It just goes to show ..........

[Heliport]

.......... you can't please everybody all the time.

The Mods receive a steady flow of e-mails and 'Report this Post' messages. It would take too much time to reply to them all and if the suggestion is adopted, we hope seeing your suggestion put into effect on the forum is a sufficient reply. If the idea is rejected, we always reply with an explanation.

All messages are treated in strict confidence, but I thought I'd share this one with you - we don't usually get hate mail. :eek: :)
It arrived after we closed the 'US gun control' discussion. A number of people had complained (some on the thread, and more by email) that the discussion was nothing to do with helicopters and should be closed. They were probably right, but we allowed some leeway so that everyone who wanted to could have their say.

"Heliport
Pretty arbitrary. I guess YOU just got tired of the discussion, eh what? Pretty petty. God, it must be nice to have such power!
You know, I've known about PPRuNe for a long time but never came to this forum much because I thought it sucked. I guess I was right.
I toned down my opinion in the forum, but I'll say what I really think: helicopter pilots are f***ing weird.
[Username]"
(The *** don't appear in the original.)

"Dear (Username)
Thank you so much for taking the trouble to write. You can rest assured your comments were given all the consideration they deserved, and that your e-mail was immediately filed in an appropriate place.
Since you think the forum sucks, may I take this opportunity of saying goodbye.

Goodbye!
Heliport"

There's no prize for guessing the ID of 'Username' - regulars will find it too easy. :)
(And no, he's not connected with a helicopter magazine as far as I know.)

Rotorheads - All human life is here!! :D :D

[Autorotate]

Well well, I dont even post in the forum here and Heliport takes a swipe at me. So much for no personal vendetta. I had intended never to post here again but wont stand back and have below the belt shots taken at me.

Oh and by the way I dont even know who your poster is, but he sure has it right when talking about the dictators (sorry moderators)

Autorotate.

[Whirlybird]

If "Username" is who I think he is, I'll be delighted to see the back of him. :D

Most of us appreciate you, Heliport; keep up the good work!

[Bronx]

What a strange guy you are Auto
You would have been my prime suspect if the mod hadn't said it wasn't you.
Just goes to show, you can't ........ I guess. :rolleyes:

And you're kinda quick on the draw for someone who told everyone you were leaving forever a few weeks ago.
minutes. ;)

[SASless]

Well now.....it does beg the question of asking what objective criteria is used to close a thread? Having backed out of the affray on the thread in question and found a perch on the catbird seat....I found it most interesting to watch the last few participants....all apparantly of the same nationality have at it. The thread seemed to be carrying on with some vigor and when I found it to be closed, I was kinda surprised. In time it would have grown to be one of the more lengthy threads in this forum.

I accept the notion that it was not primarily a helicopter oriented argument, but it was prompted by an incident involving a helicopter and the subsequent debate that raged was by helicopter pilots about issues that concern helicopter pilots.

I wonder, was it the fact that the issues involved evoked some emotion from parties on both sides of this issue and thus this thread seemed to bring out both the good and the bad in some of the posts, that this was the real reason the thread was terminated.

I found it most interesting to observe how the more gentlemanly of the contributors quickly took issue with the tone and wording of some of the more inflammatory posts and as a group moved to act as moderators and judges of impropiety.

One observation here, some of the issues raised lately have been sensitive to some and their responses seemed to come off being more emotional than designed to further their side of the issue. Is this what is the actual condern of the moderators....we can always rabble on about phase angles and blade twist or even sources of training but then this becomes a very boring place. And.....after over 35 years of flying helicopters.....I know helicopter pilots not to be a boring bunch of people. We don't have to agree....but we are all helicopter pilots no matter what sides of an issue we find ourselves.

As long as we are discussing issues that reflect the very international aspect of our industry.....and the intermixing we have in the kinds of people we work with on a daily basis....then these "non-helicopter" threads still have a relevance to helicopter pilots and thus in my view should remain in the Rotorheads forum and open until they die a natural death. The Moderator's axe falleth too quick here lately I think.

Today, in our crewroom, we had the following nationalities represented.....American, Canadian, Australian, Indonesian, South African, Saudi Arabian, Philippino, and Vietnamese. Do you think we have a homogenous, single point of view of any topic? We have our discussions, make our jokes, and fly together in a very professional manner......and there is no axe poised over our heads regarding the content of our discussions.

Why should Rotorheads be any different?

[Heliport]

SASless wonders "Was it the fact that the issues involved evoked some emotion from parties on both sides of this issue and thus this thread seemed to bring out both the good and the bad in some of the posts, that this was the real reason the thread was terminated?"
No.

".......... the subsequent debate that raged was by helicopter pilots about issues that concern helicopter pilots"
Only in the sense that the issues concern everyone in general. The same could be said of any political discussion. Apart from the initial story which started the thread, there was no aspect specific to helicopters or helicopter pilots.

I entirely agree about the international aspect. I have made it a priority to expand Rotorheads from what was at one time an almost exclusively British forum into an international forum which attracts members from the helicoper industry worldwide. If you look at the locations of our members, you'll see that we are now truly international.

