General Moderation Topic

[orenwolf]

On the topic of the Israel - Palestine conflict

Hello, The situation in Israel/Palestine right now is a shitshow. Discussion about the conflict right now is also a shitshow across the entire internet. Misinformation is rampant and actual information on the ground is scarce and hard to come by. Anywhere on the internet, this is a recipe for a moderation nightmare. While Boing Boing and the BBS have had their share of hot-button and controversial topics in the past, this is different. In my 7+ years of moderating this site I have never felt m…

[bottleimp]

Ah, makes total sense. I’d missed that, but that’s a totally sensible position. Just wanted to make sure I hadn’t crossed a red line. And thank you orenwolf, you’re a great mod and I appreciate it.

[SocialMaladroit]

Perhaps that’s why the comment I replied to, my comment, and the reply to my comment all got deleted from the “Giggling woman removes Israeli kidnapping victims’ posters in viral video; speculation links her to Redmond mayor” discussion. It looks like that particular BBS topic got an extreme haircutting.

OTOH, the front page post itself was not “news of the conflict.” It was in fact something that promoted comments about peoples’ “broader opinions about the conflict in general.” Given that front pagers have the right to post anything they care to, since they own BoingBoing, how are we BBS users to respond to those sort of posts without getting our own comments deleted?

Maybe you should close comments from the get-go for those sorts of front page posts.

[orenwolf]

So you think the answer to “there are some comments that we do not want to moderate for our own mental health” should translate into “we should not let anyone comment period?” Because that sounds an awful lot like “If my comment can’t stay than no one’s should” and I’m not sure that’s somehow a net positive.

We are trying to make this process work in a way that allows the topic of this war to remain discussed while also being manageable for the actual people who need to moderate the BBS, for whom what’s going on is not theoretical for their own families.

I and others have posted on this multiple times including the post I listed above. It doesn’t help anyone to further restrict all conversation just because a few replies are removed.

This is the reality of an independent site with human Authors and moderators. We aren’t machines and our mental health matters too. You are welcome to make your comments somewhere more algorithmically moderated if you prefer.

[Purplecat]

Is everyone on staff ok? I’m sure everyone here wants the best for you, and Mark, and all the writers here. And we’d all understand if someone needs to take some time away from the site for the sake of their mental health.

[orenwolf]

The user valantar has been banned for reposting previously moderated replies.

[orenwolf]

The user Pandulph has been banned for taking criticism of their position as criticism of themselves, which is unfortunate, but then taking to the use of malicious flags and attacking other members in private messages in retaliation.

A reminder that our community guidelines also apply to private messages as well.

[ycleptShawn]

Yikes. They came in hot.

[iknownuurthing]

I missed the uproar, but…

[orenwolf]

Lion anonymized at the user’s request.

[orenwolf]

danimagoo and TornPaperNapkin have been given a timeout for directly attacking other users.

[Tamsin_Bailey]

I fail to see why I should sit quietly while polite people call for the deaths of my friends.

[orenwolf]

No situation would allow for users of the BBS to tell others to GFYS. Especially for posts where the users expressly knew the consequences and did so anyway.

As Others pointed out, the comments they took issue with were flagged and hidden by other users who could post or take action within the guidelines.

[orenwolf]

@sqlrob

But repeated incendiary comments that do end up getting removed aren’t themselves reason for user level action?

The actions taken by those took place after those comments were already moderated and hidden. And no, as I said before there is no situation where that sort of language would be permitted on the BBS.

[orenwolf]

Regarding the discussion in the affected topic, I’ve clarified the guidelines about encouraging violence here:

New moderation policy: Enhanced policing of calls for violence or harm to communities

We already have Guidelines that restrict the posting of replies that encourage violence. To provide clarity, this includes statements that war is inevitable or that certain groups will simply have to shoulder the burden of conflict or otherwise endure that sort of trauma. There is no positive discussion to be had by telling others that it would be good if community X, ethnic group Y, or location Z faced conflict as an inevitability. These are real people who are suffering. If you want to have…

We will have a zero tolerance policy towards “Let them fight” or “suffering will help” - type comments in the future, regardless of how civilly they are phrased.

[chenille]

And that explains why there were consequences, but not why the consequences were so uneven.

[Melizmatic]

The disparity is very concerning.

[hecep]

I only occasionally visit this thread to see real-world examples of what I should not be doing and, therefore, considering along the way… and to know of who is no longer on BB and the cause. (I still internally shed a tear for Papasan.) But I’ve never clicked away from this topic saddled with a feeling of genuine lingering unease.

[Melizmatic]

Everything ends, eventually.

[hecep]

That thought – although in a much less passive way – did occur to me.