Diversity

[Jack Daw]

It sounds suspiciously much as if you are accusing a distinguished member of the forum (the good Father) of thinking that someone in the rabble might
verge on being well-adjusted. In light of such a thought, and in spite of my normal reserve, as a nod to my above noted commitment
to fairness and diversity I will offer my services as referee should the need arise. I suggest a cage match.

I don’t want to fight Canadians; I just wanna annex Alberta when they’re not looking.

[SunriseEarth]

True. However I felt that Liam’s post (made as a moderator) probably didn’t sound fair to the creator of that thread. There was only one inflammatory comment made in the thread in question and it wasn’t piperdbh’s.

I am a moderator at a popular forum pertaining to credit issues, and, at times, I have to post gentle reminders to participants in a thread (not necessary the OP) to stay on topic. And I believe that was the intention here, to get the participants back on track. OP elected not to continue the topic--which had the potential to further devolve into a discussion outside of the forum rules--and asked to close the thread.

As for Billy Graham, I would contend that his funeral was a "historical event" as noted in Rule #5. Discussion of Graham's beliefs and practices--whether supporting or denouncing--would be an inappropriate discussion by Forum rules.

Anyway, I think everything will work out okay. We are a diverse and wonderful group, and these situations are bound to happen on occasion.

[AFS1970]

This is not the first time I have seem this discussion on XMTS, which is sad. I have seen at least 2 members leave due to their threads being derailed and then complaints being made against the thread. For at least as long as I have been here there has been a secondary agenda on the site apart from the obvious one of promoting kilts and tartans. I am not privy to the discussions of the moderators, nor do I wish to be, but it seems to me that loosing a productive member of the forums is not seen as a terribly bad thing at all. I doubt seriously that the member who derailed the thread will even bet a note saying not to do so in the future. I have seen a member chased away because he sought compassion when his daughter was a victim of a crime. I have seen a member of the clergy chased away because he offered a simple prayer for disaster victims. There may be others that I don't remember, but I for one hope that @piperdbh is not the latest to leave because somebody else derailed his perfectly reasonable thread. This is why I don't reply to threads often and have taken long breaks away from the forum. Yet this forums is still the best place for kilt information, and I hope that that never stops being the case.

[Steve Ashton]

I can assure you that there is only one agenda on X Marks.

Let me quote from the published guiding principals of this forum. Please note the section below that is highlighted in red.

Our guiding principles will always be;

“We agree to conduct ourselves as the Ladies and Gentlemen of X Marks.”
This site has always been a place where our members treat each other in a polite and respectful, open and honest manner at all times.

"We understand that as a kilt specific forum our chosen subject of discussion is not the complete spectrum of life."
Over the years we have found certain subjects always seem to result in discord. Therefore, we respectfully ask our members to remember that this is a kilt forum and to leave their Politics, Religion and Weapons at the door.

“We assume and expect our members to act as responsible adults”. Adults don't need to be forced to follow rules. They have developed a sense of right and wrong. They know when a subject is appropriate or not. We expect our members to take responsibility for their own actions and the consequences for those actions.

“To keep this forum an enjoyable and informative place we rely on a Member Driven Moderation Policy”. Throughout the forum, at the bottom of every post, personal or visitor message are small triangular icons. If you hover your pointer over this icon the words "Flag this Post" will appear. Clicking on this icon is the easiest and surest way of 'Raising a flag" to the Forum Moderators about any issue you see on the forum. Although called "Flag a Post" we would like our members to consider this as our "Open Door" to contact our staff about any issue, for any reason. The staff can assist if you made a typo in a thread title or if you would like a post or thread moved to another section of the forum.
The Flag a Post button may also be used if the Original Poster (OP) wishes to have a thread closed. The OP is considered the owner of the threads they start and may request to have it edited, moved, or closed at any time.
We have Moderators to oversee the operation of forum but they are not forum cops. The 'Flag a Post' feature is our way for our member to bring an issue to the attention of the Forum Moderators. By 'raising a flag' on any issue that they feel needs to be addressed, our members are assuming the responsibility for governing themselves.

By joining us on this forum you have agreed to adhere to our guiding principals and to abide by these rules and policies.

The Forum Moderators are not responsible for setting the limits of behaviour on this forum. That is the job of the members. If anyone reads anything, or sees anything, it is that member's responsibility to bring that issue to the attention of the staff.
The Forum Moderators can only determine if an issue flagged to them violates one of the rules policies or guidlines. Where the limits of those rules, policies and guidlins are set is totally up to you.