h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

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Yes.

I thought the original title was quite funny - a nice pun, a way to attract attention to the thread, and a good sideways way to put the question. If it hadn't been on the 'popular conversations' list, it could have continued quite happily, but because people saw the thread, read it, and commented, and because the site must be quiet at the moment, it ended up on the front page. Action taken with minimal disruption - and crucially - no blame or criticism.

The right action and the right response IMO. Nothing to see here.

I think it's completely acceptable.

I've been on hundreds of forums, and on the vast majority of them the title "Are you a Dick" looks like naked flamebait.

If you come to h2g2 without any prior knowledge of the community, you're going to assume it's flamebait and either want to wade in, or think "what a bunch of morons" and never come back.

give me strength, I thought it was a bit riDICKulous

*Lurking and taking notes*

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I think it was an OK decision. Although the title itself was only a small problem, having your title amended is only a small problem as well, right?

Proportionality, that's the key to things, especially at the moment.

sprout

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meh
s'only a title, people change them all the time through a thread. It's not like anyone owns it.

It's only showing up as an issue cos the first one has been changed which is something mere mortals can't do and demonstrates the mods powers and that however much this is 'our' site there are some things that 'we' cannot do and do not have control over.

No issue, move on.

I'm curious about this "Unfortunately it was showing up on the front page". If it was, I can understand the reasoning even if it is a bit school ma'am-ish and prissy, but I can't see it. Not in Brunel. Not in Alabaster. I can't find the Front Page in Goo and Plain seems to be gone. So am I just missing it?

Much, much better than just removing the first post and getting yet another thread in everybody's conversation list.

There is a wider issue of what to do with people whose raison d'etre is to take the **** at every opportunity, and to disrupt any attempts that are made to turn this into a site with quality content.

If it is a thread name that some or any folks outside of 'h2g2' is going to be seeing first ... Then yes, it was a good choice.

Until a good working method is ironed out, and it is all still a learning and growing enterprise, I think a little care and caution is not a bad thing.

As to who might actually be offended, probably not the thick-skinned sort who like to 'push', but many of the general public of all ages and all countries around the world just might. (This site IS still visible internationally, right? >

Also don't forget that everything like that title gets automatically referred to the moderators. They're a small bunch of volunteers from the community trying to their best to keep the forums running smoothly.

Every little thing like that means that their effort is taken away from handling potentially larger issues.

Personally, I think the title is pushing it a little We know it's a pun, and I think it's a funny one. I like puns. Almost as much as I like pubs. Inside the thread everything has the context, and I think it could make for a nice thread. I'm sure there's lots of older names that now seem rude, Willy instead of William comes to mind.

My wife's grandfather for instance was fiercely proud of being called John Thomas

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And yet nowadays the use of those names means different things in different languages in different parts of the world.

But almost all language filters in forums would block some variations.

Personally I'm glad we're now in control of the filther here. I've been in a position getting this site running to see what was in the previous block list, and it was obvious in places that words were added simply because people across the DNA boards (probably the sport ones) kept pushing the boundaries to see what they could do, so the mods just blanket banned those phrases. We've shrugged that off and moved on because it's *us* running this site now, and we want to be able to use words like Dick in our postings. But I do worry that because we don't have paid moderators to handle things constantly no matter how busy they get, that the only way to keep things toned down would be to put those blocks back in place.

I know people didn't like the filther at the beeb, and I know there's a culture built up of pushing the mods there and seeing what can be got away with. But this is now us. When someone is pushing the rules here to see how far they can go before they break, they're pushing our own rules. It seems kinda strange that rules set with the community's input are pushed by some members of that community. It's seems almost as though they don't want the thing to succeed, flourish and grow, but rather want to try and make it fail.

So please, give the mods a break and stay within the spirit of the rules. We even changed that bit when we took over so that those people who we all know stay just within the rules, never quite breaking them, but winding everyone else up could indeed now be moderated and potentially banned. The site is here for everyone, and given the number of visitors we're currently attracting it's working. So, let's not spoil it eh?

I don't know, Taff. Your post is there, explaining it all, a lot of the replies still have the original title. People who would read would certainly quickly gather that the title has been changed and could still enjoy the pun if they were so inclined.

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No, you're right Taff. There should be a full-time (unpaid, volunteer) moderator assigned to your thread, tweaking the title depending on whether it's crept back onto the FP or not.

That's the only reasonable way to handle this.