Pandering & Censorship

[TNGTony]

Some people need to read some of MY posts when I think Dish screws up! I pull no punches! This site not only lets me do that, but encourages me to speak my mind. Saying this place is pandering is just not true.

Anyway, it's a "when did you stop beating your wife" statement that started this thread. There is no way to answer it without being defensive!

I agree with Scott. Closed thread with a pointer to the already active thread would have been the way to go. But we are all human! I once edited the hell out of some one's post thinking I was in the "reply" mode. That poster was hot under the collar too! --it happens.

See ya
Tony

 

[jayn_j]

Rain? Its 100 Degrees here in Connecticut.

EXACTLY. Its dry and hot in Connecticut. Therefore you must be somehow responsible for all this warm muggy rain we are having in Illinois.

 

[stogie5150]

Please, before jumping to conclusions, please fully read and truly consider the following...

It appears some at ' SatelliteGuys.us ' seem to hold little regard to the ramifications of pandering & censorship. Why?

Example, the almost immediate deletion of a post, to simply remind members of tonight's ' Charlie Chat,' which was removed almost as quickly as it was posted. Its content held no political agenda nor bias. It was simply meant to encourage activism. If that is somehow seen as objectionable, offensive or redundant, one should not perceive oneself as judge and jury; it should be left to the general forum members to decide.

I believe you're misguided if you fail to understand, many members and guests elect to by-pass the Homepage, bookmarking a specific section(s), to have instant access to the only resource(s) and forums they're interested in, despite your hard work and efforts.

Furthermore, one would hope and think, this e-publication maintains itself as an unbiased and objective source of information; yet it becomes difficult to accept, given its seemingly symbiotic relationship it maintains with Dish.

No news publication, of which I see ' SatelliteGuys.us ' aspires to be, can be taken seriously, when it does not abide by basic journalistic protocols, which should be maintained at all times — so it may truly reflect and maintain balanced and unbiased reporting and posturing.

My only wish is for ' SatelliteGuys.us ' is to be a reliable source of information which leans neither way, and that one could always refer to as unbiased; objectively, is difficult to perceive, in its present form. Perhaps, if one could step back and look at what is presented, solicit objective peers and friends, to their interpretation, it would be more evident.

But as always, thank you for your continued efforts and service to the community (this is said sincerely and unmockingly).

Lighten up, Francis.

 

[Peter Parker]

Iceberg, I have always been one who deeply appreciates your wealth of knowledge and information, from FTA, to the most miniscule aspect of technology, and the sharing there of. But, you do have a short fuse! Understand, not all of us are ' old-school '; those of us who've been around here and there — around the block a few times, so to say, forget what it was once like, even for us at a given time. One needs to understand all members and guests may not be as agile nor informed as most, here. Respecting and providing them with all the means to become well informed, is the ultimate intent, allowing them learn and act upon themselves. The Homepage (front page) isn't always read as such, as much information is simply unrelated to the viewer's interests', deeply cluttered with ads, and containg too much stimulus / distractions. It can be overwhelming, to many.

Please, re-read the original post and attempt to understand - it was never meant as an attack — my intent, one would only asertain, as an observation.

I truly apreciate your cander in your truth.

It is hard to see charges of pandering and censorship as anything but an attack. Your post came across as you telling those who have run the forum that they are doing it all wrong and that your post should not have been touched. What you called censorship could also be seen as an exercise of editorial judgment. after all there were already threads on the topic and they had every right to try to avoid further fragmentation of the discussion after all tis ws YOUR SECOND thread on the same topic in that forum Why not just bump the earlier thread you created?

Perhaps the forum is not run exactly as you would run it Heck i don't like everything either but those who run the forum do so by a fairly well disclosed set of rules and they at least try to do it fairly.

 

[GaryPen]

The OP has a point. Some Mods here, while not as trigger happy as at other dbs sites, are pretty quick to delete stuff. This is especially true of the mod in question. (There used to be a mod in the FTA forum that was so bad, Scott had to give him the boot.)

OTOH, there was nothing defensive at all about Scott's initial response to the OP's post. In fact, he canned a mod, as mentioned above, for being too trigger happy. So, indeed, perhaps he should take Bill Murray's advice, and lighten up.

In any case, even in the worst circumstance here at SatGuys, it is never as bad as dbstalk, and that one unnamed mod with obvious mental problems. (His name rhymes with "James Long".)

 

[Neutron]

This complaint is coming from someone who just joined up May 25th. Man you sure are quick to criticize our mods after only being a member for 15 days....

 

[Mr Tony]

The OP has a point. Some Mods here, while not as trigger happy as at other dbs sites, are pretty quick to delete stuff. This is especially true of the mod in question. (There used to be a mod in the FTA forum that was so bad, Scott had to give him the boot.)

Hey Gary...do me a favour...please find me a thread in the FTA area other than one that asked how to steal) that I deleted "quickly". Betcha can't find one recently. I've moved stuff to other threads and combined but I don't delete threads in the FTA area.
edit: I'll save you the trouble...in the last month there were 4 threads I deleted from the FTA area and 3 started with "lost all PPV channels" or "lost 110"....doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.

as for Pete, yeah he's gone (thank god). He was a cancer to the site and honestly, the FTA area has expanded leaps and bounds since he was booted

 

[Mr Tony]

Iceberg, I have always been one who deeply appreciates your wealth of knowledge and information, from FTA, to the most miniscule aspect of technology, and the sharing there of. But, you do have a short fuse!

If you have seen the FTA area I am the most laid back person there. Unless you ask how to steal (in which case yes I have a short fuse) I am pretty laid back. I could be like other mods (or members here) who don't like answering newbie questions a few times, but I enjoy it. I have the theory that everyone was a newbie once, including me
I took 5 hours originally to get my Dish500 setup (this is before "free install") so I know the frustrations.

