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Hi all,

There have been some changes to our rules to reflect the growth on the board, and in particualr there are changes to the chatbox and to the ages on the board.

Please read the rules and follow them, paying attention to personal info. Be careful please.

The Chalk Bucket - The Chalk Bucket Rules

You must be at least 13 years old to post on the Chalk Bucket. If we discover, and we often do, that you are under 13, your account will be deleted.

Thank you all for helping this place grow and become a SAFE place to talk to people.
 
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Thanks Bog...however, I'm going one step further.

I have installed a module to the board which will require all members to accept the rules before they post. There is a 20 sec. delay on the screen, to encourage everyone to truly read them.

These are all just basic rules to keep our community safe, fun, and friendly. Thank you for understanding, and please ask if you have any questions.
 
Although the administrators and moderators of "The Chalk Bucket" will attempt to keep all objectionable messages off this forum, it is impossible for us to review all messages.

Is there any way for a member to raise an thread to the moderators if it is deemed by us to be objectionable?

I attempted to do this by the Contact Us link a few days ago when I found an Off-Topic thread to be undesirable. I see the thread is still there and I have had no reply to the message I sent using the Contact Us link.

 
Although the administrators and moderators of "The Chalk Bucket" will attempt to keep all objectionable messages off this forum, it is impossible for us to review all messages.

Is there any way for a member to raise an thread to the moderators if it is deemed by us to be objectionable?

I attempted to do this by the Contact Us link a few days ago when I found an Off-Topic thread to be undesirable. I see the thread is still there and I have had no reply to the message I sent using the Contact Us link.


Thank you for informing us about the thread, I have closed it. I am going to spend the next couple of days coming up with a way to handle our email system. With the board growing so fast, it has gotten away from me.

There is a small triangle symbol at the top of every post...this button allows any member to "report a post". However, this just sends an email to me.

I will set up the email so all of the moderators have access to the email. This will help make sure we are all on the same page and everything gets taken care of promptly.
 
Thanks Bog...however, I'm going one step further.

I have installed a module to the board which will require all members to accept the rules before they post. There is a 20 sec. delay on the screen, to encourage everyone to truly read them.

These are all just basic rules to keep our community safe, fun, and friendly. Thank you for understanding, and please ask if you have any questions.

Unfortunately the rules module had some glitches. I have turned it off for now...everyone should be able to post again. Sorry about the problem.:confused:
 
oh i licke the way it was befor its perfect and i did not see many pepole withe out right bad langueg .o well thank u for trying but why cant we use texed languedg licke l8ter or gtg:eek: and stuff licke that .
 
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Yah why cant we use texting language any more? Like LOL and OMG you know the basicis it is a chat box.
 
The rules always stated that proper grammar and spelling are to be used. This is not a forum for little kids, it is a place for discussion and all members should be able to read every post without trying to decypher a secret language.

This is not a change to the rules, we always have required this. Please write in English and please read your post before you hit submit. A few typos are one thing, but some posts do not even look like English.

If you want to use text speak please use MSN or aim or your mobile phone.
 
Um.. Isn't Quebec predominantly French speaking? ;)


<Hijack>

But Thank you anyway. In the U.S. writing (and spelling) test scores among G6 though 12 have dropped 18% over the last 10 years. To me, this is alarming, and I have no doubt in my mind about the reasons for this drop.

I can't tell you how many published articles I've read on the net that begin paragraphs with the word "Like". :indifferent: Or use the non-word "Irregardless" as some indefensible disclaimer. :(

Admiting, I've always be a bad speller, but to purposely change a words spelling (or the meaning of a word, such as "My Bad" instead of "My mistake".) drives my insane. It ONLY encourages ignorance. And I for one am glad to see Forum admin's take a stand against it.

</hijack>
 
Um.. Isn't Quebec predominantly French speaking? ;)


<Hijack>

But Thank you anyway. In the U.S. writing (and spelling) test scores among G6 though 12 have dropped 18% over the last 10 years. To me, this is alarming, and I have no doubt in my mind about the reasons for this drop.

I can't tell you how many published articles I've read on the net that begin paragraphs with the word "Like". :indifferent: Or use the non-word "Irregardless" as some indefensible disclaimer. :(

Admiting, I've always be a bad speller, but to purposely change a words spelling (or the meaning of a word, such as "My Bad" instead of "My mistake".) drives my insane. It ONLY encourages ignorance. And I for one am glad to see Forum admin's take a stand against it.

</hijack>

I am very good at proper English and txt speak. But I know when to use proper English and when it is appropriate to use txt speak. I am stunned that some kids don't know simple basic rules, such as no text speak in an English class essay!!! I was tutoring a kid once and he was writing text speak in an essay. The thing that really drove me crazy was that the teacher knocked off a couple of points for "bad spelling", but he got a good content score. Seems as if the teacher thinks it is better to have kids writing in text speak and expressing themselves then teaching them proper English! If I ever submitted text speak in an essay in my honors English class, my teacher would probably throw it in the trash.

