Fluther asked me not to participate here. I am a bit puzzled as to why. Any suggestions?

What???

What do you mean?

I woke up to email from Fluther saying that they prefer that I do not participate here. That my overall tone does not fit the Fluther collective. I really don’t get it.

@glial can you help me figure it out???

Bummer!

Ya, I am way bumbed! I was just getting to like most of you. They also asked trainerboy(my brother-in-law) to leave. I feel like it is some weird conspiracy.

If you’ve been using profanity or something often that might have been why, you can always refuse to leave, though. They can’t exactly kick you off unless you keep doing stuff wrong. You can always make a new user name?

My advice is to head over to the chat room and ask Ben or Andrew why. Talk it out and find what happened. The room is empty now but it is still early in California.

I expect it will be busy over there today.

I’d be interested in knowing what that means, as well, the overall Fluther collective. My husband, who found it an interesting concept, left of his own volition, because as a European he felt he didn’t fit in. He had the distinct feeling that the answers given needed to be fluffy, whereas Europeans tend to be direct and to the point.

Is this the direction that Fluther wants to go, more like a popularity club where a person has to fit into a certain mold in order to remain? If so, then I should leave, as well, because that’s not necessarily a philosophy to which I ascribe. Everyone should be given the room to be themselves, within the behavioral guidelines. If the behavioral guidelines become so narrow that people will feel stifled, to the point that it discourages honest and open answers and discussions, then doesn’t that thwart the intent of such a concept as this?

@deezer. That is exactly how I feel. I could create another username to remain here but apparently I can’t just be myself and I would be asked to leave again. I don’t understand. Do they just randomly pick someone and invite them to go away. I am jus fluthered

@cornman: Since we (fellow flutherers) aren’t privy to the context of the request, perhaps you should read this. It may shed some light on your particular circumstance, as maybe your contributions don’t fit the standards of the site-again, since I don’t know the details, it would be up to you to put the pieces together. Same applies to trainerboy…

Here’s another thought: you can also click this and maybe you will get the answer you seek, from the ones who actually know it. Usually the admins are very clear in pointing out the reasons for their requests-at least this has been my experience.

Otherwise, I smell spam…or a witch hunt.

@DeezerQueue: That’s not my impression-the issue may be related to a larger issue of the recent influx of “unenculturated” new users; there are several competing sites out on the ‘net that are basically providing a similar service, however, most of their constituency is comprised of users who want to ‘chat’ as opposed to ‘answer’ or offer constructive insight. This attitude has found its way (for better or worse) into this site.

To Fluther’s defense (and credit), Andrew and Ben have responded by setting up a chat room for users-so as to distinguish the function between chat and providing answers. Maybe people are just confused about which to use when. It speaks to a larger concern that perhaps there are two functions of this site (as it grows in popularity): the primary-asking and answering questions (yay!), and the ancillary (social networking).

It’s not a new issue, and has both old and new users concerned. I for one am concerned that the quality of the Q&A is being diluted because users don’t understand the true purpose of the site (perhaps your husband feels this way too, I presume). I do believe there are quality users here, and I know that some have chosen to go into “hibernation” because of this very issue.

Sorry for the diatribe-this is my “morning cup O’ Joe”...have a good day everyone.

I think I profaned once by using the “shiz” word. I often see we members with 3000+ points using the “f” word so I don’t think it is a profanity issue.

Well if you and trainer don’t fit. I don’t either.

Dropping the F-bomb hasn’t ever gotten me in trouble. Personal attacks have.

Take a look at your user page. http://www.fluther.com/users/cornman/
Are a bunch of questions that you have asked missing? Everything I see looks OK.

And I think more effort is going into removing people that ask a bunch of silly questions.

Basically, if you ask three questions in a row you are posting to much. I personally think people should only be allowed one per day. Incentive to make the question good.

I have never had a question removed.

Trainerboy’s “alias” questions seems to have been removed…

I had no clue you guys were related. I can see how this might feel like a conspiracy. Sorry…

There are several people, I’ve noted lately, who either chat at length in numerous threads, who respond with snarky (and often completely unrelated) comments in numerous threads, or who ask inane questions or post inane answers. It seems to me that these people are not doing much to improve the quality of fluther, and it seems to me entirely reasonable for the creators and moderators of fluther to ask them to leave.

seems kind of elitest to me. Is this site not designed for user opinion? I am sure of the folks here can be colorful in their answers however to single out someone just seems (enter “Shiz word ending in ly”)... By the way, I am new here so hello.

@cornman There is definitely a culture that was established at the beginning of Fluther that was not a broad representation of the population. That culture still permeates much of the Fluther threads, although I am glad that as more people join, there is more diversity in the answers. For the first year, I felt it was a very judgmental community. Answers to simple questions often attacked the poster and did not answer the question. To the point: hopefully people are not being kicked off because of the “flag this answer” link, as there are a certain few (not the founders) that sort of “run” the sight and thus decrease the diversity of the answers (and users).

This isn’t directed at you cornman..

Keep in mind that there is a lot of stuff sent via the PM function. Just because you haven’t seen someone post bad stuff doesn’t mean that they are innocent. I really doubt that Andrew and Ben are (banning/asking to leave) for the fun of it. I do think that asking is a weird approach. But whatever.

To borrow from a poignant moment from an old episode of “The Apprentice,” I think some people use Fluther primarily as a platform to express their personality. It wouldn’t be Fluther without a healthy dose of personality, but it should be subservient to contributing good information and thoughtful questions.

