Is this forum too moderated?

[bugo]

If you want to see a forum with truly transparent moderation, go to http://www.tdpri.com/forum/index.php.  You wouldn't know it was even moderated if it weren't for "MODERATOR" by some posters' names.  Everyone gets along for the most part, and life goes on.  If this forum were run like tdpri.com, I would have no complaints.  Instead it's run more like a soviet.

[bugo]

I thought you guys had more backbone than you do.  I guess that's why you are "roadgeeks" (and I'm not.)

Comrade:
I will ask that you NOT lump us all together as you appear to be doing. 

Oh, and it's "Road Scholar", thank you very much. 

If "bugo" isn't a roadgeek and isn't a Road Scholar, does that make him a viatologist?   

I'd much rather be a "viatologist" than a "roadgeek." 

* bugo waits for SuperModScott or SuperModSteve to combine my 3 totally unrelated posts.  Rooty tooty, fresh and fruity.

[mobilene]

I've always had an attitude about forums that if I don't like the way they're run, I quit reading them. 

[Roadsguy]

I don't think it's too moderated. I can't think of any purple I've seen that wasn't used right.

Off-topic: on the staff list, Steve is also listed under State Property.

[Mr. Matté]

Just wanted to chime in as an irregular poster but a very regular reader.

Sometimes, I think the mods are a little too quick to shut down discussions because they either go off topic or have the mere mention of politics/religion. I do visit other boards where the mods generally lay back and let discussions pan out even if they go way out except in the cases of all-out flame wars or spammers. If there's a good off-topic discussion going on, I would just either let it continue in its current thread or move the posts to the Off Topic Board.

But where I do agree greatly with them is when there's a major formatting error in someone's post such that it's harder to read; if they just want to fix a quote tag, I don't see why you should get your panties in a bunch. And about the OP himself, you're being quite a dick about the multiple postings in a row. The fact that you're egging them on to merge your posts and getting ever so closer to proving Godwin's Law is really putting me off as a reader of your posts and am less likely to consider your posts/thoughts in the future. And that's coming from someone who's a big partisan (not saying which way here) and cringes on some of the posts here.

[seicer]

Matte: Did you read my comment (last page) about mobile/tablet replies? It makes it near impossible to impossible to do combined replies. Not sure if the OP is using a mobile/tablet for his replying, but that could provide one answer.

[1995hoo]

.... And about the OP himself, you're being quite a dick about the multiple postings in a row. The fact that you're egging them on to merge your posts and getting ever so closer to proving Godwin's Law is really putting me off as a reader of your posts and am less likely to consider your posts/thoughts in the future. And that's coming from someone who's a big partisan (not saying which way here) and cringes on some of the posts here.

On just about every other forum I've visited, if a poster gave the moderators the finger the way the OP in this thread is doing, he'd get at least a suspension, if not a banning. Of course the downside of the suspension is that then he just comes back and says, "See, I told you so," but in that case it just provides a reason for making the suspension permanent.

Matte: Did you read my comment (last page) about mobile/tablet replies? It makes it near impossible to impossible to do combined replies. Not sure if the OP is using a mobile/tablet for his replying, but that could provide one answer.

It's definitely harder to edit replies on a mobile device, but if that were his situation, a reasonable person would just say that instead of acting like a prick about the issue and daring the moderators to suspend him.

I'd much rather be a "viatologist" than a "roadgeek." 

....

I have a feeling you have no idea about the origins of "viatologist."

[seicer]

True, @1995hoo. I don't think it was as much as a dare as a question stemming around that. I know on some places that I post at, if its from a mobile/tablet and it's not formatted for that, then I'll post a little script at the bottom: "This reply may be from a mobile device, and replies may not be properly formatted."

[1995hoo]

True, @1995hoo. I don't think it was as much as a dare as a question stemming around that. I know on some places that I post at, if its from a mobile/tablet and it's not formatted for that, then I'll post a little script at the bottom: "This reply may be from a mobile device, and replies may not be properly formatted."

I know several people who do something similar with e-mail and set their phones' autosignatures to say something like, "Sent via iPhone. Please excuse minor typos." (I think just about everyone who has a so-called smartphone has fallen prey to the overzealous autocorrect at some point.)

[hbelkins]

I have a feeling you have no idea about the origins of "viatologist."

Jeremy knows, trust me. He's an old-timer from MTR.

I know several people who do something similar with e-mail and set their phones' autosignatures to say something like, "Sent via iPhone. Please excuse minor typos." (I think just about everyone who has a so-called smartphone has fallen prey to the overzealous autocorrect at some point.)

I keep autocorrect turned off on all my devices.

