I'm trying a different approach than The Star Press when it comes to community building on the forums section at Muncie Free Press (and another method for MFP's main site, although it's similar...) Anyway, earlier today we had a little scuffle at the somewhat setted down MFP forums.

Ok, the backstory first. There's a user (actually, two of them) who have been with me and the TSP forums since I started back in 1998 (when we were on somewhat shaky forums software, lol). Anyway, these two are now participating on MFP's forums. Having been around for so long, both have rich histories to most of the people who have followed the forums for very long.

One, The Mayor (that's his username, and there's a funny story behind that), is vehemently anti-'g workers'. Whenever possible, he points out wrongdoings that he sees - government workers 'getting away with' things normal citizens would be put in jail for doing.

The other, Claude, is vehemently Conservative. He's a good guy with a very strong opinion, very much like the Mayor.

There are some other people involved (Sarge, who works at the Muncie Police Department), and today everything finally came together for a little mini-explosion.

Instead of yelling at them and telling them to go somewhere else, as happened at The Star Press forums recently, I asked how we could avoid past mistakes (where there would be post after post after post of Sarge and The Mayor going around and around and around about things...)

Claude sided with Sarge, while Cathy Milan, another great user, suggested a group hug and shared a little anecdote from work.

I threw the first thread into our TIO (Take it Outside) area and started a new thread with what the users 'could have' said to make the thread better - to stop from repeating mistakes made time and again at The Star Press forums.

Both sides had the right to share their opinion, but because of past history, people weren't looking at the bigger picture - the forums, the community, at large. They saw the past, I think, and the problems at The Star Press forums.

I'm not sure how the members will take it, but I hope they see the point I'm trying to make - they have a right to their opinion and to share it, but etiquette is important.

Anyway, just thought I'd share one of the many little thoughts or situations that are popping up constantly lately.

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