Why even bother with a political forum on this site?

MacNut · Dec 16, 2012

Political arguments get heated in real life yet people are not told what you can and cannot talk about. An important issue in this country appears to be off limits on this site. Yes people are hot headed even those of authority around here but is it worth shutting down a whole conversation. We are all adults and will disagree but that doesn't mean that conversation should be halted outright. Either moderate the offending posts or let a free for all approach take place. If neither of those things will happen just shut the whole forum down and let people go elsewhere. I am very disappointed in the tone the thread took but even more upset in the idea to shut it down completely. We cannot have a civil discussion without the chance to have them.

ucfgrad93 · Dec 16, 2012

I think PRSI should be shut down.

Moyank24 · Dec 16, 2012

MacNut said:
Political arguments get heated in real life yet people are not told what you can and cannot talk about. An important issue in this country appears to be off limits on this site. Yes people are hot headed even those of authority around here but is it worth shutting down a whole conversation. We are all adults and will disagree but that doesn't mean that conversation should be halted outright. Either moderate the offending posts or let a free for all approach take place If neither of things things will happen just shut the whole forum down and let people go elsewhere. I am very disappointed in the tone the thread took but even more upset in the idea to shut it down completely. We cannot have a civil discussion without the chance to have them.

I agree.

I've always been an advocate of no moderation in the PRSI and these recent threads are a great example. What's the point? It's always going to be subjective and it's never going to seem fair. Let us at it. Or do away with the whole thing.

ucfgrad93 · Dec 16, 2012

Moyank24 said:
I agree.

I've always been an advocate of no moderation in the PRSI and these recent threads are a great example. What's the point? It's always going to be objective and it's never going to seem fair. Let us at it. Or do away with the whole thing.

Don't you mean subjective?

Moyank24 · Dec 16, 2012

ucfgrad93 said:
Don't you mean subjective?

LOL Yes. I fixed it.

See, we can actually agree on something.

----------

ucfgrad93 said:
I think PRSI should be shut down.

And...back to form:

If you think that, why participate? Nobody is forcing you.

MacNut · Dec 16, 2012

ucfgrad93 said:
Don't you mean subjective?

No fighting, they wil shut us down.

On a serious note. I live in Connecticut and am seeing what this tragedy has done to all of the people here. I am very angry at what happened but right now I am more disturbed at the decision to shut down all discussions. I need to vent my feelings on this issue, 140 characters is not enough. I am not the only one that feels very distraught about what happened and I will admit to still not being able to process it. It really is taring me up inside trying to come to terms with this. I don't know the people involved but I feel like I am their family. For the site to take away my ability to talk about this is very shameful and I am about as pissed off at the staff as I have ever been.

ucfgrad93 · Dec 16, 2012

I hadn't participated much lately. It isn't worth my time. But the events in CT brought me back to see what would be said. Typically, it was things like all guns should be banned, NRA wants to see kids murdered, a right wing politician is called an American dick, etc. without a word of protest by the left leaning members. A left wing Senator is called a bitch, and some members get their panties in a wad over it.

GGJstudios · Dec 16, 2012

MacNut said:
We are all adults

That's not true. Not everyone on this site is an adult, and not everyone who is an adult acts like one. Discussions are certainly allowed on this site, even heated ones. What isn't allowed is violating Forum Rules, which clearly states:

Insults. Direct personal insult of another forum member (e.g., "You are an idiot.") and other name-calling. Why? Because this isn't grade school. People should be able to discuss or even dispute other's posts without insulting people.

MacNut · Dec 16, 2012

GGJstudios said:
That's not true. Not everyone on this site is an adult, and not everyone who is and adult acts like one. Discussions are certainly allowed on this site, even heated ones. What isn't allowed is violating
Forum Rules, which clearly states:

So why are those members not dealt with? Mods included. No reason to shut down a whole thread. They either do their jobs and moderate properly or not at all.

GGJstudios · Dec 16, 2012

MacNut said:
So why are those members not dealt with? Mods included. No reason to shut down a whole thread. They either do their jobs and moderate properly or not at all.

As has been said countless times in these "mods are terrible" threads, mods can only deal with posts they know about. If you see an insult (or other violation) and don't report it, you have no right to complain that it isn't handled. I've found that every single post in violation of forum rules I've ever reported was handled.

MacNut · Dec 16, 2012

GGJstudios said:
As has been said countless times in these "mods are terrible" threads, mods can only deal with posts they know about. If you see an insult (or other violation) and don't report it, you have no right to complain that it isn't handled. I've found that every single post in violation of forum rules I've ever reported was handled.

What about when the mod is part of the issue in a thread? I don't have a problem with people getting heated, but when mods see enough to shut down a thread means they are watching it.

GGJstudios · Dec 16, 2012

MacNut said:
What about when the mod is part of the issue in a thread? I don't have a problem with people getting heated, but when mods see enough to shut down a thread means they are watching it.

If a mod violates forum rules, report it. Don't assume that because some moderation action occurs in a thread that the mods have the time to read every single post in the thread. If there are multiple posts with insults, report each one.

