Deleted Posts

[Aaron]

I have deleted a few posts this morning that should have been stopped and/or deleted awhile ago. Our forum software removes "points" from users when a post of theirs is deleted in an effort to discourage the deletion of posts. If you find that your points have decreased, this is why. If you are "upset" over this, PM me and I'll see what I can do.

If there was one thing that was deleted that I didn't want to see removed from the site it was my remark about C&R. Please, try to remember that this site and forum are for FUN.

Please keep the following in mind:

Telling someone ONCE that C&R will help the sport is great, you are doing a service to the fishery. Telling someone your opinion TWICE shows that you are passionate about it. Again, good job. A THIRD time is really overdoing it. Chances are good that whomever you are talking to got whatever information they needed to make an informed choice the first time you told them. Chances are also good that they will more than likely be getting upset about the whole subject by the time you tell them your opinion for the third time. This applies to Muskies, Bass, Trout... If I've seen one problem come from all of the new additions to the site, it would be C&R, CPR, CNFNR.. whatever.

I feel need to say, once again, that C&R is very rarely a rule. I also feel that it is nobodys responsibility to tell everyone they see fishing to throw the fish back. If you feel that it IS your responsibility to tell EVERYONE you see fishing to throw the fish back, please don't use this site as your platform. Not to say that I don't welcome you and your opinions here, it's just that this site has no place for fishing zealots. (zeal-ot, n., a. One who is zealous, especially excessively so. b. A fanatically committed person.)

[gpc]

I for one thought there was really good info and argument on those deleted posts. There were personal opinions that were brought on by fellow anglers. Just because you have the power and authority to erase posts doesnt mean you should. Your opinion was a legit opinion, but so were everyone else's. Nobody will be upset about loosing "points", but people take pride in their fishing and being able to voice there opinion. Just because someone has a different opinion than yours, and you do hold the power to totally erase a whole group of peoples personal opinions, doesnt mean you should. Boy, I love freedom of speach

[peterpan]

ditto that gpc. I'm new to writing, but have been a "guest" for a while and from what i've been reading, i kinda like the way some of em ramble, know what I mean? Like my uncle Brad, you could crawl up on his lap and he'd tell ya sories twice, but in a different way..no harm, made me listin to my elders... and uh...ain't it a bit of "zealot" to have over a 1,000 posts??? way to go gpc! Betcha like THAT kind tho, huh LOL.
I'm a steely guy, myself and from I can see, us and muskie hunters gotta be zealots... who the heck else would wait as long as we do for a strike?
keep her coming, I say.


yeah, I know I need spellchek

[Dr Hook]

While freedom of speech is a good thing, just remember that you are on a privately owned and operated website and you should be courteous and respect the rules and guidelines of the owners here.

There's nothing with CnR but nobody wants to hear the same group of guys preaching about it all the time.

[Don Wittenberger]

Hey Hook, I can't post on your web site because of a "cookie enable" problem. Is that because I have AOL? I've learned from previous experience that AOL doesn't work on some message boards.

[gpc]

While freedom of speech is a good thing, just remember that you are on a privately owned and operated website and you should be courteous and respect the rules and guidelines of the owners here.

There's nothing with CnR but nobody wants to hear the same group of guys preaching about it all the time.

Yeah your right Dr. Hook....... , and hearing the same thing over and over again does get pretty annoying no matter what side of the spectrum your views fall under. I guess I was just looking to be educated from all sides of muskie fisherman views. I am not considered a muskie fishermen Iv tried but to no avail. And trying to understand how muskie fisherman think is about the only thing I have to get closer of reaching my goal of finally catching a tiger

[Don Wittenberger]

Well, I don't think Dr. Hook is a bad guy. The way I see it, this whole thing was a joke that went sideways, the discussion was a distraction, and deleting it does no great harm to freedom of speech. What I hope comes out of this is that Dr. Hook will use his web site to educate his readers about the fragility of the tiger muskie fishery and the central role that C & R plays in maintaining its viability. It's true that we shouldn't forget that releasing legal fish is VOLUNTARY ... but it's erroneous to see C & R as "personal opinion" or a "passion" of some anglers. C & R is a proven method of maintaining quality muskie fisheries that has been adopted everywhere else.

[zen leecher aka Bill W]

I'd like to see Bruce step up and do some educating on his board also.

[Don Wittenberger]

This board is new and experiencing growing pains. While I might disagree with some decisions that Aaron or Mike make, I think we should give them some leeway to figure out how to run it.

[Drewp]

This board is new and experiencing growing pains. While I might disagree with some decisions that Aaron or Mike make, I think we should give them some leeway to figure out how to run it.

I think that this website for the most part runs great. The Musky forum on this website seems to be somewhat of a different animal altogether in comparison with all of the other forums/topics. I don't know how much work it would take (Aaron or Mike?), but you guys seem like you have the passion for it and could almost break off into your own website.

[Dr Hook]

My participation here has nothing to do with my site and if I were Mike and Aaron I'd delete any reference to my site. I'm not here to promote or recruite for another site. However since were talking about it, I see Leecher is still upset for being banned from my site. LOL

I agree with Drew and Aaron are doing a great job with this site!

Not exactly sure what you guys mean by "educating", but it sounds to me like you want me to promote your agenda's and ideas regarding sport fishing.

[zen leecher aka Bill W]

No, I'm not upset about your board. I probably would have left it with all the others anyways. It's the same old stuff over and over, but with different people. Maybe you should take it up a notch and promote what Don proposed. It would be a good thing for managing resources.

