I am not sure if I am the best person to be posting here... I always feel split, on the one hand I really like it here, on the other there is a vast difference in my reality and a lot of the things discussed here- be it the distance, reality... and even the fact that I am not a -huge- fan of cornsnakes.
And still, I hope my willingness to contribute(for us, 25$ is roughly half a day's work) to a site not in my native tongue and which doesn't -really- contribute to any financial agenda I may or may not have shows plainly how I feel about this place. I like it here, plain and simple, and I find most people here level headed and relatively open minded.
A few things I'd like to add though(and I hope I don't bore anyone):
1- IMHO, an extreme approach is not the answer- I personally feel that defining many words as prohibited is going a tad too far. Common sense should provide any mod enough tools to decide if a post warrants a warning or not. The implications on such an inconsistency are extremely limited- and if there is a disagreement, one can always ask moderators to reconsider. I believe the mods should adjust accordingly and be honest enough with themselves to admit they were wrong in some cases- I have not been privy to any such event actually happening. As this is a forum where people should be able to simply enjoy themselves- these things should be governed by a "general spirit" of rules rather than actually beginning to list every word which should or shouldn't be used- yes, even at the cost of keeping track of a user...
This is a forum, not an establishment, why is it necessary to keep track of people? IMHO, the mods can decide together when's enough is enough.
2- Personally I think that indeed some people are allowed to get away with things that others do not- this should be corrected. If it's a rare occurrence I agree that positive history with the member should be taken into account- but only so far. I agree with Brent's post in this regard.
3- Personally I too would be more comfortable if pornographic comments were left outside of this forum. I am not a kid, and it sometimes makes me uncomfortable- I imagine others would feel the same. Any restriction though should include only extremely obvious comments/pictures... vague comments can be amusing... again, I feel that the mods should use common sense rather than try to legislate such things.
I agree that it shouldn't be my responsibility to limit another person's children exposure to certain content... but on the other hand I can't simply ignore the children do surf here- a middle ground should be reached.
4- I feel that this site has reached a point where there's a solid base of "elders" in it- by elders I do not mean old, but people who have been here for a long while and are a part of a certain "core". It is only natural, after long a while had passed, that their level of patience for new arrivals will become limited.
I believe that a lot of members, including myself at times, are not as tolerant as one would ideally hope to be.
I also recognize reality though- this is a natural process... but like any population on the face of the planet, unless external influence interferes, decadence is inevitable. Yeah, it sounds way over dramatic... but you get my point.
This can possibly be corrected- if a mod/member/something is chosen with a specific job to try and help new members- if they do something wrong, to "shield" them from an onslaught of possibly aggressive comments by sending them a PM, trying to explain things... someone who will try and nurture and welcome new-comers. They can monitor posts made by new members etc... said person can possibly enjoy benefits that mods do or somesuch, I dunno... and as long as you make sure no one stays in this role for too long a time... It can possibly work.
I hope no one fell asleep during this babble.
Oren