Politics and Society Moderation Discussion Only Fans Thread
Hello everyone. I've closed the previous mod thread, and opened this to capture all issues related to moderation policies and actions going forward. I'll kick it off by reposting my intro post from the other thread. Again, I'm happy to be here and look forward to hearing from you.
Browser
Hello everyone.
I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to serve as a moderator in Politics and Society. I asked for this position because I believe we are experiencing a polarization in our politics and society unseen since the 1960s. We may well be at a juncture from which we will either make great progress or suffer great setbacks in regards to our democratic foundations and civil rights over the next few years. So I believe it is important to maintain a forum for discussing these important topics. When the other mods had to step back a bit due to their real life time obligations, I asked to join the mod team to help keep the forum going.
I have not followed this forum in the past, though I have been reading through threads the last few days and made a few posts. This has allowed me to get a sense of the initial impression the forum likely makes on new readers who are deciding if our forum is a place they would like to visit regularly and participate in. While I see some familiar names from the live poker forum, many of you I have not had any interaction with to date. I have no preconceived notions of anyone's posting behavior and will essentially start from a clean slate.
I will shortly post more about my modding approach and give my initial impressions of the forum based on my observations over the last several days. I will be soliciting your input on things you like about the forum that you want to remain, and things you don't like that you would like me to change. Your candid input and feedback is very important to me. Especially, please don't hesitate to let me know if you think a policy or a proposal is a bad idea. I'd rather hear it before it goes into effect than after.
My overall modding principle is simple: Be Nice. Disagreement need not be disrespectful, and everyone must be treated with respect. Calling a poster derogatory names or hurling snarky insults never usefully advances a discussion. It just bogs things down and turns off many would be participants. And it's not nice. Don't do it.
My goal is to have a forum where people with a wide variety of opinions along the political spectrum enjoy expressing and debating their views in a spirited manner, free from insults, bigotry and denigrating comments. If you enjoy discussing these important and often polarizing issues in a passionate, yet respectful manner, I look forward to getting to know you and working with you to create a forum people will enjoy visiting and contributing to. You can be as committed, determined and relentless as you like in advocating for your position. Be persuasive, thought provoking and challenging. But be nice.
I want to thank tame_deuces and King Spew for their support in bringing me onboard and for all the time and effort they have put into making the forum better. While I am taking over most of the day to day modding responsibilities, both are retaining their mod status and superpowers, and will be supporting the forum as their availability permits. And I personally welcome their continued advice and feedback.
Again, I am happy to be here and look forward to getting to know you.
Browser
supporting the bombing of Gaza is absolutely the support of killing babies. you cant support the act and not the inevitable results.
Do you have to post this nonsense in this thread? Do you have to infect every thread with your insanity?
I'm out now and can't address this at the moment but will when I return in a few hours. In the meantime please don't carry over any discussions from the topics threads into this one and please refrain from assessing other posters.
Thanks
By the way, browser - since you like to quote tame_deuces for all my temp bans and deletions. I attempted to say the above to him once, when I started what one might call a "vanity thread". He was very quick to correct me, saying "not my forum". Maybe you could also quote that.
i'm reading subtext here that once upon a time you two slept together
supporting the bombing of Gaza is absolutely the support of killing babies. you cant support the act and not the inevitable results.
I have never said that I supported the bombing of Gaza. Nor have some others you have accused of supporting killing babies.
And you never answered my question about if you would kill a baby in a particular circumstance. Though it may have gotten lost in the posts about your job loss that came immediately after.
do you think that I in any way started this conversation? I respond to people who bring me up out of nowhere as both d2 and chillrob both did. and as you did the other day.
I didn't bring you up. I just mentioned the kinds of bad name-calling posts that get complained about here. I'm fact the whole point of my post was that I don't say bad things about posters by name here.
If you assumed it referred to you, I guess you consider yourself someone who often makes those kinds of bad posts.
Just to reiterate, if someone believes someone made a post that violates our standards snd requires mod action, then report the post. If you have questions about mod policies or how they are applied by all means ask them here.
OK. I think most posters understand that in the topic threads, you are to attack the argument, not the poster. So we are working on eliminating all the "you are a racist, fascists, etc" statements and instead point out the flaws in the argument. Plus this gives the poster a chance to defend himself as to why his post wasnt racists, etc.
But what sometimes happens is instead of that people come into the moderation thread and do the same thin
OK. I'll get to the post by Dunyain that trolly quoted that created this flare up in a minute. But I want to take care of the easy part first. Trolly has been temp banned for doing the exact thing I reminded everyone just yesterday about. The guidance couldnt be any clearer, yet he chose to ignore it.
