General Discussion
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The topic of discussion in Megan Fox' thread has turned to her supposed cocaine use, and some members are defending said habit. Should we do something about it? I'm weary about influencing content that doesn't really break any forum rules, but at the same time, a lot of our younger members frequent that thread...
cocaine is a hell of a drug
The Megan Fox thread is becoming a bizarro land. For every new questionable thing she does (and each seems to sound worse than the last), someone posts an article (not saying anything wrong with posting articles) and then a core group of fans quickly jump to defend whatever it may be and the whole thing usually gets out of hand.
Here's an outline just in case it gets edited, for those that don't feel like going through it yet.
Part 1: Someone posts an article about a new Megan antic
Megan Fox Talk New Flickhttp://www.ew.com/ew/package/0,,20213067_2...tid=30537800001
Um. I've done Coke..... that's all I'm saying, and if it's not on coke, she's on something that you smoke from a pipe.
You don't check for lipstick on your teeth THAT many times. Notice that she can't sit still? That's called Cocaine my friends. You know...coke, snow, nose candy, flake, blow, white, ect. I have a few friends who went to Comic Con who saw her, and pretty much the consensus from the vast majority of people who met her, or had a chance to see her was the same... Drugs.... it's hard to hide the signs of being on drugs from people who do/used to do them a lot. Megan was very loopy, always running her tongue along her teeth, not just the front, but in the back (cause yanno the lipstick gets on your wisdoms right?) and fidgeting. She was fine the first time on stage during the Q&A, it was after that she started getting odd.
Step 2: Justification from Fans
Justification # 1
LOL it's a possibility she is young
Justification # 2
i wouldn't mind doing a line with her better yet I'll let her do a line off of me
So drugs are ok then? Well if Megan can do it and still be liked and famous then why can't I? Coke is a good thing? Sweet I can finally lose those last 5 pounds and looks like an idiot....but hey...drugs are ok now because Megan Fox does them
The fact that you're all condoning it as being ok.. makes me sad.. Seriously I realize people do drugs on a regluar basis, but she is a role model for numerous people, teens in particular look up to her, so her being so blatant in the possibility of drug usage is not ok.
I definitely agree with them...
Justification # 3
Is this this part where we do an "about face" and chastise Megan for not living up to our model citizen expectations?
She can take drugs and Have a great fun doing it. I.DON'T.CARE. She can even take drugs and play in a porn movie, I.WILL.WATCH.IT!So, drug is bad. Peace on earth. Let's pray for Megan hoping that she will find Jesus soon! ** big sarcasms **
Yeah, its pretty out of hand there 
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I agree about that Siloute said about the young members, I don't think this (taking a subject like hard drugs lightly for the purpose of defending a celebrity) is good for them or to represent Bellazon as a whole .
Drugs are not obscenities, and people can write whatever they want. I hope you're not jumping to conclusions that younger members visiting the thread might start doing coke just because somebody writes that it's "fun" or whatever...? I am totally against censoring that discussion. Just let it go and people will naturally get fed up with writing about drugs and start posting pictures again. And apart from that, Bellazon is not a children's forum (that is, not exclusively).
Besides, I'm quite sure that there must have been a similar discussion in Lindsay Lohan thread
Of course its not a kid's forum and kids aren't going to start doing drugs because people on BZ say its okay. But if that was it, we'd do away with most of the rules we already have ...I know we don't have anything specific or clear cut on the books like TFS for example ("drug talk is not allowed"), but I just wanted to go on the record as saying this type of stuff...
cocaine is a hell of a drug
i wouldn't mind doing a line with her better yet I'll let her do a line off of me
...being okay (especially considering some things that aren't) doesn't sit right with me at all. But you guys are the vetarans and I'll comply (not personally of course, but in terms of what to moderate) with whatever the consensus is, but I just wanted to put that out there...
It's perfectly okay to say anything one wants. Freedom of speech, Joe. I don't really see a point in censoring a drug discussion here. As long as people don't flame/harass each other and post spam or porn, I'm not going to kick in. We can only remind members that it's a thread on Megan NOT cocaine, but censoring posts violates the above-mentioned concept of freedom of speech.
For example, you probably think that calling somebody "fat" or "ugly" is not right, but would you really be willing to delete all posts with rude comments on BZ? Because there's quite a bunch of them, I assure you 
It's just a forum, people don't come here to learn savoir-vivre or learn that drugs are bad.
It's perfectly okay to say anything one wants. Freedom of speech, Joe....censoring posts violates the above-mentioned concept of freedom of speech....
Okay...well...if we said that to the members I'm sure they'd call us a bunch of liars 
. The staff censors posts and speech all the time (as they did to me) There are more than a few members are either banned or with high warning levels because sensored speech ALONE . The issue is this particular subject (drugs) isn't addressed in specific terms and we wanted to know how to go about it, not how to institutionalize the forum.
