Member Administrator Cautions Disrespectful RallyPoint Members.

SFC Mark Merino — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 15:05:10 -0500

My inbox is about to burst! Religious threads bring out strong emotions on every side. There is a strong difference between respectful discussion/disagreement and what is actually continuing to transpire. PLEASE familiarize yourself with the published rules and regs and you will see that there is a difference between freedom of speech and the proper behavior and respect of members in a privately owned and regulated forum. Member Administrators do NOT make RallyPoint policy, we do our best to enforce the established guidelines given to all members. The problem is not the posting of religion threads. The problem is disrespect and intolerance. RallyPoint has spent considerable time, effort, and money to set it up. It is not meant for us to convert, alienate, persecute, and disrespect. I urge you to take responsibility for your postings. I urge you to disengage from disrespecting member's beliefs. RallyPoint is NOT a Christian, Muslim, Athiest, heterosexual/homosexual, Left Wing/Right Wing forum, or your own political platform. It is a PROFESSIONAL military forum. For those members who continue to go against the established guidelines, your activities are quickly reported to the owners and your continued presence on RallyPoint is being evaluated. For those of you who have been personally affected by these disrespectful actions, I apologize for everything you have endured and urge you to remain as active members.

9-3 Inappropriate Responses and Comments
a. Personal attacks on question poster or other members if the RallyPoint community.
Debate is encouraged, but it should remain professional.
b. Responses that do not add to and promote conversation.
c. Responses that consist solely not be “yes,” “no” or similar answer.
d. Responses that include disrespectful, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, or prejudice
language.

Reference: RP 3-1 dtd 27 June 2014.

Response by SGT Steven Eugene Kuhn MBA made Feb 7 at 2015 3:27 PM

SGT Steven Eugene Kuhn MBA — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 15:27:35 -0500

indeed, it sometimes seem to get very emotional and non fact based.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 7 at 2015 3:54 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 15:54:01 -0500

The problem with us as humans, is we get emotionally attached to our beliefs, whether they be religious, political, personal, or other.

When someone posts something counter to our beliefs, especially those that are very strong beliefs, we take personal offense to the post - because we see it as an "attack" on our belief.

What we need to do (and what I really try to do) is to step back before answering a question... If we re-read what we are about to post, and ask ourselves: "Am I being emotional, or does this look 'professional'" we can avoid most of the issues that come up here from having different beliefs - even if we vehemently disagree with someone.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 7 at 2015 4:01 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 16:01:42 -0500

Trackin..

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 7 at 2015 4:04 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 16:04:31 -0500

It is unfortunate that you had to publish this SFC Mark Merino.

I do not understand why some get so hateful on the internet. If you can control yourself then you should just not post.

There is absolutely no need to become hateful on a Professional forum. Everyone is entitled to an opinion.

Response by Capt Richard I P. made Feb 7 at 2015 4:07 PM

Capt Richard I P. — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 16:07:31 -0500

SFC Mark Merino thanks for fighting the good fight. I kick in from time to time when I see them, but you're by far the Member Admin MVP.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 7 at 2015 4:13 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 16:13:01 -0500

SFC Mark Merino , good call. Thank you for helping to raise awareness.

Response by SFC Frank Hartley made Feb 7 at 2015 4:15 PM

SFC Frank Hartley — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 16:15:02 -0500

Geez louise! What in the world. Why can't we all just get along? I haven't seen too many discussions yet but I saw one religious freak just sitting there in judgment of others, claiming he's a Christian. That guy is five beers short of a six pack. Just be respectful of each other. We are all simple and flawed people. Just get along. I think with that I am going to log off and go into the woods for a bit.

Response by SP5 Michael Rathbun made Feb 7 at 2015 4:39 PM

SP5 Michael Rathbun — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 16:39:10 -0500

I have been participating in and, occasionally, moderating on-line discussion forums since 1982. I have noted, over the years, that fires start for various reasons.

1. Accident: two or more individuals with differing backgrounds and opinions fail to see that their beliefs are subject to rational debate by persons who sincerely believe otherwise, and things enter into a bit of a decline. Frequently a Voice of Reason (or two or three) can restrain the whole conflagration. Sometimes, not. Sometimes it is one of those episodes when separated elements of the same patrol engage each other in the dark. Gruesome.

2. Arson: there are persons who derive pleasure from roaring up their fellow humans in a discussion, to the point that the bulk of the interchange is diverted from the original topic to a focus on the arsonist. To this end they intentionally respond to various persons in ways crafted to have maximum impact on the target, producing a lovely display of fireworks. With any luck, the entire topic (or forum) is reduced to cinders and bone fragments.

Response by SSgt Kevin Chavez made Feb 7 at 2015 4:42 PM

SSgt Kevin Chavez — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 16:42:05 -0500

SFC Mark Merino , its sad that you have to make that comment. I do think that people tend to read too much into a post. I have always said that this is a tough medium to have a personal conversation because we lack so many personal communication ques, like facial expressions, body language and inflections in voice. My suggestion is for people to relax and breath and do not let keyboard courage overtake your brain housing group when you disagree with a post. I like to debate ideas and I appreciate people willingness to share their perspective. It helps us understand and empathize with other peoples perspective and feelings.

