Mush Is Tired

[NargileClub]

Hey guys. I have been chatting with Mush. He is really tired of the Drug talk that continues to pop up. I have to say so am I. Look People if you can't read the rules. Fine. Here it is in Black and White. The Banner and Adderess says HOOKAH FORUM not drug forum. So leave it alone and talk about what this site is for. HOOKAH & Hookah related topics. Ok please for the love of all that is Holy. Either talk about Hookah and Hookah Fun.... or get the Hell out of here. There are sites dedicated to talk about Drugs. Go there yahookah.com/. But leave this place for what it is ment for. Hookah,Shisha etc. It's not hard to get it. So again I am makeing my statement now. Exactly how I feel about this subject. My wife and I have had to teach so many people and show fed,police,mantis etc drug agents what we were doing. Showed them the product and educated them at the same time. Some of them are our regulars now. We also have had to battle people. Because they think we are unfit to run a business or that we are selling drugs out of the back of our shop. All of this we have had to deal with. Sense opened Smiley's doors in 04. So to have people comeing to my Home i.e. Hookah Forum and talking about there experiences with drug or asking how to do something with drugs and reference Hookah at the same time has got to STOP. Get the hint. I will find you. I will let you know what the deal is. This is not a THREAT but a Promiss. I don't like my family being threatened by this kind of talk. Look it is simple. Someone somewhere catches wind that Drug talk is going on here. We are ALL DONE. Not to mention. Then Hookah is ellagal or under the micro scope along with Waterpipe etc. I am not going to stand for it. So people get it together and STICK to the HOOKAH TOPICS. Thank you much love to all of the Family.
Be cool Smoke Hookah all day. Rember: "Don't be Square be Smiley"
Smiley
Smiley

[NargileClub]

BUMP

[cymptom]

Personally, I think all this fuss about making sure people don't mention illegal substances is counter-productive. The front and center sticky that proclaims prohibition of any mention of illegal substances is a mention of illegal substances in itself -- if we want to discourage any association between drugs and the hookah, we shouldn't make it seem as though there is in actually so strong an association that it needs to be damned and fought against so regularly here on the forums. Wouldn't it be better just to try to delete any posts mentioning drugs as quickly as possible as they appear?

[Shifty]

Well, its the old saying. Sometimes the best place to hide is out in public. It could seem counter productive if we harp on it because people may get the idea like "why are they so adament about it, they must have something to hide" I'm up for just deleting the posts as they arrive and banning those who bring them to the light. Zero tolerance, we have the mods for it, theres no need to scream we're innocent.

[NargileClub]

This thread was done to let people know that our Head MOD is frustrated. Because I love Mushy. It makes me MAD to see how frustraded he is. It is simple just be apart of the solution. Besides Mush needs our support. So I support.
Smiley

[ParryPerson]

Much ado about nothing if you ask me, I've been on internet forums my whole life, people won't read the rules, their threads will get locked/deleted and they will be warned/banned.

Such is the internet, I really don't see the need for this thread.

[Shifty]

I know what helps frustration.. Banning the people who mention drug use on a good forum and cause frustration.

S

[LuxOR541]

dude

Well put. Thank you.

We get a lot of drive-by's lately... people asking about or mentioning drugs in their FIRST posts! I am starting to understand what the moderators are feeling when they say they have a tough job. This is a huge community, and although we police ourselves pretty well these days and everyone seems to stay pretty civil, it's tragic when even one drug-related post goes unnoticed, because it's a disgrace to you and me and everyone here who is interested only to improve their legitimate hookah experience.

I must admit that when I first got into hookah and was introduced to it by a friend of mine, I was skeptical and thought it must be something loosely drug related. The fact that the friend that got me into it was a cop certainly helped, but nonetheless I was worried that others would think I was doing something illegal. Thanks to people like Smiley, Mushrat, yashman, Erica, Sonthert, G_o_D and all of you now I am able to educate people who are ignorant about hookahs and assume that I am up to no good.

People that make drive-by postings referring to drugs obviously do not have an interest in protecting this community like we do. They will continue to do as they please. I don't know if there's really a solution to this aspect other than we all need to be on the lookout for trolls and drive-bys

Thanks Smiley for your constant efforts to elevate the hookah community

Nick

[mushrat]

Thanks smiley, but to be clear..I'm NOT the HEAD MOD. I'm just often the most visible. The other mods are also busy doing stuff behind the scenes and we all carry equal power and responsibility.

I believe the original sticky explains why we don't want to talk about certain things. It's because there IS the almost knee jerk reaction to hookahs and their association. Before the sticky, when it was just in theunderstanding of the use of the forum, people used to say "it's not against the rules. Show me the rule." Thats why we worked with the Admins to develope the anti-drug policy in the first place and put it in writing. You should have seen the place before the rule became etched in electrons. So the rule has to be out there before we can enforce it.

Other than that I Know we appriciate the support of the other members in bringing problems to our attention and policing our own. Even if they don't listen to the warnings...

