the 'club' in General

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may I reply here from an innocent by-stander’s point of view:

first of all I would like to put a quote here by user “Faisal”, which he replied with in user “Gadha’s” thread in general:

It is very disappointing to see that because of a “club” of certain members a lot of threads in General, which initially might have had a serious purpose, turn into a collection of ironic, sarastic or cynic statements which don’t have any connection with the original topic whatsoever.
This might be fun to the “club”, but it’s highly anoying for other members who DO want to have a serious discussion.

Although registered last month, I have been a very old “passive” user of gupshup and General was one of my favorite forums, but I’ve noticed that in recent months General forum has been transformed into a gathering of recjeted cabaret artists who try to find out whom of them is silliest of all.
I haven’t named anyone specifically, because I think you ppl might have had the same awareness too, but I can provide some names with threads if u want.

And as user “Faisal” put in the above quote: “General is for “serious” discussion”, so my appeal to you Mods and Admins: please try to have General regain its seriousness.

This too was the reason why in the thread mentioned by user “Poodeney_Ki_Chutney” (how ugly R) I had some “hard” words for user “Mr Xtreme” accusing him of hypocrisy: because him being the Mod of General one might at least expect from him to take the inquiry into serious consideration; instead he was the first one to relpy with a clearly off-topic post.

Although towards the end co-mod “Nadia_H” and user “SaadiaB” tried to explain that user “Mr Xtreme”'s statement were “jokes” and there was no hypocrisy in them, my opinion is that such “jokes” are better off in a forum like “Cafe”, because as “Faisal” put it in the above quote: “In “General”, even if the intent was to post it as a joke, chances are it will be taken seriously, because General is, typically for serious discussions, and not the place to fool around.”

please take this into consideration, and perhaps make clear to the “club” to have its coversations in Cafe instead of spoiling threads in General.

in the end, honesty obliges me to say, that with the arrival of user “Nadia_H” as co-mod some off-topic threads have been moved to Cafe or other forums where they are more appropiate.:k: good work!

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very well said ... GS user undercover112

This too was the reason why in the thread mentioned by user "Poodeney_Ki_Chutney" (how ugly R) I had some "hard" words for user "Mr Xtreme" accusing him of ypocrisy: because him being the Mod of General one might at least expect from him to take the inquiry into serious consideration; instead he was the first one to relpy with a clearly off-topic post.

Its the same thing I also complained about...........chalo khair hai.....lets see who truimphs in the end.

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We can put it to the Admin that General Forum should be devoid of humour certainly. In the past General has just meant 'general' no absolute hard and fast rules, just a 'general' guideline. Perhaps we need to re-name the Forum just so that there is no confusion whatsoever. Something like Strictly Serious Forum. Will get back to you.

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instead he was the first one to relpy with a clearly off-topic post

That's a false statement but I don't want to get into nit-picking contest so let's just leave it at that and concentrate on the main issue.

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undercover...I think you fail to comprehend the things said jokely and seriously. General has a mix of all. I think no one can restrict from ppl from being non-serious in the genreal section as no one can tell people from being serious in the cafe section.

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Xtreme bhai.. there there..

you gotta agree that the forum isn't general anymore.. its hey_i'm_funny_and_all_my_posts_have_double_meanings forum. If guidelines are placed for Cafe forum, similar guidelines must be in place for General where one can atleast carry out a reasonable discussion or participate in others without the clowns jumping in.

just my 2c.

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What tone are you talking about ammarr? What does general mean by your definition? I'm offering to take your proposals to Admin and get a more clear cut guideline and forum description for the General forum so that only serious discussions can take place - which is what you want - and you are making sarcastic remarks like 'there, there' in response.

What is it exactly you want?

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sorry bud.. my prev. response was a little harsh.

point is, no one said this -->Something like Strictly Serious Forum<-- this isn't what people want. Just so that a reasonable discussion can commence without the clowns coming in.. you know who they are =)

Just re-iterating undercover's point:

[quote]

It is very disappointing to see that because of a "club" of certain members a lot of threads in General, which initially might have had a serious purpose, turn into a collection of ironic, sarastic or cynic statements which don't have any connection with the original topic whatsoever.

[/quote]

=))

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Well I believe that calling it the 'General' forum is leaving it open to interpretation. If we are going to have a more strictly controlled forum then it makes sense to keep everything crystal clear. So what's wrong with calling it the Strictly Serious Discussion Forum?

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No xtreme... no one wants a strictly serious forum.. time and place for everything. The "club" should be free to destroy the threads started for that purpose, but not the threads which actually had a reason behind discussion.

I dont want to be the one pointing fingers. There are a certain two members who seem to have a lot of trouble with serious discussions.. especially if the subject matter is either islamic or related to Pakistan. That sort of clowning(where it isn't appreciated) should be checked. Nothing more.

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How do you stop 'idiots' from participating in a thread? Are we suggesting an idiot-free zone or something? And how do we recognize them, can we the admin or mods be the judges or whut?

Secondly, if a thread is started by 'clowns' they're free to do whatever, oh well almost. Issi tarah if you want serious discussion perhaps you should write in your thread, no idiots allowed.

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ammarr,

I've just had a look at General. I don't see too many topics which anyone can have any complaints about, there are plenty of people discussing different matters quite happily.

I fail to see the problems you are talking about quite frankly.

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Gupshup users “Poodeney_Ki_Chutney”, “Mr Xtreme”, “SaadiaB”, “ammarr”, “sabah” accept my sincere gratitude for your input in this thread.

