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locked post-bob cav

67GT390FB

Regular Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2007
Messages
860
Location
Richmond, Virginia, USA
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Bob,

I would like to respectfully ask you to unlock the "walmart greeter" post. I believe that as an open community that OCDO should remain open. Which is the reason I reconsidered and posted this on the site instead of the original intent of a private message.

There was no name calling or foul language used by any of the posters. There are plenty of topics that branch beyond thebasic open carry topic. And if we lock every one of those then there won't be much left to respond to on the forum.

There aremyriad topics that bringpolitics and religion into the discussion that haveleft the open carry reservation. There was even a picture of a pink caped "THUPER HERO" put into a post started by an openly gay man. Though that particular individual stated that he was unoffended others may not have been. I have seen many posts here that are much more confrontational than this particular one. See the many Cato v. LEO229 for some examples and these posts have remain unlocked.

Part of the reason we post on this forum is the community aspect of it. We in thiscommunity are all different and discussing ones views beyond open carry, help to expand everyone elses knowledge base as well as the sense of community. Thus we sometimes disagree with each other. If we were all the same then this would be a prettysleepy place.

As long as the post remainscalm which so far it has, we should be allowed to continue the discourse if the person involved chooses to do so.If he chooses not to explain or answer that too is his right, but to take away the option to answer a legitimately asked question in my opinion is wrong.

I would also like you to expand and explain your statement:

"Enough is enough. This topic is no longer about Open Carry or guns andthis not what OCDO is about or who we are. Topic closed."

I have read many of your posts and respect what you have said in them.I believe from them that you are an articulate well read individual who feels passionately about what he believes. I can not speak for the other posters but I would like you to explain to me what you believe to be the problem with open dialog. I can't help but wonder who gave you the abilty to not only read minds but be able to read them over the internet and to define what the OCDO is about or who we are outside of your newly minted member moderator status.

Where is the line drawn for topic content. Don't mention anything about your family unless they are carrying guns. Don't mention God whichever one that might be for the individual unless you are open carrying on one hip and have your Torah,Koran, Bible in your off hand. Don't mention your race,creed,orientation,age,height,gender unless it is followed by a " .....and I open carry a ABCDE in BLAH-BLAH caliber."

We are all individuals with differing backgrounds and experiences whose commonality is the desire to exercise our second ammendment rights(and to a degree our first). It is the differences not the similarities that make this site great. Otherwise we should just limit our posts to "I open carried today at XYZ, but ABC kicked me out." Man that would get real boring really fast.

Please let me know your thoughts, inquistive minds like mine would like to know.



Sincerely,



Joe Ligon


edited for stupid spelling mistake passionate not pationate
 

bayboy42

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2006
Messages
897
Location
Gloucester Point, Virginia, USA
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Not to stir the pot but I have to agree with67GT390FBon this one. BobCav, we have corresponded several times and totally agree "you are an articulate well read individual who feels pationately about what he believes". I was actually very excited to hear that you had been named the new "OCDO New Member Moderator" especially after the recent spamming events. I think maybe an "official warning" or some sort of steering should have been tried before locking the post.



V/R

Troy
 

BobCav

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Feb 7, 2007
Messages
2,798
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No longer in Alexandria, Egypt
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Joe, I appreciate your post and your candor andoffer the following.

OCDO is growing rapidly and membership and readership is up. That's a great thing, but as with any forum, there are growing pains.

A reality that anyone that has been using forums for any length of time can confirm is that self-moderated boards just don't work. They end up in chaos and full of flame-wars and become places where people just won't want to be.I hope that as a moderator that I can help keep things on track, to keep focus and only if necessarytoclose threads that are headed for trouble or even delete posts and or threads if necessary (like the spaming incidents). I have absolutely no desire or intention of being anyone's nanny...we're all adults here. In fact, that's one of the reasons I like it here so much, it's not overmoderated at all.

That said, none of uswant OCDO to become a place where we only say "I OC'ed here"...."I OC'ed there". I'd leave as fast as anyone if that were the case!

