I have been a visitor to this board for about 3 - 5 years. As an educator, I have benefited tremendously from the information here, as well as downloading a few games :D . IMHO, people who are not using the site appropriately should be blocked, as other forums have done, and a complaint sent to their IP. There is no excuse for misbehavior, and no need to tolerate it. A little humor is fine, but threats should be immediately and severely dealt with. Let's keep this place nice.

Ticalc.org does everything in their power to block abusive users. They do track IPs and do remove comment posting priviliges from accounts that are used to post obnoxious comments. Unfortunately, a lot of ISPs dont' care about trolling and childish behavior online and will immediately direct complaints about such things to the circular file. Abusive users tend to just go create another account when one account gets banned. If the trolls don't respect ticalc.org's rules on comments, they won't respect the one account per person rule, either.

Ticalc.org does everything in their power to curtail abuse. Despite their efforts, they still need help from the users to act responsibly and make their job easier.

"Circular file"... Okay, I know that's most likely a humorous reference to something else, but I'm not sure what... A paper shredder? The trash?

Oh my god!!! I read this article and about Nick's history. I didn't realize these people exist, that really threaten people just like that. It's pure madness.

Especially the one who stole his parents' car and tried to drive it...it is pretty scary.

Hi, this is the first time I have ever posted anything on this site. I have been visiting this site for the last 5 years, in that time I have learned to program my calculators. I would like to thank you folks for all the help. I would also like to say that the people who post such ignorant comments are complete morons and should do the rest of us a favor and just leave.

IF you don't want people to complain to you about your programs, don't publish them. Its as simple as that. I mean, its a fact of life, if you do something, someone will complain. i mean, i think some of us dont get exposure to the real life enough. you need to learn to live with stuff, or not complain about it. i mean, as much as the idea of a "community" where everyone is nice is great, its never going to exist for more then a short time. if it does, you woln't get anything out of it. some of you need to go out into the real world, and have to stick up for yourself. i mean, yeah, im in highschool, but i live in a real world, where there is conflict and i cant fall back on someone always. i mean, daily, i get threatened, and i threaten. im lucky that im big, because then i can bust any bitch that comes my way, but its something that some of us need to learn to live with. my message to some of you: grow some balls

just to clarify, this isnt to flame anyone, its just to give a reality check.

i mean, some stuff that offends me doesnt offend other people and vice versa

This is confusing.

>>I mean, its a fact of life, if you do something, someone will complain.

So it is acceptable for other people to complain.

>>you need to learn to live with stuff, or not complain about it.

But it is not acceptable to complain yourself?

>>because then i can bust any bitch that comes my way

Your mother should soap your mouth.

...or his keyboard. I agree with you on those points being confusing.

You're right about the soap.

It is true that people are held accountable for their work. However, programmers here do not do this for work--they do it for their own fun and possibly to help others out. I have been visiting this site since 8th grade along with many other TI sites, and the community has definately changed. I am now a freshman in college, but still enjoy looking through the various TI programs on this site. You, however, are still in high school, and are trying to tell many other college age kids to "man up" and get in the real world. I would say the real world is better known to college age kids, and the real world does include laws against threats. I'm glad the editors here keep up the hard work and effort making this site, and I see no reason why this 'community' should not be able to get along and reap the great benefits.

A side note--Before I get comments asking why I have no programs posted, it is because I have never felt the need to post my many "my use only" programs. If I mearly make refinements or small improvements to those already posted, I feel no need to upload these files.

Your right about the high school college thing. I'm a sophomore/freshman (units thing) and boy, 99% of high school students live such sheltered lives. Then comes college and then they get a taste of the real world, only after we are out of it will we truely be in it.

Well you stated that you live in a real world (and I mean if this isn't the Matrix who doesn't), but what you say implies that you know what the real world is like and you simply can't say this because

1) You're still in high school so not only do you not have a real job where you are totally on your own supporting yourself just to get shelter, water, food, etc. but the high school environment is nothing like the real world and

2) Unless you have traveled the world and seen first hand the success that can be achived or the rugged conditions of people living on the land or a war zone that has decimated lives or a basic happy family then none of what any of us say, including me, can be true about the real world and still...

If you would rather people be without programs, then that's ok. Also, many of the complaints are generally not allowed on these boards. As NickD said in his message, "the comment boards [exist] for their intended purpose: as a constructive method of discussion about news in the TI world." Flames and threats are definitely not constructive. Neither are simple messages saying that a program sucks.
To me, constructive means something that will be benificial. For example, if an improvement is wanted to greatly improve gameplay such as optional keys, then the message should politely say so. "YOUR D*** KEYS SUCK!" would not be constructive. As for threats in any form, the people who make them should realize that this is all done for free, as a voluntary service to the community. If everybody on this site was threatened, there might not be any programs here.
To address the "real world," there is a limit as to what is right. Threats, and physical threats especially, benifit nobody in the end. Also, high school does not count as the real world. In some ways, it is still sheltered. In other ways, it is not because of the behavior of many kids at that age. So far, I have found the environment at my university much more different than at high school - it doesn't seem as violent. Past this, when a job is needed to support oneself, it is very different than living in a dorm or at home with your parents. A whole other "world" exists in the countries where people are always in fear of dying. Being in high school does not merit you to tell others what the "real world" is like. There is no definite "real world."
That is all that I have to say and I am sorry if this message is long.
-alow27182818

I feel your pain, nickd. I don't know if you remember me, but I had a few drinks with you our friend A*******'s house (names masked to protect the innocent) over the summer for her graduation party (in Elmhurst). Thought you had pretty much left ticalc forever, it's good to see you back.

Is it weird that I actually remember that?...

Hi! How's life treating you? :)

I agree with many of your points....what I really want to know is-who was the threat from?

I'm not asking this to embarrass whoever did it-it's because I had posted an angry message about comment deletions, and to know if it was my message that was referred to (though I don't remember any threats...).

Good for you Nick D. Ive watched this community from the safety of my keyboard for a few years now, and personally I dont know what to say about this community and its actions. I dont think the people who post here deserve the benefits of ticalc.org if they are willing to act like this. I came here looking for some info on my calculator, and I never expected then to become so involved into this website. Now I usually dont check out more than the first few posts.
Thanks Nick for all that youve done for this site.
Thanks to the entire staff of ticalc.org, may the community return to how it should be.

Yeah, it's a shame when things come to this. Flames here, death threats there... It's sad that you've (NickD) become a victim of that kind of treatment.

I really hope from now on, for awhile at least, that things will change for the better.

OT: jrock7286 and 343GuiltySpark, I think both of you have contracted the "Beagle" worm. I just got an e-mail from each of your addresses, and I know you guys didn't send them.

Or it could be somebody who has the ticalc.org mailing lists. From there, you can get a LOT of e-mail addresses. I used to get spam/virus mail from what appeared to be ticalc.org members a lot. I still do somewhat, but I don't even look at what's in my bulk mail folder anymore, I just delete it.

Well, no_one, I received an email from you with the subject "Hi" and the body:

Test =)
geoqnulctg
--
Test, yep.

It also had an attachment named "pmw.exe"
I am glad that I use Linux!

MWM

The two emails I got had the same subject and body (except for the random garbage), and the executable name apparently is a random name too.

I don't think the Beagle virus spoofs the sender's address.

I use Linux too, but I get email with Juno through Wine. :-) Wine probably would run (or try at least) the worm if I opened it. I don't know 'cause I'm not going to open it.