This brings me back (ripple effect on the screen, sound of a harp playing...):
Hey everybody -
I'm really glad everybody enjoys using the FOT board as a place to post whatever you want to talk about, FOT or non-FOT subjects, personal/funny/opinion stuff, etc. I think it's great.
But things have been getting out of hand over the last two or three weeks. And I think with a few prudent moves, we can get things back to where they should be without losing any of the fun or freedom that we have.
First things first - there's been a general shift towards insulting people and viciousness that we can all back up a bit. And we're ALL guilty of it. So from this moment on, just do me a favor - when you're posting, just read it over before you hit' send'. If there are insults in the post, please strike them. Try to make your point without blasting your fellow FOT posters.
And I'm not playing favorites here - as I have said, ALL OF US have been guilty of insulting people or going too far with our line of humor. So I think we can ALL reign it in a bit.
Secondly, let's keep in mind that this is not necessarily a board of adults. You can DEFINITELY talk about adult stuff. NO PROBLEM with that - the last thing I want are people pulling their punches on the board! If that was the case, we might as well pack it up now.
But Petey and a couple other posters are young. So again, just THINK before you post!
More specifically, and from a personal POV, I've got to say that Raad-Man really blew it with his posts advising Petey regarding drugs and alcohol. Raad-Man, you should know better. PETEY IS TWELVE! TWELVE! He's not a teenager yet!
And for you to attempt to shift the discussion onto his parents is shameful! The fact that Petey's dad temporarily banned him from this site is a credit to the man's parenting! He's out to protect his kid from people giving him BAD ADVICE!
And yes, it was VERY BAD ADVICE. Thank you to the Dark Overlord for speaking up the way only a parent could. If you smoked weed and drank with your parents, Raad-Man, good for you. People can judge the results of that experiment by the content of your posts.
But you've got to realize that you are in the minority! Why can't you just let a great kid like Petey be a kid!? Again, HE'S TWELVE!
I was away from the board for the last couple weeks because the WFMU Marathon is so incredibly time-consuming. So I apologize for not speaking up earlier. And thanks to Gord and Chris for doing their part - to the person who accused Gord of 'not stepping in soon enough', all I can say is that Gord and Chris already give this board and the friendsoftom.com site much more of their talent and attention than I can ever repay them for. So it's not their responsibility to be the police of the board.
And Gordy - kudos on the decision to make Petey a moderator on the board! I'm sure you'll do a great job! You should change your little name-taggy thing to 'FOT Hall Monitor'!
So in conclusion, we all like reading and posting on this board. And I don't plan on banning anyone or kicking anyone off or deleting posts. But PLEASE just think before you post - that way we can keep this place truly special!
Thank you all so much!
Tom!