Important!!! Shore Leave forum is on temporary hiatus until further notice.

[Chuck]

Lots of cat memes and funny sign photos to prune for copyright infringements and yada yada...

 

Over 150,000 posts of "what folks had for dinner" and "Old guy parking quirks"

 

This may take a while.   In the meanwhile....direct your attention to the other forum areas dedicated to the wonderful world of ship modeling!!!

 

AND please.....do not post one Minion meme in any of the other areas.....wink wink....you know who you are...resist the urge.

 

And yes we still do have a Nautical General discussion forum that should fit your needs for most other stuff other than topics about "those old jokes" and the likes.

 

 

[allanyed]

9 minutes ago, Chuck said:

direct your attention to the other forum areas dedicated to the wonderful world of ship modeling!

I get it Chuck and it was fun while it lasted, but why is there still a Non-Ship build forum that has cars and what not?  It does not matter to me, but curious why one is OK the others are not.   In the end MSW is 44,000 times better than any other ship modeling site!!!

Allan

Edited November 9, 2023 by allanyed

[James H]

8 minutes ago, allanyed said:

but why is there still a Non-Ship build forum

Simply because we understand that some modellers also want to post side projects, other than ships. 

 

That area should have the same rules for posting within as the ship build logs. It's not a general chit chat place.

[realworkingsailor]

19 minutes ago, allanyed said:

I get it Chuck and it was fun while it lasted, but why is there still a Non-Ship build forum that has cars and what not?  It does not matter to me, but curious why one is OK the others are not.   In the end MSW is 44,000 times better than any other ship modeling site!!!

Allan

 

9 minutes ago, James H said:

Simply because we understand that some modellers also want to post side projects, other than ships. 

 

That area should have the same rules for posting within as the ship build logs. It's not a general chit chat place.

I’m glad you kept that part of the Shore Leave forum, and I understand the reasons behind the suspension of the other part. I hope that things can remain this way, as regardless of subject, MSW is a great forum to belong to.
 

I know lately I’ve been away from ship modelling (it’s a “mood” thing), but as part of my researching for my “other projects” I stumbled across another forum that uses the same type platform and similar format as MSW (I will not name it). While there was a similar wealth of information and a similar community of enthusiasts, some of the threads I read turned into almost outright nastiness: “You’re wrong!” “No, you’re wrong!” (I’m paraphrasing, but I hope you get the idea). I was considering joining as it would be a more appropriate venue for my current modelling endeavours, but after seeing the darker side, I lost my appetite. 
 

I truly hope that things are allowed to continue here in the newly adjusted format. I think, for the most part, the people posting down there at the bottom of the forum are still following the MSW rules (it really isn’t a high bar to step over, if you think about it). 
 

And if I do do something in error, please let me know so I can correct it, if possible, and avoid making a similar misstep in the future.

 

Andy

[Chuck]

1 hour ago, allanyed said:

but why is there still a Non-Ship build forum that has cars and what not?

The non ship model builds are still there.   In fact its more prominent.  That section has not been removed at all.  AND it wont ever be removed.   Just the meme forum was temporarily removed!!!   

 

Its still a model.  I think dancing cats and bad dad jokes are a far cry from other model building content.   Not even close or fair to compare the two...where many of the same techniques are used and described which helps folks. 

 

You guys would not believe that as much as 45% to 50% of the posts made every day were of dancing cats and funny signs.  Somewhere many of you have lost your focus of what this site is all about.   Many of you post upwards of a dozen useless jokes and cartoons each day while not posting anything else ship model related.   This is NOT that kind of site.   Stick to model building stuff!!!  Its great to post a few off topic posts...but too many of the usual suspects took the site for granted at everyone else's expense for their own personal gratification.  

 

I have been one of the longest members here being member number tTWO actually.   I might have 100 topics that I have posted since then...but we literally had two guys that havent been here half as long as me who have posted HUNDREDS of these meme topics.  Hundreds if not thousands of copy/pasted photos of nonsense.   AND zero.....I repeat...zero stand alone topics that have anything to do with model building.   Funny thing...I spent a half hour pruning about 30 photos that literally had copyright watermarks on them.   When I returned to the shore leave forum after that, I discovered that the same freaking guy had posted about 40 more new ones.   How is that even possible?  I could just give that guy the boot and maybe a half dozen others as they were warned many times.  But it always ...always goes back to the way it was.   This unfortunately snowballed and encouraged many of our members who do actually post model stuff to also pile on and post a several nonsense topics.  The sheer number of these topics/photos and distractions are NOT good for advancing ship modeling as a whole.  And its not fun for our moderators and admin.  

