Can you add a button not unlike the "like" button in FB, so that we could sort posts by the number of people that enjoyed it?
And thanks for keeping the forum on track...

Not sure I agree with your decision, if you censor those topics whats next, What will they demand you Ban next.. Just my opinion but maybe a separate area for such topics may have been a better idea.........Sorry denob but I have a problem with one group demanding censorship over another because they disagree with there speech...If such speech is hate mongering or prejudice in nature then that is totally different, and around here you know as well as I do that not only the Mods lock it down and put and end to it but usually they encounter the wrath of the membership.....Conspiracies theories and anti government is opinion.. Doomsday and other such end of the world redirect has been around since written language. Albertaprepper is bang on.. You have now set a president that is irreversible, Maybe you need to take another look at this one......

Denob. In my opinion you are overstepping your boundries as a moderator of this site.Just because one or two people disagree with some of the topics and posts on this forum it does not give you the right to censor what others feel are valid topics. You have already closed down and deleted topics that some members of this site have found valid. Censorship is a tool of the tyrannical and you have now made it your own. I place this question to the entire forum, should Denob continue to be a moderator? I propose a vote. Let the majority rule. Such is the democratic way.
Da Vinci

Censorship has nothing to do with privately owned places such as this forum.
This is the direction this forum is taking.
I have already deleted the account of one member at their request.
Anyone else who wishes to leave because they find this forum does not meet their needs is free to do so.
Davinci, this is not a democracy...if you don't agree with the policy then leave.

Perhaps we could have a forum wide discussion on this subject. Denob as site administrator is trying to maintain the integrity of the forum as a forum for preppers. I have always enjoyed this board because it is open and tolerant. Other forums that I am, or have been, a member of are not so tolerant and have paled in comparison to IPN.

The issue is that once we start to ban discussions where do the restrictions end? Is religion next? Then what? We have a wide variety of members with a wide variety of view. If a member feels that a subject is relevant to prepping, even their own personal prepping, then for that member it is. Without a defined list of banned discussions some, myself included, may feel that we are treading on eggshells.

I hope we can all discuss this and reach a tolerant consensus. After all without active members forums are nothing. We do not have a large number of active members and to lose even one due a misunderstanding or disagreement over a solvable issue would be a shame.

You've logged onto the site and start scanning the new topics and posts,and find some that you don't agree with or deem relevant...

Wouldn't the grownup response be to pass them by and not read them.If they are not abusive in nature do they need to be banned?

Topics on conspiracy theories, anti government agendas and end of world doomsday prophecies can be considered entertaining or even educational(depending on content).

I think that censorship can be a slippery slope that we don't want to start down.

Again, censorship is a topic related to public places.
This is a privately owned website and you are granted access by those that run it.
There are rules here that you are expected to abide by.
Sometimes these rules may change, or in this case new rules introduced.
If I were to go to your house and curse in front of your children, would I be correct by touting censorship when asked to refrain from using such language?
Of course not. As a guest, I would be expected to abide by your rules.
As a guest of this forum, you are asked to abide by the rules that are set out.
Again, if you do not agree to them, feel free to leave.
This forum WILL NOT GO THE ROUTE THAT SO MANY OTHER HAVE.

How will you determine what constitutes a "conspiracy theory"? The Mayan Calendar? EMP? Dirty Bomb? Financial Crisis? The end of Honey Bees? If I post information on a declining US and World economy, and suggest that people need to "prep" for their financial protection by accumulating material assets rather than relying on paper money in a bank as part of their overall prepping, does that make me a conspiracy theorist? Perhaps I am just someone with a keen eye to a particular problem brewing?

As you know, it states right in your mission statement: “to promote the idea of personal responsibility in regards to preparedness in the face of natural and man-made disasters” and “It is the mission of this forum to inform people of the true and realistic dangers”.

I fail to understand why people just don't skip to the next post if they feel that a particular post is either "silly" or “conspiracy”. You mention “several complaints”...hard to believe that people would actually complain about ridiculous posts that they read freely and without coercion. Let the individual reader decide what they want to read. I have skipped over many topics on this site that is not interesting or relevant to my particular situation. If it’s credibility you seek for the forum because some news agency labels preppers as “nut jobs”, as they successfully portray in the National Geographic series, then I would suggest that you allow people to continue to post subjects of relevance to the forum. If it’s a ridiculous post, then sooner or later they will get the idea by the lack of readership or lack of responses.

