Site behaviour

I think a lot depends on how you read something and I was like Rob in that I read the post on the closed thread as a joke, with it being a play on words between miners and minors and the joke being directed at the miners (the thread was about Scargill). I appreciate that miners would not see it as a joke but jokes have always been about different groups of people or different cultures. The old Englishman, Scotsman, and Irishman jokes were endless.

I hope that humour is not suppressed by a fear of upsetting somebody as in humour there is always that danger.

I was not happy about a description on this forum of some of the Torquay crowd being 'the living dead', probably because I fall into the age group being referred to, but I was told it was obviously a joke so I should not be offended. I was, but I accepted the explanation.

With Aussie's joke it never occurred to me that it would be seen as encouraging / supporting or whatever child abuse. I have a great deal of experience in a professional capacity at a senior level of child abuse but I just did not read the post that way.

Having said that clearly Rags did read it that way and feels very strongly about the issue. A difficulty for us all now not only on forums but in everyday life is knowing how to put something over without offending somebody.

Racism is a clear example where it has not got to be shown that an individual intended his remark to be seen as racist as long as somebody was offended by it, and that 'somebody' has not even got to be the subject of the remark.

During the time I have been reading this very good forum I have seen a few attacks on Aussie clearly having a go at where he comes from. I have no idea if he has ever been offended by them, but certainly some of the comments directed at him in the past could easily be perceived as racist if somebody wanted to read it that way.

It's all very complicated modern life, and perhaps it is best that I am now comfortably in the 'living dead' zone!

EDIT: Whilst I was typing Barton Downs started a thread on the same subject and as usual I agree with everything he said. Also apologies Rob and Dave as not being used to starting threads I put it in the wrong room! Please feel free to move rooms, merge with Barton, or to delete as you see fit.

I have moved your post onto Bartons thread stefano, many thanks for sharing your views.

I have always loved our Aussie to bits and yes in the past somethings were aimed at him that maybe should not have been. Aussie sadly has been seen by some as someone who is easy to wind up and sadly he has always taken the bait and posted replies before thinking about them.

He is a good bloke and gives his heart and soul to the club and has always been the first to put his hand in his pocket for the TFF, even when he might have been short of money himself.

I think Aussie has always had a slight problem understanding our English humour and has in the past taken some things the wrong way, its a shame and once again I will miss him here on the TFF.

well i reckon i am approaching the living dead status and does it worry me nope not one iota,the ability to laugh at ones self and not take life too seriously is my train of thought.Life is too short,the years seem to be going faster and faster

As a Johnny-come-lately to both Torquay United and the Torquay fans Forum I have tried to mind my own business here but I'd like to express my support for Rags's position because I also found the miners/minors joke offensive. It was a pun which cannot be read in any other way than one which refers to miners being "shafted" by the NUM leadership promoting the strike and minors (i.e. under-age girls) being "shafted" in the sexual sense of the word by dirty old men, which is not funny.

To look at Aussie's post in any other way is, frankly, unrealistic, because his joke doesn't work at all unless this is how it's interpreted.

I have no doubt that when young women were being groped at the BBC they were told to lighten up and get a sense of humour when they objected. If Rags thinks a sick joke isn't funny that doesn't mean he is a misery guts any more than a fan who asks a gobby supporter to mind his language is a prude or killjoy.

I'm sorry but I don't accept the implication that Aussie is really a good guy who just has a temper when roused, because it was he who introduced the bad humour into the forum in the first place. This was not a reaction to what someone else had said but rather, it seems to me, to have been a deliberate attempt to start an argument. Either he doesn't understand that a joke which creates an image of a young woman being groped is unsuitable for a football fans' forum or he did it on purpose in order to get a rise out of other contributors, who he could than accuse of being humourless. Since the only other contribution I recall him making was the one where he referred to Burslem as being full of knuckle-dragging inbred Northerners I feel confident that in fact he was just looking for trouble. Again.

The TFF is something to cherish. Challenging behaviour and attention-seeking are the bane of all internet forums, but this one is head and shoulders above any other I have come across in its intelligence and in the reasonableness of its contributors. I have been in Rags' position far too many times not to offer my support for him over this argument but I am going to keep my trap shut on the matter now and just wish every contributor all the best, and TUFC continuing success.

Wildebeeste's analysis is spot on. 

Aussie's landmine was laid to kick off a spat, thus allowing him to embark on his well-rehearsed routine of portraying himself as the persecuted straightalker and anyone who objected as a "liberal" or killjoy.

The fact that he's decided to skulk off with his bat and ball is a deliverance.

I will second what Stefano has said and also thank you for your views on this matter.

The TFF does have a charter and I think now might be a good time to repost it for anyone who has not read it.



The TFF Charter ( Please Read)


So what does the initials TFF mean then?

A quick look on Wikipedia will come up with a number of things

Tanzania Football Federation?
Telematics Freedom Foundation?
Tears Foe Fears?

But to fans of Torquay United it means the Torquay Fans Forum and a forum that wants to be seen and known as the TFF Torquay Friendly Forum. The TFF is a responsibly run forum that enjoys a very good relationship with our club. Not only does it do all it can to support the club, it also sponsors players at the club We want this site to not only be a place where great debate takes place, but also a great reference site for our club and that is the reason we have such rooms as the History and Programme rooms.

