The Spin Zone

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Pilots Of America Management

Pilots Of America Management

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Pilots of America Management
'The Spin Zone' is a subforum of the Hangar Talk forum.

With the ability of users to opt out of a forum, we have devoted a special space to non-aviation related topics which cover politics, religion, and other potentially sensitive or charged topics.

Hangar Talk remains an open forum for aviation and non-aviation related posts, but new threads on politics or religion should be posted in "The Spin Zone" from this point forward, and active, non-aviation related threads may and probably will be moved there as they continue to be active.

By making this change, users who wish to avoid politically charged or other sensitive topics may do so by opting out of The Spin Zone in their new posts searches, but still participate in other, lighter weight topics of a non-aviation related nature.

We hope you enjoy this new configuration, and as always, we thank you for landing at Pilots of America.

PoA Management
 
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This topic has long been lost from the news, buried on the 2nd or 3rd page, so I'm making a copy of it for Hangar Talk and stickying it, just so there is no confusion on our official policy on where political discussions belong.

Please also be advised that if you post a political topic/post in an improper location, it is just as likely to be deleted as moved.
 
Once you join the participant group is it also possible leave the group? Or is it like the Mafia that once you are in you can never leave?
 
You can leave the group from the same page you joined the group.

Unfortunately, in order to exclude SZ from searches completely, I must hide the forum completely. The permissions don't seem to work as advertised. :(
 
Tester said:
You can leave the group from the same page you joined the group.

Unfortunately, in order to exclude SZ from searches completely, I must hide the forum completely. The permissions don't seem to work as advertised. :(
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So .. Spin Zone is just gone now? No more political discussions? I thought
it was opt out.
 
RogerT said:
So .. Spin Zone is just gone now? No more political discussions? I thought
it was opt out.
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As of last week it's opt in. You need to go to User CP > Group Memberships.
 
Is there anyway for non-MC users to see, in entirety, who has opted into the SZ? I know I can see by going to each individual profile I can see if that user has opted in. But I am really wondering is if there is a way to see the list in its entirety?
 
I hope not.
 
Why does it matter? If they post, you know they're there. If they don't, who cares if they're lurking?
 
Ah - well then - not at this time that I am aware of. :)
 
Recently, the Management Council posted a general warning about the level of offensive rhetoric in the Spin Zone. After dealing with five violations of the Rules of Conduct in the Spin Zone in the last 12 hours, the Management Council has concluded that too many participants did not take that warning to heart. We have decided that a "time out" is necessary so that all Spin Zone posters can reflect on whether or not they wish to play by the rules. Therefore, the Spin Zone is closed for three days.

While the Spin Zone is closed, non-aviation related political, religious, or otherwise potentially controversial topics posted in other forums in violation of the rules for those forums will be deleted, and users who persist in posting inappropriate material will be subject to full site suspension.

If, when the Spin Zone reopens, all participants demonstrate a recommitment to the principles of civil discourse upon which this this site was founded, it will remain open. If this pervasive lack of self-discipline continues at the current level, the Management Council will eliminate that forum permanently because we are unwilling to continune spending the amount of time required to manage the misbehavior of the small but significant number of participants who do not abide by the rules.
 
An open inquiry to Management: I'm new to this group. I know that you can't repeat the offending posts without defeating your censorship, but can you give some of us, in my case having been a member for only 3 days, some information as to what was worthy of such precipitous action?
 
Tester said:
You can leave the group from the same page you joined the group.

Unfortunately, in order to exclude SZ from searches completely, I must hide the forum completely. The permissions don't seem to work as advertised. :(
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You seem to have done an excellent job of hiding it. I have not been able to find it anywhere.

Does this mean that the POA forum does not want any discussions that could be controversial, jokes that could possibly offend someone?

Looking at the various little smile icons, it appears that a few of them hardly ever would have to be used, such as: :hairraise: :mad2: :eek: :cryin: :mad:, I am sure there are more.

I agree, there should never be personal attacks on any public forum, nor should a foul mouth be tolerated. I am new to this group so I am not all that familiar with the dynamics of the members. I think that as long as a thread does not degenerate into an angry mess and the participants conduct themselves like grownups, then most topics should be allowed.

Having not been a member long enough, perhaps it has been tried and things just could not remain peaceable. Perhaps pilots are a rowdy lot who are unable to handle differing opinions all that well?

What does SZ mean?

John
 
John Baker said:
You seem to have done an excellent job of hiding it. I have not been able to find it anywhere.
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You need to go to User CP > Group Memberships to turn it on. Then it will appear as a sub-forum under Hangar Talk.

John Baker said:
Having not been a member long enough, perhaps it has been tried and things just could not remain peaceable. Perhaps pilots are a rowdy lot who are unable to handle differing opinions all that well?
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I think that depends on your definitions of "peaceable". I think it's fine, but other members did not want to be subjected to its existence so we are in hiding.

