Darren is a volunteer, and we should be grateful for however much of his copious free time he is willing and able to devote to this list, instead of whining that it is not enough.
-- Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3 עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי נֵ֣צַח יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לֹ֥א יְשַׁקֵּ֖ר ________________________________________ From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> on behalf of willie bunter <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, October 7, 2024 9:23 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Non Mainframe Related Posts Caution: This email did not originate from George Mason’s mail system. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. I think moderator Darrel should have nipped it in the bud when the first post was made. By his laissez-faire attitude this topic spiraled out of control.A stricter control on topic other than technical should be exacted by the dormant moderator. Amen. On Sunday, October 6, 2024 at 09:49:08 a.m. EDT, Joel Ewing <[email protected]> wrote: Well said! This list has never been a platform for free speech TO a mainframe audience, only relatively-free speech ON TOPICS directly relevant to IBM mainframers. I say relatively-free, because someone who persistently argues for a point after being directed to an authoritative source that demonstrates his point is wrong also risks being ostracized. At least one poster (GC 10/3, 14:49) should have been suspended immediately for his childish, baseless and off-topic insults. JC Ewing On 10/4/24 00:16, Brian Westerman wrote: > Just my own observation, and my comment is something I normally would not > offer, but maybe the forum needs a zero tolerance policy for political, > racial, social, and sexual content. This isn't "X" or Meta. I am all for > people joking around and sometimes going kind of off topic, but "off topic" > doesn't need to be into areas that are offensive to anyone on either side of > a political, social, racial or sexual issue. They simply have no use on this > particular type of forum. > > It should not take the moderator getting involved to stop a thread, any > member should be able to ask it to stop without coming under criticism for > being anti-anything if they point out that something is or seems to be > off-topic. Simply stating that it's not allowed to be a discussion, > shouldn't be considered that the person pointing it out is > anti-something|anything. They could even be wrong, but it should be enough > to at least stop and think about whether it's off topic and explain yourself > or the subject without having to resort to flaming the person. > > This forum, in case anyone may have forgotten, is IBM-MAIN, there are lots of > other forums to discus the other "stuff", and they are well suited and > actually quite a bit better suited for those other types of discussions. > > I think the time warnings and trying a reasonable approach has long past. > > Most people understand or should understand, the difference between what > IBM-MAIN's purpose is and what is off-topic from that purpose. A simple > warning from anyone that something is, or might be off topic should be > adequate to make the party's stop and think about it, without assuming the > person pointing it out is anti-"them". > > If it's pointed out, and the topic is not related to IBM-MAIN's purpose, and > the people don't stop the thread voluntarily, all those involved should > probably be sanctioned, and kicked off the forum for at least some period of > time. > > In the case of the current thread in question, whether someone is, or is not, > for, or against, a political, social or racial "side" is not even relevant to > the question of whether or not it's off topic. > > The problem with getting off topic int he first place is that even reasonable > people can get lost in the woods when it's allowed to progress to the point > where nothing discussed contributes to any IBM related technical knowledge, > questions or thoughts. > > That said, we are supposed to be here to discuss IBM operating system and > programming problems and solutions and discuss ways to do things. While > personal preferences sometimes and even oftentimes come into play, they > rarely (approaching never, ever) need to devolve into political or social, or > racial or sexual issues. > > I'm not normally a Kumbaya kind of guy. but com-on people, isn't this just > another example of taking things out of the realm of IBM-MAIN's purpose and > into places that we aren't really supposed to, and never should, (as a group) > enter??? > > Brian > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN -- Joel C Ewing ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