[dlt074]

I for one thought there was really good info and argument on those deleted posts. There were personal opinions that were brought on by fellow anglers. Just because you have the power and authority to erase posts doesnt mean you should. Your opinion was a legit opinion, but so were everyone else's. Nobody will be upset about loosing "points", but people take pride in their fishing and being able to voice there opinion. Just because someone has a different opinion than yours, and you do hold the power to totally erase a whole group of peoples personal opinions, doesnt mean you should. Boy, I love freedom of speach

amen. couldn't have said that any better.

It's true that we shouldn't forget that releasing legal fish is VOLUNTARY ... but it's erroneous to see C & R as "personal opinion" or a "passion" of some anglers. C & R is a proven method of maintaining quality muskie fisheries that has been adopted everywhere else.

again. couldn't have said it any better.

the site owners can do what ever they want, it's their right. so delete anything you don't agree with. i also have the right to do what i want. i for one can not abide this asinine behavior and will no long participate or contribute to this site. those threads were far from deletion worthy. i have been on many forums with far far worse and it never gets deleted. the "community" takes care of anything that gets out of line. we don't need an all knowing speech censor deleting entire threads because they perceive the community as too stupid and over zealous about a subject that is NOT OFF TOPIC for the site. now, if somebody posts something inappropriate, by all means delete their comment, but not the entire thread. we are all adults around here and sticks and stone will break our bones but WORDS will never hurt me. right?

it's very uncouth to claim to want to start a community where people can share and express themselves about all things fishing then label them with a while accurate, very inflammatory term and then delete their point of view from the forum.

please read the definitions for community and forum.

it started out so well yet something smells fishy around here.

i won't be surprised if this thread and/or comment gets deleted too.

[Aaron]

What some of you fail to grasp is that there is more going on here than meets the eye. Many people were/are upset over that thread and have not/will not voice their upset publicly. Yes, there was a good amount of information in that thread, but it was doing more damage than you might think. We tried just deleting pieces of it and for some, that made it worse. It's really a no win situation now. People were upset over actions taken and words used. Now some of you are upset that it is gone.

I suggest everyone take a break, go catch some fish, and return with a new outlook on things.

Aaron

[iPodrodder]

My participation here has nothing to do with my site and if I were Mike and Aaron I'd delete any reference to my site. I'm not here to promote or recruite for another site. However since were talking about it, I see Leecher is still upset for being banned from my site. LOL

I agree with Drew and Aaron are doing a great job with this site!

Not exactly sure what you guys mean by "educating", but it sounds to me like you want me to promote your agenda's and ideas regarding sport fishing.

Ok, Hook, I will try not to dig up that fight, but I read some comments of yours and I think you have some rather strong opinions. And it sounds to me like you were scoffing at the end of your last sentence, like our ideas have no merit or are inferior. A simple, polite no would suffice. That is all I will say.

[Mike Carey]

Wow, back from an eleven hour work day to this. So many thoughts come to my mind here. First, I deleted two posts which had references to Dr Hook's workplace. He claimed that someone had contacted his workplace and harrassed him. For me that was justification enough to delete those two posts. And I should be clear, the ONLY reason they were deleted was the work place reference. The content of the rest of the post had nothing to do with it.

I started this site ten years ago and have been running it since my boys were toddlers. It has always been my goal to make WL.com a place where people can share their fishing experiences and where my kids (and other's kids) could log on and have a safe, clean website experience. That has not and will not change. The challenge is harder as the site grows bigger.

As Aaron stated, we received a far amount of behind the scenes negative feedback about this thread. Like it or not, this site is a private enterprise and not a public-owned entity. So we are going to make decisions that some readers will not like. I have had experience with a negative, hate-filled forum and I swore I would never have that happen to WL.com, and I won't. So I'm really sorry if some of you feel so strongly that you won't be coming back. We will miss your contributions. I hope you find another site you feel better about.

Some of you know I am a nurse. Well, I just came back from pronouncing a Hospice patient who left this world. Frankly, having a thread deleted is pretty insignificant in the big scheme of things. I wish that instead of focusing ourselves on indignation we could all focus a little more on understanding and empathy. Thank you to those that showed us support, remember, this Forum isn't even two months old. Aaron and I are doing our best and guess what - I promise you we are both going to stumble along the way. Fair warning to you all.

Speech over.

[nwbass]

I'll say this...well done both of you. And you're right Mike, in the big scheme of things...a lot is insignificant. Thank you for the great work and effort you guys put in here.

[Mike Carey]

My participation here has nothing to do with my site and if I were Mike and Aaron I'd delete any reference to my site. I'm not here to promote or recruite for another site. However since were talking about it, I see Leecher is still upset for being banned from my site. LOL

I agree with Drew and Aaron are doing a great job with this site!

Not exactly sure what you guys mean by "educating", but it sounds to me like you want me to promote your agenda's and ideas regarding sport fishing.

Oh Bruce, I can't pass this one up! Do you really delete ever time someone mentions WashingtonLakes.com on your site? I hope not, that could be a lot of work.



BTW, your site graphics rock. In some ways we are like the Microsoft and Apple of fishing websites, just thinking back on our long history.

[Don Wittenberger]

"Not exactly sure what you guys mean by 'educating', but it sounds to me like you want me to promote your agenda's and ideas regarding sport fishing."

Substitute "hope" for "want" and "good fishing" for "your agenda" and you're there.

[reelinanrockin]