John Baker said:
What does SZ mean?
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Spin zone. :devil:
 
John Baker said:
Does this mean that the POA forum does not want any discussions that could be controversial, jokes that could possibly offend someone?
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No, but it does mean it's primarily an aviation forum, and it wants the potentially temper-raising non-aviation discussions of religion, politics, sex, etc., kept in a separate segment where those interested can participate without bothering anyone else.
What does SZ mean?
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Spin Zone, so named because intentional spins are not required for normal flight and not everyone is interested in doing them or having them occur in their traffic pattern.
 
So, what category does this fall under, where would it properly be posted?


Two churches across the street from each other:


noname.jpg



John
 
Ken Ibold said:
I dunno, I guess there should be a separate forum for faked pix?
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You mean those pictures are faked? Darn, I cracked up laughing when I saw them for the first time this morning. Now you've gone and wrecked it for me.

Next thing I know your going to tell me that the airplane that lost one of it's wings, then made a successful landing is a fake as well, aren't you? Pilots seem to be a serious bunch of people. :D

John
 
John Baker said:
You mean those pictures are faked? Darn, I cracked up laughing when I saw them for the first time this morning. Now you've gone and wrecked it for me.
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;)
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Wow..What can I say?
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Back in the day, employment applications had a place for "church preference"

The guy who started at the CPA firm at the same time I did wrote in "red brick"
 
steingar said:
If there are no dogs in heaven what's the point?
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I know that when I get to "the other side" all the dogs I have loved and cared for over the years will be the first ones to great me. I feel strongly about this.
 
Attempted to join, got this.

This user's primary usergroup is also listed as a secondary group for this user. Please change the primary group or remove the secondary group.
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Bye Bye Spin Zone... I left it months ago for many of the reasons its being discontinued..

Thanks to the management council for making their decision.
 
I left the Spin Zone a couple of years ago simply because it became too much of a time suck. It was a lot of fun, though, and it's sad that some people couldn't keep the arguments segregated "over there"...
 
Jay Honeck said:
I left the Spin Zone a couple of years ago simply because it became too much of a time suck. It was a lot of fun, though, and it's sad that some people couldn't keep the arguments segregated "over there"...
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Yet nothing really changed since Greebo posted the first post in this thread. Bad players exist everywhere, and they existed in 2007 when I joined this board.
 
nddons said:
Yet nothing really changed since Greebo posted the first post in this thread. Bad players exist everywhere, and they existed in 2007 when I joined this board.
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History is about to be repeated. As far as I can tell (I wasn't a member then) PoA lasted about 1 year before the need to create the Spin Zone occurred. Or maybe PoA was civil in all that time and it was the Spin Zone that has caused problems?

The MC should have kept the Spin Zone open and instead warned the rule-breakers at most X times for each rule violation, where X is about 3, and then permanently banned on the X + 1 violation. The problem is that this requires more effort than the MC pay-scale rates. You gets whats you pays for.

One way to keep things civil is to filter out uncivil posts.
Another way to keep things civil is to filter out posters who can't stay civil.

Closing the Spin Zone accomplishes neither of the above. It appears to be primarily a psychological ploy that will quickly fade from poster's memory. I will be amazed at the deep insight into human behavior the MC has that I don't if heated political or religious discussions no longer occur on PoA simply because the Spin Zone was closed.
 
O, that the mods have made this announcement WRT SZ in HT. So much irony to build a battleship.

Lest we forget, Chuck started POA specifically because AOPA had problems in getting their forums back up. It was the right call because AOPA came back even more heavy handed. History repeats.

Jim is onto something. It is exactly as he said. Time will prove it.
 
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Meh. I won't miss it.

I stopped posting in SZ when I realized it was just the same canned ideological diatribe being hurled back and forth, ad nauseum. There are maybe three or four SZ'ers -- half a dozen at the most -- whose posts consistently articulate the ability to apply independent thought to a discussion. The rest are more adept at spouting their respective parties' propaganda than engaging in anything vaguely resembling an open-minded discussion.

I also can understand why the MC wants no part of fielding complaints by members who voluntarily join what they know is basically an unmoderated forum, but who then cry like infants when their feelings are bruised. If I were a mod, I would have deleted those complaints unanswered.

Rich
 
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I'm a member of the SZ but I so rarely post in it that it's absence wouldn't put me out.

That said, I've never quite understood why there was a "spin zone", rather than a separate subforum with relaxed rules. It will be interesting to see if there is any fallout or change in behavior in the rest of the POA forums now that there is no "outlet" for some folks to vent.
 
POA will miss the Spin zone. You can't stop a third of your posts without some effect.
 
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