I have not said that the General Forum should be completely devoid of any humour whatsoever. I’ve only asked you to draw your attention to my point which is: perhaps we should lessen (= NOT completely remove) the amount of non-seriousness (= which is NOT the same as joking). If you have a point to make, you are free to make it, if THAT particular point contributes to the original topic. This point can be made in various ways: one of them being ‘joking’. So, in other words, one may make a joke in General as along as it conveys as message which contributes positively to the original topic (and NOT an remark about some other Gupshup user). However what I’ve seen is that a lot of posters, especially from the ‘club’ i mentioned are posting non-serious replies, which often (but not necessarily) take on the shape of jokes.

I’m trying to say that there is a difference between non-seriousness and jokes. Jokes should be allowed, but try to decrease the amount of non-seriousness. I know it is difficult, but if you don’t try, you’ll always lose.

And again I mention the quote by user “Faisal” in which he says that statements made in General might easily (not necessarily) be taken as serious, because of the inherent nature of the Forum. This can lead to scenarios which we experienced with user “Poodeney_Ki_Chutney”'s thread. My point is only to bring this aspect of General into your attention.

you’re right in that one cannot restrict ppl from joking in General just as noone can tell ppl in Cafe to be serious. But the difference between the two is that in Cafe noone expects someone to be serious, or at least that isn’t the major aim of Cafe. This in contrast to General where you’d at least expect some serious discussion and not only jokes (wich is happening quite often there,) especially when someone from the ‘club’ replies to the thread.
Therefor my appeal is to tell the ‘club’ (= ppl who only reply in General with ironic, sarcastic, cynic jokes) to shift their accommodation to Cafe.

Of course jokes should be allowed in General, as a matter of fact humor is considered to be a major part of human defensive/maturing mechanismns so we should not abolish it, but there are ppl who as I already mentioned come to General to hold a “cabaret act”: these should be handled with.

Gupshup user “sabah”

you’re point has a valid and an unvalid aspect: of course you cannot stop as you put it “idiots” from entering a thread. But this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try. Your argument would be the same as a government would say: u cannot stop crimes so let’s abolish all laws. that’s not right.
You can at least address these “idiots” and hope they will listen to you: So far noone has ever told them not to behave the way they do in threads in General Forum. We should at least address them and THEN see what happens.

As far as your second point is concerned about their opening idiotic threads and they are allowed to reply there: here is when a Mod comes into play: the Mod should then transfer such thread to Cafe where it is more suited. Because such threads NOT only don’t have serious discussion in them, they also divert interest away from other threads.

and as an example of the latter I am posting the link to a thread which was opened by user “Roman” and which in my eyes was justifiably transfered to General. a compliment to the Mod who did it :k::

Dog Umbrella Stand

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Poodenay_Ki_Chutney: *
very well said ... GS user undercover112

This too was the reason why in the thread mentioned by user "Poodeney_Ki_Chutney" (how ugly R) I had some "hard" words for user "Mr Xtreme" accusing him of ypocrisy: because him being the Mod of General one might at least expect from him to take the inquiry into serious consideration; instead he was the first one to relpy with a clearly off-topic post.

Its the same thing I also complained about...........chalo khair hai.....lets see who truimphs in the end.
[/QUOTE]

UnderCover and Poodenay_Ki_Chutney, you both are one person using two different nicks.

Why ??

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Please add one more nick to it - ‘Fighter’ :slight_smile:

Poodenay Ki Chutney mian - You might have some valid points but its the manner you convey them is very offensive. Take for example your new thread Islamophobia… . You are kind of attacking every Pakistani that lives in USA.

Trust me GUPSHUP is one of the best moderated and most liberal forum you will ever find.

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**and as an example of the latter I am posting the link to a thread which was opened by user “Roman” and which in my eyes was justifiably transfered to General. a compliment to the Mod who did it :k: **

MY mistake, i should have mentioned this far earlier… Just in case there is any confusion, UnderCover112, the threads that you have pointed out were rightly transferred to their respective forums, were done by Xtreme. i am not certain who transferred the above specific thread, but i know with absolute conviction that Xtreme spent a substantial amount of time yesterday attempting to get things back in their proper order. He is, far more often than i am, sifting through diverse threads just to get them in their respective Forums.

This might not really be perceived of as relevant, but it was really bothering me that i hadn’t highlighted this previously. My apologies, i hope this does not derail the important discussion.

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.

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In this case: ‘job well done’ for user “Mr Xtreme”

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very sad to see that based on one false supposition by user “SaadiaB”, you are very quick to believe it. not only that, you are even equelling me with a third person too :nook:

but you’re right that GS is a very good foum indeed :k:

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Undercover112,

We have lots of different members with lots of different opinions. Your idea of humour might be different to someone else's. It's up to the Moderator at the end of the day to decide what is ok and what isn't. There are sometimes grey areas where a thread starts off serious and then ends up in light-hearted banter as in the thread you pointed out (Dog Umbrella Stand). It's not always an easy decision to move such threads to Cafe as the original poster may want to get back to the serious aspect at some point.

Some people would like the General Forum to be more serious, some are happy with it as it is. As a Mod I have received very few complaints in the past via e-mail or PM. The last time was from a member who wasn't happy with the Jinnah thread and that was resolved. Any particular thread you are not happy with feel free to contact me or Nadia or you can bring it up here and we'll see if it needs addressing.

The thread 'How Ugly R' was dealt with according to it's merits. Enough explanations have already been given so that's the end of the matter as far as I'm concerned. At the end of the day all feedback is useful and will be considered so thanks for your input.