Great Western Coffee Shop

One of the big misconceptions about the Internet, and forums like this, is that they offer free speech.   But alas, that's rarely if ever the case. One man's freedom to speak contradicts another man's right to freedom from personal abuse and attack.  One man's freedom to post links to sites of a sexual nature contradicts another man's right to have his children read the site in safety.  And a totally open and unmoderated posting policy would leave the owners of this forum open to all sorts of legal challenges from copyright infringement to libel, and from decency to incitement.  What must and must not be allowed, and what we choose to allow and choose not to allow, has been the subject of recent discussion between the moderation team, and what I'm posting here is with their full support.

A personal message I received on Saturday told me that this forum "misses the point of free speech", which is news to us as we never attempted to promise it in the first place.  When each and every member signs up here, (and that includes YOU if you're a signed up member!) agrees to a series of restraints, and what the moderator team and administrators do is attempt to give all members as much flexibility as possible within those terms you have agreed to.  You can read the full text of the agreement at the following URL:
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=1761.0

If you would like a brief summary of that, I have come up with the following overarching guideline which I would like to propose ... to be applied after a short period of reasoned discussion on this thread.

"Actions likely to offend, upset or waste the time of many other users of this forum, or its moderators and administrators, inciting and encouraging others in such actions, and failing to alert the moderators and administrators of the board of serious contraventions which are being planned  ... are all contrary to the terms of your forum agreement"

On any forum such as this (and this is not the only forum I have been / am involved with) there's a variety of members with quite a number of different interests, and that sometimes leads to some tough choices for the team that's looking after the boards.  Our intent has always been to provide a friendly place for the traveller (and wannabe traveller where no appropriate service is available)  - and to welcome too members of FGW and other railway company staff, and other financial, technical and regulatory bodies, and outside experts too whether they are formally qualified or it's just their hobby to know about trains. Occasionally, there can be a conflict of interest between these various groups, which is regrettable - and I would like to confirm that we are very much the traveller's platform and put those interests first.

There are plenty of other forums available which take a different balance, such as:
http://www.railchat.co.uk/
http://www.railwayforum.net/
http://railwayforums.co.uk/forum/
http://www.modelrailforum.com/forums/
http://www.swlines.co.uk/forum/
http://www.eastcoastchat.co.uk/forum/index.php
and I'm going to encourage visitors to this forum who feel out of step with our particular mix, and who cannot agree to our forum guidelines, to find a forum where they'll feel happier - for everyone's sake.

Still reading? I'm delighted - thank you. You'll probably have seen the new map that appeared quietly at the top of the pages here a couple of weeks ago, and we have more planned for you over coming months.  With the Olympics just finished in Beijing, and this being the August Bank Holiday weekend, it's quite quiet at the moment ... but when the schools go back, nights start to draw in, the rolling stock merrygoround starts again with set swaps for Christmas, and the new timetable for December clarifies, I expect we'll find that we have plenty to talk about this autumn.

Interestingly - no follow up posts here, but a whole series of things via personal message, email, etc.  And all but one in full support.   I have considered, very carefully, the one message that included both supportive and negative elements, and shared it with the other members of the moderation team who have been around in the last couple of days.

Some comments in answer:

* On "The Coffee Shop", any emails / messages that you send to the moderation team will remain confidential within that team.  We reject the request that the modeartion team should forward complaints made about other members directly to the member or members being complained about - that would mean that, in effect, we were turning over anyone who was being bullied to the bullies themselves - please excuse the "playground" wording, but that's the best parallel.

* We do not attempt to (nor would we wish to) ask members not to post when they are under the influence of recreational substances such as alcohol.  However, such influences cannot be used as mitigation for activities which are against the forum agreement while members are under the influence.

* It is not sufficient for "the majority" of a member's posts to be usefully on topic.  If a substantial minority of your posts are scoring points off other members and sniping at the moderators because you disagree with a decision they have made then that's far too many.

A big "thank you" to the members who have offered support for the moves we're making back to being that friendly place that it was set up to be, and away from some of the things we have seen of late.  I was actually relived to see a "goodbye" message from one poster yesterday evening - I think he'll be far happier with a different group, and that his departure will make things much happier for the coffee shop - and for him too.

As from midnight tonight, the clarifications in this thread take full effect, and apply to all members.  And for 99% of posting members, that won't make any difference what so ever  ;D

Allow me to say that I totally approve of your efforts to appease the majority of posters on here, Graham. Though I must admit to being slightly tipsy! ;)

yeh thats normally my trick... ive had a couple of weeks off tho so i think i can be forgiven for the odd drink  :D, not tonight tho

i would like to say that i find myself logging into this more than facebook now!

Me too ... I could never get much of a thrill out of poking people  ;)