[hbelkins]

Alex and I talked this over a little bit ago and that mod is now installed.   To access it, either click here, or click on the new tab up top titled "STAFF LIST".

"An error has occurred. You cannot access the staff list."

[1995hoo]

....

I keep autocorrect turned off on all my devices.

Did you do that from the start or did you change the setting because you found it annoying? Just curious.

(Funny thing is that once I got used to it on my phone I began to find it annoying that the software on my PC doesn't have the same capability unless I set it up....sure, it corrects some things, but it varies from application to application and most of them don't necessarily do things such as inserting apostrophes in contractions and the like.)

Alex and I talked this over a little bit ago and that mod is now installed.   To access it, either click here, or click on the new tab up top titled "STAFF LIST".

"An error has occurred. You cannot access the staff list."

It worked when I clicked it after posting the original portion of this reply and then seeing your comment.

[InterstateNG]

Matte: Did you read my comment (last page) about mobile/tablet replies? It makes it near impossible to impossible to do combined replies. Not sure if the OP is using a mobile/tablet for his replying, but that could provide one answer.

Unless you simply don't own a desktop or laptop, what on this board could possibly be so important that you would need to rattle off 3 or more consecutive posts?

[Scott5114]

^That'd be nice.

As a FYI - maybe I can give an answer to the multiple replies being separated out. It's downright difficult or impossible to do combined replies if you are on a smartphone or a tablet - this forum package (SMF) and others just simply cannot handle it.

Just looking at the site on a desktop, the interface is very out-of-date but that's a reflection of SMF and not of AARoads. It's not simple, and when you are trying to use your fingers to pinch and zoom, and to try to embed anything, or bold text - it's just not a good situation. That said, it also makes it hard to do more than one reply in a post because that would require copying the contents of a reply, pasting it into a third-party text writing app, replying to another post and copying its contents, pasting it into a third party app, (repeat as many times) combining it all when you are done and then re-pasting it.

I just tried to do it with this thread via my iPad and gave up after 10 minutes of trying to do three joined replies. I won't even attempt with the iPhone.

If you click the "Reply" tab, at the bottom of the page, rather than posting in the Quick Reply box, you are taken to a page with a reply box, underneath which are listed the most recent posts in reverse order. You can click "Insert Quote" in the header of one of these posts, and it inserts it with quote syntax into the box, no copy and paste needed.

Does this not work on the iPad?

[hbelkins]

....

I keep autocorrect turned off on all my devices.

Did you do that from the start or did you change the setting because you found it annoying? Just curious.

The latter.

Alex and I talked this over a little bit ago and that mod is now installed.   To access it, either click here, or click on the new tab up top titled "STAFF LIST".

"An error has occurred. You cannot access the staff list."

It worked when I clicked it after posting the original portion of this reply and then seeing your comment.
[/quote]

I don't even have the aforementioned tab listed 'up top.' 

[1995hoo]

On my browser (Firefox), the "tab list" shows up below where it has my avatar and my total time logged in and the admonition "News: Avoid mangled quotes! Some handy tips." Underneath that there's sort of a long tab in an inverted position (think a manila file folder turned upside-down) with a number of options. "Staff list" is fourth from the right. I didn't click there, though; when I said "it worked when I clicked it," I was referring to the word "here" in the prior comment by "rickmastfan67."

Edited to add: After posting the above paragraph I tried clicking on "Staff list" up there and it worked fine.

[realjd]

^That'd be nice.

As a FYI - maybe I can give an answer to the multiple replies being separated out. It's downright difficult or impossible to do combined replies if you are on a smartphone or a tablet - this forum package (SMF) and others just simply cannot handle it.

Just looking at the site on a desktop, the interface is very out-of-date but that's a reflection of SMF and not of AARoads. It's not simple, and when you are trying to use your fingers to pinch and zoom, and to try to embed anything, or bold text - it's just not a good situation. That said, it also makes it hard to do more than one reply in a post because that would require copying the contents of a reply, pasting it into a third-party text writing app, replying to another post and copying its contents, pasting it into a third party app, (repeat as many times) combining it all when you are done and then re-pasting it.

I just tried to do it with this thread via my iPad and gave up after 10 minutes of trying to do three joined replies. I won't even attempt with the iPhone.

If you click the "Reply" tab, at the bottom of the page, rather than posting in the Quick Reply box, you are taken to a page with a reply box, underneath which are listed the most recent posts in reverse order. You can click "Insert Quote" in the header of one of these posts, and it inserts it with quote syntax into the box, no copy and paste needed.

Does this not work on the iPad?

I just tried it - it works fine on my iPad. I didn't even know there was a non-quick reply button. Thanks!

