Conduct.

[stretch37]

Dear Mods.

Could the forum can tighten up rules a little bit in terms of user conduct?

On many other forums dedicated to artists, bullying is not permitted, and the bullies are quickly either shot down by fans, or banned. This allows the atmosphere of the forum to remain a nice place for people to discuss their topic of choice, be it a book series, artist, or celebrity.

But on this forum, its generally quite the opposite. People who consistently bully are allowed to continue to do so. When users attempt to curb that bullying, threads get closed, and conversations are abruptly halted.

I think its time that mods start making more decisions (during the fight, not at the end) rather than just closing threads.

Meat deserves at least one place on the internet where he can come and talk to his fans without receiving negativity, criticism, and distasteful comments directed at him or his career. He has a long and decorated career that should be celebrated, not bashed.

I have had my fair share of opinions about Meat Loaf. There have been performances, songs, or interviews that I have not liked. I think I have said a few things that I regret, but for the most part, If I have a negative opinion, I say it in a well rounded way that I know gets my point across, but does not offend others. Eg. On the new album, I would have liked if Meat sang in a higher key on some songs, and I did mention that in my review. But I did not say "Meat's voice is gone man, he obviously has to sing lower now because his voice is wrecked dude". For some reason, posts like this are allowed to stay on this forum. I don't quite understand that. Everyone on here should have to be fair to Meat Loaf and the fans in their posts.

I think you guys do a great job moderating this forum, and I really hope this thread isn't locked because I'm posting my opinion about some people that I've seen treat Meat unfairly on his own fan forum. I know you try to be fair to everyone, and let us all have our say, and let a broad range of conversation occur. Your fairly laid back in your moderation until things start to spiral down that familiar route of back and forth argument. And then you are very, very effective from then on

Thanks,
Stretch37

[AndyK]

Bullying is not tolerated on this forum, and there has been none of that here the last few days as far as I can see. If you disagree please PM me links to examples ... PM rather than post in there to avoid us getting into the same old arguments all over again in this thread please.

Opinions are running high at the moment because there's alot of negative press out there.

Decisions are regularly made during heated discussions which often leads to warnings, reminders in threads and in extreme cases bans, it's frustrating for us when warnings are issued in a thread and they are not heeded. It's happeend at least twice this week alone. It would help us if peopel read the whole of a thread before responding to a post in the middle of the thread, as often an issue is dealt with, only to appear to be ignored.

Please do remember that many users who use this forum do not speak English as their first language, so perhaps cut them a little slack and ask for clarification of what they're saying before jumping off the deep end at them.

[The Flying Mouse]

To make an observation, I think there seems to be some confussion on exactly what the word "bullying" means .

I always held the deffinition of bullying to be that the bigger individual/group dominates the smaller through the advantage given by it's strength/size.

So the only bullying I can honestly say I see is when several of a group who agree tells the one person who does not agree to get the hell of the forum.

I see one person expressiong their opinion (I might not agree with that opinion, but it is what it is) and I see a group of people getting hot under the collar and instead of rationally pointing out reasons why they believe the person is wrong (if you really need to do that, I sometimes think it's best for the minority to be allowed to have their say and let that be an end to it) I see insults, personal attacks, and even (unbelievably) vicious comments that the user should leave the forum.
Oh, plus comments from the bullies saying "hey mods, can you see what's going on here?"

As far as i'm aware the only people who retain the right to prevent somebody from visiting and posting on this forum is the staff (and usually for bullying).


As Andy said, not everyone on this forum speaks English as a 1st language, so a little lean way when it comes to interpritation might be in order.
Especially when the user in question is one of the oldest registered members of this forum.
Hell, he was here before me, and I was here before Meat

So a bit of patience all round please.
If you really really need to defend Meat against something that's been said on the forum, use logic and facts to prove your case, not personal attacks.

As for the bullying, i'm enclined to agree that we the staff should be taking a firmer line on the kind of bullying we've been seeing lately.

[allrevvedup]

I can't really add anything to the responses from my fellow Mods (sounds like something to describe Paul Weller, but that's another story)

[LucyK!]

In my opinion (for what it's worth) I think there are two points need raising here.

Point One - I for one value freedom of speech on this forum, and whilst I don't enjoy reading people being purposely controversial and kicking up hell because they know the response it will achieve, I do think it's important for people to be able to say exactly what they think in an appropriate way - and that includes negative things about Meat and his work.

Neil was right to point out what "bullying" actually means, because I do think that anything negative about Meat is perceived as "bullying", because as a fan site nothing negative should be said. IMO a fan discussion forum is exactly that, a place for fans to discuss and to debate. What this place has never been (and I hope to God it never will be) is somewhere where Meat is up high on his throne and everyone worships and agrees with every word that comes out of the guy's mouth. People just need to be a lot more respectful in their posting.

Point Two - I think some people would do well to remember the original premise behind MLUKFC, which is "Run By The Fans, For The Fans". The moderators on this forum are mods on a voluntary basis, and they do it so that if on occassion the odd nutter turns up there's people on hand to deal with it and remove anything offensive. The mods are fans like everyone else and I think the amount of time - the amount of their spare time I might add - that has to be spent dealing with some of the rude, inconsiderate crap that appears on here is ludicrous.

There would be far fewer problems on this board if everyone just applied a little more thought.

Rant over.

[snider22]

I feel the need to say my peace on this matter as well. I have to say that I agree with what Stretch has brought to the table, I think there is a problem here that tends to lead every thread down an argumentative path that brings down the morale of the site as a whole.

There is a certain inner clique around here that seems to be able to get away with whatever they please, and granted, most of them have been here a lot longer than I have. However, that should not give them the run of the place. I think bullying may be the wrong term for it. Certain people (I won't name names, because we ALL know who they are) spend there time on this forum doing nothing but stirring the pot and causing the majority of the aforementioned arguments.

Don't miss understand me, I love free speech and I use that right on a regular basis but there is a big difference between arguing and healthy debate. I also believe that there is plenty of room on this forum for both positive and negative opinions. But, there is a big difference between posting a negative opinion and (pardon my french) just being an ass. That I think brings us back to the clique mentioned above. There is a certain group here who seem to get a pass regardless of what they say or do, and I feel that is something that needs to change.

If I were a casual fan who stumbled upon this site I would be afraid to post here for fear that I would be run out of town with torches and pitchforks by the clique. In fact when I first joined, it was ages before I actually started posting on any sort of regular basis for the fear mentioned above.

Now, don't take this as an attack on the mods. You guys have always been nice to me when I have had issues and I have never had an issue with any of you. But, I do think this issue as a whole needs to be addressed.

Also, I think Lucy's point about people applying a little more thought is on the money as well.

[AndyK]

This thread is probably a good time to remind everyone of this announcement

As a forum dedicated to an artist who, along with various band members, contributes to this forum, we encourage honest opinion, debate and constructive criticism. We ask that this should be done in a respectful manner which should also be afforded to each and every forum member.

Should you have concerns about posts, please use the button to bring them to our attention.

Thank you.