Free Speech in The Sand Trap !

[Cornbread]

Just wanted to take a minute to thank our moderater Erik ( iacas ) for running a respectful and non-socialist golf discussion forum. The Sand Trap is by far the most fair and balanced golf discussion forum on the web. Socialism is not practiced here like it is on some sites, the WRX forum site in particular.
After a two week suspension there for posting a thought about Eldrick Woods being Moody, yesterday I posted the following (see below) about Woods changing golf ball types last week. It got me banned permanently. As others have also stated, their membership numbers appear high on that forum, however they never delete old or banned names (I have 5 userids there), and thousands have been banned from the forum if they disagree with a Moderators thoughts on a particular brand of golf ball, club, or a favorite player. Therefore... you have socialism (being of one mindset).
Here at The Sand Trap, Eric gives us plenty of leeway and treats us like adults, even though we sometimes act like children. He also knows more than most about Golf Instruction and is always glad to share his knowledge.
Good Job and Thank You Iacas.

Concerning Woods Changing this past week I wrote:
He had to switch because Elin got his old balls, & putter, & clubs, & driver, & hybrid, & bag, & car, & boat, & house, & savings, & the kids.

[Shindig]

however they never delete old or banned names (I have 5 userids there), and thousands have been banned from the forum if they disagree with a Moderators thoughts on a particular brand of golf ball, club, or a favorite player.

I've never been an active member of that site, but this sounds fishy. I'd be surprised if it actually goes down this way.

Therefore... you have socialism (being of one mindset).

That's not what that word means. There are all sorts of problems with both, but they aren't the same thing, even at a metaphor level.

Good Job and Thank You Iacas.

I'd like to echo this comment. Good moderators are under-appreciated on the internet.

[Cornbread]

socialism: : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state c: : any of various political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration

[gogolfing]

Your above definition does not prove your point in the first post that Golf WRX is socialist.

If what you say of Golf WRX is true then they are guilty of censorship, not socialism. Censorship can be a practice under a number of political systems, ranging from far left to far right. This being said, I am not really sure why you'd be comparing the actions of a golf forum to a political system.

I am a member of both TST and Golf WRX, and much prefer this one, but I have seen threads shut down and comments deleted here too; it is just the way the forum has to work to keep things on topic and keep people from acting like an ass at times. A good moderator will be able to achieve a healthy balance with this, and I think Erik is able to do this.

[Shindig]

socialism: : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state c: : any of various political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration

Let's compare this to your use of the word:

Therefore... you have socialism (being of one mindset).

I'd also like to respond to what you sent me via private message in response to my post on this thread, because it's actually on topic for this thread.

so is it your common practice to call people untruthful, or liars?

No, I said the circumstance was fishy. Your post actually reminded me of a post I was sent a link to that was posted on another forum a while back. To hear him tell the story, he was banned (from a yet third forum) for saying he was rooting for Kenny Perry in the Masters playoff. In reality, the person had posted an (incorrect) racial slur against Cabrera. I'm not saying yours varies to this extent.

I'm not saying you're a liar. I am curious if there's more to the story. Was the two-week suspension post something civil? Was it out of the blue? I also notice that, in your post that starts this thread, your admit to breaking one of their top rules fairly often. Were four of your logins novelty accounts? If nothing else, understanding why a moderator did what he did could be a good lesson. And I want you to stay around on this site - I like most of what I've seen you contribute to discussions.

And yes, it went down exactly that way, and thousands of user ids there are permanently banned.

We have tons of banned ones here, too; I don't have a count (nor do I care what the count is). They are mostly spam-bots, although there are some trolls. That's not an overzealous moderator; it's good house-keeping. I'm guessing someone thought you were trolling (I've been accused of it once or twice, too).

[iacas]

A good moderator will be able to achieve a healthy balance with this, and I think Erik is able to do this.

Thanks, but we have other moderators and admins who are helpful in this regard as well. In particular, Joe (ERC 7.5) has been a moderator for a number of years despite never having the time to be on staff and so never getting the perks (equipment to review) of being on staff. Thanks go out to Joe and everyone else who is or has ever been a moderator as well. It's not an easy job but they do it really, really well and are a BIG help to me. I never take any decisive actions without talking to at least one of them first.

Let's compare this to your use of the word:

Speaking of staying on topic (not that I wouldn't mind if this topic never saw another post - I'm incredibly bad at receiving ANY compliments at all and would much prefer to hear what I can do better than what I already do okay - weird of me I know)... let's please just drop the political terms. If dropping that part of the discussion kills the thread, so be it.

I'd also like to respond to what you sent me via private message in response to my post on this thread, because it's actually on topic for this thread.

We have tons of banned ones here, too; I don't have a count (nor do I care what the count is). They are mostly spam-bots, although there are some trolls. That's not an overzealous moderator; it's good house-keeping. I'm guessing someone thought you were trolling (I've been accused of it once or twice, too).

To be clear, we don't have very many banned people here. We have less than 20 banned users here, and I won't say their names but if I did I think a lot of people would remember them and know exactly why they were banned. It takes a LOT to be banned here - more often than not people are put in the Penalty Box to cool down for a few hours, if anything (and there are only two people in the Penalty Box - both of whom have been in there less than 24 hours, though admittedly one's likely to stay there for quite awhile).

Spam bots have their URLs censored, their posts removed, and their accounts deleted. We don't want to artificially inflate user totals. In fact, we also delete users who have never posted and who haven't visited within the past 30 days to keep the number as realistic as possible. Our traffic is quite high - no need to "fake" it by having 10x or 100x as many actual members as we have.

[Cornbread]

Ok, I'll agree to call it censorship (which to me is a form of socialism).
Censorship in what is suppose to be a public forum, where people seek to hear various ideas, thoughts and feedback just seems so very wrong to me. If someone had bad experiences with a particular product, or should they saaay publish test data that shows a particular Ball didn't perform as well as others, they should not be censored, especially because some Admin is affraid of loosing his good graces with sad manufacture.
Now, enought about the other forum.