When are you guys going to clean up that home-page????????

[triplev123]

Hey Admin,

You recently gave me a bit of a touch-up for using the (very apt) word 'wank' in a Thread Title about the Change Of Tactics rule and you also got yourself all cat on a hot tin roof about another thread I was having a bit of a verbal joust with another member and where you stated that you contemplated locking it or words to that effect...and yet, right there bold as brass on Harnesslink's own Home Page....a constant FFA of slandering is to be found down the left hand side in the Story Comment/Reply column. It's an abject disgrace.
Now maybe that bit's not under your control and I'm ripping the wrong bloke but geeze, it wouldn't do you any harm to get onto whoever does oversee it and suggest that they shut that crap down & immediately if not sooner.
It's high time the Bozos who send stuff to that section are educated to the fact that the right to Free Speech comes with inherent responsibilities...as does web-publishing for that matter.

[Ziggy]

I agree Triplev It is a little too full on over there.
Thats why I much prefer the forum, to have an educated discussion with people who refrain from personally attacking one another or the trainer/driver they have a grudge with. Whether we agree or disagree its all a matter of opinion but unfortunately there is a lack of moderating over on the main page and it has got out of hand.
Very sad really.

[admin]

I agree with you. The main problem is consistency in that we have a few people moderating comments and it's often easier to approve than decline as we then inevitably get emails saying "you moderated my comment but didn't moderate x's comment". Which then takes more time to sort out. Harnesslink gets over 250,000 visitors a month and keeping on top of it is more difficult than you would think - and you don't see the comments that we do decline.

I'm currently the only moderator of this relatively small forum, and having learned a bit from Harnesslink, would like to be a bit stricter when it comes to personal attacks and the like - which a lot of you guys have said you support. Fact is a line must be decided, and your line might be different to mine. Case in point is what I'm deciding to title the wank debacle... which btw if I was really concerned I would have edited, but thought a reminder would suffice.

One option I'd like to look into is letting people comment via their Facebook login, which basically would guarantee everybody uses their own names. When we first launched the comments system we required people to register for a Harnesslink account, which brought in a couple of comments/week. When we turned that off the comments skyrocketed so a Facebook system might be a good compromise provided most people using Harnesslink already have Facebook accounts. What do you think?

[triplev123]

G'day Admin,

I think it's a good idea. I don't have a facebook account but would happily get one if I really had to, no problems. You guys have all my email & address/phone particulars & so you know who I am, as do most others. I simply believe that people should be prepared to stand by their comments. A very good case on point was the amount of anonymously generated mud thrown/being thrown at David Thorn, Dean Braun, Lance and quite a few others. That was disgraceful when it was happening here and while that has ceased here it's happening again on the main page. I'm not one for restricting free speech, far from it. In fact I once fell foul of the previous administration here (the distastrous & now thankfully defunct GHRRA) for speaking out in another forum on a few issues I suspect they'd rather have kept low profile BUT I could back it all with FACTS so when I faced the inquiry nothing happened. The truth is of course the ultimate defense, the light of day the only Ombudsman. Facebook's a good idea, registering is another. Maybe registering with a screen name if need be or whatever, just as long as you guys know who the people are that are commenting. Just to test the main page a while back there I made up a name and an e-mail address, neither of which existed, and the reply to the story went through to the site just as easy as pie. To my way of thinking that means you guys have a pretty serious problem. I'm not technically proficient enough to suggest how you change it so it works but geeze mate, you're going to have to do something. That main page is out of hand.

[admin]

We (like the rest of the internet) have no way of really stopping fake accounts - so implementing any system which tried to do this (like requiring everybody have real email addresses, not gmail, hotmail etc) would be destined to fail. Same can be said of Facebook, although pretty much everybody uses their own names so that their friends can recognize them.

I'm not ready to go back to requiring Harnesslink registration, as we already tried this and it didn't really work. People will want to comment but in the end most won't because it will take them a few minutes to register - which I understand because I feel that way on other sites that require registration. (And I argued against the registration approach before we launched comments for that reason.)

I'll speak to folks significantly more tech than myself and see if we can do the Facebook thing. But before that I'd like to know what others think about it, and specifically if a majority of people involved in harness racing even use Facebook. Because if not the effort might be in vain. So if members here could vote in the above poll and if possible post here your thoughts I would appreciate it.

[Greg Hando]

I have no problem's at all with it happy to put my real name on anything i write nothing to hide here

[mango]

Don't do facebook and have no interest in doing so, i like the way things are going on here and it's not hard to register.

[triplev123]

I think? Admin's more on aboat the main page Mango. This bit is fine now.

Btw...off to Penrith tonight. Like I said on another forum, Oscar Lane support crew in-bound. ETA 5:30pm. Anyone else going?

[mango]

All good Triple thanks

Now as for Oscar racing tonight i hope your not running down the fence cheering him home, leave that for the kids thats there fun.

[Flashing Red]

FB account idea is good. Will stop the keyboard ninjas, so to speak.