[hbelkins]

I have Home, Help, Search, Profile, My Messages, Calendar, Members, Chat, Logout in my list. Running Chrome Version 23.0.1271.91 on a MacBook Pro running OS 10.6.8.

[kphoger]

Re:  multiple posts being difficult on a mobile device....
So wait until you get to a PC.  Or if that's not convenient for you, go ahead and make seven posts in a row, then add a tag that you would appreciate a post merge by a moderator.  No biggie.

Re:  why merge posts at all?
Again, bugo, how do post merges detract from the meaning of your posts?  Having your username in between each post breaks them up no more than a horizontal line or even just the start of a new quote.  I think everyone understands that, when you're finished replying to a quoted text, they should expect you to change topics with the next quotation.

[NE2]

Bugo is acting like a Repub who can't deal with Romney losing.

[bugo]

I have a feeling you have no idea about the origins of "viatologist."

I have a feeling I've been on MTR since 1998.

[bugo]

SPUI is acting like Tom From Ohio, minus the sharp humor and biting satire.

[1995hoo]

I have a feeling you have no idea about the origins of "viatologist."

I have a feeling I've been on MTR since 1998.

Good for you. I don't post there and I visit infrequently, so I have no idea of your habits. But your generally negative attitude and your lack of objection to "viatologist" made me suspect you were unfamiliar with the idiot who generally uses that term.

Now, why don't you try answering the question "kphoger" asked? Or did you instead want to start a thread in which you purport to solicit opinions so that you can just disagree with those opinions (which is pretty much the standard definition of "trolling")?

I have Home, Help, Search, Profile, My Messages, Calendar, Members, Chat, Logout in my list. Running Chrome Version 23.0.1271.91 on a MacBook Pro running OS 10.6.8.

I don't know if you can do this on a Mac, but perhaps it would fix it if you do what I've heard referred to as a "hard refresh" (in Firefox I hit "Ctrl-F5" or else hold down "Ctrl" while clicking "Refresh") to force it to fetch the full page from the server instead of using cached data?

[seicer]

Re:  multiple posts being difficult on a mobile device....
So wait until you get to a PC.  Or if that's not convenient for you,

That is not a good answer. A website, at least in 2012, should at least cater to all types of popular devices via a responsive template. A responsive site is one that, based on breakpoints set within the CSS and a very simple Javascript file, will dynamically shift the page so that the content is readable whether it is on a television or on a mobile device. There are times that I am on the road for a week at a time and my only access is on an iPhone. Not that I check AARoads, but I log into various other sites to file reports that are mobile friendly.

But as I stated earlier, it's not really a problem specifically with AARoads. It's SMF 2, and/or templates.

But in this day and age, you can't expect people to just wait until they "get home" to get to a "computer" - when a considerable amount of online traffic is now from tablets and mobile devices. Don't be naive.

[bugo]

I have a feeling you have no idea about the origins of "viatologist."

I have a feeling I've been on MTR since 1998.

Good for you. I don't post there and I visit infrequently, so I have no idea of your habits. But your generally negative attitude and your lack of objection to "viatologist" made me suspect you were unfamiliar with the idiot who generally uses that term.

I know where the term comes from.  In fact, the offender who came up with that term is residing in my killfile.  I just hate, hate, HATE the term "roadgeek."  I'm not a geek.  The only things I "geek out" about are antique cars and guitars/music.  Roads are a secondary hobby for me.  When I was in school in the '80s-early '90s, "geek" was a pejorative.  It is still a negative term to me.  "Viatologist" is silly but it's less offensive than "roadgeek."  I use the term "roadguy" or "road enthusiast."  It's unfortunate that "roadgeek" has become the most common term for a road enthusiast.

Now, why don't you try answering the question "kphoger" asked? Or did you instead want to start a thread in which you purport to solicit opinions so that you can just disagree with those opinions (which is pretty much the standard definition of "trolling")?

If I wanted to troll, you would know it.  Remember, I'm the guy who brought you Tom From Ohio and the All-Caps Troll.  I started this thread because I thought some of you had balls (and some of you do) and thought the forum was too moderated.  It ties in with my "anal road enthusiast" thread.  Road enthusiasts tend to be too anal about everything.  C'mon, it's a hobby, and can be fun, but some road enthusiasts make it a chore.  Like I said, I'm on many forums, and on every one but this one the moderators are invisible.  I've made several posts in a row and never had them merged.  Go to http://www.strat-talk.com and notice the difference.  I'm outspoken there as I am here and I've never had one single problem with the moderators.  I think it's a power trip thing.  I was once a moderator here and I never went on power trips.  I was an invisible moderator.  Too bad the rest of the mods aren't like me.