Hello all!!

I think that I am seeing something happening here. It appears that quite a few talented people are submitting posts, but who are capable of providing far more valuable comments to the good of Ray Bradbuary and his accomplished works. Richard Bach was in a writing group many years ago with Ray in LA and, I do not know this for an absolute fact, the genesis of Jonathan Livingston Seagull came from this activity. Later I was in a writing group with Richard Bach when he was living in my hometown of Ottumwa, Iowa.

Writing groups or workshops can be very positive means of fledgling writers to have others read and critique their works in a positive yet enlightening manner.

I see, as I am sure others do as well, talented people who, unfortunately, are directing their talents in a negative tone towards one another.

If this raw talent could be re-directed we could really have something here. Even MixedSignals46,with his (her) questionable references to midnight killers,
evidences a use of imagination and use of descriptive words.

Would there be a means on a thread to be a posting board of short stories (200-300 words) that we could contribute with the others reading them and providing solid, objective, and helpful commentary?

biplane1. Sounds like a good idea. Unfortunately a few like to spoil things around here. But your suggestion of writing is interesting. I wonder how well that would actually work?

I think it could work well if we more vigoruously deleted -- without hesitation -- posts that slander, are obscene, are bigoted, are homophobic, etc. I've been getting frustrated that you have to read through quite a bit of juvenlile twaddle to get to anything substantive here anymore.

I vote for a much more aggressive moderator delete function.

Mr. Dark. We're not just another hoax. Not so. We are able to rid the board of offensive posts. Let's say, at least as long as we're still here. The reason for this is I too have grown tired of so much bilge. (Ooops, that's a nautical term.) But in this case it means foolish talk!! OrganizedConfusion and MIxed Signals got frustrated because we kept knocking out some of their foul postings. We're not here to be pushing anyone around. Simply keeping some sanity, peace and civility on this board.
--Nautilus Crew--

Nautilus:

Don't know who you are. You say "we" as though you speak for a group. Are you affiliated with the publisher who owns this board? If not, and you are canceling out posts, then aren't you violating the security of someone else's bulletin board? A version of hacking, I should think.

While I think we need much more aggressive moderating, I think it should come from the publisher and the person the publisher designates as having the right to moderate the board.

Do you have an official affiliation with the board and its owners?

I saw in your profile that you are near Catalina Island (a very beautiful place) but other than that, your profile is very sparse.

Mr. Dark: Do me a real favor, would you? Get in touch with somebody in the higher ups and get them to moderate the board. Easter week is coming up. Then Summer. You know what that means. If the board is going to be a nightmare, then the publisher should close it down. I would worry about that! Close the chat board, or limited it. If you think I'm the enemy, we'll coast out of here. I've got no problem with that. In the meantime, when someone comes around and starts throwing foul language around and insulting comments about other posters, or Bradbury himself, YOU stand up to them and convince them they're wrong. You got time for that? Otherwise, put someone on the payroll and have them do it would be a nice gesture from the publisher.

Hi Nautilus:

I don't have a problem with the deletion of foul, offensive posts. If you've read my posts, you'll know I don't see this as a censorship issue at all. It is a private board representing a publisher and a great author. The site is often used by young school kids as parts of school assignments, and I think teachers and parents should not have to worry about the kinds of materials their kids/students will run in to out on a site like this.I think the board has been far too slow to get rid of offensive posts, but I know that our moderator is not full time and I don't believe she is financially re-imbursed, so I appreciate her time.

You still fail to identify yourself, though; and if you don't have permission from the publisher to "hack" in and interfere with their board, I think the question of internet ethics -- if not legality -- comes into play.

If you are sincere (and I don't know who you are, so I have to make assumptions), then you and I share a concern about the board's quality being degraded. School kids come here and we have had some pretty offensive posts stay out here for days before they're purged. Like you, I have no qualms about calling the deletions of these kinds of post "cleaning up" rather than censoring.

I appreciate that some of the very, very offensive posts that were out here recently are now gone.

Mr. Dark: Good! We're on the same wave-length. Hope a lot others are on it as well.

Nautilus, you seem to have a "slamming" problem--against other people's posts! Anything actually "vile and offensive" will be deleted, and it's best not to respond to trolls, but it's not a policy here to delete opinions expressed in any reasonably coherent manner just because anyone, particularly someone new just passing through, doesn't happen to like part of them.

Your suggestion to pull the entire board based on a few posts you don't like is drastic in the extreme. Perhaps you would feel more comfortable patrolling other waters, preferably deserted ones devoid of intelligent life.

dandelion. You sound like you need a vacation.

[This message has been edited by libRArY (edited 02-21-2005).]

This board could go to ruin in under three days if I took a vacation!

We LOVE Dandelion! Dandelion RULES! You go Dandelion! Never a greater, or better, moderator moderated. BrianSparks, and his children, hail a great mind and judge, in Dandelion. Now, we'll write our best.

Stick around. Easter is on the horizon.

Well, time to shove off. Mixed reviews of our staying here. Our intention is that the board live up to the excellence that is Ray Bradbury. We've had business to visit Ray previously at his home, and a social call we were able to place during this quick visit here. He sounds strong and it was encouraging to all of us here.

Good Bye all, for now.
Nautilus crew

Hey....they took dandelion with them....

....and I think she went willingly.