General Moderation Topic

@orenwolf cleanup at the MSD High School topic. Thank you, sorry for the work.

@FlippyHambone anonymized at user request.

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Quick reminder: Responses to flagged posts will usually be deleted, as leaving them up usually results in the flagged behaviour continuing.

If you see an inappropriate post, flag it. Don’t respond only to have your effort wasted when your response is removed. We have lots of respectful, thought-provoking comments on the BBS you can reply to instead.

I would really prefer not to delete large swaths of conversations, so please help me to do that by not engaging disruptive posters. Flag instead!

Thanks!

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I know what you mean, but the conversation in this threads is derailing so slowly and carefully, ans/or there are so many rather quick and commiserate considerate replies that its difficult to tell if flagging would be appropriate and/or destroying the continuity of the thread.

BTW, this feels… all wrong. I think I’m going to check posting history of some accounts tomorrow.

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It’s worth noting that comments that end up memory-holed due to flagging can still be retrieved using the “Download All” button in anyone’s member activity profile (click on your name at the top right menu).

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Further to:

Boing Boing is a heavily moderated forum. Speech is not unrestricted here, nor do the Authors wish it to be.

Jokes or attempting to defend jokes that call for genocide, violence, or bigotry are not welcome here. Period, There are enough bigots in the world hiding behind the phrase “Just joking,” and none of us find it funny.

It’s not about the slippery slope. It’s not about the fact that no one has died from a Nazi joke. It’s that we have chosen that such humour has no place within this community. Full stop.

If you feel this policy is contrary to Boing Boing’s mandate for equality or freedom from censorship, I contend you have not been paying close enough attention to our values. If you believe this policy is too restrictive, I invite you to visit the many, many places on the internet where such discussion may be possible instead, as the likelihood of this policy changing here is Zero.

Thank you.

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@Foggen has been asked not to return after a great deal of repeated arguing specifically against the policy I posted above. We wish them the best in his search for a free forum for discussion of their specific topics.

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@rosyatrandom has been given a brief timeout. Their posts had moved quite far into trolling/derailing territory with false equivalencies and absolutist responses that did not add to the conversation. My hope is that some time away to reflect will allow them to return to the community with a focus on adding productively to the discussion, rather than attempting to derail it.

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@deathisastar anonymized at user request.

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@larson9999 suspended at user request.

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I’m curious about the cleanup on the FBI/Cohen thread. Nobody was defending Christie’s reprehensible original book title, and its existence is a fact of genuine cultural interest. (In my own post I intentionally did not include the actual title, just a side reference to it, so hopefully that wasn’t offensive to anyone.)

The discussion of the book title ended up being more posts than the discussion of the story itself. Worse, most of it was a derail targeting specific posters. I was first going to split it off, but I realized only three or four of the many posts were on-topic (discussing the book) versus arguing about meta, so I, unfortunately, had to remove the entire line of posts.

There was nothing wrong with the post or the discussion of the book, other than that it completely derailed the topic.

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The cleanup mainly took place while I was at an appointment; all I saw before leaving was KP’s post, mine, and the one after it with the actual title, all three of which were gone when I got back. If it generated a whole derailing subthread then I understand.

We could always have a new thread about what a despicable person Christie was, but I think that would just be a chorus of “I agree” posts.

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You never know. You’re welcome to start one!

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@zaphodbblx anonymized at user request.

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I didn’t, but someone else did, and a post where I quote a New Yorker article quoting Christie was was held for moderation. I’m getting a little nervous about BB, as this is the second time in a week I’ve had trouble pointing out antisemitism.

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Why? People flag posts. That doesn’t mean the mods approve them, unless you happen to believe the two primary mods (one of which has Jewish ancestry and the other has a partner of the same) have suddenly become antisemetic.

While most users flag with good intentions (and thank all of you for that), many also at least occasionally flag posts where it’s obvious they simply disagree with the position, or just dislike the poster. While this may sometimes result in temporary hiding of a post, most of the time they are disapproved by the mod team, and life goes on.

The purpose of this topic is, in part, to discuss mod decisions one may question. I’m happy to have those discussions here or in a PM if that’s more comfortable (and I’m speaking to all users, not just you!).

The mod “policy” hasn’t changed since the bbs opened, and I’ve tried very hard to be extremely consistent and transparent in my own practices in my tenure here as well.

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Well, my post in the Christie thread – the one quoting the New Yorker article – was held for moderation, and that was almost immediately after a post was hidden where I objected to someone essentially doubling down on a talking point that even the Labour left has agreed is spurious and others have found offensive and even frightening. (That post is still hidden, by the way.) I don’t think you can blame me for wondering.

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@socialjusticemonk anonymized at user request.

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I don’t blame you, that’s why I asked :slight_smile:

Lots of automated & manual processes exist to try and catch “bad posts”, but we aren’t perfect. Please flag potentially objectionable content, and we’ll investigate. If you feel a post is wrongly acted upon (either for or against!) PM a mod or message here and we’ll happily discuss the matter.

The mods are only human, far from perfect, and subject to misunderstanding context or subtle meaning from time to time. That’s part of why I love discourse - it lets everyone help play the role of moderator by flagging posts and, where necessary, explaining the nuances of the issues with the content. (Thank you to everyone who takes the time to do that!)

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