For example, you probably think that calling somebody "fat" or "ugly" is not right, but would you really be willing to delete all posts with rude comments on BZ? Because there's quite a bunch of them, I assure you
The prospect of purifying and censoring all posts even figuratively isn't where I'm getting at here. SS and I only wanted to know how to go about a subject (drugs) that currently isn't on the books in specific terms...
images or text showing racism or other content widely considered offensive.
"other content widely considered to be offensive" is very broad and can mean something different to everyone that reads it.
And I'm not trying to make anyone agree with me. For example, you've raised warning meters that I don't agree with, but you know, it is what it is, its just to each his own.
So again, asking about this isn't an attempt to "censure" every post. Some of the rules are very broad, so asking about it is like a policeman trying to understand his job better so he can do it better, not that he's on a mission to end all crime .
If any of this sounds rude, excuse me.
The staff censors posts and speech all the time (as they did to me) There are more than a few members are either banned or with high warning levels because sensored speech ALONE
Hmmm, I didn't know that... Well, I have to admit that I myself had these thoughts a few days ago about censoring curse words, but I gave up pretty quickly. Really, I can't be bothered trying to asterisk all "fucks", "shits" and so on... Unless such words were used to flame a member, I guess. But other than that, I don't intervene.
"other content widely considered to be offensive" is very broad and can mean something different to everyone that reads it.
Yes, that is very broad, but that's why we have four moderators, not just one. This way, one moderator can point to things that others don't find troubling (and this is what we're having now). You're a mod, Joe, you can explain to regular members that it might be not right to discuss hard drugs so overtly in an actress thread. You can express your views just like any other member, but any form of punishment for talking about drugs is out of the question for me.
On a side note - if there was a separate thread on drugs in the General Discussion thread, would you be as concerned about it as you are concerned about what's going on in the Megan Fox thread?
I think you're trivializing the cocaine thing, Q. Freedom of speech has nothing to do with it. Nor do I believe anyone is going to start using cocaine over a BZ discussion. The reason I brought it up is because we have some members actively condoning (and borderline promoting) an act that is both illegal and potentially very harmful.
Lets say the discussion turned to self-mutilation, and we had few members who condone that and said it was not a big deal, is that the kind of speech this forum wants to be associated with?
I'm not saying serious discussion about drugs does not have a place on this forum, but what was going on in Fox thread was rather trivializing the dangers of using hard drugs.
I wasn't considering banning or warning anyone over what was said, but perhaps we could have steered the thread back into the right direction?
I wasn't considering banning or warning anyone over what was said, but perhaps we could have steered the thread back into the right direction?
Fair enough, but how exactly would you like to do that? Reminding people politely that drug talk is not welcome here might prove futile. And making the BZ rules more precise, that is forbidding discussion of taboo subjects (and yes, sentences like "coke is OK" constitute an integral part of such discussions) smells a little Nazi to me. Sorry, but that's how I feel about this. Nobody's inducing anybody here to take drugs, let alone trying to sell them to people. And please do realize that most members writing things like "coke is cool" most probably don't have any idea of what they're talking about. I personally think that the recent infamous discussion in the Megan Fox thread is totally harmless. As I've said, this is just an Internet forum, you've got all sorts of people in here, so you can't always expect serious discussion. You'll always have trolls who trivialize serious matters. End line.
the "cocaine is a hell of a drug" line is actually a famous line from chappelle's show...the rick james episode...most people are pretty familiar with that one and so I know that stating it verbatim was just a running joke from the show.
my opinion about the whole thing is to let it go really...we cant censor a discussion about drugs just because we feel like it...as long as there is no bashing and people dont start insulting each other directly then let it go.
On a side note - if there was a separate thread on drugs in the General Discussion thread, would you be as concerned about it as you are concerned about what's going on in the Megan Fox thread?
Well I think it would be a good idea, though I wouldn't bother because the PIPing would probably knock it out of sight. But I did tell some members about the "Chat Thread" and they could probably use that in the event of just going off the deep end of the subject of the actual thread.
I think the issue (in the thread) has been talked through pretty well. We all just said what we had to say and I think it worked out for the most part for now 
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On a different note. A friend of mine sent me some vids in an e-mail saying they were "workout vids" and it turned out to be a really hot 
woman stripping and working out "Veronica Zemonova" was her name. She was alone in the videos, so I was wondering is she a "porn" star or a glamour model like Lucy Pinder, Keeley Hazel ect 
?
For your information, Joe... Veronika Zemanova is a Czech softcore pornstar
"soft core"? interresting. Okay, thanks . And to all, not meaning to be off topic I was just curious if she fit in with the glamour models we have here. So umm...nevermind .
But in other issues, some of the members are complaining about some of these mega-spammers (that haunt site and forum, milestones and hospitality and funny stuff) are resorting to personal message spam. PinkCouture generally bans them and I generally disable their posting ability. This last one made over 90 threads in 10 minutes :shock: !!! So long story short I was wondering if only Administrators can ban. And I'm only asking this to stop them from sending personal messages after I disable their posting.
