We have created a new forum rule as follows:

“The Axiom Forum is intended to be a fun place to discuss our fun hobby. Posters intent on being argumentative may be banned at the sole discretion of the moderators.”

It occurred to me, given the events of the past week, that it may be presumptuous on our part that our Forum should be fun place to hang out. For all of us who have been here a long time we are used to how it works but for someone new this may not be immediately apparent. Our hobby represents the coming together of technology and enjoyment. We use the former to create ever higher degrees of the latter. It is the wonderful emotional experience our audio systems give us that is our end goal.

Our Forum adds another piece to this experience in that it gives us an enjoyable place to chat about the technology and our experiences alike; many of which may not even be audio related. This is something we need to preserve.

Thanks Ian.

The contents of this rule are similar to those in the 'New Official Axiom Audio Speakers Owners Thread' over at AVS.

This has generally worked very well over there where it has become civil, respectful & helpful to folks again...

TAM

very good, love it!

:-)

Excellent, Ian!

Edit: Now I have to remember to be a fun guy!

You forgot to run away funning.

Thanks for taking the time and interest with this, Ian. I commend you for your desire to keep this place as open and un-policed as possible. It IS fun and it IS cool!

But you know, what with this new rule and all, we sure are gonna miss Peter, JP and Cam.

Totally agree with you Ian, this place has always been about exchanging of ideas, help and opinions, it has been that and I have benefitted from this a few times. Without knowing what has transpired this past week I guess it come down to respect... unfortunately it seems you need to have this 'guideline' or 'rule' nowadays, online intimidation, rude comments or insults has become a real problem and can sometimes make a nice community or forum a unpleasant place to visit.

I'm in.

Thank you, Ian.

This forum more than any other I know is about exchanging information in a fun way. We certainly don't always agree but everyone is normally extra polite about it. It should not be tolerated for anyone - especially a forum newcomer from the extreme northwest of North America or wherever - to pick fights with one of the more seasoned posters.

By the same token, now that this rule has been made explicit it would be in the spirit of fun to offer a second chance if circumstances warrant this.

Good stuff. I had never read the rules till just now. I assumed this was already the case. Fantastic.

Thank you.

Is there anyone among us who has not gotten second chances at lots of things? I'm in.

Will it include some sort of contrition and penance? Can I be on the Purgatory Committee?

I HAVE been both the Pope and GOD from time to time (never at the same time), so I do have the credentials.

I made Bob's list! He likes me! He really likes me!!!

Calm down, Sally, calm down.

I'm glad you get the references of all my non-original thoughts.

Do you have another kind?

Bazinga.

But ... he already bazinga'd me on that. I was referencing the original bazinga!

And bazinga is not an original thought, either, Sheldon!

Oh, never mind.

“The Axiom Forum is intended to be a fun place to discuss our fun hobby. Posters intent on being argumentative may be banned at the sole discretion of the moderators.”

Perfect.

So you're saying that we should boot Mark out?

Brilliant!

All the years I have been here and I have never seen a moderator have to intervene nor has ian had to slap on rules. We are all presumably adults yet some behavior was childish. All it would have taken was to ignore the perpetrator and he would have moved on like he did on avs etc. Hopefully we all learned something ,I know I did.

Some of your patients have GOT to have some REALLY original thoughts. Why not steal and use some of theirs? I doubt any of them has an intellectual property copyright lawyer, so you'd probably get away with it easily.

Start now, who's the wiser?

The mind boggles. If I wrote down some of that stuff ... it'd make Donnie Darko look like Mary Poppins.

We're listening. OK, Go ahead. You MUST have someone who thinks he/she is a famous (or imagined-to-be-famous would be better) historical figure! Why not start there?

So, who's going to play the part of expendible forum member who runs away crying then?

::Walks away, steeling resolve::

Newsflash, Fred! We're all expendable! I hope that makes you feel better Mark. (However there was rumor that you were on the short list--you know, like short school buses that, in essence say, "We may be moving, but we're really never going to get anywhere." Ya, kinda like that.)

