Attention Mods - A Minor Suggestion

Half Fast said:
I disagree, but I would like to understand what you think is “dangerous” and why.
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So you want to have a forum to specifically make statements known to be injurious to the survivors or to express technical information that may be valuable to a lawsuit, but facially obscure it.
Sounds like subpoenas would fly. Further, given users an illusion that they could say things in such a "hidden" forum that they might not say in open communication, just encourages bad behavior.

Understand there's a difference between evidence and information that may be relevant to one party or the other. Further, in the case of a defamation or other action, such posts would indeed BE evidence.
 
Half Fast said:
Often when an accident occurs, especially a fatality, there follows on POA a spirited discussion and a considerable amount of speculation. The accident pilot often receives blistering criticism, perhaps warranted or perhaps not.

Personally, I have no problem with this. I think that frank, and largely unbridled, discussion is a good thing. I do not want to choke off any discussion at all.

However,....

As the forum works today, these threads can be viewed by anyone, including family members and friends of the pilot, attorneys, the press, and so on. I'm sure we all recall the Dan Bernath / Bonita Springs crash last year when some POA material appeared in the local news. Beyond that, I'm sure none of us want to cause more pain to friends or family members of the deceased who are looking for answers and might stumble across our speculations.

So,....

I'd like to suggest we have a separate subforum for accident discussions. Viewing of that subforum would be limited to POA members, and would require that they have been members for some minimum period of time (30 days? 60 days?) to minimize the chances of someone joining just to see such a thread.

Thoughts?
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I think this is a fantastic idea. Of course, I had the same idea several years ago and it got shot down with the help of a then-vocal, now-gone poster.

Of course, the Spin Zone was my idea too, so maybe I'm not that great at determining what a fantastic idea is. ;)
 
I find it laughable that anyone would think there is technical information expressed on here that would be valuable in a lawsuit. Unless someone on here has actual insider knowledge of an accident that is unknown to anyone else and posts it here (which would be extremely rare if it even occurs at all) mostly all there is in the case of an accident is a lot of noise and wild guesses. Anyone actually investigating an accident or preparing a lawsuit has much better and more accurate sources of information than POA or SGOTI.

Don’t get me wrong, we do have a lot of knowledgeable folks on here including a few I’d consider to be SME but they are a small percentage of the members and an even smaller percentage of those who make posts without much forethought into the consequences.

The concern that the OP has is family members of an accident victim in a sincere search for info into the death of their loved one stumbling onto a thread where some student pilot know-it-all is stating what an idiot the dead pilot was or someone making uninformed ignorant posts about an airframe or engine.

As much as I enjoy POA and have made a few friendships on here, there is a huge amount of clutter in threads and sometimes we are no better than the commenters on yahoo or other sites. And yes, I have been guilty of that as well.
 
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SkyDog58 said:
Don’t get me wrong, we do have a lot of knowledgeable folks on here including a few I’d consider to be SME...
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Henning and Levy are back?!?!

When did that happen and how did I miss it?

:rolleyes:

:eek:

:cool:
 
Actually, managing a few XF-powered forums (of which Jason was helpful in giving me his experiences with the conversion here), it would be trivial to create a usergroup and forum that required six months presence on the forum.

However, I still think it's a bad idea and likely to cause more problems than it solves. At least with things in public, people have some inclination to behave themselves appropriately.
If it's not appropriate to say in something that the family would find it google, it's probably not appropriate to say period. Go over on fark.com if you want to be snarky.
 
I find it laughable that anyone would think there is technical information expressed on here that would be valuable in a lawsuit.
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Technical is not the issue. But if you don't think you can't be taken to court over snarky posts on the forums, perhaps you should drop a like to the guys who run Avweb and ask them about them about Arthur Wolk.

Wouldn't be surprised if there were quite a few attorneys like Mr. Wolk who are already 6 month users of the site.
 
flyingron said:
At least with things in public, people have some inclination to behave themselves appropriately.
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I think requiring that all members use their real names would have a far greater impact on proper behavior.
<----
<---- I mean, look at me.

