I'm a member in 'good' standing here, on iFish, glocktalk, fishheads, and a few other forums. OFF is the first forum I check when I log online anymore. It's homier, more relaxed (even despite the carp battle royale threads) - and I have yet to see someone here on OFF dog pile on a guy for posting a picture of a fish. Aside from some heavy handed over moderation on iFish, my biggest complaint is that anytime someone posts a hero pic of a fish they've caught, at
least one person has jump on and be a tool, chastising them for something - from taking a fish to be released out of the water, to "improperly holding" the fish, to removing a nate from the water, whatever.
They're. Just. Fish. Some folks forget that and put fish, especially high fin STS's, on some sort of mountain-high pedestal. Gets old seeing someone bitched at for posting a picture of a fish. Last year one fellow posted a snap shot of an oversize sturgeon he'd landed - and some dick had to call him out for not breaking off the obvious oversize, or cutting his line instead of fighting the fish to the boat to be released - never did occur to him that a fish trailing 100+ feet of 100lb dacron around could be *Bad* for that fish, had he simply cut the line.
OFF is family friendly without nazi moderators. I like it that way.
Other forums, like Glocktalk, also maintain a level of family friendliness, but sometimes suffer from the over moderation aspect of things. The owner of that site though, Eric, will at least give you a few warnings before dropping a ban hammer, unless you're a complete tool advocating breaking the law constantly, or grossly.
Some folks seem to think that every internet forum must be kept at a level of discussion suitable for a 10 year old - despite the fact that the majority of users are adults, and as adults, shouldn't get their panties in a knot constantly about certain things, like the use of some words, or discussing some topics (like anything with a political bent to it) or ideas. Forums kept PG or PG-13 are generally a lot more interesting and relaxing to participate in than those which have strict G rating policies. I guess though, that some folks can't tell their young children "no" or not bring up certain web sites when their kids are around, and thus must try to make everything suitable for their wee ones. These folks are just a hair away from the types that want to ban or burn certain books from public libraries, because they are overly sensitive or too closed minded.
I find it funny that over on the iFish whine thread about "other" forums (I'm pretty sure they meant OFF) - there were people who said the "other" forum was full of profanity and 'gross' threads. Not sure what those folks were viewing - I haven't seen anything terribly offensive here. Then again, I don't go out of my way to
be offended.
I guess you could say I'm kind of loyal to OFF - but I still participate in other forums because there are different sets of people other places, and there's always more to learn or share than one forum allows. OFF has a good bunch of people here, I like it here, and I think I'll stick around a while. I'll even be nice and leave the stinky work boots on for a while, so as not to offend ya'lls noses