Newbies introduction

[nowhereman]

Originally Posted by zefrank

hello and welcome to the board. the recent influx of people has already been met with a few complaints from the existing community so i consider this to be a trial period for all of you that have recently joined.

i'm glad that you took the time to come to fast chat to introduce yourselves, it may seem like a slight formality, but without doing so it appears to be more of an invasion than it does an influx of new perspectives.

regarding new perspectives: i am not keen on the idea that you are already warning this crowd of bad tempers and "biting" before you have unpacked your boxes. if you want to stay you'll have to earn your keep, and that means being respectful of the people who have been here long before you.

this forum encourages different points of view but it is not a free-for-all free speech zone. for example equating carter with the nazis post after post is not the start of a discussion, but rather goading and bullying by using idiotic generalizations. if that sort of thing happens then banning will become commonplace.

i hope this forum can accommodate you guys, but i am leery of a crowd that is retreating from somewhere else.

It is your board and you can do as you wish. I came here on the premise that this board was filled with nice and open minded people. Do you have an FAQ that lays out what can and cannot be said on your board? Without it, people are kinda posting blind here and I don't want be walking on egg shells fearing that what I say just might offend someone. So I think it's only fair to lay out your ground rules for the new people.