Moyank24 · Dec 16, 2012

ucfgrad93 said:
I hadn't participated much lately. It isn't worth my time. But the events in CT brought me back to see what would be said. Typically, it was things like all guns should be banned, NRA wants to see kids murdered, a right wing politician is called an American dick, etc. without a word of protest by the left leaning members. A left wing Senator is called a bitch, and some members get their panties in a wad over it.

Really? This is your response?

You have to stop seeing things left / right. It's screwing up your perspective. Maybe you should stay out of it - obviously it isn't for you.

GGJstudios said:
That's not true. Not everyone on this site is an adult, and not everyone who is an adult acts like one. Discussions are certainly allowed on this site, even heated ones. What isn't allowed is violating Forum Rules, which clearly states:

Clearly.

How about participating in an actual discussion instead of copying and pasting the rules of the forum?

GGJstudios · Dec 16, 2012

Moyank24 said:
How about participating in an actual discussion instead of copying and pasting the rules of the forum?

I am participating. If you don't like the content of my posts, don't read them. If you think a post I make violates forum rules, report it.

Moyank24 · Dec 16, 2012

GGJstudios said:
I am participating. If you don't like the content of my posts, don't read them. If you think a post I make violates forum rules, report it.

You tell me. Is being a mod-wannabe against the rules?

MacNut · Dec 16, 2012

GGJstudios said:
If a mod violates forum rules, report it. Don't assume that because some moderation action occurs in a thread that the mods have the time to read every single post in the thread. If there are multiple posts with insults, report each one.

The mods had a reason to shut the thread down, so they were monitoring it.

ucfgrad93 · Dec 16, 2012

Moyank24 said:
Really? This is your response?

You have to stop seeing things left / right. It's screwing up your perspective. Maybe you should stay out of it - obviously it isn't for you

Sorry that I found your response to the Feinstein thread hypocritical. yg17 posts numerous comments about various right wing politicians an American Dick without a peep from you, however Feinstein gets called a bitch and suddenly you jump in calling for civility. This kind of behavior is part of the problem in PRSI.

balamw · Dec 16, 2012

MOD NOTE: The pace and intensity of some discussions in PRSI makes it practically impossible for us to keep up with them.

Not every mod participates in moderating PRSI and when those of us who do participate in a discussion it takes us out of the loop as we strive to not moderate threads we are active in.

Closing threads is usually something we do to temporarily slow things down a bit so we can catch up and figure out what's going on.

B

GGJstudios · Dec 16, 2012

Moyank24 said:
You tell me. Is being a mod-wannabe against the rules?

I have no desire to be a moderator. Just because I remind someone about the forum rules that we all agreed to abide by doesn't make me a "mod-wannabe".

Moyank24 · Dec 16, 2012

ucfgrad93 said:
Sorry that I found your response to the Feinstein thread hypocritical. yg17 posts numerous comments about various right wing politicians an American Dick without a peep from you, however Feinstein gets called a bitch and suddenly you jump in calling for civility. This kind of behavior is part of the problem in PRSI.

So, I'm a hypocrite. Big whoop. Calling people hypocritical because you have no other points to make in PRSI is also a problem. The tit for tat is obnoxious but I deal with it. If you can't, don't participate.

GGJstudios said:
I have no desire to be a moderator. Just because I remind someone about the forum rules that we all agreed to abide by doesn't make me a "mod-wannabe".

Sure it doesn't.

MacNut · Dec 16, 2012

balamw said:
MOD NOTE: The pace and intensity of some discussions in PRSI makes it practically impossible for us to keep up with them.

Not every mod participates in moderating PRSI and when those of us who do participate in a discussion it takes us out of the loop as we strive to not moderate threads we are active in.

Closing threads is usually something we do to temporarily slow things down a bit so we can catch up and figure out what's going on.

B

But does it take 10 hours to clean up a thread?

balamw · Dec 16, 2012

MOD NOTE: just to point out that we don't have a rule that that specifically prevents a user from calling an individual that is not a user of the forum names. Otherwise we'd do nothing but deal with all the "Scott Forstall/Tim Cook/Steve Jobs is a dick" posts?

If we determine that it was done on purpose to cause a negative reaction from other users we can invoke the trolling rule.

B

Moyank24 · Dec 16, 2012

balamw said:
MOD NOTE: just to point out that we don't have a rule that that specifically prevents a user from calling an individual that is not a user of the forum names. Otherwise we'd do nothing but deal with all the "Scott Forstall/Tim Cook/Steve Jobs is a dick" posts?

If we determine that it was done on purpose to cause a negative reaction from other users we can invoke the trolling rule.

B

In that particular instance, I don't think anyone thought it was a "forum rule", but apparently everyone calling him out on it led to the closing of the thread.

We were doing fine policing ourselves. Sometimes I just don't see the need.

balamw · Dec 16, 2012

MacNut said:
But does it take 10 hours to clean up a thread?

MOD NOTE: It certainly can when you actually have a life outside this place and also have to deal with the rest of the site, not just one thread in PRSI. We're spread across many time zones so getting feedback from other staff members can often take a while.

B

balamw · Dec 16, 2012

MOD NOTE: I've reopened the original thread. If it devolves into the same kind of tit-for-tat it probably won't stay open for long.

B

Why even bother with a political forum on this site?

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