I don't like having actual rules but it seems I must have something. So here goes:

A Few Rules

1. There will be things posted here that don't interest you. If you don't like a thread (or a post), just ignore it. Nobody is forcing you to read anything.

2. Please have some respect for other users. It is acceptable to disagree; it is not acceptable to engage in name calling. Please take flame wars elsewhere.

3. While this site is about Yosemite there is no requirement for the park to be the only topic. If a thread is too far off topic for you, please see rule number 1.

A most agreeable set of rules!

B

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Bee
A most agreeable set of rules!

B

If you think of anything else that should be said, just let me know.

This seems to place all the burden on the people that read the forum. For the person posting, it seems to say "post whatever the hell you want, just don't call anybody names". I can't think of any posts here that would have been outside those guidelines, depending on what you define as 'flaming', yet there is at least one post on the forum from recently that served no purpose other than to be deliberately rude to two of the members. Is the solution to "just not read it"? How do you deal with a vindictive poster, just tell people to ignore him/her?

It's also difficult to "not" read something if there's no indication in the topic. If someone wants to post their latest-heard dirty joke, and posts it in a thread about availability of campsites, just how do you do that if you're not interested? Read part of it then not read the rest? What if it's not one dirty joke, but they constantly are posting them in whatever thread they happen to be? How about some responsibility on the part of people posting messages to at least be polite and considerate with what they post? If I know that Slim just loves jokes about pigs, should I just go to the Yosemite forum and post pig jokes at every opportunity, or should I send them to him privately? Certainly, if you don't like poetry, and a thread is about poetry, no one's forcing you to read it. But again, those doing the posting have a responsibility too, in titling the threads, not hijacking other threads to in-depth poetry discussions, and remembering where they are (poetry used only as an example, I'm not saying this has been a problem here).

In some forums, for example Adobe's support forums, or the photo forums at dpreview, there are general 'anything goes' forums separate from the topic-oriented ones. People that want to talk about old high school buddies, flirt with the waitress and impress her with their wit and charm, or try out their latest one-liners can go there and say or do what they want (though I imagine there are still guidelines as far as being civil to others).

That aside, it seems there should be some responsibility to people posting messages, in that they should realize that it's a public forum with a topic that is presumed to be at least a general guideline, and perhaps "think before hitting the 'post message' button" is a thoughtful gesture. There are many options for sending personal messages, both in the forum and by email or other contact info if the user makes it available.

One analogy is to visualize yourself sitting at a round table, each with a microphone, the microphone having an on/off switch. If what you're saying is probably of general interest, be it informative, funny, inspiring, whatever, by all means, leave the switch on. If you're just trying to impress the person sitting next to you with your wit and charm, and nothing has anything to do with what's being discussed, or you want to keep discussing quilts when it's a '55 Chevy forum, maybe have a little cosideration for everyone else and shut your mic off before you speak.

This is all, of course, just an opinion.

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Gary
Yosemite Photo Galleries: http://www.pbase.com/roberthouse/yo

Gary,
I've always held the opinion that the onus on the writer is to write in a way that conveys their message and the onus was on the reader to sort through those writings and pick which would get a through reading. I got stuck on "This seems to place all the burden on the people that read the forum."

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Old Dude

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mrcondron
Gary,
I've always held the opinion that the onus on the writer is to write in a way that conveys their message and the onus was on the reader to sort through those writings and pick which would get a through reading. I got stuck on "This seems to place all the burden on the people that read the forum."

Lova ya Mike, you can say it way better than I can

It would be unseemly to think that Master Eeek had to act as some sort of Censor because we are too irresponsible to mind our manners.

B

I wasn't deleted yet... and a spy said I should look at this thread again..
So I guess I will just childlishly say what my dad used to say:

It's the old Pot calling the Kettle Black
(if this doesn't make sense then reread what I wrote above... it's what sierrafan posted recently)

And the Ahwanee Tantrum was a simple question:
'why is Ahwanee trashed so much?'
And when pressed for the reasons why there was alot nothing.
Vince said to burn it down and others said it was too posh... they prefer
NP and SP as they like to deal with the partiers..
Somehow my small caveman brain did not translate this musings
into a joke.
If you want to complain about something then just give the reasonings behind it.
And "I don't like it" doesn't cut it either.

