Restriction of comments on It Gets Better news story

[Tipsy]

I am very disappointed by the decision to keep the comments thread on the news story about Apple employees contributing to The Trevor Project in the Politics, Religion and Social Issues forum,preventing people with less than 100 posts commenting on it.

The whole basis of It Gets Better is people openly discussing that it does get better, that young people should have hope and that there is a future for them. For Mac Rumors to label this topic 'controversial' and limit who can post on this topic sends out exactly the wrong message - that their feelings cannot be openly discussed or are something they should be ashamed of.

I do not understand how an effort to stop young people from killing themselves can be controversial. You don't need to agree with homosexuality to believe that we should do whatever we can to stop a loss of life that is tragic and far, far too common.

I ask that the moderators reconsider their decision to limit the ability to post in that thread, and move it to the main news discussion forum so more people can participate.

 

[miles01110]

I think the limit is fine.

 

[GGJstudios]

Post count restriction on politics forum?

 

[kainjow]

The whole basis of It Gets Better is people openly discussing that it does get better, that young people should have hope and that there is a future for them. For Mac Rumors to label this topic 'controversial' and limit who can post on this topic sends out exactly the wrong message - that their feelings cannot be openly discussed or are something they should be ashamed of.

I'm not a MacRumors editor/writer, but my take on it is that MacRumors isn't reporting the story to send out the message of the It Gets Better Project, it's reporting it for discussion on the topic of Apple employees participating. So that itself is controversial and since it's related to a social issue, it gets placed into the PRSI.

 

[jtara]

This is done from time to time on MacRumors.

I think the theory is that those who have been here for a while know the rules a bit better, and are less likely to start trouble. They have an "investment" in MacRumors, and don't want to get slapped by the mods.

Makes the mods jobs a bit easier, and everything a bit more pleasant for the rest of us.

 

[Tipsy]

I'm not a MacRumors editor/writer, but my take on it is that MacRumors isn't reporting the story to send out the message of the It Gets Better Project, it's reporting it for discussion on the topic of Apple employees participating. So that itself is controversial and since it's related to a social issue, it gets placed into the PRSI.

I understand that MacRumors isn't advocating for the Project but I still genuinely don't understand why this is categorised as controversial - it seems to be in expectation of certain people's prejudices. Do you think this would've been categorised as controversial if this had been an ad about:
- Racism/anti-semitism
- Domestic violence
- Mental illness
- Drunk driving?

No. Because society's expectations have changed of how people should behave, but some people think others should feel bad for being gay and still seem to think its ok to say so. My point is not that Mac Rumors should advocate for the project - that's not it's job - but that in conceding that this is 'controversial' and that debate on it should be hidden in a corner somewhere, it is acting against the purpose of the project.

I'm not indifferent to the potential difficulties for moderators - and I can see there's been some fairly intense discussion on that thread (and I'm not convinced that having a higher post count has made people more rational) - but dumping this into the 'controversial' category is pandering to prejudice.

If it's hard to see why I care about this - I just wonder about some 15 year old kid who's having a hard time at school coming to this site and seeing Apple employees telling him or her that it will get better, then going to comment. But they can't. Because it's 'controversial'.

 

[GGJstudios]

... but that in conceding that this is 'controversial' and that debate on it should be hidden in a corner somewhere...

Like it or not, the topic IS controversial to many people, for one reason or another. It is what it is.

 

[Doctor Q]

Have you read the discussion thread? Even restricted to established members, it's a contentious discussion.

Before we set the current policy, discussions like this one would attract new users whose only goal was to register and make hit-and-run posts to stir up and anger others. That spoiled threads for everyone else.

There are plenty of users who can carry on a good discussion on topics like this and who don't happen to be eligible for the Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum yet, but there are too many Internet trolls ready to ruin it for everyone else. Unfortunately we can't always accommodate everyone's posts.

We've learned by experience which types of stories have to be treated as this one was, for the benefit of our overall membership.