Frightening forums
Posted by Bob HunterGot a call this afternoon from an upset woman, who, along with her business had been trashed in our online forum. There’s a forum topic about the best businesses to work for and someone went off on her business, saying she offered no benefits, didn’t give raises and generally was interested only in making money. The caller said the allegations were wrong and wanted the post taken down — and we did.
As the forums have grown and grown, it’s become tougher to avoid those kinds of conflicts. Our general rule is that we don’t monitor the posts, but will respond to a complaint about a post or may remove a post on our own if we come across something that we know to be incorrect or highly offensive (in this day and age, just plain ol’ offensive probably won’t get your post removed).
Removing posts is really not something we want to do — partly because we don’t want to interfere with the discussion and partly because trying to track the thousands of posts daily would be an extremely time-consuming job. The good news is that removing posts has been a fairly rare occurrence. One of the positives about online forums is that the forum users do a pretty good job of policing their own — if somebody crosses the line, they’ll usually get a negative reaction from other users. Unless they like the abuse or are just jerks, that usually cools them off.
Legally, courts have so far ruled that the providers of forums are not liable for the postings, as long as they don’t approve them before they’re posted or edit them. I liken it to us owning a telephone pole. Just because we own the pole doesn’t make us responsible for the notices people tack up as they pass by. Removing posts after complaints are raised is OK, just as it would be to pull down an offensive sign posted on the telephone pole.
We don’t have a list of what’s allowable and what’s not, but a few things are landing on the no-fly list. Generally, they include personal attacks or allegations about a private party that can’t be proven and, of course, offensive posts involving language, imagery or sex. Some of the latter issues are automatically weeded out when they set off obscenity screens. For the others, users can hit a “Report” button to alert us to a problem. Or they can do what the woman did today and use that old-fashioned mechanism called a phone to let us know.
March 14th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Mr Hunter.
I’m very glad that the forum exists, and that Steve and Jill take such good care of us ‘regulars’.
I was born and raised in CP and now live in Bend. If it wasn’t for the MT online and the forum, I would be seriously in the dark about the goings on in my home town.
The personal bashing can get pretty wild in the forum, but by and large (in my opinion) the people being bashed bring it on themselves for being inflammatory. But lines do get crossed. I know I’ve used the report button a few times myself to point out to Steve where someone was seriously crossing the lines, and he’s taken care of it.
I know some people have admitted to getting warnings from webmaster, and a few members have disappeared in mid tirade.
There always seems to be someone who comes on to the board that can do nothing but post negative inflammatory comments. It’s the same on every forum I ever been a member of. We do have a good bunch of people in there that do their best to keep these people from taking over.
March 14th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
The forums are wonderful! This community has needed something like this for SO long! It started out small and folks have come and gone both good and not so good. Some come to cause trouble, some come to check in on a story they are interested in or involved in, but overall the forums has grown into a tightknit community that almost self polices itself. We protect our own and for the most part try to find clever and humorous ways to deal with negative poster who like to cause controversy and trouble. There are moderators in place to help keep things even and decent. This has been a wonderful thing and I am so thankful it is here.
It is also freedom of speech. This is public discourse, and folks have every right to speak of their experiences with local businesses, opinions of politics, policies, school, government, and lighter topics such as vacations and even Mayonaise! A great place to come and those of us who are members are glad it’s here and thank MT for providing it for us. Business owners could choose to look at that particular thread as an evaluation and use it improve their customer service and qualilty!
March 14th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
The Mail Tribune Forums are alive and well. I am proud to be a member of such a well versed forum. The people that are active on the forum have a deep routed interest in their city, surrounding area, current events and much more. I have enjoyed interacting with my fellow forum junkies. We have a good time and we do notice when the regulars are missing.
There have been a few times where flaming has occurred, been reported to the webmaster and taken care off. I commend Steve, Jill and Scott for a job well done. As for the type of bashing, like the 420 lb pregnant woman, we have not ever gone that far. I like to think that we are a higher class of people than that. I like that we have the right to post and respond to topics that can be controversial. If I want to complain about a business or an employer, I have that right to. Just as the business owner and employer have the right to complain about me.
Thanks for making this forum available. It is loved by many.
March 15th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
On occasion, people will use bad judgment, and I am pleased that the Tribune pulls remarks that cross the line. Overall, though, the tone in these forums is far more civil than I have found in other places. Any OregonLive forums that are issues-based are so nasty that I can’t even stand to go there any more, after 18 months of regular participation. The people here are good folk, and I am genuinely fond of the majority of them.
March 15th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Perhaps the person that was upset regarding the forum posting could have posted a response on the forum so that anyone who read the offensive post would be able to hear the other side of the story and decide for themselves.
I have no way to know if the ex employee or the employer were right in what they said, but how can anyone else really know either? Give us all the information and let us decide for ourselves.
March 15th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
I am a little disappointed that posts are removed because someone ‘complains’ due to them being in a negative light. Now, if this woman was being slandered — remove it, by all means. However, sometimes the good comes with the bad and if the woman was truly as bad as the poster has described, I think it’s good and beneficial for everyone that wants to know to know so that we can make sound decisions on whether we’d like to work there and/or do biz with them based on how they treat employees. By and large though, I think the MT is doing a fine job with the forums and am glad it’s not a highly policed thing. I like the hands-off approach. I hope it continues that way.
March 15th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
I think that by and large the Forums have created a kind of a community, with varied opinions usually, if not always, shared and dealt with respectfully. Like every family, Forum has its oddballs and its cranks, and has suffered the occasional insufferably disruptive voice. I think it shows character that those disruptions tend to come and go. The ‘regulars’ stay set a tone and the community grows with interesting newcomers.
To the point here, Forum is a source of great, honest, information, about movies, and auto mechanics, REAL cel phone coverage and all sorts of other things that we love or hate about living in the Rogue Valley. I can appreciate the MT’s predicament in this issue and understand the decision to yank the post. But I do think that the restaurant owner ought consider what is said here as the most honest review they are likely to ever get and, perhaps, address the issue if they can. I didn’t see the post but many people, even a city councilor, come on Forum and put their two cents in. Its not all perfect, but if its over the line someone will step in and clarify. It’s pretty remarkable really, what the MT has allowed to be created here. I, for one, appreciate your ‘hands off,’(but too off) approach. Thanks.