put it right at the top that it'll get locked if you put it in the wrong section...you got your answer. follow the rules. it's not rocket surgery, it's an internet forum.

[ahil925]

I can understand the idea that a new user is more likely to make a faux pas then a long time member, but I think you're blowing this out of proportion. This user's thread was locked, he's probably going to want to know why. Which means he's either going to A) start a thread asking why his was locked, B) PM a moderator or C) read the announcements/stickies/rules etc. Which means he's going to learn. Which means he's much less likely to make the same mistake. Which is a good thing, no?

On the other hand, if the locked thread is enough to completely and totally ruin his experience on TFL and make him never want to come back, its likely that something down the line would have upset them, and its doubtful that he/she would have been an active member of the community anyway.

Could a mod have moved it? Sure. But it would not have been as strong a message to the user that they committed a boo-boo. Its not like he was banned or suspended. If the mods are going to enforce their will, then it needs to be done evenly and fairly without prejudice.

[LockedBreech]

We're in someone else's house. The hosting for this forum is not paid by us.

That means there is no First Amendment, which applies strictly to government entities. That means threads can be closed for essentially any reason.

That doesn't happen, though. Our moderators are a levelheaded bunch. They don't close posts for no reason. Either the post was off-topic, in a less specific forum than it needed to be, or got rude.

Such things generally don't occur if new users read all rule threads before posting.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

If I had a hammer, I'd hammer in the morning - etc.

Yep, if you have a beef, PM us.

Also, study up on the 1st Amendment - we are not the government - YET!

GEM

[Mike Irwin]

C. Philip nailed it.

The thread was posted in the wrong section.

As is clearly stated in the announcement:

Starting this coming week (4 April 2011), threads that have been posted in the wrong handgun forum will, at the discretion of the moderator, be closed or deleted.

Harsh?

Maybe, if you're the one whose thread is closed or deleted.

But you know what's harsher?

Me or one of the other handgun forum mods spending more and more time dealing with threads that have been posted to the wrong forum, apparently because the poster either didn't bother to read the forum descriptions (or even figure out that hey, there are different revolver/semi-auto forums) or just don't give a damn where he posted.

Over the past several months the situation had been getting worse, a LOT worse that it ever has any right to. At the end of March several days running I spent nearly an HOUR shuffling threads to their proper locations.

Doesn't seem like much? Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I have better ways to spend my time. That's time I could spend reading threads and replying to them.

So, we decided enough is enough.

Threads that are clearly placed in the wrong forum will be closed or deleted.

TFL is a discussion board, and discussion works best when a thread is put in the proper forum.

That announcement was set up so that EVERYONE, new member or old member, saw it upon visiting one of the handgun forums after it was turned on, so no one can say that they've not had adequate notification as to what will happen if they just plop a post randomly.



"Not sure what the general handgun forum is for then. obviously all handguns are auto's or revolvers."

You ever hear of a Thompson Center break open single shot? Revolver? No. Semi-auto? No.

How about a Remington XP-100? Revolver? No. Semi-auto? No.

Thinking of buying one of two handguns, one being a revolver, the other being a semi-auto, and need compare/contrast opinions to help you make up your mind?

Revolver forum? No. Semi-auto forum? No.

As the forum description for General Handguns indicates: "A wide open area for Handgun posts that don't fit well in the Revolver or Semiauto Forums. Ammunition selection to shooting technique and more.

Suggestion -- take some time and read through the threads in General Handgun. That might give you a little better idea what it's for, what what should be placed there.



Finally, please. Don't even try to make this into a Constitutional issue. It's NOT.