Rules for Posting on The Tomkins Times

The Tomkins Times is best viewed as a ‘club’; a private members club, if you will. (Only without the cigars and plush leather sofas/naked dancing women, depending on which type of private members club you relate to.)

Like a private members club, you pay for the privilege of admission. And like a private members club, you are expected to behave in a way that the management expect, and failing to do will mean being escorted from the premises.

You might be used to more confrontational forms of debate, and while that may work well at times elsewhere, it’s not welcome here. It is meant to be an exchange of ideas, not a pissing contest. (And believe me, I’ve indulged in far too many online pissing contests for my own good.)

This is not intended to be a bog-standard forum. Indeed, the site was originally intended purely as vehicle for my writing, to help finally get some kind of financial stability. Therefore, the quasi-forum aspect of it is a bonus.

Rather than extremist views, I am looking for people who share my central philosophies, so that we can debate the issues we agree and disagree on, rather than polarised opinion with no common ground, and therefore only argument rather than conversation ensues. I want cordial debate amongst allies, not a flaming turf war. I’m not into Wife Swap-style opposing views. That’s what 99% of the internet does. “Rafa’s the best!” … “No, he’s the worst manager ever”. Are two such people ever going to do anything but argue?

TTT is designed to counter short-termist/knee-jerk/clichéd thinking. Its ‘positivity’ stems from a desire for constructive critiques, not destructive debate.

If you have ‘negative’ views on something, simply express them thoughtfully; ‘it’s not what you say, but how you say it’ seems to be a popular mantra on the site amongst the wise village elders. But be warned that a lot of posters are tired of hearing excessively negative views on the club; ‘we’ may well be defensive on such issues, which is why arguments need to be well constructed.

Positive views should also be explained, and not some random “In Rafa We Trust YNWA”.

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