A Surge In USMB Membership?

[Samson]

The only other board I utilized I stopped posting on during the last election. It had doubled in size during the election and devolved into a partisan hack, screeching exchange even in the non-political forums. Even many of the "reasonable", open minded posters became infected with the disease, I see the beginnings of it here with many of the new posters and I expect to see it get worse.

LIBURAL FAIRY!!!!

 

[masquerade]

I'm pretty new here. I've been to various sites on the internet. This has been the warmest welcome I've had. The site has an organic feel to it. I've seen various configurations of thanks and reputation systems, and this site seems to have a very balanced formula that fosters community and friendship.

I post at another fairly good site that is a little stricter than this one, but still good. The moderating over there seems reasonable. This site is a little more laissez fair, yet it seems to work. Yes, profanity is allowed here, that is new to me. But it actually doesn't detract from the site. And the friendliness here is the best I've seen. And, I haven't seen any of the biased BS you see at many places. Some site owners are like little dictators and get off on picking on perfectly decent people over piddling, very subjective crap.

Welcome to USMB Middleman! You will find lots of biased BS here, from other members. So watch out! lol

 

[masquerade]

The only other board I utilized I stopped posting on during the last election. It had doubled in size during the election and devolved into a partisan hack, screeching exchange even in the non-political forums. Even many of the "reasonable", open minded posters became infected with the disease, I see the beginnings of it here with many of the new posters and I expect to see it get worse.

Yup. The months leading up to November are going to be very interesting around here.

 

[masquerade]

I was hoping the big man stopped by for a few words.

Who says HE, or his representatives haven't already been here for a long while now, looking for polls, opinions, yada yada and yada.

Right now, currently active 834, 749 'guests' and 85 members................Hmmmmmm, doesn't that look a tad unbalanced?...........Discuss.

"He" is here. Discuss.

 

[Middleman]

I'm pretty new here. I've been to various sites on the internet. This has been the warmest welcome I've had. The site has an organic feel to it. I've seen various configurations of thanks and reputation systems, and this site seems to have a very balanced formula that fosters community and friendship.

I post at another fairly good site that is a little stricter than this one, but still good. The moderating over there seems reasonable. This site is a little more laissez fair, yet it seems to work. Yes, profanity is allowed here, that is new to me. But it actually doesn't detract from the site. And the friendliness here is the best I've seen. And, I haven't seen any of the biased BS you see at many places. Some site owners are like little dictators and get off on picking on perfectly decent people over piddling, very subjective crap.

Welcome to USMB Middleman! You will find lots of biased BS here, from other members. So watch out! lol

I meant biased moderators, actually. I've seen some sites with definite agendas, either personal or political. People banned because the moderator was a power-tripping tyrant who woke up on the wrong side of the bed...

Internet sites are communities. Some of them will hand out infractions just because you asked "What happened to so and so?" or "Why was so and so banned". Some sites are run like little dictatorships. This site, so far, seems to have a healthy feel to it.

 

[Sarah G]

I'm by no means an "old timer" but I have noticed a lot of new names here recently.

I've noticed a lot of new wingers and trolls

Ha! Takes one to know one..

 

[masquerade]

I'm pretty new here. I've been to various sites on the internet. This has been the warmest welcome I've had. The site has an organic feel to it. I've seen various configurations of thanks and reputation systems, and this site seems to have a very balanced formula that fosters community and friendship.

I post at another fairly good site that is a little stricter than this one, but still good. The moderating over there seems reasonable. This site is a little more laissez fair, yet it seems to work. Yes, profanity is allowed here, that is new to me. But it actually doesn't detract from the site. And the friendliness here is the best I've seen. And, I haven't seen any of the biased BS you see at many places. Some site owners are like little dictators and get off on picking on perfectly decent people over piddling, very subjective crap.

Welcome to USMB Middleman! You will find lots of biased BS here, from other members. So watch out! lol

I meant biased moderators, actually. I've seen some sites with definite agendas, either personal or political. People banned because the moderator was a power-tripping tyrant who woke up on the wrong side of the bed...

Internet sites are communities. Some of them will hand out infractions just because you asked "What happened to so and so?" or "Why was so and so banned". Some sites are run like little dictatorships. This site, so far, seems to have a healthy feel to it.

I know you did.

 

[Middleman]

Welcome to USMB Middleman! You will find lots of biased BS here, from other members. So watch out! lol

I meant biased moderators, actually. I've seen some sites with definite agendas, either personal or political. People banned because the moderator was a power-tripping tyrant who woke up on the wrong side of the bed...

Internet sites are communities. Some of them will hand out infractions just because you asked "What happened to so and so?" or "Why was so and so banned". Some sites are run like little dictatorships. This site, so far, seems to have a healthy feel to it.

I know you did.

So, do you have a lot of bannings here?

 

[random3434]

I meant biased moderators, actually. I've seen some sites with definite agendas, either personal or political. People banned because the moderator was a power-tripping tyrant who woke up on the wrong side of the bed...

