The way it worked previously is that there wouldn't even be an image of any sort (including a letter) at all. Similar to seeing or not seeing signatures, it was just an optional setting that users could elect to make use of.
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Political avatars
- Thread starter Wando64
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I too, find some of them distracting. Some are clever and really nice/pleasing to observe, but the ones that one may deem as political avatars I would rather not see. As a result, I would opt to turn off avatars completely if there were that option.
I could not disagree with this comment more!
As @TiggrToo stated and I can second, outside of PRSI, I have seen great posts from, responded back and forth with, given likes and received likes from members that were on the polar opposite side from me in a PRSI thread. I would never have had these interractions if I let one piece of their whole prevent me from even seeing them.
I have read some truly annoying stuff (to me personally) in PRSI but it has never occurred to me to "cancel" anyone, my ignore list is empty.
Everyone in my ignore list ONLY posts in PRSI. I actually thought this was impossible. But then I looked at their post history. I was something like 490 PRSI posts and 10 not per 500. At that point I think ignoring them is safe. I'm likely to avoid a bad conversation with them, and I'm highly unlikely to have missed a post from them that would otherwise be helpful or useful.
I made the mistake of un-ignoring them recently and engaged with them whereas I likely should not have.
Don't you trust yourself to find a proper balance? Why must you look to an external authority to tell you what you can and cannot do?
???
I was asking what are the site’s rules. I don’t make those up.
I have no interest whatsoever in using a party political avatar and my personal opinion remains that they should not be allowed.
So that’s my personal “proper balance”, but if you carried on reading the thread you would have found out that the site’s rules are much more tolerant.
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If trust and finding a proper balance where as achievable as you allude to, our society as it is wouldn't be seeing so much angst and conflict. Trust is earnt, balance has to achieved.
Isn't that what your signature 'Politics is the art of justifying ones callous indifference to human suffering in the most mellifluous terms.' implies you want?
I however disagree with your determination of politics, it shows a true lack of understanding and belief in what was once told by Aristotle.
Politics is the art of uniting a body of people, behind a set of decisions, in the ultimate aim of providing a society that benefits all.
MacRumours description (just look at the bottom left of this page) states:
"We also boast an active community focused on purchasing decisions and technical aspects of the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Mac platforms."
That is what I expect to see when I participate to the forum, unpolluted by party political statements.
EDIT:
I realise my statement above, written in haste, might sound as if I am complaining about the site.
Far from it.
I believe that on the whole, the community of this site is wonderful. The help I have been receiving over the years has been invaluable and I'd like to believe that I have also contributed in a small way by supporting other users when my personal experience and knowledge could have proved useful.
Yes I would prefer if political avatars were not allowed, but in the end this will not take away from the benefits I am receiving from participation to this forum.
My thanks to @arn, the hard working moderators, and to all of the other forum members willing to help a fellow Apple user when required.
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Overall an interesting topic. I wonder though about the rules, as I see numerous blatant avatars and signatures that half the country (on both sides) would find quite insulting...
If you'd like an avatar evaluated in light of the rules, just report one of the user's posts and explain in the report message that it's the avatar your reporting for consideration. If we decide it's fine and you wonder why, you're welcome to shoot us a contact message to ask. We're happy to discuss.
There are plenty of other places people can express their political views than on a Mac/tech-focused website. Though I doubt I could pick out a political avatar regardless as the bulk of these will be from the USA; irrelevant to me.
I would very much like to see MacRumors focusing on the Mac or at least Apple. The site keeps drifting away onto irrelevant nonsense like Epic Games, politics, and virus. The entire internet doesn't need to be an echo chamber for issues.
I would very much like to see MacRumors focusing on the Mac or at least Apple. The site keeps drifting away onto irrelevant nonsense like Epic Games, politics, and virus. The entire internet doesn't need to be an echo chamber for issues.
Seems likes things related to Epic Games picking a fight with Apple, governments looking into Apple's business practices, or details related to the new Exposure Notification API that Apple has released and continues to work on are quite Apple related. Certainly not everyone might care about everything, but that's separate and different.
Report? I was simply commenting on what I see upon this site. (Which I enjoy, BTW.) Personally, I really don't care about anyone's avatar or signatures, as I'm not easily offended. If someone had the Nazi swastika or the Star of David for example, then that's what that person wished to project about themselves. It's fine if that's what that individual wants, but I and others would obviously cast judgement upon such things.
Your rules state that avatars, signatures, and profile fields must follow forum rules, including "insults against groups or individuals..."
We all see such blatant "insults" in these forums (and even on this very thread!) that such things should NOT have to be pointed out. And yet it apparently does need to according to your comment, which is something most people would be loathe to do, lest they believe that they themselves be watched by the mods for their personal opinions or beliefs.
You must not think very much of the mods, then. Pretty sure they’re way too busy living normal lives to bother about carrying grudges.
Quite the opposite. To run and mod such a site I would think is quite daunting. However, rules are rules.
The mods are volunteers. They give their free time to help manage the site.
I’ll warrant they can barely remember one incident from the next given how busy this site must keep them, yet alone bear a grudge.
And I was simply inviting you to report anything you see that you feel shouldn't be here. Whether or not you report anything is of course up to you.
That's correct. Hence my invitation to report anything you felt violated that rule.
I can respond to you as an individual, not on behalf of "we all." I understand from your post that you see what you consider blatant insults that go unmoderated. And as you yourself mention, things do often have to be pointed out. The moderators and administrators can't see all of the tens of thousands of posts made daily. If MacRumors had a fulltime group of moderators that would change the picture somewhat, but even then it's possible that they would continue to be greatly helped by post reports, given the sheer number of new posts.
Add to that the fact that what seems to be a blatant insult to one user may well not seem to be an insult to another. This is borne out by the wildly differing opinions we see in contact messages.
I can't speak to what "most people" would be loathe to do. Given the amount of post reports we get, I can assume that at least a considerable number of users are not loathe to help us by reporting possible problems.
I have a question, based on your last sentence. Are you implying that a user who takes the time to report a post will thereafter be watched by the mods to see if s/he posts a violation, or has an opinion or belief someone on the staff doesn't like? In that case, I can assure you that that's not the way this site works. We are always grateful for post reports, even when no moderation is necessary. It's better that a user sends a report when that user is uncertain as to whether or not a rule was broken. We truly appreciate the help.