I was talking to someone who used to post here. Let me rephrase that, he was a predominant poster. He was one of the very early people who kept this website going at a time when there were maybe four or five people trying to maintain conversations about cruising. Some of you know him from here, some from another website. Some of his discussions are still active. Anyway, in the course of the discussion, he mentioned what’s wrong with this site. Look at it this way he said ; Trump will be allowed to post to Twitter again. MTG can post to Twitter, and they’ve written far worse than I ever wrote here. What did I write ? he asked. A few fake stories that sounded plausible ( up to a point anyway ). When he types in this site, he gets a 403 Forbidden notice. He was removed from this site a few years ago and is still not allowed to post. He asked if a certain moderator still worked at the site. I didn’t know. Is someone named Simon still a moderator ? Anyway, what he felt was wrong with this site is the turnover. People come, ask a question, and never come back. The site is also determined to be only about cruising. Well, that can’t happen. It’s a social site, and we want to discuss other things. It’s also, according to him, over regulated. When he was on, posts would suddenly disappear for seemingly no reason. He also used the word stagnant. Not enough variety of postings. He knows some of this was due to CoVid, as no one was sailing. He does have a way to read the Forum, but can’t post. He sees too many New Discussions getting only a handful of responses, and then it dies. He said he could post a picture of a fat, hairy guy in a Speedo and get 10 pages of comments, and other pics. He’s not bitter, but he feels bad about one thing: when someone asks a question about New York, he can’t assist them.
mob, he did say to send his regards to Aunty. I assume he meant Aunt Pinky, so regards.
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The 1st Amendment ends here
7 Answers
Happy Thanksgiving!
This (along with the Shipmate APP) is my only social site. I try to go by the guidelines the moderators have established. Unfortunately, I've not always been able to do so. There are several folks that have been banned on Shipmate because others have been "offended". Gladly, some of the easily offended folks are gone, but then so are some very cool people that tried to make the shutdown more fun. There are others who post photos that are more revealing (than a few banned for photos of themselves in skimpy clothing) now, but without the those that were offended they continue to be on board. I have flagged a few myself, for those that start name calling and/or are disrespectful of others opinions. I am nor a moderator and know if they disagree with my flag it will be back. However, here on Cruiseline, even when we disagree we seem to manage to do so respectfully and if not I can scroll down and ignore that person.
Hi, back to my friend! Fortunately, he has my email address and can reach me and I can reach him. We still have no sailings from NY.
I am very thankful for the friends have made here. As on of the early posters said "I like my imaginary friends"!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Sorry for any misspellings. My spell checker has decided to quit working.
For the most part I agree with your post. However, I too am occasionally on some unmoderated and unregulated sites. The amount of vitriol and threats make it impossible for civil discourse on those sites. "Guardrails" should somehow be established and maintained, but how is that possible without resorting to moderation, i.e.: censorship?
I think social media is not ahead of it's time, but that time had past social media. What I mean by that is social media came upon us after a time where, in my opinion, our society had already started to descend into the abyss that I now believe we're falling. I perceive we were a more tightly knit civil society years back, more open to debate and honest discourse. But I think there has been decline over the last 25-30 years. Perhaps SM even accelerated the coarseness that I think I now see everywhere. I state it that way because I hold out hope that my perceptions could be either wrong, or blown out of proportion.
Anonymity can be a wonderful thing. I myself use it as a tool to assist in my recovery from addiction. However, it has become a weapon to the closed minded mob who feel empowered by it then cowardly wield that perceived power on SM with threats, insults and mis-information, or to those who use it to "gatekeep" the discourse to only flow within their comfort zone.
I do wonder why your acquaintance simply hasn't created another profile on this site. That's what all the miscreants do when they get banned on other sites. NOTE: I'm not comparing your acquaintance to them.
May everyone who reads this have a safe, happy, and blessed Thanksgiving.
He was a refreshing breath of air and firmly maintained his tongue in cheek. He is missed.
I was talking to someone who used to post here. Let me rephrase that, he was a predominant poster. He was one of the very early people who kept this website going at a time when there were maybe four or five people trying to maintain conversations about cruising. Some of you know him from here, some from another website. Some of his discussions are still active. Anyway, in the course of the discussion, he mentioned what’s wrong with this site. Look at it this way he said ; Trump will be allowed to post to Twitter again. MTG can post to Twitter, and they’ve written far worse than I ever wrote here. What did I write ? he asked. A few fake stories that sounded plausible ( up to a point anyway ). When he types in this site, he gets a 403 Forbidden notice. He was removed from this site a few years ago and is still not allowed to post. He asked if a certain moderator still worked at the site. I didn’t know. Is someone named Simon still a moderator ? Anyway, what he felt was wrong with this site is the turnover. People come, ask a question, and never come back. The site is also determined to be only about cruising. Well, that can’t happen. It’s a social site, and we want to discuss other things. It’s also, according to him, over regulated. When he was on, posts would suddenly disappear for seemingly no reason. He also used the word stagnant. Not enough variety of postings. He knows some of this was due to CoVid, as no one was sailing. He does have a way to read the Forum, but can’t post. He sees too many New Discussions getting only a handful of responses, and then it dies. He said he could post a picture of a fat, hairy guy in a Speedo and get 10 pages of comments, and other pics. He’s not bitter, but he feels bad about one thing: when someone asks a question about New York, he can’t assist them.
mob, he did say to send his regards to Aunty. I assume he meant Aunt Pinky, so regards.
I think I know who you are referring to...cyberwise anyway...but it doesn't matter. I wish I could give you multiple thumbs up for that analysis...dare I say rant? Line for line you did good! One of the hardest things for anyone to realize is that cyber is an artificial construct...for something that doesn't exist in RL it sure has an impact. Its so-called rules are guaranteed to aggravate, because it sure can be the wild west when it comes to that. From foul language to fake websites to outright scams. One thing for sure, grow a thick skin and beware. I'm in a few unmoderated affairs, and it would make most folks in here cringe..If the top 3-4 posters decided to quit it, the thing would virtually cease to exist. HAVE A GRAND THANKSGIVING, and thanks for the post. You made my day!!