Joe, you know what softcore porn is, right? So she's in the Model subforum? Let me check that...
"soft core"? interresting. Okay, thanksBut in other issues, some of the members are complaining about some of these mega-spammers (that haunt site and forum, milestones and hospitality and funny stuff) are resorting to personal message spam. PinkCouture generally bans them and I generally disable their posting ability. This last one made over 90 threads in 10 minutes :shock: !!! So long story short I was wondering if only Administrators can ban. And I'm only asking this to stop them from sending personal messages after I disable their posting.
I dont know if only admins can ban 
I think so, who do u want me to take care of 
Hmmm... How would you classify Miss Gemma Atkinson? She's in the Actresses forum, but I think that she should belong in Misc. Babes. She's hardly an actress, really, and she's definitely more of a model, at least in my opinion. She's definitely closer to girls like Lucy Pinder rather than full-time actresses.
Joe, you know what softcore porn is, right?
I always thought it was like a play on words punchline . But she doesn't have a thread, I was just thinking about making one at first because I thought she was a glamour model .
I dont know if only admins can ban
These ...
http://www.bellazon.com/main/index.php?showuser=33798
http://www.bellazon.com/main/index.php?showuser=33857
http://www.bellazon.com/main/index.php?showuser=33725
http://www.bellazon.com/main/index.php?showuser=33638
http://www.bellazon.com/main/index.php?showuser=33496
http://www.bellazon.com/main/index.php?showuser=33630
http://www.bellazon.com/main/index.php?showuser=33496
Hmmm... How would you classify Miss Gemma Atkinson? She's in the Actresses forum, but I think that she should belong in Misc. Babes. She's hardly an actress, really, and she's definitely more of a model, at least in my opinion. She's definitely closer to girls like Lucy Pinder rather than full-time actresses.
I thought she was mainly a glamour model too, so yeah, I agree . And what about Lusiana Lopilato? She's in fashion models and I'm not really sure what her primary profession is. I think she's an actress/singer or something .
Veronika does have a thread, Joe...
http://www.bellazon.com/main/index.php?showtopic=16107
And fine, I'm moving Gemma Atkinson to Misc. Babes 
Oh 
. Which reminds me about the discussion of moving and changing the name of the misc subforum... (and why is it a protected forum btw ? )
Could you all respond to this pleaseAs of right now I think the only thing that could be done is take it out of GBD and put it out in the main forum as its own category. Also the musicians and athletes categories are very small in comparison to the models categories...so technically we could just move those two as subforums inside of the new category in order to avoid clutter...also i should probably delete the competitions thread...as it is just pointless and taking up space for no reason. Now i know that maddog had some issues in the past about creating new subforums and such due to google spiders but I dont see it being too much of a problem...i'm sure he'll provide feedback before we do anything drastic like that....
Oh and the whole name thing...sure if you guys wanna take the forum into a little bit more classy approach then yes definitely get rid of the word babes and make something more appropriate.
I agree that the competitions forum should go to the Tomb or be hidden if we aren't going to do anything with it 
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I was thinking about this misc subforum thing again when I saw a couple threads I didn't know where to merge them to because they weren't "babes" per se and didn't fit anywhere else, but I think the move would be a good idea. My proposal of "Other Women (or Ladies) of Note" was pretty well received in the thread. Sending that competitons thing to the tomb would more than balance out I think 
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OhCould you all respond to this pleaseAs of right now I think the only thing that could be done is take it out of GBD and put it out in the main forum as its own category. Also the musicians and athletes categories are very small in comparison to the models categories...so technically we could just move those two as subforums inside of the new category in order to avoid clutter...also i should probably delete the competitions thread...as it is just pointless and taking up space for no reason. Now i know that maddog had some issues in the past about creating new subforums and such due to google spiders but I dont see it being too much of a problem...i'm sure he'll provide feedback before we do anything drastic like that....
Oh and the whole name thing...sure if you guys wanna take the forum into a little bit more classy approach then yes definitely get rid of the word babes and make something more appropriate.
I agree that the competitions forum should go to the Tomb or be hidden if we aren't going to do anything with it
I was thinking about this misc subforum thing again when I saw a couple threads I didn't know where to merge them to because they weren't "babes" per se and didn't fit anywhere else, but I think the move would be a good idea. My proposal of "Other Women (or Ladies) of Note" was pretty well received in the thread. Sending that competitons thing to the tomb would more than balance out I think
Actually I was discussing with a SEO professional yesterday regarding the layout of BZ. He was inquiring about why the VS shows have so much space on the front page when it is lightly trafficed. He was suggesting folding that back into some other category.
I think the idea of changing from babes to something else is a good one, the Other women of note could work and we would need to come up with new naming for the whole section as well since right now its all "babes", maybe something a bit offensive for the ladies? Perhaps beautiful ladies or something liek that. I am not too good at this naming stuff so maybe yall can come up with something better.