Can you please disable commenting on any pandemic related news?

[james2538]

Any rumor that revolves around COVID, masks, vaccines, mandates, etc. always turns into a heap of arguing and misinformation. It appeared that previously the policy was to disable commenting on these articles according to this post from arn.

Yesterday's, "Apple to Require COVID Testing for Employees Starting Next Month, Still No Vaccine Mandate" was a mess. You had posters claiming clearly false information about the vaccines, including saying they are ineffective. Yet when I reported this comment the moderator team returned with this:

As a healthcare worker I'm begging you. If you don't want to function as fact checkers, then just disable the discussion entirely. To do otherwise is completely irresponsible.

 

[mikzn]

IMHO - I think MacRumors is "over moderated" - as is - everything posted on the internet should be considered Opinions (Not Facts) (Including Your Post) - we all have the option to ignore posts we don't like - and no one "owns the truth"

If MacRumors locks down every thread that has conflicting opinions then it will be biased by the fact they excluded those very same posts

I work in the health care industry too and am also fully vaccinated - so not speaking from an anti-vax point of view - I just think that if these forums are moderated "too strictly" then they are not interesting or credible - and become biased by the posts where they exclude comments (and "Free Speech")

 

[james2538]

IMHO - I think MacRumors is "over moderated" - as is - everything posted on the internet should be considered Opinions (Not Facts) (Including Your Post) - we all have the option to ignore posts we don't like - and no one "owns the truth"

If MacRumors locks down every thread that has conflicting opinions then it will be biased by the fact they excluded those very same posts

I work in the health care industry too and am also fully vaccinated - so not speaking from an anti-vax point of view - I just think that if these forums are moderated "too strictly" then they are not interesting or credible - and become biased by the posts they exclude comments on

Vaccine effectiveness is not an opinion. End of story.

 

[mikzn]

Vaccine effectiveness is not an opinion. End of story.

Maybe you are "preaching to the converted" here

 

[Apple_Robert]

Vaccine effectiveness is not an opinion. End of story.

People that read this site need to do their own research and then make an informed decision on what is best for their life. It isn't MacRumors responsibility to make sure that there are no posts made in this area that you and some others disagree with, in my opinion. Personal responsibility solves your problem.

 

[james2538]

People that read this site need to do their own research and then make an informed decision on what is best for their life. It isn't MacRumors responsibility to make sure that there are no posts made in this area that you and some others disagree with, in my opinion. Personal responsibility solves your problem.

This right here is the reason ICUs are overflowing and having to enact triage care across the country, lowering the standard of care for everyone vaccinated or unvaccinated.

Opinions ≠ Facts

 

[Apple_Robert]

This right here is the reason ICUs are overflowing and having to enact triage care across the country, lowering the standard of care for everyone vaccinated or unvaccinated.

Opinions ≠ Facts

I didn't say opinions equal facts. You just said that. Personal responsibility is something you can't control even though you seem to want MR to dictate things outside their purview.

If I see opinions on here that I believe are in error, I do my own research and then make an educated decision on my personal point of view. If some here are posting views contrary to yours, rebuff them with fact. If the recipient still doesn't agree, move on. It is up to the recipient of the information to do with it what he or she will, regardless of how you may feel personally about the matter.

 

[james2538]

I didn't say opinions equal facts. You just said that. Personal responsibility is something you can't control even though you seem to want MR to dictate things outside their purview.

If I see opinions on here that I believe are in error, I do my own research and then make an educated decision on my personal point of view. If some here are posting views contrary to yours, rebuff them with fact. If the recipient still doesn't agree, move on. It is up to the recipient of the information to do with it what he or she will, regardless of how you may feel personally about the matter.

Not outside their purview, I'd like them to return to the policy they previously had.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Not outside their purview, I'd like them to return to the policy they previously had.

Silencing posts you don't agree with is not within their purview, so long as said posts don't violate the rules. That was my point.

