Just home from eight days off the grid in the Nevada mountains. This is the first thread I have looked at and it seems appropriate that I give my thoughts, though I didn't see the posts involved.
First, I fully support
@Lostinthewoods keeping the rules of this place in tact. I'll give some history to a few events over the last few years that have caused me to hire moderators and stick to the rules we have here.
Second, Buzz is not racist. Not one bit. I didn't see the posts or the context, but Lostinthewoods is the moderator, so I'm going with his judgement about whether the posts justified a few days in the penalty box. Buzz's contributions here are appreciated and his efforts in the public land arena, something he's been going for decades, are invaluable. I don't know what was said in the phone call with Buzz and Lostinthewoods, but I trust them both to know it was likely explained and sorted out.
Third, the rules are the rules. I don't give two shits if you're my brother, my neighbor, my employee, a new member, a long-time member, or my best friend, the rules apply. If you don't like that, then go elsewhere. This forum is way to useful for the tasks that are high on my advocacy priority list to let it be messed up by posts that have no purpose on this forum.
Here are a couple of the triggering events that caused me to hire moderators, focusing on moderators who have training and experience in applying rules when they know not everyone will like it. I had to reflect on the comments some past members provided to me and after consideration I realized they were correct - I have allowed things to get too far off the rails at times, whether by laziness, absence, or lack of time to follow every post. It didn't really matter - I'm the owner and those problems fall at my feet.
1. A while back, a member sent me a message of how tired she was of the sexist innuendo. I asked for specific instances that I could correct. She replied that if she had to take the time to show them to me, obviously I wasn't very tuned in and it was probably a waste of her time. She warned me that other women had been discussing in PMs that same issue. A bunch of them left. One of them was kind enough to send me a list of links that were examples.
Guess what? They were right. Most of them were threads I hadn't had time to look at, but they were a bunch of bullshit. Some folks got tossed as a result, but the end result was the same. The forum lost some valued members who provided great perspectives and the continued narrative of hunting being the domain of a bunch of dudes was reaffirmed in their minds. If I had the time, presence, and persistence to follow those threads and had done something about the BS posts, they likely would still be here. And I wouldn't be kicking myself for not taking action.
2. In the last year some racists posts were made in a thread I hadn't read. That person sent me a message about my tolerance for racist bullshit. They have a close family member who is black and this post was very disappointing. In his mind, me not being here to handle it was rightly viewed as tolerating such ignorant BS. He told me to delete his account. When I asked him to do so, he sent me a link to the thread. It was a terrible post. I took care of it, but it was too late. Now, though he didn't delete his account he is not here very often. Again, my fault for letting that kind of crap exist on a forum that I own.
3. Over the COVID period, when a lot of folks were on edge and with too much time on their hands, a long-time member who is black sent me a PM about how much passive racism I allowed here, along with some overt racism. It caught me off guard, for three reasons; first - because I have no tolerance for that crap, second - I try to keep this joint free of that stuff, and third - because he was a long-time member who had made some great posts.
He had never posted a picture of himself. I suspect the people posting on one of this threads had no idea he was black. I looked at those posts to his thread. It embarrassed the hell out of me that a black hunter would have to put up with that kind of shit on a platform I own. He asked that his account be deleted, and given the BS he had just experienced here, I don't blame him. I apologized profusely and honored his request to delete his account. Again, my absence, lack of attention, and other distractions, we lost another valued member.
Those three instances stand out. When I place those on top of the cumulative pile of political crap, the habitual violators of forum rules, the folks who think it's funny to post demeaning BS about any person/group different than themselves, it became obvious I wasn't holding up the expectations I had of myself. I decided I had two options; 1) pay folks so that we had full time moderation in my absence, or 2) just close the forum and call it quits.
That is where the paid moderators come into play. I trust them. If someone is going to get the complete ban, they send that to me and I make the final decision when I return. Some have been banned permanently. Others were left in a short-term penalty box and asked to behave themselves upon return.
And that is how it's going to be on Hunt Talk. So long as I own this forum, it will not be the place for posts that violate the rules and standards we apply.
I have told the moderators to give no consideration to what association I might have with a member, how long that member has been here, or any other worries beyond applying the rules as fairly as they can. Who stays and who goes permanently will be my decision.
Hopefully that gives some context of the changes here over the last year, changes I think have made a lot of progress to keeping the forum on track. We miss a few, but it has been a huge improvement. Moderation is a difficult task and I feel we have great moderators here.
Both members involved in this instance will be welcomed back when the time expires in a day or two.
It’s a wonder I didn’t fall to my death scooching along barn beams with a pigeon tucked inside my shirt and holding on to whatever handhold I could find. I think we caught about 60-70 birds that summer. We kept them in an old shed and fed them shelled corn and water for a month until we had enough to make it worthwhile selling. Probably burned 3 times as much gas catching them as we made selling them.