[LuxOR541]

guys your point is valid, but the problem is that it is a current rule, and it is VERY clear, and yet it keeps happening. Since there are a lot of industry folks on here, if it goes unchecked it will be assumed that they condone it, and that tarnishes the community as a whole.

People get raided and shut down for allowing mentions of illegal substances in their businesses. You don't want to F with the DEA. It happened here in my town. Twice. Even though no crime was found to have been committed, their shops were torn apart, pipes confiscated and tested, businesses shut down while their inventory was impounded pending test results. When they re-opened they had the stigma attached of being a drug related business to the community, and they eventually closed. Especially since we have people here in the hookah industry we must continue to enforce the rule. We already have the eye of suspicion upon us. let those who want to admit to breaking the law do it somewhere else.

Sure the tools to handle the problem are already in place. The problem is that it takes an exhausting amount of work and there are only so many mods to go around.

I think some folks are tired of feeling like babysitters in a community that only adults should be allowed to play in.

[joetuo]

Just a quick side note here since smiley started the thread.....You (smiley) are in the Kava thread and now I do not know much about kava but when i did a simple wikipedia search on it there were mentions of "Drug" and also "psychoactive" and on top of that in the post there is someone from Canada saying it is illegal. Also in literuatre at the bottom there is this. "Kava: The Pacific Drug"

Like I said I don't know much about kava except from that page, but after reading that seems loosly affiliated with drugs. I would assume most people are not familar with kava either so they would probably get the same reaction to it as I did.

Not quite sure how to say this without coming off like a Jackass but practice what you preach maybe? (with all respect)

[hookahhippo]

I agree... Hookah has a heavy stigma attached to drugs with some people and talking about drugs on this forum will only perpetuate that. Hookah is a fun, social activity that is perfectly legal. People need to know that.

[LUXOR HOOKAHS]

I think if we are going to go this route, we need to be carefull of the basic words we use as well.

The word "buzz" is used about a million times when describing tobacco.
I don't know about you guys, but if I remember back to my highschool days "buzzed" = "stoned".

Besides, most of the times people are using the word buzz, they realy mean nausious.

My 2c

[ASUSEAN1]

I think if we are going to go this route, we need to be carefull of the basic words we use as well.

The word "buzz" is used about a million times when describing tobacco.
I don't know about you guys, but if I remember back to my highschool days "buzzed" = "stoned".

Besides, most of the times people are using the word buzz, they realy mean nausious.

My 2c

i think buzzed is old lingo now.. i wouldnt worry about it referring to illegal drugs.. maybe for the old timers but I have never heard of it used for that Edited April 24, 2007 by ASUSEAN1

[LuxOR541]

i think of buzz as being the light headedness that comes from smoking in general. lets face it, tobacco IS a drug. However it's not an illegal one. I don't think that the terminology implies anything illegal... i can get a buzz from beer, and there's nothing wrong with that. No matter what you smoke hookah for buzz or flavor, you are trying to acheive it by legal means. There's really a clear cut line there...

As for Kava, it's legal. In canada maybe not. I'm sorry about that. But I guess if you are in Canada, don't participate in those discussions.

[hbomb]

I'm pretty sure its just the newcomers using the drug references. The regulars know what the rules are and not to break them. They care enough about the hookah's image to not associate it with illegal substances. We just need to keep removing any and all drug references. If I search for "joint" or any other substance term, nothing should come up. I just report them on the spot and sure enough a mod will come in to take care of it, usually within 2 minutes.

[mushrat]

joe: if you look up caffeen you'll find its also a drug. but a legal one....since kava is legal i don't think your point is exactly valid...

[The King]

Okay but there is a lot of legal drugs, and I don't think you want to allow salvia and mushroom discussions either...

[joetuo]

I am gonna agree with King here. And I think the point of the post is to not associate drugs with this website. By allowing kava and not salvia its a double standard, So we don't allow salvia cause it is illegal in some states, ok kava is illegal in some countries and we are on the internet so that is all over the world.

Also Mush yes caffeen is a drug but its also not associated with psychactives, plus I think caffeen is a lot more common then kava, but i may be wrong.

[djbomberto]

honestly just ban the person whom doesnt read the warning.Its there to read, if they do not then it is their fault. also If your tired bout it, then make a BOLD statement and just "No questions asked" ban. easy. Edited April 24, 2007 by djbomberto

[mushrat]

Salvia has a stickie...is there a mushroom thread someplace i missed? And i have to check, but i think salvia is illegal to SMOKE. I'll double check.

Kava is common enough for smiley to serve in his place.....

and as pointed out above, booze is legal and has psychotropic effects.
Also, I believe a site is governed by whereit's hosted. and this one is hosted in the US so it has to follow us laws i believe.... Edited April 24, 2007 by mushrat

[joetuo]

I just think Kava seems like a gray area, but since your the mod I will just say ok.

[The King]

Okay there hasn't been any discussion on mushrooms or others yet, but what if it's brought up?

[mushrat]

[mushrat]

They are illegal..so BANG and BYE BYE.