Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Status
Not open for further replies.
Well, then that's an issue for @arn because not only is it a site feature, it's recommended by the moderators.

And, just to make things worse, what would help would be to let the other person they're being ignored, but MR will not allow you to do that either because it's trolling.

Given also that what @Eric posted was an opinion, I personally feel that this situation was created due to the rules and abilities of the forum and thus issue should be struck from his record.

There's obviously a stunning black hole that can be exploited here that MR needs to address.
I wonder if the mods are able to see if a user has someone on ignore.

But you're right. If a user is using the tools available by the forum (and suggested by those in charge), then how can you punish them/remind them in a situation like this?
 
don't see an "IMHO" or any other indicator that "every doctor you talk to" was an opinion versus a statement of fact and clarification was requested.
Please provide a citation that confirms this fact.

Oh wait, we're you expressing an opinion? I didn't see an IMHO before your statement or anything else that this is an opinion.

Is this reply silly? Yes, but it also serves a point. An opinion in one person's eyes can be seen as a statement of fact in another's. And it's real easy to put a personal spin on text when read cold.

And at no point did you address the elephant in the room which is the issue of the "ignore" functionality
 
Please provide a citation that confirms this fact.

Oh wait, we're you expressing an opinion? I didn't see an IMHO before your statement or anything else that this is an opinion.

Is this reply silly? Yes, but it also serves a point. An opinion in one person's eyes can be seen as a statement of fact in another's.

And at no point did you address the elephant in the room which is the issue of the "ignore" functionality

Wait what?

What are you asking me to provide citation of? It's all in print. The member stated "every doctor you talk to will recommend the vaccine" his post did not indicate in any way that he was not stating fact but an opinion.

As far as the ignore function, I'm not sure what to do with that, if the mod's cannot easily see this I'm not sure you can do anything but have the mod's send a "citation reminder" before acting, I'm ok with that but seems like a lot of extra work for what I would think is a small number of instances.

So you disagree with the moderators of this site that trolling is a thing that people do?

Not at all, plenty of trolls about but IMHO trolls get reported and dealt with.
 
Last edited:
I don't see an "IMHO" or any other indicator that "every doctor you talk to" was an opinion versus a statement of fact and clarification was requested.

Funny how this members "opinion" of "every doctor" is ok but a member that might say "masks don't work" is a statement of fact and considered dangerous by certain members here.

Just to clarify: I am not anti mask or anti vac, I am anti hypocrisy though.
If one uses the generic you, they cannot be making a claim of fact. It’s a generalizing statement by definition. Feel free to read the wikipedia link posted above. Your post painted the statement as a statement of fact - which it was not.

Every kid you see is on their phones all day.
Every Yankees fan you talk to thinks this is the year they’ll go all the way!

Neither of those above statements should be construed as a statement of fact, and neither is “every doctor you talk to” a statement of fact. Considering that they use the generic you, they cannot be proven or disproven. It seems like this nuance of English was missed by the moderators.
 
@ericgtr12, this is the review of the moderation done to one of yours posts.

Three administrators reviewed the moderation. I'm using GMT +2 because it's my time zone and I'm the one who did the write-up of the review.

You posted the following at 19:26 GMT+2 June 30, as a response to a post written by the site owner (my bolding):

In every single one of these cases, these people would benefit from a trusted medical professional utilizing his site and status to give them the facts. Every doctor you talk to will recommend the vaccine, sadly on this site you're doing absolutely nothing to insert fact based scientific data and instead are letting people with a political view insert ambiguity. It's a shame.

User @icanhazmac asked you for a source for your claim (the bolded bit) the same day at 19:51:

Please provide citation for this claim that 100% of doctors recommend the vaccine. My cardiologist told me, and I quote "oh, you had covid, then you don't need to get it, you have the antibodies". I didn't listen and got it anyway but that's what I was told.

Your failure to provide a source was reported by a forum user approximately two hours later. However, since the report came in before you had created a new post in the thread, the moderators didn't act immediately, but waited until you returned to the thread. We do this because if the user hasn't been back to the thread, s/he/they won't realize that s/he/they was/were asked for a source.