So who owns and runs the TFF?

It was set up by Dave Roach and built on very strong foundation of real values and principles and is run by a very limited number of staff who are also fans of TUFC. They are all very open and honest people who give their time to ensure the site runs smoothly and would also like to be seen as fellow members on here. No staff on the TFF has any wish to use the powers they have at their disposal but will do so if and only if they become necessary for them to do so .By virtue of the fact the TFF is privately owned and run, it is in fact a private members club.

What is the TFF ethos?

The TFF firmly believes each and every member should have the right to post their own views on the TFF without fear of abuse. We believe no member should ever be subjected to bullying or intimidation on the forum by any other member. The TFF promotes and encourages a feeling that all its members are part of one large family and also a member of a very good community. We encourage and promote good healthy debate and believe all members should be shown a degree of respect no matter what views they may hold. We value all our members and try to ensure each one is treated equally and fairly on the forum by our staff and no one member is any more valuable or important to the forum than any other member. We believe in free speech but as we know that comes with its own reposablitlies. We do not allow or believe it is right to abuse or insult other members in the name of free speech.

Who can join the TFF?

Anyone can join the TFF, but as with any other forum or club anyone might join, the membership is conditional on the agreement that all member accept any rules the forum has in place and joins in with the true sprit of the TFF and what it was set up to be.

So what happens if rules get broken?

Our only aim is to provide a good happy place for Torquay United fans and only want our members to enjoy the forum. It is never our wish to ever terminate any member’s membership on here and will always try to find a better way forward so the person can remain a TFF member. In the event the member is unwilling to try and find a better way forward for the good of the TFF, we reserve the right to cancel that member’s membership on the TFF, but as stressed, that is never our wish and would only happen if no other way could be found. The happiness and pleasure of our members will always be the most important thing to us on the TFF and we could never allow anyone to ruin that enjoyment for everyone else.

So what can we talk about on here and how should we debate?

Anything at all nearly as long as it does not break the TOS agreement the TFF had to make with Proboards, should such content every appear on the forum, you will understand we have no choice but to remove it. Subjects such as race and religion are best avoided for obvious reasons. The TFF has always enjoyed a very wide range of subjects that have been debated and long may that continue. We never lock threads if they go off topic as they so often end up the best ones.

Debate is just that and as football is such an emotive subject, debates may well get a bit heated and that is to be expected at times. As long as such debates do not degenerate into petty name calling or become over abusive, the TFF staff will not get involved. We may as members. add our own thoughts on the topic and only if things have got out of hand, we may make a polite post asking if possible to calm things down a bit. In the event things did get way out of hand, we may just lock the thread for a short cooling down period, but it is very unlikely things will ever get to that position on here.

Can we swear on here?

Swearing is permitted on all Proboard forums as long as the swearing is not used as a form of personal abuse. Its fine to post “that was a f**k**g awful game of football” but not something like, “you are a f**k**g thingy mate” The forum has a built in swear filter and it has some American words in it even I had to look up. We use it only because we are unable to be on the forum 24 hours a day and having it on goes someway to prevent the forum ever getting spanned with abusive language. It should be remembered that the age for joining the TFF is 13 years old and therefore all content should be suitable for a 13 year old to read. To be honest it’s hard to know just what that is these days and if in doubt then it may be best not to post it.

Can we get into fights on here with the staff?

Why would you want to do that? Rob and I are both the sort who do our best to avoid getting into personal battles with anyone let alone TFF members. We are here to enjoy the forum the same as everyone else and also to help our member get the most out of the TFF experience. We are not perfect and will make mistakes, but we have big ears to listen to anything our members need to say to us. If we have got something wrong we will say so and try and rectify the mistake if possible. We could employ the paid services of a company who specialise in forum moderation, their moderation would be final and as that is not something we really want on the TFF, we make do with trying to do it as best we can ourselves.

Finally

All we want is for our members to enjoy using the forum and it goes without saying if using the forum is an enjoyable and pleasurable experience, then our members will remain with us and become we hope regular contributors on the forum. The more members we have posting the richer the forum and we won’t end up with just the few doing all the debating. No one is going to like every single member on the TFF and some we will enjoy debating with more than others, but what we never want to happen on the TFF, is people falling out to the extent they want to rip another members head off.

Enjoy the TFF and play your part to make the TFF the very best football forum and please remember that we are here to enjoy the TFF ourselves and you can help us do that by not seeing us as the enemy, but rather people that are necessary to keep the forum running.

All the very best

Dave

The "British" sense of humour is founded on bad taste and cringe worthy jokes. Within minutes my phone was being bombarded with dubious texts after the Princess Di "accident". Who didn't get the shark one after the morecombe cockler deaths? Or when Nikki Lauda set himself alight in an F1 crash? Or Marc Bolan's last hit? Been going on for decades, yet now the limp wristed ones go all up themselves with pseudo outrage to score points with their other pompous, nanny state, interfering, busy body liberals.

You're not allowed to say anything these days just in case it offends. All this leads to is stifled debate, sterile thinking and it actually promotes the growth of extremes rather than stems them. Let people say what they want, if you don't like it move on rather than squeel like girl.

Now, back to watching bikini clad babes in the Beachclub......it's tough but someone has to do it!