Why Bergie killed "George Bush's Hostility Toward Amtrak and recent Wrecks"

[jchnhtfd]

May I comment? It seems to me that the great value of this whole forum is that it allows all of us members to exchange views and information and humour (lots of it, thank goodness!) -- and to get our questions answered, or answer other folks' questions -- with really good and interesting stuff. However, there is, unfortunately, a class of internet and forum commentary which does not take the trouble to check and verify, and can dimini***he credibility not only of a particular discussion, but of a whole web site. One of the things which has been so remarkable about this forum is that we have seen very little of that -- but that was, in my humble opinion, the difficulty with that particular thread.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Hey Bergie, I understand that topic was a bit "OFF" for this forum, as a matter of fact , my comments inside the topic were very much along those lines. But, perhaps in the future, rather than taking them all the way down, just LOCK them. Let them stand as a reminder of what is perhaps going too far for subject matter here.

By locking a topic it will still go away, as other topics push it down, but it is not lost from the record. What was really strange is, I had just clicked to look at it when you pulled it, and I was redirected back to the forum list. When I came back in it was GONE. [%-)][banghead][;)][(-D][(-D][(-D][2c]

[dharmon]

It's Bergie's world. He's got an employer that entrusts him with ensuring that the conduct of the forums does not reflect adversely on them. Free speech is as free as he is willing to let it be in this world...and he is pretty dang liberal most of the time with letting folks..including jack@$$es like me get away with alot. There are several sites out there that are not nearly so..locking a thread a day it seems...

Thanks Erik.

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dharmon

It's Bergie's world. He's got an employer that entrusts him with ensuring that the conduct of the forums does not reflect adversely on them. Free speech is as free as he is willing to let it be in this world...and he is pretty dang liberal most of the time with letting folks..including jack@$$es like me get away with alot. There are several sites out there that are not nearly so..locking a thread a day it seems...

Thanks Erik.

I agree we have got it pretty darn good here, and that we shouldn't abuse the privilege. I only suggest in this case, since the topic was allowed to be responded to as much as it had, it seems more in keeping with the philosophy here to LOCK rather than DELETE.

I actually ran up a pretty good phone bill talking to Bergie yesterday, though this particular topic was not part of the conversation, the broader concept was briefly discussed. Both locking and deleting ultimately have the same effect, but the send different messages to the members. The question is which message to send. This is never our decision to make, It belongs to Bergie and his employer.

Sometimes great words of wisdom can be found in the strangest of places. This reminds me of the line from the movie Spiderman, "With great power comes great responsibility". Personally, I don't want to be in Bergie's shoes, his job is more than I could handel.[:)]

[DSchmitt]

The topic had not gotten out of hand, but it had a real potential to cause bad feeling between members of the Forum. It was also not productive in that the various view points were very polorized. No one involved was going to convince their "opponents".

I would rather discuss railroads and model trains with another member, than fight over politics..

[Anonymous]

Bergie,
Good call. When I read that topic I couldn't belive how obsurd it was. My first thought was to post a negative response, but I didn't. Then I wished I could have axed it. Ultimately I just decided not to go back, and forget about it.
THANKS

[Anonymous]

First: the fact that you didn' t kill that thread until after the Clinton stuff appeared says it all. Second: opinions are only "unsubstantiated" if you choose not to substantiate them. Didn't even check, did you? And if the facts are hard to find, it's often because someone who "can't handle the truth" (in the immortal words of Jack Nicholson) chose to bury them or wipe them from the record, as was done here. I don't recall anyone stating their political bent (Republican is capitalized, by the way). I for one am an independent (no need for caps) and spoke from the high, middle ground. I agree, we should not stray too far from the purpose of this site, but I've seen many other threads on this site that wandered much further away from railroading into far less plausible commentary and you didn't do a thing to stop it.

[Bergie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Stelli

First: the fact that you didn' t kill that thread until after the Clinton stuff appeared says it all. Second: opinions are only "unsubstantiated" if you choose not to substantiate them. Didn't even check, did you? And if the facts are hard to find, it's often because someone who "can't handle the truth" (in the immortal words of Jack Nicholson) chose to bury them or wipe them from the record, as was done here. I don't recall anyone stating their political bent (Republican is capitalized, by the way). I for one am an independent (no need for caps) and spoke from the high, middle ground. I agree, we should not stray too far from the purpose of this site, but I've seen many other threads on this site that wandered much further away from railroading into far less plausible commentary and you didn't do a thing to stop it.

The timing of killing that post had nothing to do with either political party, so please don't imply that I got mad that someone made a crack about Clinton. It simply wasn't the case. It had everything to do with the fact that I didn't think the thread was going to lead to anything but hard feelings between users, and nothing to do with my personal political views.

Next, you're right, republican is capitalized when you're refering to the party. I was refering to an individual ("some republican"), in which case republican works (see the AP style book).

I realize that not every topic in this forum is going to be about railroading and
I'm sure there have been threads that have been more deserving of being deleted in the past, but in this case I was trying to avoid a no win situation.

Erik

[vsmith]

Oh Boy, here we go again!

Everyone chose your sides NOW!

My Party says "NO" to Pinnapple Pizza! Who's with me!

[dharmon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by vsmith

Oh Boy, here we go again!

Everyone chose your sides NOW!

My Party says "NO" to Pinnapple Pizza! Who's with me!

"Read my lips...No new fruit toppings on pizzas"

[Bergie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by vsmith

Oh Boy, here we go again!

Tell me about it. I guess I should have locked this right after I posted the initial response. [:D]

I didn't because I wanted you guys to have a chance to comment.

Erik

[CBQ_Guy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bergie

When I was a kid, my father once told me to never discuss politics with friends... it would never lead to anything but trouble.

IBergie

What if one of your friends is a politician?!
[}:)]

[dharmon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CBQ_Guy

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bergie

When I was a kid, my father once told me to never discuss politics with friends... it would never lead to anything but trouble.

IBergie

What if one of your friends is a politician?!
[}:)]

I thought you had higher standards than that. [:0]

[vsmith]

Politicians have no friends!

I always remember Harry Truman's famous qoute, later repeat by President Clinton...

"If you want a FRIEND in Washington, get a DOG!"

[pmsteamman]

Cant we all just get along??

[Big_Boy_4005]

Hey people, how is it that we have taken a topic about killing a topic and turned into a bigger topic than the topic that was killed in the first place. I think its time to LOCK THIS TOPIC!!!

[banghead][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][:-,][sigh]

[Bergie]

I'm locking this thread in exactly 15 minutes so we can move on. If you'd like to speak your peace, please do so now.

Erik

[Bergie]

Good night everyone.

Bergie