To all Degreeinfo members, I've moved the thread "Accreditation/State Authorization" out of the public area temporarily. What started as an interesting and productive discussion degenerated into the type of thing we've been trying to avoid on this board. After I've had time to consult the other admins/moderators, a decision will be made to restore the thread or not. If it is restored, then I'll offer an apology to all for any incovenience or confusion, but at this time I thought it best to temporarily remove it. If anyone wants to contact me, my email is [email protected] Bruce
Removing it is cool with me. But you should say exactly why. For example, if my "liar" and "weasel" comment was the cause, say so. If it was something else, say that. This will not only lend credibility to your actions, it will set a precedent for doing so again in the future. I prefer to stand by the things I say, but am willing to change my stance in the light of new information. But it is hard to do so when you remove the entire thread. If it is something I've said, tell me what it is (publicly, preferably, so others may learn from my unfortunate lesson). If it something someone else said, I would prefer the cause of this action be attributed to him/her, rather than everyone participating in the thread. And, no, I will not e-mail you or anyone else privately about this. Act and react in the light, not the dark. Rich Douglas
Rich, I'm not an administrator here, but I've been moderating forums like these since I was 11 years old. Dozens of times I've had to shut down threads because the thread itself--the interaction--got too rowdy. Sometimes it's not just one person's actions; sometimes it's a series of actions, from a good number of people, and all of that just culminates in something unpleasant. I won't speak for Bruce, but my guess would be that this thread was shut down because it was an inappropriate thread, not because a single specific participant said a single specific inappropriate thing. And for what it's worth, it was beginning to reach the point where it was clearly time to do that. When I look fondly back on the part of the thread where we were discussing Century University, the honeymoon is over. So my suspicion, which Bruce can certainly confirm or not, is that it was the thread, not Rich Douglas. Our administrators are pretty direct folks, and if we do say something specific that they consider way out of line, I'm sure we'll know it. Cheers, ------------------ Tom Head www.tomhead.net co-author, Bears' Guide to the Best Education Degrees by Distance Learning (Ten Speed Press) co-author, Get Your IT Degree and Get Ahead (Osborne/McGraw-Hill)
A small point, but worth repeating is that the thread wasn't removed (as in deleted), just moved out of the public area until the Admins can get together and discuss it. To answer your question, it wasn't any one thing that anyone said, it just seemed to me that the thread had degenerated into pointless name-calling, and was contributing nothing to the board. I considered moving it to the Off-Topic section, and it may well reappear there shortly. In the meantime, I thought it best to move it out of the public area. The decision was mine alone, so if anyone (not just you Rich) wants to comment, complain, whatever, direct it at me, not any of the other Admins/Moderators. Bruce
I'm certainly not complaining. But I feel like I got a raw deal with the harrangue offered up in that thread by "Torry." It would be nice to see some refereeing once in a while. Throw the penalty flag (or, at least, make the call). Don't kill the thread, rebuke the TOS violator(s). I just think that will make things more manageable, as well as reduce the amount of explaining necessary when you have to do it again (and you will) in the future. Rich Douglas
Points well taken. We're still getting the hang of moderating, and it's sometimes a tightrope we have to walk. I personally like to give a lot of leeway to people, to encourage debate, but in retrospect I probably should have stepped in sooner than I did in this instance. Live and learn! Bruce
Exactly! Gotta love these football analogies, even though my hometown team(Patriots) are going down the crapper. Bruce
The thread in question has been restored to the Off-Topic section, sorry for any inconvenience or confusion. Just a reminder that all TOS rules apply in all sections, so play nice. Bruce
