# I want to start a thread, but I think I will need moderator support **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [March 2, 2023, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583 "2023-03-02T09:56:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583/81 "2023-03-02T21:01:34Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I don’t know if it sets a good precedent though, having the OP able to set who is allowed to post in their thread. And just to be clear, so far as I’m aware it _would_ be a significant change/exception to board culture, right? I don’t think there has been any bar to any subset of people posting in a thread (there are specific bans for breaking rules, obviously). There are threads where someone is eliciting views from some subset of people, where it could be threadshitting or being a jerk for people who are not in that subset to jump straight in; but nobody is barred from later participation in the consequent discussion. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583/82 "2023-03-02T21:02:36Z")
At the same time, a thread in which people can say what it is that they believe without it being challenged on it in anyway may go well for that thread, but it would not go well for the rest of the board. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583/83 "2023-03-02T21:05:41Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > On a more serious note, the fact that the mods and posters think it’s impossible does imply that the assertion that this place has devolved into an echo chamber has considerable merit. I’d say it’s more “the country” than just “the SDMB.” I can’t think of any forums, left or right, where the proposed idea wouldn’t turn into a shit-flinging contest. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583/84 "2023-03-02T21:06:16Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > > > > [@Horatius](#): > > > > > > > > Understanding why they (think) they believe these things might be useful in figuring out how to argue them into not believing them. > > > > > > That seems unlikely to work out well. I suggest that a more constructive goal is to seek areas of agreement, and understand values, to try to forge positions that get both sides things that are important to them. > > > > How is it possible to understand values and to seek areas of agreement without finding out what values are being used and in what areas there might be agreement? > > Er. I think any thread that starts, “tell me what you believe so i can convince you you’re wrong” isn’t going to go well. And that’s how i read “figuring out how to argue them into not believing them”. A point. But it’s not how I read “seek areas of agreement, and understand values, to try to forge positions that get both sides things that are important to them”; though as you’re the one who wrote it, you’d know what you meant better than I do. I forgot that you were the one volunteering to try to get the info through PM’s, and confused you with those not wanting the thread to happen at all. Apologies for that. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583/85 "2023-03-02T21:12:33Z")
I am agnostic on the thread. It seems likely to turn into a moderation nightmare. It might be interesting if it gets anywhere before that happens. P&E isn’t one of my forums, so it’s unlikely to become my nightmare. But in general I’m willing to try to facilitate discussion. If folks think it might work with an anonymizing filter, I’m willing to provide the filter. But if the goal is "convince people they are wrong"it seems hopeless. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583/86 "2023-03-02T21:24:25Z")
But couldn’t that be said about any topic that is in any way controversial? If Great Debates and Politics and Elections are only going to allow one point of view to post without one faction being allowed to shout down the opposition why even carry on with those forums? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583/87 "2023-03-02T21:26:41Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > If Great Debates and Politics and Elections are only going to allow one point of view to post… Has anyone suggested doing this? No? Then I don’t see the relevance. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583/88 "2023-03-02T21:28:11Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > if the goal is "convince people they are wrong"it seems hopeless. I guess I’m thinking more ‘if there are areas of agreement, work on those. Maybe they’ll eventually come around to listening in other areas; but even if not, maybe we can get something done in the areas of agreement.’ I’m also thinking – years ago, when I first came on a red-area though at least theoretically nonpartisan planning board: I figured out quite fast that if I said ‘We need to protect endangered species’ I would get nowhere whatsoever, and nobody was even listening to whatever I said next. But if I said ‘We need to protect our water quality’ – everybody was in favor of that. But what I was actually proposing was the exact same thing. It’s 30 years later and now it’s possible to say ‘protect species’ and have people listen. Whether this is anything equivalent – I don’t know. But we got into this damn mess somehow. If it can be gotten into, seems to me that it can be gotten out of. ETA: This is certainly not to say that we didn’t need people 30 years ago yelling about endangered species; sometimes quite impolitely. I think we need people both pushing and pulling this car if we’re going to get it out of the ditch. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583/89 "2023-03-02T21:30:28Z")