Sometimes, businesses fire their customers when they realize, for example, that 20% of their customer base is creating 80% of their hassle. I would guess that the Fluther gods decided that a small group of users were creating more hassle than contributions and therefore didn’t fit the base of customers they want to serve.

@judochop, I would venture to guess these individuals singled themselves out.

@Supergirl: There are plenty of sites that offer the freedom to spew any kind of comment that suits them so why pollute Fluther? The Internet is not a democracy. Out of respect for human the Fluther team have tried to be as accomodaying as possible buy using your mentality we would have to accept all comments regardless of content, or lack thereof.

The fact is the majority and its founders do not appreciate the recent onslaught of yahoo answers worthy questions and, unlike a democracy, sometimes the majority should be the governing voice.

This world is so caught up in political correctness no one is willing to offend anyone. While this has caused a lot of good it had also created a mentality, in society that offending someone is wrong which results in observing one opinion over the other. If you were to go on a gay Christian forum whose guidelines states “do not comment on ex-gay ministries” and you did this anyway because you didnt like the elitist mentally would that be fair to the forums creators or the collective who abide by its guidelines?

Having said that I don’t see why Cornman has been asked to leave, sorry Cornman. I liked you.

and again I will say I hate iPhone fluther. I am deeply sorry for the mistakes above.

In 2 weeks you’ve asked 23 questions. Ask yourself how many of them have contributed to dialogue and useful discussion on this site.

I think that the Fluther founders understand that the community is better served by people asking fewer, thoughtful questions and replying with well-thought and discerning answers. This isn’t a community of people who answer questions you are too lazy to Google. It is for discussion about questions and issues that are too complicated or too broad for a simple answer, or are have no right or wrong answer because they are based on opinion or personal taste.

cornman, I like you and see nothing wrong with what youve been writing. Dont stop being yourself for nothing, man!

Might I direct you here…

Cornman, I’d be happy to talk with you in the chatroom. And anyone else, for that matter.

Just to be clear, the decision to ban was not based on flagging, nor a community lynch mob. We’re talking about the decisions, and we welcome everyone into the chatroom to discuss.

I’m sorry, this is completely off subject (and I’m probably blind), but is there a link to the chat options on the main web page?

Not yet. No. I’ll add that today.

Actually, there is currently a link to chat on the Contact page.

I really don’t recall anything in particular that cornman said that I found worthy of banishment. I already made a value judgment regarding his credibility, and that works for me. Same goes for trainerboy. I find it noteworthy that they are related.

I’ve seen one person repeatedly make profane, personal attacks on others, as well as publicly accuse a poster of harassing women. I’ve also seen at least 2 question threads disappear completely after his tirades.

So as I see it, we have people being asked to leave for non-specific, subjective reasons, while others, who choose insults rather than reason, seem to continue their behavior without notice.

I think most people can deal with either type of behavior in this medium.

So as you decide whether or not to ‘invite someone to leave’, see if it fits your idea of the fluther collective, as contrasted with the Borg collective.

MrKnowitAll.

He is talking about me. And I will let you know that I was in the chat room trying to get cornman back this morning. You can dislike me, I don’t really care.

@MrKnowItAll if you see harassment, please report it. With a site this size, it’s hard to police every corner and we rely on the community to help us.

For the record, we reversed our decision to ban cornman and trainerboy. We’re also rewriting Fluther’s usage guidelines to be clearer about our standards.

I just wanted to thank all of you who rallied around me in the Fluther arena to persuade the moderators to put up with me a bit longer. Thanks JP, The Haight, Riser, judochop, deezer, amandafoote, isteve and glial.
I think this has been a good thing in that I have learned much about behavior expectations here on Fluther. I also believe this has been another driving point in creating clarity for what is expected on this website.
I also learned how attached I have becometo such a great place. When I got the email from the moderators stating my suspension I was very bumbed. Who would have thought that web 2.0 would have such an impact on our lives.
Anyway, I am back and excited for all the new developments coming to FLand!

Welcome back Cornman and you have brought on positive change to this site for the future members.

@sferic

Thank you, but I think that rather than report harassment, I’ll respond to it personally. It’s part of the intercourse.

There is a difference between fk as an expletive and fk you. When someone’s response is the latter, it reflects upon them, not their target. It doesn’t matter whether it’s due to a weak argument, or the lack of tools to effectively express their argument.

Regarding harassers:

These are bullies with low-self esteem, who have themselves been bullied. (The gift that keeps on giving).

I have to say I am very excited to get to know more of you. This site will be a nice and refreshing change from other web based forums and such that I have been on. It appears that most everyone here uses their brain. I apologize for the typo’s. I will be answering most of the questions via my iphone which likes to change words for me. Cheers everyone. It is wonderful to see a web community do what I wish the rest of the world would do…Discuss.

Judochop. Not to worry. My iPhone has changed my sentence “small slit” into “small slut” and “chest hairy” into “chew hairy.” I feel your pain.

Riser. Cheers friend. Sooner or later there will be a thread dedicated to the spell checker on iphone.

Cornman! We all have your back.

I still consider myself new to this community, but I really really like it and am so excited about what’s to come and one day being a veteran. Fluther makes me want to be intelligent! Ive never been to an online site that has motivated me to act such a way… Weird, huh?

I just got a private message from a user who seems to have knowledge of someone else who has been “banned twice” for inappropriate private messages. Well, he’s back. (and he continues to consistently misspell his religion and his vocation.)

Rather then banish him, just re-post publicly, any inappropriate messages he sends privately. Be sure to give him proper credit. That is what I will do.

MrKnowItAll

Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whew!
Now we can all get back to deciding what constitutes losing one’s virginity. ;)
(my first emoticon)