We seem to have reached a point where a lot of forum posts are being 'hijacked' by wisecracks and sarcasm. This invariably prompts a spate of replies stating amusement or disapproval at the post, and the original topic of the post is buried beneath a mound of irritating spam.

In the past, we have boasted of our tolerance and friendliness and have accepted that many people do not have English as their first language, or that some of those who do, have poor spelling. But nowadays, bad spelling, typographical errors and poor grammar seem to be a major cause of sarcastic replies. This is distratcing, insulting and irritating and needs to stop. Obviously, if a post is illegible or the meaning is ambiguous, then ask for clarification, but sarcasm - especially against newer or younger members - must cease.

And if you feel like you need to agree with someone's post or find it amusing or whatever, please try to actually contribute to the discussion instead of just a one or two word reply that wastes our bandwidth, disk space, and may be the actual cause of our recent problems.

Show some restraint and respect. If you need to vent, do it elsewhere. If you need to laugh out loud, by all means do so, but don't bother to tell us about it.

And lastly, please leave the moderation of the forums to the Ringwraiths. If you have a complaint about someone's behaviour then get in touch (PM or email) with a staff member and explain the situation. The site is manned pretty much around the clock so a staff member will be able to help you out soon enough.

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Dagster

Well said, Alan. I myself must apologize, as I have been an offender when it comes to short and trivial posts. Its a habit I'm trying to break, as I realize that it isn't constructive behavior. I'll also try to keep my posts a little more on topic as well. I think quite a few people, including myself, need a little reminder to keep the posts meaningful and on topic, so thank you for posting this Alan.


Josh

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" I think I'm... quite ready for another adventure!"

Bilbo

I might as well take this as an oppurtunity to apologise as well for my recent behaviour. I haven't touched the internet in weeks (no access in sheepland) and I appear to have forgotten the friendly spirit with which I normally go around posting here. I was quite surprised when I returned, however, to find that dozens of reasonably new members had joined, who, unfortunately, didn't seem to realise that forums aren't for text-chat, they're actually meaningful discussion areas. All these little things built up until I took out my "disgruntlement" on the members here, most of whom I would normally get along perfectly with. It was wrong of me to do it here, on One-Ring: I should've joined the Palantir and done it there instead. Hopefully, you'll see no more of my sarcastic remarks, and they'll soon fade back into proper, helpful, complimenting remarks.


Sincerely,
Ingold.

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"Mustard the Rohirrim! We've got to ketchup with those Uruk-fries before they capture the Hornburger!"

Maybe I wisecracked a bit too, in trying to jazz up some of my posts. But quite a few of you are producing really fantastic models / articles and – being a ‘foreigner’ – I sometimes find it difficult to express myself the way I want – while it’s all in my mind, words fail me literally (some of you might recognize this). Also, it’s not always easy to make an ‘original’ remark with so much talent around. Adding a bit of explanation to (fully sincere) exclamations like “awesome!” might help us to improve the level of these threads (as a lot of you do already!).

Adrian

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Ab hac die aut deserta tene aut in mare demerge

I also must confess to having made a few not-so-friendly remarks to some certain members, and having derailed a topic or two, and I'd like to apologize once again.
There's not much I can say that would differ from Josh, Ingold, and Adrian's apologies, so I'll just leave it at that.

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Hmm... what would a chair look like if your knees bent the other way?

Heheh, this itself has become a spam thread, all of us just repeating apologies. Ooh, the irony.

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"Mustard the Rohirrim! We've got to ketchup with those Uruk-fries before they capture the Hornburger!"

Exactly, the thread should've been locked right away. No good in hearing the apologies of around 2000 members, right.^^

Rueben

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"Mickey, my friend!"

The reason for leaving the thread unlocked was so that people could discuss the issue and seek clarification, or even raise counter arguments if that was what they wished to do.

If people feel the need to apologise, then they have the opportunity to do so. There is no shame in saying 'sorry' when you have done something you regret - it is simply accepting responsibility for your own actions, and to do so in a public forum takes some strength of character and is worthy of respect.

By locking the thread, it becomes a 'proclamation' from the top and no discussion of the issue would be able to take place - which is not what I wanted.

And a by-product of leaving the thread open to discussion is the fact that it gets bumped by each reply and remains flagged as having a 'gold ring' icon on the main forum index page.

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Dagster

Sorry for my first days as a member a bit of spaming there

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"I will take it. I will take the Ring to Mordor...though I do not know the way."
—Frodo, at the Council of Elrond