Hello All.

Norman X10000000000000000000!

I'm going fishing.


\Tight Wraps & Tighter Lines

Bob,

New Bern, NC.

The title of this thread is "upcoming recession and effect on the rod building industry" which would likely (and should) lead to discussion about economic environment, which is influenced by economic policy, which is influenced by political environment. A blanket "keep politics out of it" policy stifles intelligent discourse, especially when discussing a topic like this. I can certainly understand folks being weary of those slinging mindless rhetoric back and forth. I'm sick of that type of thing too. But to insist that people not engage in any political discussion, or worse, insist that it be moderated away, is not a good path to go down.

-Geoff

Politics and politicians make and interpret laws, including fish and game laws, regulations, and licenses. If you build rods strictly for display you can probably ignore politics, but if you build rods to catch fish you can't afford to ignore the impact of politics and politicians on your hobby/addiction. If rod builders were obliged to cite and discuss the specific law or regulation (politics) their post addresses and stick to this topic (NOT personalities) we rod-builders might even improve sport fishing in addition to rod building.

Norman Miller Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One of the reasons I come to rod board is to get
> away from politics. I don’t use any of the
> various social media formats, they’re all became
> too political and do nothing but @#$%& people off.
> Please keep politics away from this site, and keep
> it focused on rod building, fishing, and related
> topics.
> Norm

Im with ya Norman 100%

Geoff, All, apologies for the delayed reply. I am in the midst of ICAST prep, App launch for the forum and earmarked this post as a "must reply" just not in brevity, as the topic of moderation/political posts is important.

1) I view the forum as a living breathing current and historical database of rodbuilding knowledge, combined with an indispensable community of rod builders
2) I hope that it becomes a repository of rodbuilder work though pictures, videos, tutorials as uploading and sharing that content will become easier with the app, and a forum refresh.
3) From the sponsor perspective, a place of industry news, product releases, discoveries and awards.

It isn't a place for political posts or political opinions, sorry. Under "Posting Messages" part of the Rules, "Political, religious and/or historical, etc., discussions/statements are not appropriate topics for this forum." That has been the case for many years.

The thread is "upcoming recession and effect on the rod building industry" It is relevant. Rod builders who are thinking about getting into the craft as a business will find it timely. Those that have been in the industry for decades can provide their input and it will be appreciated by many.

However, discussions on WHY the economy is in this state, and HOW it got there, what is happening to the dollar as a reserve currency, etc. is the political discussion that is outside of the scope of rod building, and that's why a post reflecting largely that was removed.

"It appears above that a reply from Kent was removed due to comments identified by the moderator as having a partisan slant"

Look, I am refugee from a communist county, (whose family immigrated due to religious persecution) who treasures individual liberty, freedom of speech, the constitutional republic that we live in, and the incredibly unique form of Government that the US is with three distinct branches and their separation of powers. My father is a pastor, and I used to be a youth pastor for many years - I'll give you three guesses where I fall on the political spectrum =/

Should I be offended that you think I removed a post due to its "political slant?" (as that implies that I didn't agree with the politics of the post, or the poster, and that I am on the "other side", thus with a bias, and the post was unfairly moderated.) (I'm not offended, by the way) Frankly, that is the exact reason why political discussions are not appropriate for the forum dedicated to rodbuilding, tone behind text is impossible to read, it will lead to mis-understandings, inflammatory reaction posts and that is the slippery slope that I think we want to avoid. Tom who wrote the rules is still a moderator, and he can chime in at any point, but from my perspective the non-political nature of the forum is one of the key reasons why we bought it - its dedicated to the craft, (mostly!) nothing else. Lets keep it that way.

Best Regards,
Aleks





Geoff Staples Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hold on a second.... It appears above that a
> reply from Kent was removed due to comments
> identified by the moderator as having a partisan
> slant. The rules at the top of this forum state
> verbatim:
> "Posts which are inflammatory, insulting, or that
> fail to include a proper name and email address
> will be removed and the persons responsible will
> be barred from further participation."
> Seems like two very grey areas of moderation need
> to be applied to justify comment removal based on
> the rules above. First, a comment needs to be
> identified as partisan, and second, that
> "partisan" comment would need to be identified as
> "inflammatory." I find that level of moderation
> very subjective and clearly outside the scope of
> what has been moderated on this forum in the past.
> Political environment bears directly on economic
> conditions, economic conditions bear directly on
> the success of professional rod builders. I'd
> hate to see this forum slide down the slippery
> slope of political censorship.
>
> -Geoff

Thank you Aleks! A very clear, bold, and unbiased reply. You certainly have my respect and admiration.
Norm

Aleks Maslov Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am in the midst of ICAST prep,


Are you an exhibitor this year with a booth to visit?

I checked the list and do not see NorthFork Composites listed? [icast2022.mapyourshow.com]



Aleks Maslov Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Look, I am refugee from a communist county, (whose
> family immigrated due to religious persecution)
> who treasures individual liberty, freedom of
> speech, the constitutional republic that we live
> in, and the incredibly unique form of Government
> that the US is with three distinct branches and
> their separation of powers. My father is a pastor,
> and I used to be a youth pastor for many years -


Amazing! I appreciate you telling us.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/10/2022 08:36AM by Kent Griffith.

Kent they are listed together with Edge Rods/North Fork Composites

I did a search for 'NorthFork Composites' only on the ICAST website and it did not bring this up:

"Your search for northfork composites did not return any results."


Just found out the reason it did not come up is because I ran north and fork together. The search will only pull them up if a space is put between north and fork. Got it now.

I did not consider Edge Rods.

Thanks! I should have looked over the list more carefully.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/10/2022 11:17AM by Kent Griffith.

Thanks Norm, ditto!

Norman Miller Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you Aleks! A very clear, bold, and unbiased
> reply. You certainly have my respect and
> admiration.
> Norm

Yes Sir! We are there are Edge Rods/North Fork Composites AND Rodbuilding.org! Booth 1644.

Stop on by! I would love to meet in person.

(I'm going to make a separate post on ICAST in just a minute)

Best Regards,
Aleks


Kent Griffith Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Aleks Maslov Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I am in the midst of ICAST prep,
>
>
> Are you an exhibitor this year with a booth to
> visit?
>
> I checked the list and do not see NorthFork
> Composites listed?
> [icast2022.mapyourshow.com]
> bitor-alphalist.cfm#/
>
>
>
> Aleks Maslov Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > Look, I am refugee from a communist county,
> (whose
> > family immigrated due to religious persecution)
>
> > who treasures individual liberty, freedom of
> > speech, the constitutional republic that we
> live
> > in, and the incredibly unique form of
> Government
> > that the US is with three distinct branches and
> > their separation of powers. My father is a
> pastor,
> > and I used to be a youth pastor for many years
> -
>
>
> Amazing! I appreciate you telling us.

Thanks Stan!

Stan Daubinawski Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Kent they are listed together with Edge Rods/North
> Fork Composites

Aleks, your stance is more than understandable, and like Norman, I applaud you for laying it out in the way you did.

BTW ..... I completely agree. It's a rod building site and needs to remain as such.