if he climbed 60 feet, and fell off, then i'm sorry to be an asshole, and jerk, but I just have to laugh at the stupidity of that idiot..

start praying for the kid.

Moderator? Are you reading this? Are there no limits? Laughing at the near death of an 11 year old boy has the right to be heard?

I agree that most threads turn into repeated reactions to one completely useless, tasteless, ignorant (and usually hateful) post, which completely ruins the purpose of the forum. Perhaps the best reaction to posts of this kind would be to completely ignore them. Literally just pretend it wasn't posted, and procede with having a mature, useful discussion.

Better yet, the moderator's might want to take their jobs a little more seriously and just take the initiative to delete posts like this right away. I don't think we have to worry too much about censureship when it comes down to common human decency. Honestly, would anyone else mind if completely useless posts by people who are so inhumane and ignorant that they would laugh at the near death of an 11 year old boy were deleted? Am I totally off base here?

Edited to include:

From moderator's sticky: "this is a serious forum and if there is going to be poor behaviour in threads where families may stumble on to then this site will act to clean house. If you want to prattle on about any subject then head to the community forum. This forum will be reserved for those wishing to conduct themselves in a manner fitting a civil society."

Then do it, for god's sake. In the meantime, this forum is being spoiled by a couple rotten apples.

Moderator? Are you reading this? Are there no limits? Laughing at the near death of an 11 year old boy has the right to be heard?

I agree that most threads turn into repeated reactions to one completely useless, tasteless, ignorant (and usually hateful) post, which completely ruins the purpose of the forum. Perhaps the best reaction to posts of this kind would be to completely ignore them. Literally just pretend it wasn't posted, and procede with having a mature, useful discussion.

Better yet, the moderator's might want to take their jobs a little more seriously and just take the initiative to delete posts like this right away. I don't think we have to worry too much about censureship when it comes down to common human decency. Honestly, would anyone else mind if completely useless posts by people who are so inhumane and ignorant that they would laugh at the near death of an 11 year old boy were deleted? Am I totally off base here?

Edited to include:

From moderator's sticky: "this is a serious forum and if there is going to be poor behaviour in threads where families may stumble on to then this site will act to clean house. If you want to prattle on about any subject then head to the community forum. This forum will be reserved for those wishing to conduct themselves in a manner fitting a civil society."

Then do it, for god's sake. In the meantime, this forum is being spoiled by a couple rotten apples.

Ok, so the kid probably was a moron, but that's not to say that it wasn't the responsibility of the scout leader to watch him and tell him when he is doing stupid stuff (climbing 60 ft. without any protection).

(AP) A Cedar Rapids Boy Scout who fell 60 feet down a ravine is expected to recover from his injuries.

11-year-old Kyle Mann fell during a hike with his scout troop at Backbone State Park near Strawberry Point on Saturday. He was flown by helicopter to University Hospitals in Iowa City. The boy's mother, Carol Mann, says that all things considered, her son is doing well. She says Kyle broke his collarbone, his shoulder and at least two vertebrae. He also has a bruised and partially collapsed lung and both arms are in a sling.

Carol Mann says her son had almost climbed a steep slope between two trails when he lost his footing and fell from the top of the ravine.

(AP) A Cedar Rapids Boy Scout who fell 60 feet down a ravine is expected to recover from his injuries.

11-year-old Kyle Mann fell during a hike with his scout troop at Backbone State Park near Strawberry Point on Saturday. He was flown by helicopter to University Hospitals in Iowa City. The boy's mother, Carol Mann, says that all things considered, her son is doing well. She says Kyle broke his collarbone, his shoulder and at least two vertebrae. He also has a bruised and partially collapsed lung and both arms are in a sling.

Carol Mann says her son had almost climbed a steep slope between two trails when he lost his footing and fell from the top of the ravine.

In most cases like this we, as mods, have tried to move away from running around putting out fires to letting the community of RC.com self-moderate as much as possible. This is a classic case in point where it is working very well. While Dima's statements are certainly crude and lack compassion, there is no clear violation of the TOS. Could we delete it? Sure -- we can ax anything that we, as a group of moderators, agree is inappropriate or offensive.

However, often the best action is to let statements like Dima's stand. They stand as a record for all of the public and climbing community to see just what kind of guy Dima is. His comments are now public record on our site and anyone wondering if they should hang out with or rope up with this guy can see some examples of what it might be like to interact with him in person. Make your choices accordingly.

In addition, the comments that have followed by many of our regular users have covered the base quite nicely. You, our community of members, have let Dima know that his comments were out of line and won't be tolerated. This message is much more profound coming from the community than it is from us clowns "behind the curtain" who get accused of interfering way too much, anyway. You guys handed Dima his ass -- as you should have. And I'm willing to bet he thinks twice about making similar comments in the future.

There are instances where we need to jump in a delete inappropriate content. While Dima's comments are ridiculous, this isn't one of them.

Ed

People will react emotionally to Dima. How could they do otherwise?

In general (not in any way about Dima), if a user pushes your buttons so that you're likely to get enmeshed in pointless arguments or flamefests with them, why not hit the "thumbs down" button to ignore the offending user's posts?

I did not even consider that with Dima, and use that button rarely, but I do use it.

if you had suffered a tragedy, or a close loved one of yours had, and you saw callous and demeaning language thrown around - can you swear that you would not react from the gut?