Hi everyone, I will be most pleased if everyone who reads this thread, please post their comments - I will take no offence whatsoever. I love knowledge, especially that which enhances hands on experience.

I have just received my first ever moderation notice for Flaming & was left gobsmacked!

In over 24 years of computing & 5 using forums, & to the best of my knowledge, I have never ever intentionally or unintentionally insulted anybody.

I personally, consider flaming to be that which insults an individual or group of people by direct attack using profanities, etc etc.

However, pointing out the idiocy & stupidity of people without the use of any insults is, in my opinion, not flaming.

Am I wrong in thinking this?

Comments/views please.

To each his own.

What you might consider a "friendly and heated" argumentation of your point of view, might be considered as flamming and offensive to someone else... especialy if they are on the loosing end of the argument, not to mention being, like, you know, just plain wrong.

Then again, everyone as a different level of tolerance (and/or ignorance).
Take me for example, some folks have actualy asked me if i had any emotions in the past. (duh!)
I can look a the most gruesome(sp?) of video/pictures/happening and listen to nasty/racy jokes and not not even blink.
Someone else might just need to hear a few details of gruesome "accident" to send most running for the nearest bathroom or after hearing your racy joke, hurry to call their priest to have you exorcised for such impure thoughts.

My advice, take it with a grain of salt (or pepper) and move on.
After all... ---Tis iz teh Intarweb!!0!!11!---

Thanks Werechild. I think we are all aware of the Seti boards & it's problems. I'm not bothered but what does bother me is that I may be out of order or that my posting style may be offensive, & if so, would prefer people to point this out to me in an honest manner.

Also, the main reason for starting the thread was that even though I have extensive knowledge of computing, I still consider myself a learner where forums are concerned.

As much as I know, you're always friendly and your posts are interesting, even when I'm not concerned at all by the topic, I think you're doing well on the board.

That being said, as Werechild wrote, people are all different and sometimes they won't appreciate real discussion. Sometimes, they prefer to talk and talk and they're waiting for a "Yes you're right" kind of answer. If they don't get that answer, they might just get frustrated or angry. You can't really know what the person behind the keyboard is thinking... you'd be surprised to see how many people get so angry just typing words. Most of the time, it has nothing to do really with the discussion itself.

I believe you're not that kind of person. You seem totally nice when you talk to people. In my opinion, being frank isn't a problem, it's a quality, should this mean to use more direct words to express yourself.

Sometimes, people just won't face the hard truth.

Don't bother thinking about them.

WOW! Many thanks Red Panda. I do think that my problem throughtout life is the fact that I do not tolerate fools lightly & speak my mind, albeit without the need for insults or profanities, as I let the truth speak for itself.

Another problem I experience often in today's society is that I treat all as a human being first, but there are many who tend to take advantage of that. For example, a short time ago, had a new customer arrive ( a referral from a very trusted regular). His optical drives on both his desktop & laptop had failed & he was informed of the cost price of these items, & his desktop was absolutely filthy. Told him the total cost of the items & a full service was £102.00.

He hummed & haaaaa'd for a short time & then asked for a better deal, to which I did not reply. He then came right out & said "How about £90 cash?" I accepted & he left thinking that he got one over me. Unfortunately, I have been dealing with people of his culture for a very long time & know how they operate, so always load my prices, knowing that they will always try to knock me down.

Both drives took a total of 10 minutes, & servcing complete, just have his HD in docking station removing virius. Total profit to me £50 for 2 hrs 10 mins work. Shame I can't get this type of work more regularly, I'd reduce my working week from 50 hrs to 20

I guess it's a win-win situation...

Well, he certainly looks at it this way

Not for him, it isn't. When HD finished, installed it back in rig & booted up, so far so good. Then Windows updates gets in on the act with 41 updates. Great! let them update then rebooted. Within a minute or two, got quite a shock. Up comes a WPA validation notice stating that "this product key is not genuine. It has been reported as lost or stolen". This completely threw me as the rig is a genuine Packard Bell from PC World with a genuine product key attached.

Exited from the notification & installed Belarc Advisor to check out the system & PK. Advisor stated XP Pro 2002 SP3, PK stats XP Home!

Phoned the guy to tell him it's ready, got the readies from him, then told him about the PK. He wasn't happy & asked me to rectify it - told him that I can restore it to XP home but if he wants XP Pro, he's gonna have to pay for it.

Also, this had made me a bit more wary, so I checked out the laptop before he arrived - PK Vista Home Basic, O/S installed Vista Ultimate & also noticed a keygen folder. I'm glad they are gone from the premises!

Before i read down the thread i will say SETIMods strike again! I wouldn't worry too much about it Sirius, they have a tendency to be ridiculous and blow the tiniest little thing into an international incident! lol

For example, the lovely lady in my signature earned me my latest ban over there. "Not Kid Friendly" they said. :p

Well, when I returned to the DC fold, you did warn me Pawly, so should have took more notice of it. To be honest, I can't see any problem with your sig. One good thing that comes out of this, is the fact that one soon learns where the really good forums are.

As I've said in the past, I don't believe in flattery & speak my mind. So, I'll say it again, this has to be one of the best that I'm a member of. Both you & Grizz have done an excellent job in providing & maintaining a happy place.

Hi Sirius;

My one and only warning about posts also came from a SETI Forum. The original topic was an attempt to start a serious discussion about the old "the moon landing was faked" fable, and a number of us branched off into a discussion about the moon being made of cheese, and exactly what kind of cheese. We actually got a polite note asking us to get back on "the topic", such as it was.

To my way of thinking, the "moon is cheese" was at least as relevant, fact based, and important as "the moon landings were faked". I guess a moderator's job is to try to protect the original topic, no matter how inane it may be (or, at least, appear to be to some).

You shouldn't take these things too seriously. In the end, you have to answer to yourself, and not to some ... (large section removed to prevent upsetting moderators) ... moderator. Present company excepted, of course.

Thanks for the exclusion! Although, to be honest, this site doesn't need much moderation as the members are all great! The only thing I've had to do is delete a half dozen or so spam posts...