I have been following an apparent "feud" that has recently manifested itself into open forum and I am somewhat concerned that it is detrimental to the long term success of our forum.  I am throwing in my two cents, totally unsolicited and without malice to anyone.

STOP IT!

It does not matter who or what started it, taking a great liberty in speaking for others, we don't care!
I have seen the best of all parties involved and I certainly prefer that to what I am seeing now.

I am not a forum thug, or bully, or a wimp, hell I love a good fight, but I am imploring those involved to take it outside.  THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR FIGHTING!

Not too long ago Steve (OMOTM) said he was taking a break from the forum, I think I will also, until we get over this phase of our discontent.

Being relatively new here, I noticed pretty quick.  Doesn't bother me much and I simply ignore it and go on.  Figure most with any good sense will do the same.  It doesn't affect my desire to learn figs which plenty are willing to share without added drama.  Have a good day! :)

Bumping this up to the top.

If there are legitimate issues that affect us all (someone giving out bad cuttings or reneging on trades or something) aren't being resolved via email or PMs, a new thread could be started to raise awareness to the community as a whole. But hijacking threads for personal issues is rude to the original poster and anyone else who might be interested in the topic. There will always be disagreements and no one will ever like everyone, but we must move on and let it be for the sake of the forum.

Otherwise, let's put on our big boy/girl pants, stop making snide comments or outright attacks, and "HOW ABOUT THOSE FIGS!"

I totally agree with the sentiments expressed here.  I feel a certain kinship with all forum members who have a passion for figs.  But bad blood between two forum members should not spill on onto otherwise interesting threads about figs.  If you have a difference of opinion this can be expressed while being civil.  If you find your entertainment by taunting other forum members please take it off the forum.

Thanks, Danny

With all the tragedies of serious military conflicts around the world being so readily apparent today it seems pretty silly that feuds can get started over relatively small matters.

Peace,

Harvey

I am sure I missed the low life arguments, which I am glad I did.  I have seen such behavior in my short while with this group, it is a reflection of whomever posted.  I was target of attacking and belittleing and I don't care. The loser who made such remarks already left the group. It eventually weeds out itself. Sad part is this group has lost many valuable members because of this kind of communication.  Sometimes the best is to STOP as Danny said.

We move on!

Danny,
thx

Kelby,
Nice.
Too many of our really valuable members are leaving or "taking a break" due to not just the bad blood but the need of certain Divas' to control and pollute other's threads just to satisfy a need to be the center of attention.

This forum occasionally gets off track and this seems like one of those times. In the past those destructive members have left as others came to realize they were not helping the fig community - which is why I'm here. This forum needs to reboot back to producing accurate info and reliable advise especially to the newbies. They deserve better folks. Let's all take a step back and flush out our egos.

I like that Michael, 'flush out our egos.' That simple action helps clean the stinky stuff out of a lot of situations.

STOP IT, STOP BEHAVING LIKE TEENAGERS.  STOP TARGETING AARON.  AARON ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think this thread was meant to be about Aaron. But I will say this. There are many large cities in this nation and around the world with thousands of fig trees in them. Many regions have local figs that appear in abundance, such as the numerous Celestes that dot our southern States, and of course, the prolific and dreaded Brown Turkey. Now I prowl about my neighborhood and City and am familiar with dozens of unknown figs. I think it is difficult to get an Identification of an unknown fig. We on the forum know our boutique figs, but we don't know about every local strain. If I posted every unknown I found here on the forum I don't think it would generate a lot of interest. I also don't think it would result in a lot of identification. Posting dozens of unknowns here on the forum is just not particularly helpful, so it will probably end up being ignored. But when the person doing the posting irritates a lot of people, then you get a lot of responses and controversy. That does not make it useful to post pictures of every unknown in the neighborhood. Yes, this is an open forum. But unfortunately, there is no way to stop someone from posting a thread based on lack of usefulness or helpfulness. Do you stay quiet or do you say something? The everlasting question...

If you found an unknown that produced really good figs we'd all love cuttings  :)  Yours would be more useful since we know they don't require the wasp.  You'd want to coordinate with people who have scoured that area before so you don't send out Bryant Dark under a different name  :)

Danny,
Thanks for starting this topic.
I agree with you for the need for civility, but there are only a very few members that get irritated by dialectic discussion and dialogue, as well as a couple that just like to incite. Its part of the human condition.
IMO, Steve may have a good solution, "Ignore it and do your part".


