Increase in locked threads?

[gymcoach26]

I'm just curious as to why there has been such a huge increase in locked/ closed threads? I have seen the need for maybe 1 or 2, but other than that I just feel like admins are getting carried away. There is freedom of speech, but maybe not on this board? I understand there are rules and people should not be having personal disputes on a public forum, however many closed threads have nothing to do with this.

 

[gymjourneymom]

Boils down to the fact that some people are unable to voice their opinions without resorting to personal insults. I want to thank the mods for keeping CB a family friendly forum. My teenage gymnast reads these boards. Aren't the gymnast what this is ALL about anyway!?! There would be NO CB without them doing what they do day in & day out! I would also like to thank the teenage gymnasts who have posted some of the most well thought out, insightful & helpful posts lately! Yes, we adults can learn a lot from you all!!!

 

[mariposa]

In addition to what GJM said, they are now making some rules for medical threads, so some of those are being locked. Which I can totally understand, even though I have asked medical questions myself.

I think the mods here are awesome. It is a thankless job and I am glad that someone does it. So thanks to all our mods!!

And no forum I have ever been on (and I have been on many over the years, I am a forum person and gravitate towards whatever my interests are at the time and now my kids interests, LOL. I have been on cloth diapering boards, babywearing boards, natural parenting boards, etc, etc.) had complete freedom of speech. Always have had moderators and rules. Which is fine by me. If I want freedom of speech, I can write a blog or email with people, because then it is mine.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I'm just curious as to why there has been such a huge increase in locked/ closed threads? I have seen the need for maybe 1 or 2, but other than that I just feel like admins are getting carried away. There is freedom of speech, but maybe not on this board? I understand there are rules and people should not be having personal disputes on a public forum, however many closed threads have nothing to do with this.

Oddly enough, bog and I were just discussing this. I have two answers.

First: there have been a lot of threads lately in need of a lock. Many related to a particular incident WHICH HAS ALREADY BEEN BEATEN TO DEATH AND DOES NOT NEED TO BE DISCUSSED ANY FURTHER. By coincidence, there has during the same time period been a larger-than-usual number of threads seeking medical advice, which we do not allow. Then there was the whole stretchsportsguy saga.

So basically, a series of concurrent coincidences has lead to a lot of threads being locked lately. We are not cracking down now any harder than we usually do, there's just been a lot more to crack down on as of late. I don't believe there is a single closed thread lately that was not justified.


Second: you don't have freedom of speech here. I think this is something often misunderstood: the first amendment to the US constitution prohibits the government from restricting free speech (excepting certain extenuating circumstances -- I don't feel like going into the numerous relevant supreme court cases right now), but private individuals and organizations are not bound by this restriction. The chalkbucket is not in any way affiliated with the US government, and we can therefore limit your speech as much as we please. And I think you will find there are very very very few forums that do give you complete freedom of speech -- and they are invariably filled with the worst the internet has to offer.

We try not to be any more restrictive than we absolutely have to, but we also try to keep the peace. Our primary goal is for this to be as pleasant and informative a place as possible -- and if there's constant drama going on, it simply isn't a pleasant place to hang around.

I do not believe either I or Bog has locked any threads which were not desperately in need of a lock.

I suspect this thread is headed in the same direction, but I'll leave it open for now.

 

[gymcoach26]

I completely agree that it needs to remain a place where even young gymnasts can come and benefit and even more so I agree that we should not give out medical advise...

The thread that finally promtped me to write this one was Happyfacetwin's "gym mothers not stage mothers". I thought it was great she could share that with us and I thought everyone else who posted was in line, maybe a little defensive but not being rude or anything. It appears it was closed "just in case." Well what if others could have learned from it or opened up to the community by sharing their own experiences or opinions. We will never know.

Another closed thread was the gymnast asking for some "girl" advice. I can see where it was deffinately titled wrong (would make more people intrigued to look), but everyone is assuming she should just "talk to mom or her coach." That is not always an option. As a gymnast who once had a male coach and lived with Dad, I can relate.

These are just 2 recent threads to name a few, but there are others

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I completely agree that it needs to remain a place where even young gymnasts can come and benefit and even more so I agree that we should not give out medical advise...

The thread that finally promtped me to write this one was Happyfacetwin's "gym mothers not stage mothers". I thought it was great she could share that with us and I thought everyone else who posted was in line, maybe a little defensive but not being rude or anything. It appears it was closed "just in case." Well what if others could have learned from it or opened up to the community by sharing their own experiences or opinions. We will never know.

That thread had already started on its way downhill -- you don't have to bee an oracle to know when a thread is going to devolve into a dramafest. Dunno about you, but I've had my fill of drama over the last few days.

Another closed thread was the gymnast asking for some "girl" advice. I can see where it was deffinately titled wrong (would make more people intrigued to look), but everyone is assuming she should just "talk to mom or her coach." That is not always an option. As a gymnast who once had a male coach and lived with Dad, I can relate.

A dad or a male coach would STILL be a better person to ask than a bunch of complete strangers on the internet.

 

[coachmolly]

I think the fact that more people are finding the Chalk Bucket could also be contributing to the problem. The board has gained some incredible new members over the past few months who continuously provide incredibly insightful posts, but a greater number of members can also mean a greater number of problem causing members. Fortunately, up until this point the number of problem threads has not been too terrible and I really commend the moderators for doing such an incredible job of keeping up.
I also agree that the amount of recently locked threads has largely been a result of the particular incident which GT has already mentioned and the multiple "spin off" threads. Tempers flared and I think it's good for the moderators to be extra cautious while people seem to be a little on edge.