People say a lot of stupid stuff on the internet. The same thing with in person at times. I can't control what others believe. All I can do is share what I know and believe, and report posts that may be in violation. Life is too short to worry about what every stranger on the internet thinks and whether or not someone else will believe it. That is where personal responsibility comes into play.

 

[james2538]

Silencing posts you don't agree with is not within their purview, so long as said posts don't violate the rules. That was my point.

People say a lot of stupid stuff on the internet. The same thing with in person at times. I can't control what others believe. All I can do is share what I know and believe, and report posts that may be in violation. Life is too short to worry about what every stranger on the internet thinks and whether or not someone else will believe it. That is where personal responsibility comes into play.

I understand your point, however we'll just have to agree to disagree.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Any rumor that revolves around COVID, masks, vaccines, mandates, etc. always turns into a heap of arguing and misinformation. It appeared that previously the policy was to disable commenting on these articles according to this post from arn.

Yesterday's, "Apple to Require COVID Testing for Employees Starting Next Month, Still No Vaccine Mandate" was a mess. You had posters claiming clearly false information about the vaccines, including saying they are ineffective. Yet when I reported this comment the moderator team returned with this:

View attachment 1835416

As a healthcare worker I'm begging you. If you don't want to function as fact checkers, then just disable the discussion entirely. To do otherwise is completely irresponsible.

Agree completely, especially with your last sentence.

.......Personal responsibility is something you can't control even though you seem to want MR to dictate things outside their purview.

......

Not outside their purview, but taking responsibility for what appears on their site.

To do otherwise - in the face of a global, and highly contagious, and rather lethal - pandemic, is not just extraordinarily irresponsible, to my mind, but is an ethical abdication.

 

[ericgtr12]

People that read this site need to do their own research and then make an informed decision on what is best for their life. It isn't MacRumors responsibility to make sure that there are no posts made in this area that you and some others disagree with, in my opinion. Personal responsibility solves your problem.

This just makes the OPs point, we have evidence that these vaccines are highly effective but so many don't actually trust it. "Do your own research" leads to people taking horse dewormers prescribed by anti-vaxxer soccer moms on FB while ignoring the CDC and actual scientists who specialize in infectious disease.

The misinformation and willful ignorance is simply baffling and MR has played a huge role in allowing it to propagate, it's unfortunate.

 

[KaliYoni]

I would support ending comments on COVID-19 topics for many reasons, including:

• Political comments are already highly restricted on MR. COVID-19 is a highly politicized topic.
• MR readers can do research into COVID-19 whenever they like, regardless of the existence of comments.
• Personally, I come here for Apple discussions and Community discussions that interest me. I do not regard MR as a health or medical website.
• I don't think non-pandemic discussions would be adversely affected by stopping COVID-19 commentary. Opinions about, say, iPhones or what Mac backup software is best do not hinge upon having debates on COVID-19.

 

[icanhazmac]

Preface: I am not anti-vacc and have received my jabs.

Here is why I applaud the stance that MR has taken on the issue:

As a healthcare worker I'm begging you. If you don't want to function as fact checkers, then just disable the discussion entirely. To do otherwise is completely irresponsible.

If we are to take you at your word then what do you have to say to the 27% of your peers at this healthcare facility:

A N.Y. Hospital Will Stop Delivering Babies As Workers Quit Over A Vaccine Mandate

Lewis County General Hospital in upstate New York is pausing maternity services later this month after dozens of staff members quit because they refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

www.npr.org

Who is to say that you are correct in "begging" for any challenges to vaccines be censored when folks in your very own field are willing to quit their jobs over the mandate? If I remember this story correctly the maternity ward lost 6 nurses to the mandate which forced them to stop providing service, are we to believe that these highly educated people who work daily around babies in their most vulnerable state are just stupid people? When 27% of a workforce in a field that should have better background knowledge than most refuses a vaccine, at the cost of high paying jobs, one does sit back and say hmmmm, what do these professionals know that I don't.

