Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Moderators: Why was my Old Steinway Thread Deleted?

Even though it is found in the rules and in other places, it bears repeating that this is a family site. There are quite a few teenagers that participate here and I know for a fact that it is read by pre-teens. So no, we are not all big boys and girls. Keep this in mind when complaining about the moderators.

And I'm actually a teen, albeit an arguably nerdy one (in piano, as I would like to consider myself), who uses this site! But your assertion that this is a family site does not resonate with me...it is just this content and depth of content into pianos that would be rather over many kids' heads. Like a nine year old would scratch his head at (especially) the Piano Technicians' Forum.

Talk to the average 9-12 year old about what they've got access to on the internet in 2014 and I think you'll realize that it's awfully naive to think that a child is going to come across ANYTHING on PW that shocks or offends them.
To restate my original point, I don't think we should have NO moderators here. I think that the moderators' job should be made less subjective. Have RULES and if the rules are broken then you're banned. Simple and easy to execute.

Agreed. Pre-teens use plenty of 4-letter words, and
watch plenty of adult videos online.

Like what? (notice word length)

I hear you and agree ...

You can chalk up my use of the word Gestapo to my own ignorance. I thought that word was a reference to 1940's whistle blowing billy bat carrying keystone cops. After seeing the negative reaction to the use of that word I googled it and to my horror realised the Nazi inference. I'm sorry for that. And I should have payed more attention in my high school history class as to have avoided looking like a fool 20 years later here.
That being said, MINUS that ONE inappropriately used word, I still feel that my points are valid regarding the way moderation is used in this forum. And again, yes I know it's a private forum and if I don't like it I can buzz off. But THAT being said this is a FORUM and I think some of you need to google what THAT word means:)

Careful monitoring is a subtle, sometimes not totally effective, means of discouraging cheap shots, negative comments, childish bickering, self promotion and soap box declarations. Because of it, IMHO, PW is often interesting, informative and sometimes entertaining.
Take a moment and scan the comments section associated with a story on, say, the ABC News website. I hope PW never degenerates to that level and with continued monitoring of the kind Rick provides I am confident that it never will.

I have read posts on PW that shocked and offended me, much less my kids. Thankfully, such posts are usually deleted by the moderators in short order. I do not wish to have to monitor my kids when they are reading PW.

My main concern, when it comes to my own children, is that they not get a warped impression of what is acceptable to say to another person. There is plenty of nastiness that goes on all over the internet. It eases my concern when I see moderators try to put a cap on that nastiness.

And, of course, trying to make moderation more objective would be a futile endeavor. Making it more objective means making very specific rules. The number of rules that would have to be published to bring noticeably more objectivity would probably be large. Now you would have the situation that there would be too many rules for even the moderators to keep track of. And, ironically, even if you were to implement such a system of inflexible rules, you end up with something that much more resembles a police state than what we have now.

I find that difficult to believe. I will, however, give you the benefit of the doubt.

Oh sweet truth!

Umm. Find what difficult to believe? That someone made a reference to something that they didn't fully understand the definition of? I met many Americans who don't even know the Capitol city of Canada or our prime minister. We're the second biggest country in the world and their closest neighbour to the north. Heck I've met Americans who don't know the Capitol city of the United States. And you find it surprising that someone doesn't know the name of the Nazi secret police from world war 2 which happened 70 years ago?
You must have very well educated friends....

Well, there are arguments that Toronto is really the capitol of Canada and that the same honour goes to NYC in the USA.

There used to be this show on the Canadian comedy network called 'Talking with America' hosted by a famous Canadian comic named Rick Mercer. In one episode he had a US senator congratulate Prime Minister Tim Horton on the passing of his 'double double bill' (double double in Canada is how you order 2 creams and 2 sugars in your coffee at Tim Hortons:)

I heard on the radio yesterday that TSA agents have been rejecting District of Columbia drivers' licenses and telling passengers that if they don't have a "US" ID they need a passport!

Hehehe... I would have assumed "double double" meant you had to write the bill twice: once in English, and again en Français!

Aren't Congresspersons and Senators aliens by definition? They sure can seem to be totally alienated from reality.

Ergo ......

Once when I was returning from overseas, the flight attendant was explaining the Immigration and Customs forms so that passengers could have them filled out before arrival. She explained that U.S. citizens needed only to fill out the customs form to declare what they were bringing into the US, while non-US citizens would also need to fill out the immigration form as well. She summed it up by saying, "if you're not a US citizen, you need both forms."

A few rows back a lady asked, "even if you're Canadian?"

The flight attendant repeated, "if you're not a US citizen, you need both forms."

The lady asked again: "even if you're Canadian?" The flight attendant repeated herself verbatim.

This went round and round, three or four times. Finally, the [presumably] Canadian lady stood up, waved her arms around--as if she hadn't previously had the attendant's attention--and asked testily, "even if you're Canadian?"

The flight attendant then asked, "are you a US citizen?" The Canadian lady replied that she was not, so the flight attendant repeated herself again: "if you're not a US citizen, you need both forms."

Unbelievably, at that point the lady began shrugging her shoulders and waving her arms up and down and said incredulously, "I can't get a straight answer out of this lady."


For what it's worth, the "we're smarter than they are" perspective is always a two-way street...

I shall refrain from any allusion to Rob Ford.

But, it is so tempting!

Hey, we tried to make them citizens....I guess they liked the British too much