 

[exgymnastmomx3]

I've been in this sport my entire life and I just basically have one comment related to the entire "drama" thing. This sport is drama- plain and simple. One can try and debate that, but if you've been in the sport long enough, you know that is the truth. People write books and make movies and t.v. shows about the drama of it all. This forum only mirrors what goes on in most gyms across this country. I can't speak for the rest of the world, but definetly it is what goes on in most gyms and on most girls gymnastics teams in this country. Of course there are some exceptions, but if we are going with the bell curve, then DRAMA is the sport of gymnastics and that's the reality. Most of us who have been around know that is the reality. Some coaches/owners/etc. try to intervene in it all and some don't. Sometimes it helps keep the peace, sometimes it doesn't. This board is only a reflection of that.

 

[Pickle's Mom]

I hope this thread doesn’t go downhill and get locked, because I think this community can only be strengthened by an open discussion about what works well and what doesn’t.

ETA: After consideration I am deleting the second part of my post and sending the information to GT and BW in a PM. Because sometimes it actually is better to workout grievances privately.

 

[Megz]

By coincidence, there has during the same time period been a larger-than-usual number of threads seeking medical advice, which we do not allow. Then there was the whole stretchsportsguy saga.

Oopsies, sorry GT! One of my threads went the medical advice way recently, I didn't realize it wasn't allowed. Just wanted to take the opportunity to apologize!

 

[bogwoppit]

Megz the medical thing is new. We will simply be telling people who are asking for medical advice to see a doctor. Too many issues with members offering up advice when we cannot take respponsibility for that. You will find many forums behave this way. However if you want to come and tell us you got an injury or that your injury is doing great, that is fine.

As to the threads closing issue, GT and I have talked so much in the last few weeks I think I should just adopt him. SO many issues in such a short time. As CoachMolly said, and I support, this place has become very popular very quickly, the fact that we gain new members every day after this length of time is amazing. But with that come problems, out of every new batch comes a great new member, a crazy member and a member who wants us to change.

We cannot be everything that every new member wants. Over time GT and I have come to the point where we know what we want the CB to feel like, and for the longest time we haven't had any issues. All the worst stars collided these last few weeks and all the poo hit the fan at the same time. Hence all the thread closings. We were both shocked at how stuff was going.

As GT says the CB is not the real world, if you read the rules you will see what you can and can't do. BUT at the end of the day we are the mods and we get to decide what happens here. YOu don't have to like it for sure, but if we see threads going the worng way (in our eyes) we will deal with them.

I know when you have been here for a while you start to feel that you have some input or ownership, but it simply cannot be that way as 6000+ divided into i doesn't work out too well.

 

[Bobby]

I am very sad and disappointed about recent thread closures (ie: 'gym mothers vs stage mothers" and the prior thread it was inspired by).

IMHO, there was no rule breaking (ie: no personal attacks, no name-calling, no escalation in hostility, etc). All I saw was robust discussion between people with different views. The reason given for closure was that 'everything had already been said', and IMHO that is very far from true.

A number of people explicitly asked that the thread/s remain open (or thanked such a request which to me suggests explicit support for the request).

As I've previously PM'd to Bog: Truthfully (and I sincerely don't mean to offend but rather just share my perception) I do feel as if a certain minority position is being unfairly muzzled by thread closures.

I'm hoping our marvellous mods (who I truly appreciate deeply for providing us with such a valuable forum and don't intend a micro-spec of disrespect to) will reconsider and unlock my thread.

My rationale is as follows (and I'm quoting the wise words of Bog on the very thread in question):
"...You all have to learn to get along and not stamp your feet when things don't go the way you want them to. You are free to "ignore" (through your user CP) any member who ticks you off...we have rules and we're sticking to them...This place is about EVERY child and that comes with the opinions of every parent. Take them or leave them".

 

[bogwoppit]

It will NOT be reopened. We have had enough of the drama.

How about someone starts a thread where everyone gets to say what great things CB has brought into their life. Now that would make a nice change.

GT and I would like things to go back to normal, the CB is what it is and discussing it ad infinitum will not bring people closer together.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Regarding the closing of the girl question thread:

I wish the chalkbucket was a safe place where girls could have questions like that answered. I truly do.

But it's not. The internet is not.

I think there's a tendency among teenagers to think of the internet simply as text on a screen, like a diary that talks back to them, like Tom Riddle's diary. But, like Tom Riddle's diary, it doesn't actually work that way.

Here's the way I see it (and I would make an announcement to this effect if I hadn't Link Removed): the internet can be compared with a room containing your parents, teachers, best friends, worst enemies, past present and future employers, a few strangers, and a few people whose favorite pastime is kidnapping children and doing evil things to them. Anything you would not feel comfortable saying aloud in that room should not be posted on the internet, and that includes the chalkbucket.

I would love for this to be a safe place for girls to ask questions like that, but unfortunately such a place just does not exist on the internet, and it probably never will.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

You know what, I'm going to lock this thread just to make a point. Here it is:

You do not have freedom of speech here. You never have.

This isn't a democracy. It never has been.

I think the fact that this series of debates has continued so long demonstrates, if anything, that bog and I have been too permissive about it.

Furthermore, I've had my fill of all the stuff flowing from these incidents, so further threads discussing the threads discussing the threads discussing the drama will not be permitted. There is nothing left that needs to be said that hasn't been said. So if further threads about it pop up, we will not lock them. We will delete them instead.

I realize that happyfacetwin started her thread with good intentions, but this whole thing has simply gone as far as it needs to. As for this thread, it's basically just a complaint about the moderation of these boards.

Don't like mine and bog's actions as moderators? Tough cookies. Your choices are to deal with it or to leave. If you want a forum where you can say whatever you want, Link Removed or start your own forum. Or you can sit in the corner and cry about it. I really don't care which route you choose, but I've had enough.

Now why don't we just get back to talking about gymnastics, hm?