As for the relevance and whatnot of my postings... that is for the reader to decide.
I sorta thought showing people the barn at Miguel might peak their interest
to visit there. And the Diving Board too...
And trail conditions... and... How Cathedral looks frozen over.. and... and...
What Matthes Crest looks like from the top... and.. and... and...
and guide books have tracks of animals and their droppings... which some find
offensive. Others may find instructive. I know when I take newbies into the park
I always point out bear droppings. and... and..

I guess it may just come down to that there is a fine line between Jealousy and Hatred.

I'm pretty certain some of the blame falls with me but when a thread started
going goofy I just joined the parade (Monty Python links).

Please for goodness sakes just leave it at this now.

Pretty irritated that I feel I have to try to explain all this.
For newbies or Guests you have my humble apologies.

Bravo!

The moderator has the power to ban any individual from the forum. So I suppose that anything egregious would lead to discipline.

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Old Dude

All I know is I've gotten slammed a plenty. I've correct grevious errors said by some people
and only continued the discussion. Since I'm only a six grader (guess that wasn't a slam on me tho)
I've inject some potty humor. Although looky at the Whitney Poo post.. hmm..
I guess I'm just childish but know a plenty about the park. I guess if you want to ask a
backpacking question you can always go here:
http://www.yosemite.ca.us/forum/viewforum.php?f=7
Some guy over there by the sorta same name seems to know a thing or two about the park
and is willing to share. It think he even posted some stuff about please let's not flame
each other. Somehow the guy is respected over there but has tire tracks on his back on
this board.

One more rule: PLEASE know the difference between Celsius and Fahrenheit before you say something that makes you look like a sixth-grader! And not a very smart sixth-grader at that!

This is not only one of the best places to get Yosemite news and information, but it's also the one of the most civil forums on the Internet.

And when you really need a laugh, you can always go back to EEEK's first reply to Bee when she asked about the hike to El Capitan. I still get a chuckle when I think about that reply! And Bee took it with her usual good nature.

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wbmyosemite
One more rule: PLEASE know the difference between Celsius and Fahrenheit before you say something that makes you look like a sixth-grader! And not a very smart sixth-grader at that!.

Did somebody do that recently?

It's been awhile. Mr. Szalkowski caught me on it and I had to self-impose a week's ban from the forum! But I learned my lesson. Check the facts first. Or, as they say, "Measure twice, cut once."

So my rule is to make sure I have my numbers down before I speak. And I like it!

(I didn't know my last post would revive the Yosemite Falls to El Capitan topic...but it was fun to see it again.)

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(I didn't know my last post would revive the Yosemite Falls to El Capitan topic...but it was fun to see it again.)

SAY'S YOU!!

QB

I only knew the word because I saw the mohel on the "Bris" episode of Seinfeld. He butchered Jerry's finger!

"Look what they did to my boy." It was a very funny episode.

I'm not sure how we got from hiking Yosemite Falls to El Capitan to a bris...so back to the topic I guess.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/29/2009 11:05PM by wbmyosemite.

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I'm not sure how we got from hiking Yosemite Falls to El Capitan to a bris...so back to the topic I guess.

It's not often that EEEK uses a word that I can fire back a response without first looking looking the word up in WIKI...I was enjoying my moment

B

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Bee
It's not often that EEEK uses a word that I can fire back a response without first looking looking the word up in WIKI...I was enjoying my moment

I knew the word; I had to figure out how to spell it.

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eeek

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Bee
It's not often that EEEK uses a word that I can fire back a response without first looking looking the word up in WIKI...I was enjoying my moment

I knew the word; I had to figure out how to spell it.

M-O-Y--Y-U-L

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Bee
M-O-Y--Y-U-L

Tried that and found nothing.

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eeek

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Bee
M-O-Y--Y-U-L

Tried that and found nothing.

(That's because yer prolly a nice goyisha boy )

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WBMYOSEMITEAnd when you really need a laugh, you can always go back to EEEK's first reply to Bee when she asked about the hike to El Capitan. I still get a chuckle when I think about that reply! And Bee took it with her usual good nature.

WHAT! You talkin' about ME??!!!

That El Capitan thread is gonna haunt me til I dearly depart! In fact, I want it on my stone:

"whats wrong with the trail?"