As for spelling (and I'll admit, I'm not the greatest speller), I have 1 word of advice for everyone: Firefox. It has a spell checker in any window you can type something in. Very convenient. And free.
 
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The funny thing about text speak is that half the time it isn't even convenient. It takes me actual thought to use it, which takes more time than just typing. I always laugh to myself when people use texting/AIM words that have more letters than the actual word. Or one letter less (see what I did there, my teenage brain almost typed "like, one letter less." And by "almost" I mean I typed it and then deleted it). I'm not much of a grammar stickler as long as it is understandable, your mind is going to mostly skip over little small mistakes, but when there is no sentence structure or regard for convention, it takes too long to figure out what someone is saying.

I mean if I am texting I am going to use "bc" instead of because or something useful like that, but on here it takes me approximately 0.003 seconds more.* And I do sometimes use "abbrevs," if you will. So it's not like I'm going to judge (is that a legit use of like?); I'm sure if you are just making a good faith effort to use standard grammar and spelling in your posts, people are not going to be point out every missed apostrophe.

*another deleted "like."
 
One other point, some abbreviations are acceptable on a message board, like "DD" or "LOL" (notice the appropriate use of the word "like" used to introduce an example :D ).
 
Thank you Bog and JBS. :applause:
No offense intended here
I dont think all the members realize the bits and pieces of info that they give out in the chat box or in posts that could be used to find them. I know there probably is a pervert sitting somewhere reading their posts and hoping that there is an unsuspecting gymmie nearby. If I picked a member and combed through all their posts it might not be hard to figure things out. Please be careful. Bog does a great job of sniffing out the weirdos but please do your part. I even get nervous when I see people mentioning what meet they are going to. :shudder:

Okay I am getting off my creepy soapbox now:D

Oh and I might add- It's nice to see you JBS, dont be a stranger (no pun intended):)
 
I know there probably is a pervert sitting somewhere reading their posts and hoping that there is an unsuspecting gymmie nearby.

While this is possible and I don't give out very much information online (and think people tend to give out too much) I think it's not exactly the most likely scenario that would arise as a problem from posting info. If people post a video on youtube with no name I think they might be surprised how easy it is to figure out, there is usually the name of the meet in the background which is easily googleable. A couple scores and seeing what level it is, not too hard to figure out if you know what you're doing. But on the other hand it's not that easy and honestly it would seem pretty rare. There are easier to things to do, sad to say, but true. The biggest threat physically seems to be people who have regular access to a child.

Honestly most gyms do not have restricted access at their doors, easier than stalking someone through things posted on the internet, someone could just google the name of the closest gym, walk in, look around, watch the kids, look at a license plate. Sometimes results are published in local newspapers; many children have their names, pictures and towns, cities, even school posted in the newspaper. Anyone can use this information to stalk a child and I'm sure there are recorded cases of that, but I think our practical reality is that it's an opportunity that is very rarely exploited. So unlikely as to be negligible in many people's minds and they will allow their child's name to be published. If you go on many school websites, there are names, pictures. But easier would be to just drive to the school, bus stop, hang out, and not publishing anything won't stop that. This is the more frequent thing we tend to see, although even then danger from "known" adults would seem to be the most frequent.

The biggest reason I don't give out info online is because it's hard to completely remove and I prefer not to create an easily accessible trail mostly for people I may meet "in real life." This is what I see as the biggest problem with posting a lot of info, you make yourself easy to track for a stalker who has enough contact to put the rest together. To that end I use different usernames everywhere as well because it is easy to find more info about someone on the internet who uses the same username everywhere. Googling a username generally yields very easily accessible results. Of course a child or adult could also be harassed on the internet through stalking that never goes "offline" but still has emotional and psychological impact.
 
I know there probably is a pervert sitting somewhere reading their posts and hoping that there is an unsuspecting gymmie nearby.

Probably. They are everywhere. There was one particular weirdo who was IMing me and some other teen friends on another site. All of us recognized that "something wasn't right", and that is a great sign that none of us were fooled. What I think everyone needs a reminder of is what to do when it happens. I like to think of it as a 3 step process...similar to stop, drop and roll....."Stop, Block, Report". Stop talking to the person immediately. Block the person on AIM, MSN, Chalkbucket (it's called the "Ignore User" feature on here), whatever site you are on. Report: to parents and site admins.

And of course it is sometimes possible to turn the tables on the perv if you can get them to reveal personal information. I would not exactly recommend doing that but....;)
 
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Thanks for making the site so safe :) and I think the rules are a really good idea. That is my favorite part of the site, it is safe and the posts are always good and not inapporopriate! :) :) :)
Woohoo moderators!
 
It's funny that this rule was introduced because I'm probably the only one in the ChatBox who doesn't use "text" language. I always would spell the entire thing out. When I think something is funny I say "ha-ha" instead of "lol". :)
 
For a long time I thought lol meant "lots of love".

It was a sad day when I finally realized what it meant :confused:
 

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