 

 

not fair to compare to this.....I have 150,000 of these useless posts and topics to wade through...Thanks guys.

 

 

 

 

[hamilton]

Could be a generational thing, Chuck. The more younger members join - which is to be encouraged to keep the craft going for future generations - it's probably to be expected that some of the broader elements of digital culture are going to creep in.....MSW - like most web forums - is old school internet, where it takes human beings to set up and enforce community standards. This is how the whole thing was when I first went online as a teen in the mid-1980s, when the NSF was still running the show. But most folks (young and old) have gotten used to a world where "moderation" has largely been automated through SEO algorithms and algorithmic news feeds, so I don't think there is as clear an understanding of the human labour that goes into managing a site like this and keeping its quality as high as it is. But it doesn't help if users treat the forum as if it were Facebook or "Twitter", where these kinds of posts have literally 0 impact on the management of the platform itself. If I had more time between my young family and my work I'd love to chip in to help with moderation here - I'll reach out once I can afford to retire - in 2043!!!! Waaahhhh!!!

hamilton

[Stevinne]

I never visited the shore leave section, but this is what the description was when it opened:

"If you haven't noticed, we've added a new topic area:  Shore Leave. 

 

From the pinned posts there about it: 

 

This is the area that many wanted, and perhaps didn't even know it. If your topic is nothing to do with the world of ships or ship modelling, then here is the place to post it. General chat, Birthday announces etc.

No politics. No religion. No inflammatory topics.

 

This area can be used for things like "visits to other members",  non-nautical type vacations, basically anything anyone wants to share but with the caveat that it will be heavily monitored for taboo subjects.

 

Want to discuss cars? Airplanes?  The great vacation?  The wedding?  No problem. 

 

Lastly, we will periodically clean it out of old posts and topics.

 

This forum was created in order to cut down on the off-topic posting in our other areas of the site.  Please post everything else here and in order to preserve the model resource for all of the build logs,  techniques forums etc and make them easier to navigate and read through.    Thanks   Don't hesitate to share your experiences with all of the friends you have met through the site!!!"

While cat memes (how do you pronounce that?) weren't specifically banned, it sounds like the problem wasn't folks were posting stuff that was offensive or not what members were told the forum section would or would not accept. I also don't recall seeing any posts decrying the state of the forum. It seems just a case that what was posted was what didn't fit with someone's idea of what the forum should be. Now get those kids off my lawn!

Edited November 9, 2023 by Stevinne

[Chuck]

Stevinee...yes you are correct.  But it got out of hand.   We thought it would be used by members to showcase other hobbies....The gardening....maybe astronomy or photography among birthday greetings etc.  Maybe a few fun topics.  But as with all things a few bad apples even after being warned used the forum for their own personal facebook site.   Posting bad jokes and memes and minions....by the thousands.

 

That is never what we ever thought it was going to turn into or become.  A distraction.  So no harm done.   There may be a few members that are so put off by its removal that they leave....but remember they never posting anything else but that stuff.   So no great loss.  I hope this rebalances the site and maybe in the future we can bring it back.   But I fear it would be impossible to police and moderate properly.  There will always be somebody that says his love of funny traffic signs is his other hobby and just as important as someone's other hobby of gardening.    And thus we will always end up with talking and dancing cats....bad jokes and quirky "doctors office moments"   or "your funniest cooking mistake...the list is endless.   That is called facebook.

 

Back to model building!!!

 

Chuck

[RossR]

I will miss the “What did you receive today” topic, but not the rest of it.   That topic was mostly model related.   

[Chuck]

14 minutes ago, RossR said:

I will miss the “What did you receive today” topic, but not the rest of it.   That topic was mostly model related.   

That can be easily rectified.

 

 

.....in fact its done along with a few other fan favorites.  Now in nautical general discussion.

 

As for the remaining....stick a fork in my eye....do I really have to go through this nonsense?   I could be model building instead?  Literally dozens more posted every few minutes....sometimes I hate my job.  150,000 posts to weed through.  

 

 

[Stevinne]

1 hour ago, Chuck said:

Stevinee...yes you are correct.  But it got out of hand.   We thought it would be used by members to showcase other hobbies....The gardening....maybe astronomy or photography among birthday greetings etc.  Maybe a few fun topics.  But as with all things a few bad apples even after being warned used the forum for their own personal facebook site.   Posting bad jokes and memes and minions....by the thousands.