Response by CPT Aaron Kletzing made Feb 7 at 2015 5:21 PM

CPT Aaron Kletzing — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 17:21:45 -0500

Thanks for posting this, SFC Mark Merino. Given that RallyPoint's member base continues to grow quite fast overall, there are occasions where a new member joins and chooses to act like a bull in a China shop...to put it lightly. Thankfully these situations are rare overall, but I am particularly bothered by personal disrespectful attacks from one SM/Veteran toward another. That just can't happen, everyone. We are better than that. We have to remember that we share the strongest bond in the world: military service.

Please familiarize yourself with the guidelines in RP 3-1 or reach out if you have questions. Also, thanks to outstanding member admins like SFC Mark Merino who graciously volunteers a ton of his personal time checking into these issues for the good of us all. Thanks!

Response by CPT Jack Durish made Feb 7 at 2015 5:36 PM

CPT Jack Durish — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 17:36:43 -0500

How many people remember Disney's "Motor Mania" in which Goofy plays a Jekyll and Hyde-like character - one a pedestrian and the other a motorist?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZAZ_xu0DCg

I believe that anonymity in Internet discussions results in the same type of behavior.

Everyone who posts on the Internet should pause a moment before clicking "Submit" or "Comment" and ask themselves, "Would I say this to anyone in a face-to-face conversation?"

Goofy in 'Motor Mania' (1950)

http://www.roadswerenotbuiltforcars.com Goofy stars as a Jekyll and Hyde character, Mr. Walker/Mr. Wheeler. When he's a pedestrian he's mild-mannered and rat...

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 7 at 2015 10:20 PM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 22:20:42 -0500

I started reading this thread to see who you were cautioning! Imaging my letdown to not see names, faces, and details, but I guess that was kind of the point.
Thanks for putting it out there!

Response by 1LT Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 7 at 2015 11:55 PM

1LT Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 23:55:12 -0500

SFC Mark Merino. Even though we've never met . . . you are a trusted, honored, and respected colleague.
I respect and admire your kindness, consideration, and wisdom is handling so many very difficult RP issues.
Warmest Regards, Sandy

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 15 at 2015 1:25 PM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 15 Feb 2015 13:25:26 -0500

To the member administrators...all of you guys, I definitely want to say thanks. The ability to discuss and have fun are great....

I love the community, and it's fun to engage with other members of our military community and see the different viewpoints of all. You guys do great work, and I appreciate the ability to allow free discussion, even on some of the controversial discussions. That is how we grow as people....and so I look forward to seeing the variety of topics.
v/r,
CPT Butler

Response by SPC Angel Guma made Mar 29 at 2015 12:43 AM

SPC Angel Guma — Sun, 29 Mar 2015 00:43:36 -0400

They need to be smoked. Bring em back to basic training. Jk. Right on

Response by SFC Mark Merino made Jun 1 at 2015 8:04 PM

SFC Mark Merino — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 20:04:46 -0400

Apparently, we are now having members spending their time invstigating each other's credentials. Please send in your suspicions to the help desk if you believe a member is not from a military background. We are NOT the stolen valor police. Members who publicly attack each others' credentials will not be tolerated on our watch. Just because someone spends 20 years in the military, they don't necessarily know how all the other services work. Feel free to tag these members for the owners to investigate these claims, again, WE are not the stolen valor police. If you are going to try and publicly shame members, go to another site and feel free to crusade for justice there. This behavior is why RallyPoint doesn't have ribbon racks, badges, etc. They opted for this because of those people who either need to inflate their service or members who feel they must question each other's service. The rest of us are caught in the middle bein forced to watch the mud slinging. One last time.....flag them, email the help desk, but the owners handle it.

Response by SGT Anthony Bussing made Jun 1 at 2015 10:15 PM

SGT Anthony Bussing — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 22:15:06 -0400

even if it is blatant lying? we, as veterans are supposed to tolerate that? Professionally, as NCOs we dont...just saying

Response by LTC Bink Romanick made Jun 2 at 2015 4:38 AM

LTC Bink Romanick — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 04:38:51 -0400

I am an admin on several military pages on FB, it's quite a hard job staying fair and impartial and keeping order.

Response by SFC Mark Merino made Jun 17 at 2015 2:19 PM

SFC Mark Merino — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 14:19:11 -0400

MAJ Weiss has added to the member admin requirements. Please review them prior to putting in notice that you'd like to become a member admin. For all of us already holding those positions of responsibility, we need to read these changes. Regards, Uncle Mark.

http://support.rallypoint.com/customer/portal/articles/1492472-member-administrators

Member Administrators

What are Member Administrators? Member Administrators help manage and organize the RallyPoint community. This article ...

Response by MAJ Paul Kapsar made Jan 22 at 2017 11:12 PM

MAJ Paul Kapsar — Sun, 22 Jan 2017 23:12:44 -0500

Admin....I need to coorect my branch before I verify...Can't see how else to contact you