Your intentions, in this thread, are good, but I'd like to point out to everyone that there are a couple of rule violations here. If you're in doubt about which posts I'm referring to, check your adjectives and phrases. Flaming is name calling, and it doesn't have to be said directly to the person or persons involved. If you weren't aware that the rule applies in that respect, I'm telling you that it does. Calling people childish is not acceptable. On another forum I mod, that would be an official infraction, with points that add up and don't expire.
Even this opinion- "This forum is getting a little out of hand." is a criticism of management decisions as far as the way the forum is being moderated. Any comments, complaints about how this forum is being run, or is structured, as well as complaints about the content of other members' posts, should be directed to staff and not posted in any section of the forum. We didn't make up the rule quoted below. We pretty much copied it from another, totally unrelated forum, and just reworded it. The intent of the rule is exactly the same.
Public discussions of staff decisions are not permitted on the site. If you have any concerns or queries relating to a staff decision, please take it up in private with a member of the site administration team
If a post is in violation, in your view, report it. Feel free to email vtac with your views on how we should run the forum. As I've said before, this forum is unlike any other I've ever seen. Vape makers and dealers (who aren't site sponsors) are allowed to post here, to the benefit of all concerned. But allowing these policies also brings the possibility of problems that other forums don't have to worry about. Friction between two manufacturers (and their supporters) that produce vapes with the same basic design isn't really surprising. The escalation has taken place in a short period of time, and although we've started to discuss solutions already, we're a small staff and vtac is presently out of the country. We also have responsibilities that take precedence over our volunteer modding on the forum.
It's obvious that we're going to have to enforce rules in a more strict manner, and perhaps start keeping track of warnings and temporary bannings for individuals. That's more work for us and we've tried to avoid it. A poster in another thread claimed, just a few hours ago, that we're now like a police state here. I totally disagree with that opinion. The consensus is that, if anything, we're too slack. But it points out very well that you can't please everyone. You can't go too far in either direction -too strict or too slack- or a lot of members will just leave. And finding the right balance isn't easy when your forum is unique and policy changes can't be made overnight.
If you feel a post is inappropriate, report it or ignore it, but don't respond to it. The problems will be fixed- maybe not to everyone's satisfaction, but nothing is perfect. For a good while our only rule here was 'be nice'. That's only sufficient as long as everyone wants to cooperate and is on the same page as to the definition of 'nice'. As more people joined, we had to add more rules. That's the way it goes, The bigger the group or organization, the more rules you need.