...

...

Oh...

...

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Never mind...
 
Anybody who hasn't figured out who I am isn't trying very hard.
 
Mtns2Skies said:
@jason can comment, but to begin with I don't believe this is a "Minor suggestion" to implement, even for the hefty salary he receives for running the board.

Secondly, the internet is public, to give a false sense to the members that their posts are hidden can only cause more problems than the potential good that will come from it. And lastly:



:yeahthat:

If you believe that posts are hurting family members then just do your best not to make those posts and refrain from engaging with those that do.

As moderators our job is to keep the board civil(ish) and within the guidelines of the RoC and forum rules. It is not our decision what is moral and what is not and I believe implementing this change would cross that line.
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From a technical standpoint, it wouldn't be that difficult. That said, I do fundamentally disagree with it. I'm just one vote on the MC, but I would vote against it. It's ok to discuss. Just don't speculate into dangerous territory and act like you know what happened by reading three paragraphs in a local newspaper. While there may be times that friends and family will stumble onto an article here and become upset, I've also seen friends and family join to thank our members for their thoughtful discussion and for remembering their loved one fondly.

TL;DR: Just don't be a jerk in the thread. If nobody is a jerk in the thread there is no reason to hide it.
 
Can we at least dump all the plane crash threads into one sub forum? There's crash threads in hangar talk, and flight following, and pilot training, and cleared for the approach, and lessons learned, and...
 
I know people that have been involved in things that are splattered all over the news. If you don't want to read something, don't read it.

That being said, a real problem is like what you get at PPRUNE, where fully half of the posts in the Ethiopian crash thread start "Not a pilot, but...". Not a pilot but posting on a professional pilot's website. Talking about the engine stalling. It's unbearable.
 
EdFred said:
Can we at least dump all the plane crash threads into one sub forum? There's crash threads in hangar talk, and flight following, and pilot training, and cleared for the approach, and lessons learned, and...
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But that's as it should be!

Was the subject plane for sale? Thread belongs in the classifieds.

Crashes into a building housing aircraft? Belongs in hangar talk.

Crashes into Jesse's office? Technical corner.

Crashes while snorting coke with hooker? Medical topics. (Or, a new @eman1200 forum)

Hits one of the numerous 2000' radio/tv towers east of Springfield, MO? Change to my frequency.

At Gaston's? Cool places to fly.

Spins it into the ground? Aerobatics.

Hits a mountain while staring t the glass panel? Avionics and upgrades.

AP doesn't refill with oil after annual? Maintenance bay.

While taking a girl flying that you just picked up at the bar? Cleared for approach.

While getting caught up on the day's events using the iPad's Apple feed? News.

While checking who likes your tweets? Flight following.

etc.
 
timwinters said:
But that's as it should be!

Was the subject plane for sale? Thread belongs in the classifieds.

Crashes into a building housing aircraft? Belongs in hangar talk.

Crashes into Jesse's office? Technical corner.

Crashes while snorting coke with hooker? Medical topics. (Or, a new @eman1200 forum)

Hits one of the numerous 2000' radio/tv towers east of Springfield, MO? Change to my frequency.

At Gaston's? Cool places to fly.

Spins it into the ground? Aerobatics.

Hits a mountain while staring t the glass panel? Avionics and upgrades.

AP doesn't refill with oil after annual? Maintenance bay.

While taking a girl flying that you just picked up at the bar? Cleared for approach.

While getting caught up on the day's events using the iPad's Apple feed? News.

While checking who likes your tweets? Flight following.

etc.
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You probably put way too much effort into that post.



Thank you.
 
Tom-D said:
Really? think about it, many here say it doesn't matter who you are.
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And for some of us the open nature of this social media and the topics we discuss require anonymity because of our jobs. It’s easy to get oneself in hot water with an employer on social media.
 
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