 

That is never what we ever thought it was going to turn into or become.  A distraction.  So no harm done.   There may be a few members that are so put off by its removal that they leave....but remember they never posting anything else but that stuff.   So no great loss.  I hope this rebalances the site and maybe in the future we can bring it back.   But I fear it would be impossible to police and moderate properly.  There will always be somebody that says his love of funny traffic signs is his other hobby and just as important as someone's other hobby of gardening.    And thus we will always end up with talking and dancing cats....bad jokes and quirky "doctors office moments"   or "your funniest cooking mistake...the list is endless.   That is called facebook.

 

Back to model building!!!

 

Chuck

Chuck, Thanks for the quick and reasoned response. I hadn't realized they had been asked to stop and kept doing it nonetheless. Makes a lot more sense now.

[James H]

This morning I've awoken to a good number of members asking about accessing various Shore Leave topics.

 

All of those members used the Contact Us form at the bottom of the page...y'know, the one that says to use only if you have login problems. 

 

Please DO NOT use that form for questions relating to the forum. Try checking in other areas of the site you may not have ventured into for eons, such as this area. Continued misuse of that form will see it being barred from the use of individuals.

[Keith_W]

I would suggest that rather than pruning those threads, just close them with the reason being: "too many posts in this thread were infringing copyright, and it would take too long for admin/mods to go through the thread and delete them. 150,000 posts in total across multiple threads. Please refrain from posting copyrighted images in the future". 

 

It would save you a lot of time and take the tediousness out of it. 

 

Speaking of tedious ... back to rigging for me. 

[glbarlow]

A little respect for this site and our moderators would be nice. Go to Facebook if you want to post stupid stuff. 

[The Ships Cat]

I don't visit very often so don't keep up.

 

But if my thread "Them Old Jokes" has anything to do with things then I'm very sorry for it.

 

I'm just back from an Arabian adventure with the drunken bosun where he bought emergency powdered water, we got into the desert and he realised he had nothing to mix it with.

 

And now this.

[Chuck]

No not really…One or two topics like that is fine.  But it snowballed into about 300

 

most created by the same two or three guys and one guy in particular started about 200 of them.

[Chuck]

Twenty three pages of crap topics whittled down to less than one page.   Its back....but please nobody start another junk topic like that.  You know who you are.   One more meme and its gone for good.   

 

Lets see who the first member will be....want to take any bets?

 

 

[glbarlow]

I’ve never visited this forum, sounds like I will continue not to 🤣

[Toolmaker]

13 minutes ago, glbarlow said:

I’ve never visited this forum, sounds like I will continue not to 🤣

I think it’s safe to look in now Glenn. I’ve just had a nosey around and it’s full of interest for model ship builders (it was orrible before).

[Gregory]

1 hour ago, Chuck said:

Twenty three pages of crap topics whittled down to less than one page.   Its back....but please nobody start another junk topic like that.  You know who you are.   One more meme and its gone for good.   

 

Lets see who the first member will be....want to take any bets?

 

 

Chances are, it won't be someone who has read or understood your comments in this topic..

[RossR]

2 hours ago, Chuck said:

Twenty three pages of crap topics whittled down to less than one page. 

I like what you left in the topic. Thanks.  

[Keith Black]

 Hummm.......

 

 I like humor, a lot. Laughter is the best medicine. But I get that the 'Them Old Jokes' thread could become a bit tiresome especially with off color postings, we are after all a family show. Heck, I even enjoy a good meme! But as I said, I get it.  I really enjoyed the 'Cats' thread, I love cats. I'd frequently pass on posted cat funnies to my two sisters and they enjoyed them equally as well.

 

 But the thing I most enjoyed about the old Shore Leave forum, warts and all, was that it allowed me to get to know my fellow MSW and NRG members in a personal way that I would not have otherwise. I learned about their sense of humor and what they thought funny, I learned about their personal tragedies, the loss of a loved one or a recent physical medical condition, I had a chance to travel with them on their trips abroad and vacations here in the US, and projects they have going on around the house. I got to know my fellow members in a personal way that I might not be able to going forward. 

 

 For some members, modeling has become a hobby that they can no longer be a active participant in because of physical limitations, eyesight gone MIA, shaky hands, inability to use sharp and heavy tools, and inability to remain seated at a worktable for extended periods. Yet those members still want to contribute to MSW. IMHO, them posting a funny joke or a cat post or a meme gave them the sense they were contributing in their small way to the MSW experience. 

 

 All good recipes require spice, too much is too much without doubt. But too little makes for a dish bland in both design and taste. 

Edited November 14, 2023 by Keith Black

[The Ships Cat]

Such a shame this happened.

 

I was hoping to tell the story of the drunken bosun trying to add a heaped tablespoon of water to his rice.