You posted again in the thread at 22:43 that day, then again July 1st at 04:02. When you still hadn't provided a source at 16:10 on July 1st, your account was appropriately moderated for failure to provide a source.

The next step the moderator took was to delete the request for a source from icanhazmac's post. Why? Because it no longer served a purpose (you didn't supply a source and the moderation was done) and it might generate other reports from users pointing out that you never provided a source.

The next step the moderator took was to delete from your post the claim that generated the post report:

Every doctor you talk to will recommend the vaccine

Why did the moderator do this? Because you didn't provide a source after being asked to do so. When that happens, the claim isn't allowed to stand.

I can also mention that your next step, after being moderated, was to report the post written by the site owner to which you replied, which was an odd choice in my personal opinion.

Summary of the review:

Nothing sinister here on the part of the moderation team - they followed the protocol in place when this type of post report is submitted. Three administrators looked at the posts, moderation, and time stamps, and find that the moderation was appropriate. You received a reminder. Reminders are not considered punishment, but rather "are simply heads-up messages that alert you to a problem so that you can avoid it in the future." You can read more about reminders here.

@Doctor Q and @WildCowboy, feel free to correct this write-up if I've been unclear or inaccurate about anything here.

In response to this write-up, I would like to say the following:
Every doctor you talk to will recommend the vaccine
Is NOT the same as:
100% of doctors recommend the vaccine

The 2nd poster has asked the first to support a claim that the first poster never made. Please see my other post about the “generic you” for explanation.
 
Fair enough, edited. See how easy that is all?
No, and here's the thing. You were aware we'd questioned you. If you'd had either of us in ignore then you wouldn't. Then we could have reported you for failure to provide citation.

You seem to be so wrapped around the axel of opinion/fact you've missed the issue of knowledge of said request.

This issue is primarily caused because @Eric took advantage of the site's functionality to ignore you.
 
And if you'd been moderated because you had me on ignore, and were banned by the site rules from telling me that you're ignoring me, would that be fair and justified?
To me, this raises a few interesting questions.

1. The mods have stated they don’t have access to your ignore list - if true, they have to assume you’re not ignoring the person requesting you back up your statement of fact.

2. If you are allowed to use “I had them on ignore” as a defense, what’s to stop somebody from claiming they were ignoring everybody and posting false claims all over the place?

Neither of these questions affect the issue at hand though. In this case, the 2nd poster was asking the first to defend a claim that the first poster never made. The original poster cannot be expected to back up a straw man claim presented by a secondary poster.
 
I can't fix the ignore issue. Only thing I can think of is when a post is reported for citation the mods would issue a citation request to the OP.

Now on to the hypocrisy... are those arguing that @ericgtr12 was stating opinion by using the generic "you" going to go on record as saying that the following statements should be allowed to remain on the forum because they are clearly opinion and not a statement of fact.

Preface: I don't believe any of these things, they are only for example purposes only

"everyone you talk to says masks don't work"
"everyone you talk to says vaccines cause autism"
"everyone you talk to says the election was rigged"
"everyone you talk to says climate change is fake news"

IMHO some folks here would be falling all over themselves to report the above statements as dangerous misinformation but conveniently want to give one of their own a pass.
 
  • Like
Reactions: I7guy
I can't fix the ignore issue. Only thing I can think of is when a post is reported for citation the mods would issue a citation request to the OP.

Now on to the hypocrisy... are those arguing that @ericgtr12 was stating opinion by using the generic "you" going to go on record as saying that the following statements should be allowed to remain on the forum because they are clearly opinion and not a statement of fact.

Preface: I don't believe any of these things, they are only for example purposes only

"everyone you talk to says masks don't work"
"everyone you talk to says vaccines cause autism"
"everyone you talk to says the election was rigged"
"everyone you talk to says climate change is fake news"

IMHO some folks here would be falling all over themselves to report the above statements as dangerous misinformation but conveniently want to give one of their own a pass.
These are hypothetical statements, and you have no way to know how others would respond to these. I personally would not report these, as I can see they are generalized statements.