"Why should Rotorheads be any different?"
Because Rotorheads is a part of Pprune which provides a forum for virtually any topic anyone wants to discuss. Rotorheads is for helicoper issues.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Break
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All that said, PedalStop and I are always open to members' suggestions for improving the forum.

Helicopter related topics?
Or any topics helicopter pilots want to discuss?

What do other people think?

[Whirlybird]

Helicopter related topics

There's enough to read here as it is, and occasionally I have to do some work. :(

Anyway, what's wrong with Jet Blast for all the other stuff?

[ShyTorque]

Heliport,

I think that the topic got quickly out of hand and perhaps it belonged more to Jetblast towards the end. There was only a passing link with helicopters in the first place.

Now when I was a lad, we didn't need moderating on Rotorheads....but we certainly do now!:(

What surprises me is how aggressive some people can be when trying to put across a point, especially if they don't get their own way. There's a lot of chips on shoulders out there. It's not just this forum or website, I've seen it on others too.

It would be nice if we could keep the forum more directly focused on helicopter issues. Or maybe I'm just weird.....;)

[Dick Mitten]

Heliport,

Yer actions and subsequent comments help newbies to this forum (such as myself) learn the rules of engagement. Thanks for being clear on yer followup. Good job!

[t'aint natural]

Heliport:
I wished at times that you'd closed the gun control thread a little earlier because I'm a hopeless sucker for that kind of stuff and I really have better things to do. I need to be saved from myself. If you rely on ppruners to behave like responsible adults, then that's a burden I'm not sure I can be trusted to carry.
In retrospect, I think you called it about right.

[PedalStop]

One of the strengths of PPRUNE is that it is moderated, so that the posts, like those on the editorial page of a newspaper, must meet some "reasonable man" standards. As your moderators, we try to protect the site, and its users, and yet leave the flow of ideas unchecked. It is not an easy job, and as a new moderator, I am indebted to Heliport for his keen judgement and light hand.

It seems that some have difficulty with the moderating, they are free to go elsewhere (although they will be missed, because we all have contributions to make). Please take it from me that we try very hard to be fair, and to moderate only when necessary.

[What-ho Squiffy!]

Spot on, mod's, I think you did the right thing nipping it in the bud.

Could the debate have been moved to Jetblast though?

[SASless]

Heliport....

Who rated this thread a "Four" and what criteria was used to make that determination?

[Heliport]

Presumably members who enjoyed reading it and thought it was worth recommending to others.
Votes are anonymous - the software doesn't record the names.
Registered members can 'rate' any topic using whatever criterion they wish.
I don't know precisely how the system works, but assume it takes an average of the ratings posted.

[SandBlaster-214]

Yeah, Heliport, you could have closed it or sent it over to JB, but it's also nice to have a semi-private "family" discussion once in while though, as SAS pointed out.

In a way, (and in my opinion) it was a relevant thread - after all, it was about how a bunch of helicopter pilots felt about a certain issue. Granted, it wasn't about the precise angle of alignment of the upper whizbang in relation to the opposing centerrific forces, but then again, there are quite a few other topics in Rotorheads that are.

Anyway, it was a good time - it's another beautiful day, and now it's back to the important stuff like "boxers v. briefs".

C Ya

[Steve76]

I agree with what SASless had to say.

However, I really think what other helo pilots reply is much more interesting than the general masses in Jetblast. The thing about RH's is that we are all known to each other (generally...) Who are the people in JB?

I think topics like this are inflammatory but very entertaining. Eventually they die a normal and natural death like all of the other posts. I would rather see more control of the "phase angles of the R22" posts that rave on forever. The fact that the guns post was not holistically helicopters was a relief.
Who really wants to talk helos 24/7. Certainly NOT my wife :D

Is there not a place for a few of these topics on the forum?

[3top]

I backtracked the whole discussion,

interesting, unfortunately I did not get in before it was closed.
On the other hand it was already kind of a American-Brit point of view party!

My (final...?) question:

Anyone knows what happend to the idiot with the gun and the driver with the warning light?

:cool: 3top

[tropicopter]

I like the idea of a post on a thread that suggested we have our own rotary version of Jetblast, called Rotorblast, or maybe Downwash or Vortex Ring. Maybe we should start a new topic on this and have some suggestions for names and have a vote on it.

I think the moderators do a good job. I'd hate to see this become a commercial advertising vehicle or degenerate into the sort of trashy verbal mud-slinging ring that JH has become of late. I think the fact that the forum is moderated well helps to keep the likes of Nick lappos making his contributions and I hope Lu won't get too miffed if some of his more outrageous posts occasionally get the chop. I enjoy reading posts from both sides of the fence.

Anyway like Desert Dude, I mmust now leave the zero advance wizzy bits and get down to the boxers and briefs (or thongs now I see!!)
:)

[Whirlybird]

Jeez...I was only joking when I suggested a Rotorblast forum.:confused: :eek:

I'd better remember the smilie next time.