Just be careful's all I'm sayin' OK?

Hmmmmmmm, I take it I missed a few things while I was busy living my other life.

Jason, stop living another life.

[zombie]Stay here instead of living in the outside world..... become one of us.....One Of Ussssss..... [/zombie]

Dang, no more complaining.

To clarify (from Merriam-Webster):
"Relating to or causing the expression of opposing opinions."

Did I get this right?

What I miss? Never mind, I don't want to know. I hate drama.

I can't speak for everyone but I think it goes without saying opinions are most welcome, state them and move on.
The case here, I'm sure, was the "better than thou" attitude that got personal quickly. It was the way the posts were written.
Me, I hope he comes back and pokes a little fun, but only after getting the hint.

Been on a number of internet forums for more than 15 years now. Every forum is a community with it's own dynamic. I am always amazed when a newcomer joins and, without lurking awhile to determine the forum dynamic, immediately starts posting controversial, often insulting, stuff.

It's like walking into someone's house, flopping down on the sofa, ordering a beer, and pointing out the faults of the house and its owners. What the heck does one think will be the results? Such behavior certainly isn't a prescription for a warm welcome.

I say it's time to let this ride.. take it as he was probably abused when he was young or he has a real boring personal life that he feels the need to go insult people on an other forum, or some cut him off on the road while giving him the bird!!!

opinions often can show the best and worst from some people!

So true! LOL.


And when you tell them the price, I bet YOUR welcome cools a bit.

Jack, Jack, Jack!

You get them laughing about everything your're pointing out that you are actually faulting. (Having been a bartender is great experience for this.) A short time later, you leave them that way---laughing. The next morning, they will come down for breakfast and re-asses all of that "wonderful-never-been-painted woodwork" and see it as "ancient-varnish-orange trim" with little "samples" of every color the room has ever been painted in 8 decades, in blobs and swipes all along every edge in the whole gd house. Now it HAS TO GO and they can't wait the 72 hours I told them it'd take for me to email the estimate to them.

Of course, until I said something, they'd been living with it for 7 years. Now they want it all gone before they come home from work tomorrow.

They just hope I'm a not a top-dollar guy. When they get the email and find out I'm not. It's mine. I'm pretty M.O.R., $-wise, esp. for what I bring to the table. Frankly, I'm a terrible business guy. I'm the moron that says "yes," to a few small extras for nothing, then the simplest of them will blow up in my face and cost me money.

They will wonder how they ever "saw" anything for what it really was without your keen and deeply experienced assistance.
Wait 3 days, no more no less. They will still remember the laughs and feel even more strongly about what you suggest. That's the day you email (only!) your estimate.

Break out every last screw and 1/2 hour of labor of your estimate and never total it. Tell them it's so they can pick and choose what they might like to do now or put off until later and just add in THOSE things, plus materials at my full discounts.

They will never add it up, because they want to do everything, now that you've made them think everything needs to be done sooner or later. (It does!) The breakouts all sound reasonable (and they are), so they will often, really often, pull the trigger on the whole thing.

As long as I can get an "Oooh," or an "Ahhh" on the first day they see two colored areas together, I'm in like Flynn.

I do get resistance most often when it comes to editing.

"I know your mother hand-painted that dresser for you when you were only 6, but nothing even remotely like it appears in any of the magazine pages of bedrooms you've ripped out to show me, does it?"

I will testify to this being the truth.

Bob pointed out that the woodwork in our kitchen as orange-ey and not even nice wood.

Joyce and I haven't looked at it the same since, and we picked the colors and bought the paint.

I haven't had time to actually DO the work yet, which means Bob made us hate it and then live with it for another year beyond (so far!!).

Bob, Bob, Bob. Didn't you see the wink?

Bob Hates emotes. They appear orange-ey to him and not even nice wood.

Jack, Murph is correct. I'm terrible at even noticing emotos, let alone interpreting them.