Well, no, because there is no reason to expect he would be allowed to do that. While posters have guessed about what the reasoning was, the mod in question did just repeat himself, rather than explain his reasoning. This is a mod call that could have gone either way, depending on how one interpreted the post. And past interactions between these two show that WE tends to view anything Roger says with suspicion. Without a mod telling him it’s okay, I don’t see any reason to trust that he wouldn’t get in trouble again.
This issue with repeating himself rather than explaining is something I’ve encountered before with @What_Exit. I reported a GD post towards me because it seemed it was getting to personal. The response was a mod note that we were both getting too personal. I sent a PM asking what part of my post had been seen as personal, as that was not my intent, and I wanted to avoid miscommunicating in the future. The response I got back was just to repeat the claim. I ask again and I get no response and gave access to the PM removed. I actually avoided posting for a little while because I could no longer trust that any post I made would be interpreted in some way that I didn’t mean.
When someone asks why, it would be nice if the mod in question would say exactly what trasonled to their decision. Surely part of making a decision is thinking “This line _____ is a call to action because ______.”
And I continue to argue that it’s best for the person who is being asked to give an explanation rather than for other people to speculate. If the person being asked doesn’t come up with the explanation, you can never be sure that was their actual reason, or if they just liked that explanation better.
At the end of the day, I go back to the fact that Roger is trying to solve a problem, and is on the morally correct side. And a rule is being interpreted in a way that prevents him from doing so, even though there is another interpretation which would allow it. I can’t see this as a net positive, and very much think this moderation puts a damper on being able to discuss how one might respond.
A call to action would be telling people to go so something, not asking for advice on what people in general might do that would be effective.
This is perhaps the vaguest communication i have seen
from a mod this week, which is saying something. You could have said as much, and much more wittily, by saying nothing at all but you seem to be asking me to elaborate on a point in your final question after you have finished asking me never to address the topic again. So i will take you at your word and try to tell you what the trouble is.
I would like to open a discussion of extreme measures that people upset with the SC’s decision that might actually work, as opposed to screaming slogans in a public park. If someone actually advocates an illegal act, he or she should be warned that advocating breaking the law is not allowed here but there are many things that are very hard to organize, painful or costly to the folks who engage in them, are without precedent, but are entirely legal, and i was interested in discussing which of these ideas might be practicable. My notion of a sex strike, for example, is a bit too literary to fit the bill.
Also i would like some clarity on the SD’s position on anyone advocating civil disobedience. Is this actually forbidden?
It seems to me that telling someone that the answer to their question can be found on the internet because it’s [probably] already been asked could be applied to most of the questions posted here.
I think that in the current crisis situation, threads discussing civil disobedience should certainly be permitted. The rules against advocating lawbreaking were made when the US was a functional democracy; at a certain point, insisting that we can never advocate breaking laws no matter how unjust and immoral they are or how corrupt the process by which they were passed becomes collaboration with tyranny.
But clearly such threads violate the current rules, and any such exception would need to be discussed in detail in the mod loop before being implemented.
It’s still a functional democracy, though one under attack. I think it’s worth preserving that democracy and don’t feel like joining the anarchy of the Qanon ilk.
Thank you. I’d still like to hear the official SD policy on discussing acts of civil disobedience from a mod, but maybe someone other than me needs to ask What Exit? because he sure doesn’t seem inclined to respond to my inquiries.
To his credit, he does seem to have evolved his initial, somewhat draconian, thread-closing position of “not sure where it would belong, but not here,” to recommending that I put it in IMHO. Not entirely sure why he couldn’t have simply moved it there himself, and offered a suggestion or two about avoiding the advocation of law-breaking if he really felt that was my intention there (it wasn’t) , instead of flexing his Mod muscles and dumping all over my thread, but it’s all good.
It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out when someone that lives in a state like Texas asks how they can get an abortion (ie how they can get to an out of state clinic and back home without arousing suspicion).
Will the staff allow it or will they close it down the same way threads about attaining and using legal marijuana are often shut down since it’s illegal at the federal level .
Of course, you should be able to tell that the language about the tens of millions of women being wildly upset about the abortion decision is Mr. Mapcase’s language, not mine, and that a smaller group, such as the SD, might have a higher median IQ than a large swathe of the general population is much more likely than the opposite contention. You folks have a way of looking for insults where a compliment to your intelligence is being implied. I will strive for less subtlety in the future.
But what about abortion? If someone starts a thread saying that they live in Idaho (which has a trigger ban) and need help planning a trip to Oregon or California (states that have said they won’t cooperate with out-of-state investigations regarding abortions for non-residents) to have an abortion, will that be allowed?
I don’t know yet, it will be discussed in the modloop. But as of right now, “Do not post material that fosters or promotes activity that is illegal in the U.S.” is the only guidance I can give.
Believe me the mods are not unsympathetic to this, but we don’t make rule changes or exceptions overnight or on our own.
The thread was closed until an IMHO mod can review it because you once again insisted on using the term “civil disobedience” in the title, which is defined as breaking the law. You then suggested that we change the definition of the term, which is not only a silly request but signals your understanding of its actual definition (and thus the reasoning behind your initial moderation).
Saying LEGAL over and over again in the text of the thread doesn’t help when you’ve poisoned the well in the title.
It would be like me starting a thread called “effective ways to influence game developers through software piracy” and then asking for LEGAL methods in the thread itself.
I suspect that with a title change and an edit to remove the term from your pasted original OP, it’ll be fine, provided the mods don’t topic ban you for utterly failing (or refusing) to understand the purpose behind your initial moderation.