Internet sites are communities. Some of them will hand out infractions just because you asked "What happened to so and so?" or "Why was so and so banned". Some sites are run like little dictatorships. This site, so far, seems to have a healthy feel to it.

I know you did.

So, do you have a lot of bannings here?

Sir, you are:

 

[Foxfyre]

After five weeks of operation, the USMB Coffee Shop clientele hit 70 yesterday and includes quite a few really nice newbies that I hope we can urge to stick and settle in here. When those with a clue eventually largely outnumber the numbnuts, the numbnuts either leave or they just don't bother us as much. And that makes for a board you want to be a part of.

USMB has been such a board for me.

 

[Middleman]

I know you did.

So, do you have a lot of bannings here?

Sir, you are:

Hey, where is that rep you promised me???

 

[random3434]

So, do you have a lot of bannings here?

Sir, you are:

Hey, where is that rep you promised me???

I'm not only going to neg rep you, I'm going to ban you and make you watch "Rock of Love" over and over.


Yeah, I'm just that mean.

 

[Foxfyre]

Watch out MM. She really IS that mean. (cough)

Yanno re bias, we all are one way or the other unless we hold no opinions about anything. I really like the mix of leftwing/rightwing mods at USMB because everybody then has somebody of authority 'on their side'. And that keeps intelligent folks from all sides of the political spectrum feeling at home here. Jillian and I were just commenting that if you only allow or only have one point of view on a message board, we would be bored out of our gourds in no time.

I also like the fact that the board is moderated so that nobody can really be personally attacked in a malicious way (stupid ways don't really count) without consequence.

And if everybody is shooting at Gunny as being biased, he must have hit the right balance.

 

[masquerade]

I meant biased moderators, actually. I've seen some sites with definite agendas, either personal or political. People banned because the moderator was a power-tripping tyrant who woke up on the wrong side of the bed...

Internet sites are communities. Some of them will hand out infractions just because you asked "What happened to so and so?" or "Why was so and so banned". Some sites are run like little dictatorships. This site, so far, seems to have a healthy feel to it.

I know you did.

So, do you have a lot of bannings here?

I've been witness to the temporary banning of a couple of members.

At the site I referred to earlier, the moderators ( website staff ) stayed behind the scenes. One would see posts from them only in response to a question or when there was an issue. Here, the mods actively participate in discussions.

The problem was a group of members who formed a clique. Being there for so long, they felt the boards were theirs to police. If you joined and you agreed with their opinions and views, you were liked. If not, well things didn't go as smoothly. Too many good posters left because of the childish bullshit that took place over there. I don't see that here on this board. Thank God.

 

[masquerade]

After five weeks of operation, the USMB Coffee Shop clientele hit 70 yesterday and includes quite a few really nice newbies that I hope we can urge to stick and settle in here. When those with a clue eventually largely outnumber the numbnuts, the numbnuts either leave or they just don't bother us as much. And that makes for a board you want to be a part of.

USMB has been such a board for me.

Newcomers ( not all ) are a welcome change as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Foxfyre]

After five weeks of operation, the USMB Coffee Shop clientele hit 70 yesterday and includes quite a few really nice newbies that I hope we can urge to stick and settle in here. When those with a clue eventually largely outnumber the numbnuts, the numbnuts either leave or they just don't bother us as much. And that makes for a board you want to be a part of.

USMB has been such a board for me.

Newcomers ( not all ) are a welcome change as far as I'm concerned.

Yep. And sometimes when we interact with folks on less contentious threads, you see them differently than you saw that total jerk or idiot on the conspiracy thread or some controversial political thread. Most folks are pretty tolerable, even likable, given opportunity to be. There are, alas, a few that make it really difficult to find any redeeming qualities though, and some of those I honestly don't miss when they leave. But they are so few in number on a big board like this, it isn't difficult to avoid or ignore them.

 

[random3434]

Just talk about cats and we are all one big family!

 

[Foxfyre]

Just talk about cats and we are all one big family!

Yep. Gardening, movies, fishing, and origami have been pretty good topics too.

 

[The Infidel]

I am a newcomer to the site and so far I love it.... I am a member of alot of offroading forums and they dont like political stuff on them (even in off topic portion) so I need this site as an outlet for my point of view. Thanks USMB, and I hope to be a contributin member here for a long while....

BTW, how is this site paid for, and is there a way to contribute some cash towards it?

 

[random3434]

I am a newcomer to the site and so far I love it.... I am a member of alot of offroading forums and they dont like political stuff on them (even in off topic portion) so I need this site as an outlet for my point of view. Thanks USMB, and I hope to be a contributin member here for a long while....

BTW, how is this site paid for, and is there a way to contribute some cash towards it?

Your friendly neighborhood mod says:


http://www.usmessageboard.com/annou...usmb-now-offering-supporting-memberships.html