I will grant that some may get vaccinated before the deadline so the ending percentage may not be that high but one can guess that it will be significant and can't be written off as "a small percentage of idiots". I will also grant that some of the workers refusing the vaccine are going to fall outside of medical staff and fall into the professionals supporting the hospital through to hourly workers so they might not be the most educated on medical matters.

And you people want MR to make these kinds of content censorship decisions for you (and everyone)? Not advisable, as @Apple_Robert stated above, take in information and process it yourself, hopefully you also consult with your primary care physician and do not rely solely on MR to guide you through life.

 

[james2538]

If I remember this story correctly the maternity ward lost 6 nurses to the mandate which forced them to stop providing service, are we to believe that these highly educated people who work daily around babies in their most vulnerable state are just stupid people?

Yes

 

[icanhazmac]

Yes

Well that is certainly an opinion you are entitled to have but if you don't mind I would like to decide for myself what information is useful, I do not want or need you to censor my content.

 

[james2538]

I would like to decide for myself what information is useful

Comments spouting completely false information about the vaccines are of use to absolutely no one. In fact, it's a detriment to all of society and a huge contributor to this pandemic dragging on.

 

[icanhazmac]

Comments spouting completely false information about the vaccines are of use to absolutely no one. In fact, it's a detriment to all of society and a huge contributor to this pandemic dragging on.

And so we reach the "agree to disagree" point.

While I applaud your desire to save the world from idiots and their thoughts I simply don't trust you, or anyone else, to censor available content.

 

[millerj123]

Well that is certainly an opinion you are entitled to have but if you don't mind I would like to decide for myself what information is useful, I do not want or need you to censor my content.

Sure, and you repeat your basic opinion ad nauseum. That doesn’t make you right.

 

[ericgtr12]

Before this thread gets closed it would be nice to have someone on staff actually address the OPs post. Being that this is the biggest pandemic of our lifetimes that impacts everyone's daily lives, this site should have a policy on this one way or the other.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I think there’s a fine line between allowing people to post their personal opinions and allowing your platform to display potentially dangerous content. Many of these views are feeding conspiracy theorists agendas and it’s costing lives. Of course it’s down to the host of any platform to decide to what scale of responsibility they wish to take on this.

 

[I7guy]

Agree completely, especially with your last sentence.



Not outside their purview, but taking responsibility for what appears on their site.

To do otherwise - in the face of a global, and highly contagious, and rather lethal - pandemic, is not just extraordinarily irresponsible, to my mind, but is an ethical abdication.

MacRumors has an opportunity to counter Internet misinformation with facts by letting discussion happen. I’m for discussion not censoring.

Imo, MacRumors has a moral responsibility to counter misinformation with information by letting discussion happen.

 

[I7guy]

Comments spouting completely false information about the vaccines are of use to absolutely no one. In fact, it's a detriment to all of society and a huge contributor to this pandemic dragging on.

Do you have a citation for that assertion? Because to me comments rebutted with factual information may cause the uninformed to change their mind and MacRumors could be the source of getting the unvaccinated vaccinated.

 

[icanhazmac]

Sure, and you repeat your basic opinion ad nauseum. That doesn’t make you right.

As do others, this is a public discussion forum after all. I never claimed to be "right" I simply added my thoughts on the topic. I see from your post that you have an opinion different from mine, thank you for your enlightened and thoughtful contributions to this discussion.... oh wait, you didn't present any.

I am happy that MR has reasonable members that can engage in informative discussion instead of a being a haven for people that have nothing to contribute other than to spend their idle hours applying laughing emojis to other members backlog of posts..... oh wait.

 

[Jack Neill]

Vaccine effectiveness is not an opinion. End of story.

I personally know 4 people who have gotten the juice and got COVID, one of them was very sick. I'll let her know that it was all in her imagination the 2 weeks she was out of work.