There have been some complaints lately about how this site is moderated. So I want take a minute to address this topic. These are my thoughts, I'm not writing this on behalf of the other staff members or owner of the site.
First of all I want to remind everyone that this site is different from many other forums you may visit, and that is intentional, and we don't plan to change the way we moderate the site. If everyone stops coming because of that, I suppose we would just close the doors and go fishing. We moderators don't do this to make money (good thing because none of us do) or boost our ego's because, well, it just doesn't do that, this job is very humbling at times.
We above all realize that what we/you write is seen by many people and respect is due to all, whether you agree with them or not. The people reading and writing these things are REAL people, if you wouldn't say it to their face, in front of your wife or your boss, don't say it here. This is a privately owned forum but open to the public as long as you follow our rules.
In view of that, here's the "rule of thumb" we use in moderating - this is Randy's (owner of the site) living room. You have been invited into his home. He expects you to be polite, behave, treat others with respect and not RANT on and on, get in people's face, etc. If you do not follow those guidelines, you are politely asked to change your tact. If that doesn't work after several attempts, you are no longer welcome in Randy's living room. Period. Other than spam, we have only had to evict a handful of folks in 9 years and most of them have apologized and promised to behave and have been allowed back into the forums.
Specifically, contrary to some folk's accusation, there is no hidden agenda, the moderators and administrators here don't take sides when it comes to moderating the threads, we really don't. We do realize that sometimes, especially to someone with a strong opinion on a topic, it may seem to them that we do. That is often because they don't see everything that we do. They don't see all the posts (a few posts never see the light of day for more than few minutes), they might not know the history of a topic or the persons involved, or they just might not see the topic subjectively enough (as I like to say, from the point of view of a casual observer). Or often they haven't taken the time to read the rules (like no pile-on rants) and realize they are violating our policy until we point it out. And to be honest, a few, and it is a very few, just don’t care about our policies.
Regarding some recent accusations that we moderate according to the will of our sponsors, to my knowledge (and I'm the longest serving staff member with the exception of the owner), we have NEVER had a sponsor ask us to alter or remove content on this site. We do protect their investment by not allowing free advertising but that is our choice and we are very clear about that.
As to notifying folks about removing or editing a thread: We'll we will sometimes notify you but rarely if you are a regular here and the infraction is obvious. We all have full time jobs (or run our own company) and are volunteers not paid staff. Nor do we do it because we have an agenda we want to promote. We all do this because we want a good clean place to hang out and discuss FISHING. Who wants to read a four page thread about commercial fisherman for the hundredth time? We know where it's going, into a rant, with accusations, personal innuendos, etc. We've seen it before, more than a few times. Sometimes we'll let it go for a bit and sometimes not. But that isn't because of any hidden agenda, we try to let people voice their opinions but at some point, enough is enough.
I realize that I may have just upset a few people with this post, I'm not going to apologize for that. But I will say that my intent is not to upset folks but rather to assure you that we play on as level of a field as we possibly can. It may not be a field you like or agree with but we really do try to be objective and fair to all.
First of all I want to remind everyone that this site is different from many other forums you may visit, and that is intentional, and we don't plan to change the way we moderate the site. If everyone stops coming because of that, I suppose we would just close the doors and go fishing. We moderators don't do this to make money (good thing because none of us do) or boost our ego's because, well, it just doesn't do that, this job is very humbling at times.
We above all realize that what we/you write is seen by many people and respect is due to all, whether you agree with them or not. The people reading and writing these things are REAL people, if you wouldn't say it to their face, in front of your wife or your boss, don't say it here. This is a privately owned forum but open to the public as long as you follow our rules.
In view of that, here's the "rule of thumb" we use in moderating - this is Randy's (owner of the site) living room. You have been invited into his home. He expects you to be polite, behave, treat others with respect and not RANT on and on, get in people's face, etc. If you do not follow those guidelines, you are politely asked to change your tact. If that doesn't work after several attempts, you are no longer welcome in Randy's living room. Period. Other than spam, we have only had to evict a handful of folks in 9 years and most of them have apologized and promised to behave and have been allowed back into the forums.
Specifically, contrary to some folk's accusation, there is no hidden agenda, the moderators and administrators here don't take sides when it comes to moderating the threads, we really don't. We do realize that sometimes, especially to someone with a strong opinion on a topic, it may seem to them that we do. That is often because they don't see everything that we do. They don't see all the posts (a few posts never see the light of day for more than few minutes), they might not know the history of a topic or the persons involved, or they just might not see the topic subjectively enough (as I like to say, from the point of view of a casual observer). Or often they haven't taken the time to read the rules (like no pile-on rants) and realize they are violating our policy until we point it out. And to be honest, a few, and it is a very few, just don’t care about our policies.
Regarding some recent accusations that we moderate according to the will of our sponsors, to my knowledge (and I'm the longest serving staff member with the exception of the owner), we have NEVER had a sponsor ask us to alter or remove content on this site. We do protect their investment by not allowing free advertising but that is our choice and we are very clear about that.
As to notifying folks about removing or editing a thread: We'll we will sometimes notify you but rarely if you are a regular here and the infraction is obvious. We all have full time jobs (or run our own company) and are volunteers not paid staff. Nor do we do it because we have an agenda we want to promote. We all do this because we want a good clean place to hang out and discuss FISHING. Who wants to read a four page thread about commercial fisherman for the hundredth time? We know where it's going, into a rant, with accusations, personal innuendos, etc. We've seen it before, more than a few times. Sometimes we'll let it go for a bit and sometimes not. But that isn't because of any hidden agenda, we try to let people voice their opinions but at some point, enough is enough.
I realize that I may have just upset a few people with this post, I'm not going to apologize for that. But I will say that my intent is not to upset folks but rather to assure you that we play on as level of a field as we possibly can. It may not be a field you like or agree with but we really do try to be objective and fair to all.