But to be clear, would you be for or against such statements being removed if reported? I think your answer to this is quite important in the context of this discussion.
 
In this case, the 2nd poster was asking the first to defend a claim that the first poster never made. The original poster cannot be expected to back up a straw man claim presented by a secondary poster.
Agreed, which is why I worded the phrase exactly as I did - but that little nuance was apparently lost on the person I quoted.
 
Furthermore:

@ericgtr12 is also on record as saying:

We know wearing a mask and taking the vaccine prevent the spread.

This is also dangerous misinformation as wearing a mask and taking the vaccine will not PREVENT the spread but will HELP prevent the spread, an important distinction for any member reading his post and taking it as fact. Unless of course he can back up this claim with citations?
 
We (mods) would not know the person is ignoring you, so the post would get removed. Then it would be up to the other person to send in a contact explaining they never saw the demand for proof since they are ignoring you.

Honestly, this has never come up that I can recall, so mods and admins would have to discuss and decide what the policy would be in a case like that.
So @annk & @Weaselboy, what IS the policy?
 
These are hypothetical statements, and you have no way to know how others would respond to these. I personally would not report these, as I can see they are generalized statements.

Which is why I clearly stated IMHO, did you miss that?

But to be clear, would you be for or against such statements being removed if reported? I think your answer to this is quite important in the context of this discussion.

I generally am not in favor of censorship, I would more likely challenge the statements versus request they be deleted.
 
  • Like
Reactions: I7guy
Furthermore:

@ericgtr12 is also on record as saying:



This is also dangerous misinformation as wearing a mask and taking the vaccine will not PREVENT the spread but will HELP prevent the spread, an important distinction for any member reading his post and taking it as fact. Unless of course he can back up this claim with citations?
So I assume you'd also take issue with the claim that condoms prevent unwanted pregnancies?

edit: Does advocating for condoms also count as "dangerous misinformation"?
 
  • Like
Reactions: JayMysterio
Which is why I clearly stated IMHO, did you miss that?



I generally am not in favor of censorship, I would more likely challenge the statements versus request they be deleted.
Why report a post if you don’t believe should be removed? Perhaps you should petition the moderators to replace the post that @ericgtr12 made since you disagree with its removal.
 
Furthermore:

@ericgtr12 is also on record as saying:



This is also dangerous misinformation as wearing a mask and taking the vaccine will not PREVENT the spread but will HELP prevent the spread, an important distinction for any member reading his post and taking it as fact. Unless of course he can back up this claim with citations?
Again, you are ascribing absolutes to a statement that isn’t absolute. Here is the definition of prevent:

1: to keep from happening or existing (steps to prevent war)
2: to hold or keep back ( HINDER, STOP —often used with from)
3: to deprive of power or hope of acting or succeeding
The word prevention isn’t necessarily a 100% guarantee that something won’t happen.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JayMysterio
So I assume you'd also take issue with the claim that condoms prevent unwanted pregnancies?

Ok, I'll play, the CDC puts the failure rate at 13% so yes, if I'm in the mood to be picky I would say that is a dubious claim. I wouldn't stake my future on an 87% effectiveness rate. Condoms sure can HELP prevent unwanted pregnancies but can't prevent them.

 
Ok, I'll play, the CDC puts the failure rate at 13% so yes, if I'm in the mood to be picky I would say that is a dubious claim. I wouldn't stake my future on an 87% effectiveness rate. Condoms sure can HELP prevent unwanted pregnancies but can't prevent them.

Again, the word prevent doesn’t imply a 100% success rate. You are imposing that meaning upon it yourself. Read a tube of toothpaste sometime. It says right on it that it has been shown to prevent tooth decay. Yet not everybody who brushes their teeth with it has a perfect record of no cavities, even if they brush 2x a day.
 
  • Love
Reactions: JayMysterio
Why report a post if you don’t believe should be removed? Perhaps you should petition the moderators to replace the post that @ericgtr12 made since you disagree with its removal.

I never asked for its removal, I asked for a citation, there is a difference. If someone is so closed mined and triggered by the opinions of others that they need to block them I cannot be held responbsible for the unintended consequenses.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.