Hey Bob C,
"What you talking bout"
Rafael is in Queens and I'm in The Bronx, they're practically different countries ; )

I am not ware of the circumstances that started this discussion so I just have a general comment.  

It is great to have open honest discussions/collaborations on the popular fig and related topics.  We have so much to learn from each other on this incredible forum full of experienced and knowledgeable members. 

Everyone agrees civility should reign and there should be no personal attacks or bullying.  
Maybe we need an inappropriate posting icon button/flag?  If confirmed that posting could be deleted or maybe a LIKE button is really all we need. 

Pino, I agree with you. We need some way to throw a flag when needed. There are a few that like to post garbage or someting
that will tick someone off.

Good thread here. We need to keep it civil, and everyone needs to try and use a degree of scientific methodology to keep information clear. Questionable fig nomenclature always brings up the biggest problems.

Calvin,
I couldn't agree more. This current uneasiness has to do with trying to preserve some kind of valid filter for scientifically valid facts. When someone/anyone represents facts that are untrue and this is pointed out the bad information needs to be amended or erased - not fought about because 1 person refuses to deal with being wrong.

Pino and Mike,
Man that's a good idea. If members were allowed to flag inappropriate or false information and certain people lost their right to post if they got say 25 flags it might go a long way toward decreasing the BS. But how would these flags be used. Would a person have to ID themselves? How many flags would we get? Would there be different flags for - say - BS and personal attacks? Could I use all my flags at once if I felt really strongly about the issue? Could I get bonus flags if I posted something really good? There is just so much to consider but I like the concept.

I have a simple solution.  If the moderator is too busy, appoint a couple or three mods who would be impartial to persons and simply enforce forum etiquette.  This forum will continue to grow and like it or not, already needs moderation or this thread would not exist.  My 2 cents.    

Charlie, you are a smart guy!  Assistant mods.  Usually these wars are in winter when people have cabin fever.  I didn't know what the fight was about, but I do know there was one.  I'm not stupid, and I figured it out.  Sad.  I will never volunteer to be an assistant mod.  Got a vineyard and orchards and grandkids to tend, but some will.  Should we nominate?  I nominate sweet Synvessa AKA Sue.  I know I spelled that wrong, and dirtTexas, and you Charlie!

Suzi

Seems to me that we are doing a lot more posting about posting then posting useful information about figs. Just my opinion.

In most cases, if people just ignore the uncivil behavior, rather than reacting to it, it will wither away. There are ALWAYS too many people that want to keep it going, get their two cents in, make it personal, go for a piling-on-penalty, etc.

If I "banned" every member that some other member thought needed banning, there would be a lot of missing people.

A little graciousness goes a long way.

Finally, regarding misinformation. There is no intent to police every comment to see it is 100% factually accurate. There was no intent to do that with the website, either. It is up to each member to do their homework and evaluate the material posted to determine its suitability and usefulness.

Hey Jon, thanks for tuning in.  Ignore is the best action.  Well said.
Suzi

Jon is only partially right. There should be a grace period in case undesirable comments posted but as soon as a trend is detected, a (friendly) reminder by moderator is needed to be sent outside the Forum threads to the perpetrator before it starts hurting. 
 Such unfortunate situations have happened in the past here as well as GW, members have left the Forum deleting their posts and making information holes in the threads.
I acknowledge it is not easy for the moderator to monitor all the threads for trends but there may be a way as the GW does it. Such reminders can minimize recurrence of undesirable comments.

I agree we should have a constant monitoring of behavior in threads, first to keep the focus of the forum on the subject , then to break the bad behavioral habits of abusive individuals.
I am determined to resolve this type of problems ONCE AND FOR ALL, for the sake of this one of a kind forum and the majority of the members who happen to appreciate a good thread and participate in them in a very civil manner.
I have never been so upset in my entire life by few people who I don't even know...I have read only on news papers about this type of incidents but , who would've thought...

Look, ...It's OK to correct each other by suggesting better ways to improve the system of naming figs(until the real variety name if determined) or correcting mistakes mistyped (unknowingly)..did you realize nowadays even smartphones and our PCs self correct or mismatch words while we type...so, the point is that, mistakes will be made, typos will be typed...so WHAT, does that person deserve to be humiliated or degraded in public and called names too?

I don't know HOW you all tolerated this type of incidents until now but I will not :)
So, I am sorry my dear Suzi, and all respectful members of the forum, the buck stops here.

We need to do something about this.

I do vote for nominating 3 people for Ethics Comity for Figs4FunForum :)