Should we condone verbal abuse on a site which bills itself as a professional networking site?

We have 600,000 members. We have a handful of Admins. They cannot "police" things until they see them. They are literally a reactive force.

The members themselves are what keep things professional. Unfortunately, "from time to time" people will lose their bearing, or a bad apple will slip into the bunch and before they can be "adjusted" we will have a few hours of drama.

The VAST majority of the site is professional. The vast majority of the membership is professional. The problem is that we can't "unsee" those instances that are dealt with. They're like car wrecks in our rearview mirror. We know they happened, and we're going to talk about them, even though they have already been cleaned up.

Really, SPC Leon? Put it into perspective. We have over half a million awesome users on this site, and one or two unverified "members" who repeatedly create fake usernames like "Eatadik" and post divisive, offensive comments until members report them and they're banned from the sIte. Don't let a handful of jealous, wannabe, Basic Training dropouts ruin RP for you. You're smarter and stronger than those trolls.

Absolutely not! I have seen some things on this site that have truly left me wondering about the state of professionalism and common-courtesy in our military. More times than I can count, the conduct of some RP members has caused me to consider closing my account altogether.

Small people will always be small people and act as such.

I don't believe anybody is more opinionated than me and I will drop an Em Effer in a heartbeat, but being disrespectful to a fellow brother or sister is way out of line on here. I look forward to hearing what other think. I may not agree, but it is always welcome.

I get on here because their are others that are like me yet they have different outlooks than me. I have actually changed my opinion on several things due to others. Having officers give outlooks is great, because I never got that when I was in.

I believe that every person should police stuff on here. This is not a right it is a privilege and we should treat it as such.

Unfortunately too many people think this is their personal blog or Facebook. I myself called someone out when I first came on RP, and I got thoroughly thrashed for it.

With that said, everyone has pretty much already said it. If you see it, report it. This isn't Facebook!

I think it's unacceptable. We are identified on this site by rank and name--we should all maintain our proper bearing. Disagreement in these discussions is all well and good, but if you resort to name-calling or other unprofessional behavior, it ceases to be a discussion and the whole point of this is to exchange ideas, isn't it?

Such comments are unsatisfactory. They are not in keeping with the RallyPoint Terms of Service. RP 3-1. They are not keeping in the traditions of the United States Armed forces. All members are charged to police one another in accordance with both traditions. Don't let your fellow members get away with it, tell them they're wrong, vote them down, tag member-admins to call our attention to them and if it's substantial enough an offense view their profile and click the flag button, describe the offense, and provide the link to where it occurred.

This is on us as a community. Ductus Exemplo. Set the Example.

The entire reason I joined this website was to network with other people regardless of rank or branch. And mainly to lend a helping hand to guide soldiers through the beginning of their career. The comments you are speaking of are ridiculous. This is supposed to be a common place for people to help others and gain information in a non-threatening manner. I totally agree some people are not being professional.

My suggestion is this:

Make it necessary when you begin a thread to tag an admin. Get them involved in the thread from the start.

Turn the Reactive force that is the admins, as Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS has called them into a proactive force. This would mean "drafting" more people to serve as admins.

Until then, we as active duty, retirees or veterans should begin (for some) to hold ourselves to the same standards that would be expected of us if we as retirees and veterans were still active duty.

My past on here is far from perfect, however, I have made the effort to conduct myself in a manner that is a positive reflection of the United States Military in general and the Army in specific. Do I always succeed? No, but I am only human and do the best I can with what I have to work with.

No matter what happens there will always be some that have the tact of a wrecking ball, and the subtlety of a nuclear bomb who will continue to slip through the nets. We as members of this site should be mature enough to conduct and police ourselves as adults.

One final suggestion: Ladies and gentlemen please play nice, remember that what you say on here, whether positive or negative is a direct reflection on you and your service. Not to mention that it is quite possible that the good people at Linkedin may be looking to fill vacancies in their companies with someone like you until they see your behavior on here.

If you must run your brain in high gear disengage your mouth, or in this case fingers, and if you cannot disengage the mouth/fingers turn off the sound. Stop typing, step back and rethink what it is you are trying to convey to others in a more personable manner. So much for my .02.

One more thought, if you feel you must disagree with someone, take it to the message format and air thing out in the back channels, just make sure to keep it civil, and you can send a courtesy copy of the back channel to an admin, if you have a connection with one of them. DON'T air your dirty laundry in public, it can come back to embarrass you at best and get you banished to facebook land.