So how is the presence of a thread where one posts why one supports a particular political party any different with regards to actually enforcing the basic rules of civility that board demands posters abide by? And are actually quite often quickly enforced when the post or thread in question is in congruence with the primary sentiment of the board or those that enforce the rules? Again, this is a lazy capitulation to a threat of Heckler’s Veto. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583/90 "2023-03-02T21:33:17Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > So how is the presence of a thread where one posts why one supports a particular political party any different with regards to actually enforcing the basic rules of civility that board demands posters abide by? So you agree that the problem isn’t that the SDMB is a “leftist echo chamber?” Since it’s not a problem with other topics? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583/91 "2023-03-02T21:34:56Z")
What about a thread where only people who self-identify as Republican voters/supporters are allowed to post for (say) 2 weeks, then it’s opened up? It’s consistent with the spirit of threads we’ve had in the past where people elicit opinions from some subgroup, and where it would be jerkish to dominate the thread early if you’re not in that group; but where nobody is ultimately barred from the consequent discussion. After the 2 weeks, it could be opened up, and if it turns into such a clusterfuck that it ends up in the Pit or closed, so be it - but perhaps some useful understanding has been gained by then. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583/92 "2023-03-02T21:37:56Z")
Many topics are actually shut down or moved to your realm because they are in fact allowed to be ungovernable. And the root problem isn’t the fact that the SDMB is an echo chamber. Which it is. The problem is the lack of desire to confront a critical mass of folks on a relatively small and niche message board and hold them to the same standards. I can guarantee that if the 2 or 3 Republicans left on this board went into a thread about the wonders of the Democratic Party and behaved as we assume the 20-30 Democrats would behave in the OP’s hypothetical thread the same moderators would have the hammer ready to smite. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583/93 "2023-03-02T21:42:08Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Maybe an alternative thread is… > > “As a Republican, what do you stand for that Democrats would agree with?” I was also trying to think of a way to approach the topic that would be more positive, but this still limits the thread to Republicans only, which still feels a bit exclusionist (which is consistent with the OP’s intent, but still barring participation to much of the board). The best I could come up with was: “Hypothetical - if you were forced to select a new Republican (RINO or otherwise) President, which Republicans of the last 50 years (1970 and later), living or dead, would you support and why?” This at least sidesteps the current extreme right turn of the last decade, and would let more former moderates or pre-Tea Party / Trump Republicans contribute. It’s not a perfect answer, but might be less flame prone. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583/94 "2023-03-02T21:43:24Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > But if the goal is "convince people they are wrong"it seems hopeless. But recall, I was answering this question: “If those beliefs are actively harmful to you and your kind, what is the point?” My comment was a more generalized statement on why we might want honest input from people who believe things that “are actively harmful to you and your kind”. It’s certainly not the only reason to have such a thread, but it’s a reason that may be acceptable to those who genuinely fear the modern Republican agenda. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2023, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583/95 "2023-03-02T23:04:40Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > I was also trying to think of a way to approach the topic that would be more positive, but this still limits the thread to Republicans only, which still feels a bit exclusionist (which is consistent with the OP’s intent, but still barring participation to much of the board). You wouldn’t need that though. The idea would be that non-Republicans could respond in the affirmative or negative about being in agreement. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583/96 "2023-03-03T03:49:35Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > On a more serious note, the fact that the mods and posters think it’s impossible does imply that the assertion that this place has devolved into an echo chamber has considerable merit. I disagree. A thread in which only Republicans can post their views and nobody is allowed to question those views is a echo chamber. (And that would be true if there was a thread in which only Democrats could post and nobody could question their views.) So the fact that so many people are saying such a thread wouldn’t work here is evidence that this board is not an echo chamber. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583/97 "2023-03-03T07:14:59Z")
They would not have their views questioned _in that particular thread_. That leaves approximately 283 gazillion other threads where they are constantly questioned. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583/98 "2023-03-03T09:48:14Z")
Seriously. How hard could this possibly be? Hell, just give @Czarcasm back his mod powers to moderate that one thread. I don’t think anyone would complain about that. Or have @Miller do it. It’s not like he’s overwhelmed with moderating the Pit. Just how many republicans do you think are still posting here that would be willing to participate? Are you really envisioning a several thousand post thread? If people can’t follow the rules laid out, that’s on them, not the nature of the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583/99 "2023-03-03T10:28:09Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > Hell, just give @Czarcasm back his mod powers to moderate that one thread. Hell, no. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583/100 "2023-03-03T10:30:52Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Hell, no. Who better than you? You know exactly what you want in the thread, you’d be perfect for the job. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-to-start-a-thread-but-i-think-i-will-need-moderator-support/980583.md?page=6)