Is this a Community Forum or not ?

[longshanks]

Can someone please explain why the Independence Discussion Forum was totally removed last week and now the discussion on the Edinburgh Rally has been blocked.

This is a Community Forum where those of us who live here or have an interest in here can discuss affairs affecting our lives.

I am increasingly getting the feeling that if a discussion progresses down a road (particularly an anti-independence road) then it is summarily blocked or removed.

The fact that a thread is getting tedious or boring should never be a reason to get rid of it.

[NickB]

Can someone please explain why the Independence Discussion Forum was totally removed last week and now the discussion on the Edinburgh Rally has been blocked.
This is a Community Forum where those of us who live here or have an interest in here can discuss affairs affecting our lives.

I am increasingly getting the feeling that if a discussion progresses down a road (particularly an anti-independence road) then it is summarily blocked or removed.

The fact that a thread is getting tedious or boring should never be a reason to get rid of it.

The independence forum has been removed because it was not wanted. You were pretty much the only person posting on it and no-one (myself included) is interested in what is primarily a private and sterile exchange between you and I. It will be reinstated if a sufficient number of people PM me and express a wish for it to be reinstated.

As for the current thread - I locked it because posting the same picture (four times in four separate posts) and simply repeating the same point over and over again is trolling, not discussion, and as such has no place on this forum. As far as I can see you are contributing nothing to the community and - looking back over your posting record - neither have you ever done so. It seems to me that the overall tone of all your posts and those of your other main identity on here have been negative, carping , and primarily concerned with getting at me.

Have you considered ever posting anything positive on here? Or is your sole reason for posting to wind me up? Are you aware that you are a major reason for the lack of community involvement on here?

Personally I believe the best thing I could do to return this to being some sort of community forum would be to ban you. Some moronic sense of fair play has so far prevented me doing this, and I know for a fact that Herby would be most dreadfully disapproving of such an action.

Nonetheless, it is under consideration. However, for now I intend to simply ignore you and refuse to rise to your bait in the hope that others will start threads and raise topics.

[Gandalf]

Wow, first Pentland Pirate and now Longshanks. It could almost appear that people with views opposing independence are being systematically warned off. I have enjoyed reading this forum for a while now but lately I have perceived a change of tone to the extent that there is an aspect of intimidation. I enjoyed reading the posts of Pentland Pirate. Yes he could be annoying and I appreciate that it was out of order to make accusations regarding the past activities of a forum member but it seemed a bit harsh to kill him. Maybe we could start a petition in the shop to have him reinstated?
This forum has been very useful and informative in the past but since the demise of PP it’s virtually only Longshanks who seems brave enough to risk the odd post. Perhaps people are nervous of being cast as trolls or being accused of being boring or repetitive or even being tracked down via their IP addresses?
I also feel that its fair enough for Forum members to firmly nail their colours to the mast on the independence issue but to have the link to the ‘wings’ site displayed so prominently gives the appearance that the Forum is for supporters of independence.
All of this is of course just the humble opinion of someone who usually only watches from the side-lines and my views may be not be shared by anybody else but I do think there is a need and a demand for a Forum like this and I think all views should be able to be aired, even when those running the board find them irrelevant.

[NickB]

.
Gandalf,

Can I please refer you to the forum rules, in particular the one entitled 'back seat moderation'

If you don't like the way this forum is run then of course you are not obliged to participate.

The one change I am considering making is to only allow people to post under their real names.

In the meantime, why not start a thread yourself - preferably not about independence . . .

[jimcee]

I would like to post an endorsement of the points raised in Gandalf's remarks.
Particularly in reference to the Yes/No controversy. This has still a year to go before any decision is reached, but if there is a stifling of opposition to the Yes camp by this forum, for any legitimate reason, then that is completely un-democratic.