Might as well ban all the regs, the way you are going, there aren't going to be any regs left anyway.
Whatever vision you have for this forum will never come to fruition. It pretty much runs/ran itself, its this own happy little ecosystem. You just came along and ****ed it all up for everyone.
The fact that anyone is still posting here is despite, not due to your horrendously over-reaching moderation.
Just quit again. You are a fine poster but an atrocious moderator.
Like, whom do you think you are moderating anwyay? Consent to be governed is a thing here. Name one poster who agrees with your moderation policies.
Politcs is not about giving up. Especially not because of the 'nothing can be done' fallacy.
Excellent idea. I shall get onto it straight away.
Open a few bottles of beer. That might help.
OK. And now to the Dunyain post that trolly posted along with calling Dunyain a racist clown.
I went back and reread the posts before and after these. Basically the topic under discussion was which country or international organization would be a good choice to occupy and establish some sort of security/controlling presence after the fighting stops. Various options were floated with discussion as to whether those countries either could do it, or want to do it.
In that flow of discussion, Dunyain posted this post(the post that trolly quoted just an excerpt from and another poster sent in a post report about). The part trolly quoted is bolded:
Well, in fairness at this point Israel would exercise veto power if they felt it was a bad faith actor who would just continue the status quo of radicalization and militarization. They have seen enough from UNRWA I doubt they would let them take over, even if they were willing.
Regardless, I think you guys are all missing the part where the Palestinian people are so tribal, violent, homicidal and radicalized literally no "outsider" would e
So the question raised is whether the bolded part is a racist statement slurring the Palestinian people as a whole that should not be allowed and the post be deleted and/or the poster temp banned; or a harsh and exaggerated personal opinion of the Palestinian people in Gaza that, while many may disagree with, should be allowed to be expressed and then rebutted by others.
IMO while I believe the statement is deliberately extreme to provoke other posters, I do not believe it is a racist statement that requires moderator action, but rather an opinion that warrants rebuttal. No source considers Palestinians as a race. So racist just doesn't fit. And as far as smearing an entire ethnic group, given the context of the discussion it is clear the Palestinian people he is referencing are the residents of Gaza.
Now to the four adjectives that stirred people up. Almost all ethnic groups and nationalities are tribal to one degree or another, esp when pitted against an outside group. Violent? That's a personal opinion, and given the decades of violence in that region and the prospect that violence would be continued against any occupying force, its more a question of whether the violence is justified.
Homicidal? That's the most extreme take. Surely there is an element in Gaza that is, given the history of violence and killings. But those who disagree should be able to rebut that opinion rather than have that opinion censored. A question I think needs to be explored is what, if any, responsibility does the civilian population of a country or region bear for killings done by their government. And lastly, radicalized. From the time Palestinian children start school they are exposed to radicalizing propaganda about Israel. I don't think that is really disputed.
So that's my take. Feel free to express your thoughts on the mod decision to let this post remain. But please don't rebut the opinions expressed in that post in the Israel/Palestinian thread here. Go at it in that thread. Have the debate. But use logic and facts, or state opinions, but don't let the discussion degenerate into name calling and insults.
Might as well ban all the regs, the way you are going, there aren't going to be any regs left anyway.
Whatever vision you have for this forum will never come to fruition. It pretty much runs/ran itself, its this own happy little ecosystem. You just came along and ****ed it all up for everyone.
The fact that anyone is still posting here is despite, not due to your horrendously over-reaching moderation.
Just quit again. You are a fine poster but
Boo hoo.
No.
Every single user of this forum consented to the terms and conditions of the site and agrees to follow the posting rules and guidelines. You already consented. If you regret that decision now, you are free to leave. If the ability to call other people names is such a big piece of your posting game, you probably will be happier on one of these sites where everyone just insults each other.
Right, so you have a hard on for exercising power in a position of minor authority. Got it.
You live in ****ing Thailand, you can get that hard on taken care of in other ways. Why you gotta **** with us?
Right, so you have a hard on for exercising power in a position of minor authority. Got it.
You don't got ****. I've had to exercise the power of life and death decisions several times in my life during my Army career. Modding a website is not exercising power. Mods have no power. In the end, this is a meaningless little corner of a meaningless internet forum where meaningless discussions take place for meaningless diversion or entertainment. If you think moderating such a place gets anyone hard about the power, then this site must hold an outsized importance in your life.
Your apparent obsession with whether a post (not even one of yours) was deleted is very odd. Do you think anyone at all will care a week from now if a post was deleted? A day from now? Will most people even remember most posts a few hours from now?
IMO you are pole vaulting over a sidewalk crack. Im not going to waste anymore time on this.
