I feel sad for you. Mod - are you making this site more neurodiverse, unlike Reddit?
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MacRumors LGBT+ article policy - disabling/deleting comments
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This site is Arn's tech business. It provides for his family. He doesn't owe a voice to any agenda regardless of persuasion. It is not a site founded and dedicated on sponsoring and promoting any societal agenda some here may have. Why is that so hard for some here to understand?
If some here want to promote a personal or societal agenda as mentioned before, there are plenty of other places on the internet to do that.
The policy is already clear. This site is not going to become a political or societal anthem or soapbox for any group of individuals. This site is about reporting about Apple and tech related thereto. As such, anything that takes away from the primary focus of the site and causes disruption for the owner and staff, such that MR's business reputation is put in a perceived bad internet light, won't be allowed nor should it be.
Thank you. I feel more comfortable in this forum.
Whole heartedly agree. There is a reason why PSRI was deleted and this is why. It serves no purpose in a tech related site.
I am just a member sharing my opinion based on 10 years of regular interaction.
Being an Asperger is tough. Reddit is a mess. Some Aspergers love tech but trolls make life miserable.
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I at least feel a touch better hearing that this was an individual author policy and not site wide policy from the top necessarily.
Hopefully MR can consider please allowing comments on these types of articles to continue to give opportunities for the community to show a bit of growth and willingness to continue to be open to very diverse views and situations.
I completely get the moderation angle -- at the same time though, I also feel that folks who are going to go out of their way to be hateful and closed minded (in topics they could simply avoid if they prefer) shouldn't be allowed to lower the bar for everyone down to their level of intolerance and bigotry.
Hopefully MR can consider please allowing comments on these types of articles to continue to give opportunities for the community to show a bit of growth and willingness to continue to be open to very diverse views and situations.
I completely get the moderation angle -- at the same time though, I also feel that folks who are going to go out of their way to be hateful and closed minded (in topics they could simply avoid if they prefer) shouldn't be allowed to lower the bar for everyone down to their level of intolerance and bigotry.
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Only when ALL bigots have been physically eliminated will we have tolerance. Titania McGrath is a true prophet.
Moderating threads may be a difficult job, but it's not impossible. Software can help.
But even if it's a lot of work to moderate threads on LGBT+ topics, or "off-topic" threads where LGBT+ conversation surfaces, it should be moderated NOT disabled.
I am gay. My existence should be defended and protected by moderators and non-LGBT+ people alike. I am worth your efforts. Disabling conversations as such is—IS, make no mistake about it, whether the moderator is LGBT+ or not—saying that LGBT+ people are not worth the effort of having a voice if it means others can hurt them.
MacRumors, moderators, I'm not going to say "I understand your perspective, it's fair enough, please put a silly little disclaimer message at the bottom of news stories explaining how you're protecting LGBT+ people...". If I say that message, I would be betraying myself and my community for the sake of making your lives easier.
Don't discount us. Change your policy. Do the hard work. Show us we are worth your effort.
But even if it's a lot of work to moderate threads on LGBT+ topics, or "off-topic" threads where LGBT+ conversation surfaces, it should be moderated NOT disabled.
I am gay. My existence should be defended and protected by moderators and non-LGBT+ people alike. I am worth your efforts. Disabling conversations as such is—IS, make no mistake about it, whether the moderator is LGBT+ or not—saying that LGBT+ people are not worth the effort of having a voice if it means others can hurt them.
MacRumors, moderators, I'm not going to say "I understand your perspective, it's fair enough, please put a silly little disclaimer message at the bottom of news stories explaining how you're protecting LGBT+ people...". If I say that message, I would be betraying myself and my community for the sake of making your lives easier.
Don't discount us. Change your policy. Do the hard work. Show us we are worth your effort.
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Please read every last post in this thread. Your personal decision, which you stated to stand by, needs to change.
I'm quoting you to serve as a "ping" for your attention, in case you have muted this important conversation.
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Quoting to ping, as per my post above. I think you two moderators should completely read this thread and consider a change of policy or moderating behaviour, just in case you haven't already. This is important.
I continue to be surprised that @arn - who is usually comparatively quick to weigh in on things in the Site and Forum Feedback section (since it's his site) - has had nothing at all to say, in the week and a half this thread has been here.
im not trolling. I’m pointing out the absurdity of taking absolute positions and assuming a monopoly on virtue. Throwing the words “bigot” or ”hater” around just because you dislike or disagree with someone is symptomatic of where we are today sadly. People just cannot seem to cope with their views being challenged.
There is a word for that in today's society and it's called 'cancel culture'. If you do not want to hear or read someones point of view or opinion, you find ways to prevent them from doing so (don't allow them on the radio, their TV appearances are canceled, their hosting at events are canceled, their meetings are canceled, their vocal opinion pieces in the national papers are canceled) hence the use of the word 'cancel culture'. The principle can be applied to forums as well.
