Ok, I would like y'all's feedback on signature pics here on NAM:

When looking around NAM, you see all sorts of signature pics and info.
That's cool, there are some beautiful and very creative ones out there.
The vast majority of them are related to MINI's in one way or the other.
However, I have come across a few that have nothing to do whatsoever with MINIs, but are slogans for political parties, campaigns, etc..

To be honest, that really bothers me! What are your thoughts?

It bothers me because I come to NAM to read about MINIs, exchange useful information, share my excitement about MINIs and all that. Now, we do have an off-topic area, and I frequent that as well, and it is a lot of fun. I have no problems whatsoever with people posting ANYTHING in off topic - political slogans, party or campaign ads, etc... - as long as they meet site guidelines.
It does bother me though when I am trying to read up on stereos, power mods, etc.. - MINI stuff - and have a political party or re-election sticker stuck under my nose in a thread where it is completely irrelevant.

So, I would like to respectfully suggest that we should moderate ourselves
and use sig pics that are related to MINIs, and not to political campaigns.


I would like to hear y'all's input on this matter.

Cheers,
M.

 

I don't really care.

 

I don't like 'em...

BUT

...either.

 

I don't like them either. Especially since there has never been nor will there ever be a politician that can be trusted.

 

Moving to site feedback....the mods have started to discuss this issue and if we as a group should allow this type of information in sigs. Thanks

Mark

 

Ya know, MG, when I first saw rfibanez's Bush/Cheney signature yesterday, I will admit that I was totally disgusted, and I thought about posting something along these lines asking that we ban political advertisements, but then I thought about it a little more. I think it was mostly a kneejerk reaction to an advertisemnt for some people that I really can't stand. I mean--I really really hate the current administration, and I think that they are well on the way to destroying the American way of life. That being said, there are a lot of non-MINI signatures out there--take Davebret's, for example--I don't really mind sigs being non-MINI.

If people want to shout their political affiliations in their signatures, more power to them. I think that it's tacky, but they should do what they want.

(rf, sorry to single you out, but I wanted to be honest. :smile: )

 

I agree MGB-GT.

While I clearly don't have a right to determine what anyone can have in their sig, I do find it annoying to have volatile political material injected into something that's my main distraction from the day to day world. Obvioulsy, it's up to Mark to set the guidelines and say what any member can or cannot post in their sig or elsewhere, but if I get a vote, I vote to keep the potentially inflammatory and definitely distracting political content limited to OT.

 

Good point made MG-BGT, but if I have to see it on the back of cars on the highway, it doesn't matter here, but....

By doing this, an individual's political preference is open for all to see and I foresee that it could lead to problems when dealing with any subject, MINI or not. Make sense?

 

Politics is an emotionally charged game; such advertising in an automotive forum will do no good.

 

Well, interesting feedback so far!
Chitown, I always try to avoid knee-jerk reactions if I can, so I thought about it for a couple of days/nights before posting. It still bothered me though, so I thought I'd see how others feel about the issue. I can see how some might quite justifyably argue that this is in fact quite silly, and to some extent I agree. I like the bumper sticker comment COOPeration, some smart NAMer will probbly just take a pic of a bumper sticker on their MINI and use that - now it's MINI related

 

To flip the coin over, a political ad or statement in a signature line helps more casual users (specifically in O.T.) to take into account the poster's political bias when evaluating the effectiveness of the point that user is trying to make.

 

>>To flip the coin over, a political ad or statement in a signature line helps more casual users (specifically in O.T.) to take into account the poster's political bias when evaluating the effectiveness of the point that user is trying to make.



Maybe two sig pics might be possible, one for off-topic, another for the rest of the site

 

If this is an American based website people should
be allowed to do whatever they want on their sig lines.
If not....I'm gone. If we ban political thought, discussion
and sig lines?
Get real.

 

Screw it, let's just get rid of the sigs all together.

I know it sounds like using a flamethrower to pull weeds, but this is only going to get worse.

It's a political question today, it's only a matter of time before religious symbolism shows up. How about when gay pride stuff starts showing up?

It's starting a dangerous trend. The only way to head it off before it becomes a big problem is to ban sigs outright....

 

Political ads on a web site like this IMO is asking for lots of flame and trouble. This place does not need anymore ammunition like that. my .02 :smile:

 

I think if it were a democrat left leaning sig the response would not be as vehement as the previous postings...and certainly more vehement if someone had criticized taking democrats sigs out...

if you don't like it...ignore it...that's America...it appears to me that there is only one so far...no big deal...if it colors your listening to the poster's advice-that is your problem, not theirs

 

So what say all...screw freedom?

 

>>Screw it, let's just get rid of the sigs all together.

I'd be up for getting rid of signature images all together. I think eliminating sigs all together is a little too far.

 

I don't like Gold MINIS. I find them offensive.
Ban them from sig lines.

 

Political ads on a web site like this IMO is asking for lots of un-needed trouble. This place does not need anymore ammunition like that. If we are not allowed to speak freely here how is a political ad going to be allowed?? Peoples opinions are constantly being censored and people get nasty easily.... my .02 :smile:

 

I don't like the fact that people talk about LOUD, OFFENSIVE
sound systems on this site. Ban that discussion.
We need to realize what it means to be American.

 

I'm with 2minis on this one.
No one is forcing you to read let alone respond to anything that anyone posts.

That being said, I do however recognize that this is a privately owned, presumably non-government funded site and thus MF can pretty much set whatever rules he wants to. We of course then choose whether or not to stick around.

Chuck

 

>>If this is an American based website people should
>>be allowed to do whatever they want on their sig lines.
>>If not....I'm gone. If we ban political thought, discussion
>>and sig lines?
>>Get real.


While I understand the impulse behind this stance, I don't think we can just say "This is America, and we can say whatever we want, otherwise it's censorship and a limitation of civil liberties." That's true out in public, and that's why it's okay to have "Bush/Cheney 04" or "Bad Cop No Donut" or "Kill Your Television" on the back of your car. But this site is private, and it belongs to Mark. By participating in it we all agree to abide by Mark's rules, as most of us already do. We can't drop F-bombs, and Mark deletes inflammatory or inappropriate posts on occassion. If Mark wants to create guidelines regarding what can appear in sigs, that's his right as the owner of this site; it's not censorship.

I'll add that I don't think this conversation is about banning political discussion. There are several political discussions going in in OT right now. This conversation is about removing political discussion/imagery from the MINI related forums, and limiting them to OT.

 

the censorship begins.....

 

>>
>>While I understand the impulse behind this stance, I don't think we can just say "This is America, and we can say whatever we want, otherwise it's censorship and a limitation of civil liberties." That's true out in public, and that's why it's okay to have "Bush/Cheney 04" or "Bad Cop No Donut" or "Kill Your Television" on the back of your car. But this site is private, and it belongs to Mark. By participating in it we all agree to abide by Mark's rules, as most of us already do. We can't drop F-bombs, and Mark deletes inflammatory or inappropriate posts on occassion. If Mark wants to create guidelines regarding what can appear in sigs, that's his right as the owner of this site; it's not censorship.
>>
>>I'll add that I don't think this conversation is about banning political discussion. There are several political discussions going in in OT right now. This conversation is about removing political discussion/imagery from the MINI related forums, and limiting them to OT.

So censorship? Yeah. That is a great idea. Censor part of the site.
Maybe we should add a forum for Politics, Sex, Drugs and Rock and
Roll? And then label it Eighteen and Over, please?