Fully 10% of this user’s posts have been moderated or deleted, almost all of which were short “whataboutism” quips that served to add little to the conversation but draw derailing comments and flags.
This tactic has been surprisingly effective over the years, and some of our longest-running “ejectees” used this tactic for years (and through multiple eras of moderation).
The US election season has done a great job of showing precisely why this sort of “bothsiderism” is a net-negative to discourse as a whole, and I’m not particularly inclined to tolerate this specific form of it.
If you disagree with a take on a subject, then by all means, do so. But if your style is instead to toss one-line “whataboutisms” repeatedly, with no intention of following up with conversation repeatedly, then you are not adding anything to the conversation; you are instead wasting everyone’s time.
User tekk has been given a brief timeout for suggesting Boing Boing should only post stories that fit a specific narrative rather than the mostly wonderful things our various Authors find of interest.
Anyone who’s read BB for any length of time is likely aware that Authors post what interests them, sometimes even resulting in opposing takes on the same subjects! It’s this very diversity that creates such a wonderful place, and the suggestion that we’re instead going to become a propaganda house by forcing a common narrative on everyone is not grounded at all in reality.
User mrmobius banned to ensure their grand exit was honest.
Also – the post the user is upset about was flagged by another user and removed by the system. When said disappointed person decided to spin like a top, and only then, did live moderation play a role.
User soothsay has been banned after going to war with the community on moral grounds but then escalating by reposting moderated replies.
We invite this user to enjoy somewhere like Twitter instead, where the topics can be focused on their take, control the narrative and replies, and don’t have to consider the community at all.
User stephen_schenck has been banned for needless pedantry and patronizing holier-than-thou comments, on everything, everywhere. Without adding anything else of substance.
But this is not their first ban for this behaviour. Oh no. This is their fifth. Dating back through multiple moderators and Authors.
“Pedantic trolling” seems to be a great way to pass under the radar for half a decade here. Or it least it was. Probably not so much now.
Why is this thread on bmw driver stealing flowers freaking out and moving itself up and down? Hmm what was the name of that last person on the moderation thread?
User Mike_Weasel has been banned. ‘All crimes are hate crimes’ is a new form of ‘All lives matter’ that I hadn’t seen before, and one we certainly don’t need here.
Be cool. Don’t post or encourage insulting, bullying, victim-blaming, racist, sexist, violent, homophobic or transphobic remarks.
In a thread a user asked another user to refrain from making a violent sexual remark about the misogynistic subject of a BB article. Several other users disagreed with this. Their argument seems to be that this is concern-trolling or tone policing. While I agree that we shouldn’t have such tone policing, the actual forum rules state that violent remarks are against the rules. So where does the forum actually stand on this? Should violent remarks intended as protest be flagged or not?