GRRRRRRR!B)

B

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Bee
"whats wrong with the trail?"

Hey! That's one of my best one-liners. It's to be treasured.

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eeek

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Bee
"whats wrong with the trail?"

Hey! That's one of my best one-liners. It's to be treasured.

*Groan*

(it should be buried waaaaay down on page 46)

B

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Bee
(it should be buried waaaaay down on page 46)

Somebody would post to it and bring it right back to the top.

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eeek

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Bee
(it should be buried waaaaay down on page 46)

Somebody would post to it and bring it right back to the top.

I noticed that it gets resurrected every now and then...>EEEEEK! <

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Bee
I noticed that it gets resurrected every now and then...>EEEEEK! <

We wouldn't want it to get lost.

Mike, it's all an opinion. No harm was meant.

Now going on my third "pout" so the
"quality and readibility of the message board here" can "improve".

It's ok to rant about:
Fishermen are stupid.
Anyone who buys alot of camera equipment are stupid.
Anyone who buys expensive camping equipment is stupid.

But put some dooky up (which SHOULD have been actually informative
IF YOU READ THE POST!) and ...
And ... "the Ahwanee sucks... hahaha that's funny!"
Thats all ok.

Ok, seriously eeek... just remove me. Make some people happy
I need to go get some therapy or something anyway.

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Ok, seriously eeek... just remove me. Make some people happy
I need to go get some therapy or something anyway.

Sorry, my family and I have booked up all the appointments for the next week or so, so yer just outta luck on that one

(And everyone else can shut their eyes,) BUT I WANNA HEAR ABOUT THIS WEEKENDS TRIP, Goathead (thorn)!!!!

B

rules are necessary... i like the one's you have eeek!

Ok, I was going to drop this whole thing, but one last post, seeing as how the self-appointed assistant moderator Bee has modified my suggestion to mean censorship, when it really meant civility and consideration for others, as opposed to 'sort through the garbage as you read',

Dale, you were, until recently, one of the the most helpful and knowledgable contributors here, nobody picked on you; there was no reason to. The Ahwahnee tantrum was a surprise and way out of character, a real puzzler, but I just figured you were having a bad day or week. When you returned, you certainly gave some informative posts, but not back to normal, and a lot that were more like personal gibberish, and way out of character from who you used to be. I finally got tired of the childish jokes and references several weeks ago, but said nothing, just quit reading. Your "persecution" is in your mind. Look at all the flak Vince has taken here, and he just rolls with it and keeps his good nature. Someone tells you they're tired of silly poo jokes and it's a nuclear war.

At any rate, this forum has changed a lot, suddenly, in the last couple of months, and I think I know the major reason for it. But this soap opera is not what brought me to this forum to begin with, so enjoy the online public therapy sessions; Yosemite will be there, forum or not, and that's what counts.

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Gary
Yosemite Photo Galleries: http://www.pbase.com/roberthouse/yo

Folks,

This is a lot to do about nothing.

1. Rick's Rules are rather sublime and easy to live with.
2. Rick does not have to ban anyone; a weeks "vacation" from the site (imposed by the moderator) would suffice in most instances.
3. I have not witnessed anything yet on this site that really warrants even a "vacation".
4. As I've mentioned some time ago, this site is unbelievably tame compared to forums elswhere and as long as we abide by Rick's Rules we will be just fine.
5. Many of the recent questionable posts can be attributed to failed or inappropriate attemps at humor, cabin fever, or the full Moon.

Jim

I was talking with my mother about all the scat fuss this morning and had an opportunity to put my thoughts into actual verbiage.

When backpacking in the back country for four, five, 10, or even more days you tend to run into lots o' scat from various animals. Having left all other forms of entertainment behind (except for some people) you tend to notice the little things like what the coyote ate, are the bears eating grass, or acorns and grubs, or manzanita berries, why do they tend to dump on the trail so often, why do the cubs tend to crap on a rock in the middle of the trail, wow there sure are a lot of deer around, etc. When it's time for the human to contribute it is not a quietly done private thing. It's announced. "Hey, hold up. I've got to go drop a duece." Formality doesn't stand. The whole topic tends to creep into the conversations and the mind set doesn't go away just because you have returned to the tranquility of civil society. You've become an experienced expert and experts love to share their knowledge as you can see.

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Old Dude