The reason here why the LGBTQ community is not allowed a voice (being able to comment on related topics) is because according to MR it would create too much work dealing with intolerant member posts. I mean really MR, how is that going to look to the outside world, that MR does not allow it's LGBTQ members a voice because it would create to much work for the moderation team.
I doubt the outside world cares frankly, and it’s somewhat passive aggressive to raise it in this way eg hyperbolic “not allowed a voice…”. If I was a mod I’d be rolling my eyes at such hissy fits, and doubling down on the original decisions.
And that there in your post is EXACTLY why the LGBTQ community has the issues it has. They raise an issue, a valid issue, they persue with that issue and someone refers to it as 'hissy fits'. Thank you very much for proving their point.
Maybe you should write into every news media then and complain that they are forever using 'passive aggressive' to get a point across to their readers. Why can it not be used here? A point is trying to be made and it is a point that is trying to get MR to stand up and recognise. A thread had it's comments disabled thereby preventing the LGBTQ community from 'having a voice'.
As for the outside world, it's goes about it's business totally unaware of issues being raised in this thread but I am damn sure the world would take notice if it was suddenly put out there with the headline 'World's biggest Apple community disscusion forum prevents it's LGBTQ members from having a voice'.
Many issues go under the world's radar until it is brought to it's attention.
Again, this is a TECHNOLOGY based website. Discussions of LGBT should be done elsewhere. Also, it's up to the writer of the article to decide. If you don't like it, go to another site that does indulge.
Also, again, there is a reason why PSRI was deleted, this thread is showing me why that reason was correct.
I've seen several replies similar to this on this thread, and I need to offer a counterpoint based on the actual content of the forums. Based on what I can only call the community standards of MR, we have threads about movies to watch, books to read, TV shows both streaming and not, your car, your motorcycle, guns you own or want, beer & wine, whiskey, Classical music, espresso, F1 racing, football, the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, Meryl Streep, dreams and what they mean, where to go on vacation, "so I was on a date yesterday evening," where to go on a first date, how to date an Apple employee, dating advice, blind dates, marriage/dating advice, what constitutes a date?, "would you rather go on a date with Pamela Anderson/Ben Affleck or spend an evening with a Mac G5?" (clearly this one is an older thread), cats, dogs, pets, pet names, snakes as pets, pet salons, pets that have died. There's a poll on how many boyfriends/girlfriends/wives/husbands members have had. We have 48 pages on a thread titled "Uh, it's cold," which was started in 2017 and which heats up (sorry) each winter.
So clearly this site is not exclusively tech-oriented, nor, evidently, has it been seen as such over the years by a huge number of members who have started and participated in these threads. Likewise, by the mods who have not stepped in and said these discussions were out of place here.
Is this a tech site? Yes. Is it more than that? Most certainly. Clearly there is room for all kinds of discussions here, about all kinds of non-tech-related personal, social and community issues. And the site hasn't come crashing down yet.
Exactly right
It should also be noted that "tech" isn't some side hobby that's divorced from the rest of society and day to day reality like it was say 20 years ago.
"Tech" is everything and everywhere now and how we interface with it and decisions that are made and considerations that aren't --- all of it is intertwined with our daily life, who we are, where we go, what we do, how we date, how we work, how we get work, pay bills, travel, shop, learn, research, communicate.. ... on and on and on
I think it’s important to recognize, as I’ve been trying to say for some time now, sitting this out, or throwing hands up and locking threads isn’t really an answer: at best it’s kicking the can down the road, at worst it’s actively silencing folks because some forum members worry about getting cooties or something. Computers are political. Tech is political. I’m not saying any thread should regress into Trump vs Biden name calling, that’s pointless and irrelevant, and frankly toxic to what I think we’re all trying to do here: inform and banter about Apple and it’s competitors in the tech field. Help each other out with tech questions. Debate the strengths of architectures and software design. But if you shut down the comments on threads because you fear too much work in moderation, you’re simply agreeing with the most bigoted elements, and you’re letting them win.
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All great points @profcutter
Just to circle all the way around here..
On an Apple centric forum, we should be able to have comments on an article about new Apple watchbands, no matter what they look like or what market they might appeal to.
If folks can't comment on that without being sexist, racist, bigoted or otherwise nasty and prejudiced, they should be moderated away.
It's as simple as that
"Turning off comments" isn't a solution to anything
Just to circle all the way around here..
On an Apple centric forum, we should be able to have comments on an article about new Apple watchbands, no matter what they look like or what market they might appeal to.
If folks can't comment on that without being sexist, racist, bigoted or otherwise nasty and prejudiced, they should be moderated away.
It's as simple as that
"Turning off comments" isn't a solution to anything
Yeah, exactly. It’s really not that hard to avoid using slurs to talk about the newest chip or phone case.
Impossible since Apple is run by a gay man who mentions LGBT and other rights issues quite often and annually releases new watchfaces and bands for pride which causes annual controversy. 😂