Understand, not all of us are ' old-school '; those of us who've been around here and there — around the block a few times, so to say, forget what it was once like, even for us at a given time. One needs to understand all members and guests may not be as agile nor informed as most, here. Respecting and providing them with all the means to become well informed, is the ultimate intent, allowing them learn and act upon themselves.

see above

Please, re-read the original post and attempt to understand - it was never meant as an attack — my intent, one would only asertain, as an observation.

ok but I like to shoot from the hip too

 

[vurbano]

its already taken care of...obviosuly I hurt some feelings with the OP

He has a point Ice. Many never go to the homepage.

 

[vurbano]

This complaint is coming from someone who just joined up May 25th. Man you sure are quick to criticize our mods after only being a member for 15 days....

Reason is only acquired with length of membership? Heck how do you explain Haller? or me?

 

[raoul5788]

Reason is only acquired with length of membership? Heck how do you explain Haller? or me?

Good point!

 

[Van]

Finally Im no longer a thorn!!

For the OP with the young account age but what seems to be years of knowledge ( has another old account? ) about the site and its members.

The site did start out with alot more information and interest about dish but also about cable companies and free to air and a smattering of directv info. If you have really been following the site and Scott then you would know that he has wanted a larger involvement with directv and to have more information coming in here for the longest time. One that that I remember very clearly that Scott said a few years ago when I brought up a subject about journalism is that he is not a reporter and this is not a newspaper, rather he is a hobbyist and this is a hobbyist / fan site for people new to mini dish satellite and for the dbsofficianado.

Does Scott pander to any of the companies and its execs? I would have to say no but I have noticed a change over the last 6 months inregards to directv but its not technicaly pandering, rather a professional curtisy that was given after being asked. Keep in mind that Scott started this site himself and both he and his wife have put alot of blood and sweat and their own money into keeping it going and for that Im thankful though I would rather see Prize Goddess model the next line of polo's and ball caps, that last model gave me the heebee jeebee's.

Theres only one thing Scott does that irks me......really it pisses me off to no end that he does it because its the least professional thing that I think he could do but I keep it to myself though if it were ever to go over the edge I would say something as I feel many others would. Scott does a good job as does %75 of the staff, Iceberg does his job well and I have no complaints and he's always the first one I message about any hack threads but he's not vindictive and with his deleting your post it was not the best move as it should have been locked but it was also not a good move to post yet another thread about the same topic either.

 

[Derwin0]

He has a point Ice. Many never go to the homepage.

Very true. I never look at the homepage, and instead go directly to "http://www.satelliteguys.us/index.php"
I imagine many others do as well.

As for the original complaint. I don't believe it should have been deleted. At most it should have been closed and/or redirected to the other thread.
To delete it serves no purpose other than to make us look like hypocrits for complaining about dbstalk thread deletions.

 

[iafirebuff]

Some people have too much time on their hands...Don't Hate - Appreciate!

THANKS ICEBERG, Scott and the many others that keep this site "clean" and un-cluttered! I APPRECIATE all you do!

 

[snathanb]

Very true. I never look at the homepage, and instead go directly to "http://www.satelliteguys.us/index.php"
I imagine many others do as well.

As for the original complaint. I don't believe it should have been deleted. At most it should have been closed and/or redirected to the other thread.
To delete it serves no purpose other than to make us look like hypocrits for complaining about dbstalk thread deletions.

Same here... in fact, my bookmark is right to the pub forum. I never even look at the homepage much, especially since I no longer subscribe to either Dish or DTV.

 

[Van]

I always come to the homepage to get the latest news, outside of that theres nothing else there for me and I think that much of it could be scrapped to save on resources.

 

[Stargazer]

If he had known why the thread that he created was deleted then he might not have wondered what was going on being new here and all. I read another thread where someone said that their post was removed and was not given a reason if I am not mistaken. If people are told why it was deleted then they will not be wondering what was going on.

 

[Peter Parker]

If he had known why the thread that he created was deleted then he might not have wondered what was going on being new here and all. I read another thread where someone said that their post was removed and was not given a reason if I am not mistaken. If people are told why it was deleted then they will not be wondering what was going on.

If the intent was censorship they would have deleted the OTHER thread he started in the same forum on the subject. at some point there are too many threads on one topic.

 

[Van]

Let me say that there have been changes in control on the site that can be seen as positive or negative depending on your view points and while I agrea with some I disagrea with others because the texture of the site has changed from one of a comfortable neighborhood street where everyone knows everyone and its a summer block party every day it now feels more like a place of work and your always being watched by the geeky 18yr old asistant manager.

The changes have come as the sites grown and relationships are growing with the good ole boys at E and D and its to be expected, what had started out as a hobbyist site for people to swap information and idea's has now become a business and thusly its image is very critical now that its one competitor is no longer a leader. Satelliteguys has many industry eyes on it as we are told and with the increased focus and interest will come more scrutiny on the content of its public pages and eventualy the member pages as well and theres no way around it if the site is to take the number one position as the leading industry site for info on satellite television.

What changes will come in the future? I have no idea but I can guess at it and take cues from the current changes as to where things are going or could go, remember Scott has said that he was offered money for the sale of the site once or twice recently and though he didnt say how much he didnt show any kind of scoff towards what he was offered so we could asume that it was a handsome sum both times. It all boils down to this, the satelliteguys of 4 years ago is no longer around, Scotts child has grown and is now in school figuratively speaking and learning learning learning and still growning up and doing it fast, where it goes depends on Scott.

 

[Neutron]

Dude, you have posted tasteless pics that you know violates our family forum's rules. You've had suggestive avatars that you know are pushing our limits here. What do you expect??