I am allfor open dialogue, discussion, even passionate and heated debate!The strongest swords are forged in the hottest fires! I've been involved in those heated discussions myself both here and on other forums and have been quickly called out where something I said was wrong. It's a learning process. That's the simple truth of it - this entire forum is designed to bea learning process for us all.

As for the "THUPER HERO" post, that was before I was a mod and I'm not going to examine every post since the board was opened. The situation was handled and the posters moved on.

As with any learning environment, there are certain "triggers" that will both enhance the learning process and ones that will immediately turn off the reader.

I closed the thread becausethere were personal attacks; "Shut Up" and "learn to write" were both used by VoteNo to provoke and have no other purpose. Those triggersprompted atopicchange from the "Walmart Greeter" to use of racial descriptors. Many times we get into a little "thread hijacking", myself included, but more often than not it'sfor the betterment of the thread or clarification of a certainpost.

You said you thought the post was remaining calm, but I disagree. It was headed for the abyss...I make no effort to get into anyone's minds. I can only read one mind and that is my own and I make no claims to the contrary, but I can see what I believe to be the inevitable outcome of a discussion based only on my own experiences.

In this case, VoteNo and Apjonas were pushing this into a debate about what was in each other's minds concerning use of racial descriptors; people were told to "shut up" (a huge trigger and not conducive to open dialogue) and racial stereotypes were being discussed, not OC or the initial experience. Those are HUGE triggers and delicate ground. Even you called yourself a "mick" and even though you are Irish and think that makes it OK, it isn't. It's still a racial slur and no different than some of the more commonly heard slurs used today.I'm half Italian and half Irish andIrish or Italian slursdon't bother me one bit andare more of a reflection of the user of those words. They also have no place here, as they are slurs. Even though I or someone else mayor may not take it as one, they are.

I want OCDO toremain to be a place to learn from each other's experiences andshare our common passions;OpenCarry,guns, 2A issues and how it all ties together and affects our rights.

This is a learning experience for me as well and I'm not unreasonable at all. Now that I made you read my whole "Moderator Manifesto", I'll reopen it, but it needs to remain on topic and posters need to remain respectful toward one another.

In the true sense of revisionist history that would make any liberal proud,I edited my final post and reopened the thread.
 

44Brent

Regular Member
Joined
May 21, 2006
Messages
772
Location
Olympia, WA
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That said, none of uswant OCDO to become a place where we only say "I OC'ed here"...."I OC'ed there". I'd leave as fast as anyone if that were the case!


I would like to ask a question about your statements above.

Why is there a section for each state titled "Open carry stories from {state}"?
  1. Isn't the bulletin board explicitly designedto solicit these stories so that people can share their experiences?
  2. How are people supposed to learn that open carry is generally uneventful unless theyread testimonials?
  3. How are practitioners of open carry supposed to find the trouble-spots that need to be fixed unless people identify them?
 

livitup

Regular Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2006
Messages
171
Location
Culpeper, Virginia, USA
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Not to put words in BobCav's mouth, but I believe the key word in his post was "only". Those types of posts are of course welcome, as well as other relevant topics.
 

BobCav

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2007
Messages
2,798
Location
No longer in Alexandria, Egypt
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44Brent wrote:
That said, none of uswant OCDO to become a place where we only say "I OC'ed here"...."I OC'ed there". I'd leave as fast as anyone if that were the case!

I would like to ask a question about your statements above.

Why is there a section for each state titled "Open carry stories from {state}"?
  1. Isn't the bulletin board explicitly designedto solicit these stories so that people can share their experiences?
  2. How are people supposed to learn that open carry is generally uneventful unless theyread testimonials?
  3. How are practitioners of open carry supposed to find the trouble-spots that need to be fixed unless people identify them?
I said I'd leave if it became a place where we ONLY say that...just simple lists of where to and where not to OC. That would be boring and that's not howI see OCDO to be right now. It'sa whole lot morethan that andit's already a great place to share information, such as you describe.
 

BobCav

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Feb 7, 2007
Messages
2,798
Location
No longer in Alexandria, Egypt
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livitup wrote:
Not to put words in BobCav's mouth, but I believe the key word in his post was "only". Those types of posts are of course welcome, as well as other relevant topics.
Thanks livitup, exactly what I was referring to!
 
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