I think perhaps we are all a little different from those that choose to live their lives with blinders on, oblivious to any potential disaster or pending dangers...muddling through, making due...those who belong to the FSA (Free S**T Army) and feel that the government will take care of them in any disaster. Anyone, like myself, who takes personal responsibility and self reliance seriously, who strives to keep food and water in storage, plan for a defendable home, secure finances, packs BOB’s and EDC’s and always looking with eyes wide open, is perhaps, a little odd. But hey...That’s just me talkin’.

I agree 100% with Denob. All the conspiracy theory stuff was getting way out of hand. If there are people out there who really believe in what was being said, then that might be more scary then SHTF. Keep up the good work Denob.

I agree with it too. Whatever your views...and lord knows I think some ideas are "way out there" and others probably think the same about some of my views... but why not at the very least just leave it out of the public eye. What benefit is there to that...

This site is invaluable in the "prepper" information I get from it.

There are enough blogs, pages, and forums full of conspiracy stuff. I think its a good idea to keep this forum on topic. As well, the prepper world is getting a bad enough name, with recent shootings, and doomsday groups in the media. We dont need that type of association. If anyone wants to have a conspiracy page, just start one...JMHO

Again, censorship is a topic related to public places.
This is a privately owned website and you are granted access by those that run it.
There are rules here that you are expected to abide by.
Sometimes these rules may change, or in this case new rules introduced.
If I were to go to your house and curse in front of your children, would I be correct by touting censorship when asked to refrain from using such language?
Of course not. As a guest, I would be expected to abide by your rules.
As a guest of this forum, you are asked to abide by the rules that are set out.
Again, if you do not agree to them, feel free to leave.
This forum WILL NOT GO THE ROUTE THAT SO MANY OTHER HAVE.

Yes you are correct if people come to my house they abide by the rules of the house..But I dont invite the public to my house just my friends, and yes this may be a privately owned web site, but when you invite the public to share and discuss topics related to what the forum was set out to discuss then you now have become a private public entity...Know with that said some views of conspiracy and doomsday are a little in left field but they are after all part of the reason some folks prep..It was once said; we all prep for our own reason's.. So I ask why suppress one reason or another, you have the power to direct this forum in any way you see fit, but I suggest you take a good hard look at what direction you want it to go in...And if you are going in this direction then lay down the ground rules for what is a conspiracy and what is doomsday.......Just 1 week ago Fox news had a NASA scientist on and he admitted he loses sleep over an " C.M.E. " striking the earth and disrupting the power infrastructure on a planetary scale..... Know that sounds like doomsday to me and is definitely a reason why some of us prep around here...They even brought up and admitted the carrington event of 1859 would devastate the power grid and he said that the solar max we are currently heading into is of great concern .........So does that qualify as Doomsday if I said it sounds like some one is putting a lot of pressure on you Denob, is that a Conspiracy theory......
I am having a hard time buying that a couple of members would cause you ! to go this route.....Seems to be a little more here then meets the eye.....What is it !......

I'm not certain where this necessity comes from. The Alberta page has been nothing but vanilla for months, however I don't surf all of the other pages looking for offense. We have all read the terms of use when we signed on. This is Denob's sandbox and if we don't like it we can go. While I appreciate his view, "Thoughts unspoken leave no scars upon others", I personally think it kills the flavour of the site and of the culture. Denob's sandbox just got smaller and I now find that we don't all fit. As a reminder to the users of this website; any service which you use but don't pay for makes you the commodity, not the customer.

I agree with keeping the site on tracks.... But we should state CLEAR rules of what's conspiracy ! Some peolple might think EMP is conspiracy, despite scientific eveidences..... But I must be honest, I'm a little scared of ''end of the wolrd'' preppers who gatter 10 000 rounds of ammunitions in case of some hypothetic SHTF scenarios...... Good move DENOB but we need more info....