As I said earlier in this thread, I am mostly in agreement with the modding on this board. I only object when they mod on taste. If the thread is crap, it will sink on its own. Closing thread to keep the level of the board is just hubris.
Seems a lot easier then going to the trouble of reporting it.
I say let the threads sink or swim on their own.
I don’t know, Sapo, calling it hubris seems a little much. Rather than pure pride, I could see them working on a more of a “Broken Windows” theory, where if you don’t make a point of stopping those 12 yr old jerk-off threads then you are actually encouraging them. I don’t think that idea is completely without merit myself.
I just don’t see it being necessary around here, though…most threads like that don’t tend to inspire a flurry of posts, you know?
That means it’s working!
I apologize if I actually offended anyone with my thread that was closed. I tend to post messages in a rather sarcastic tone. And I must have been drunk at the time.
But considering I had dinner the other week with another member who once posted a direct link to pictures of his penis, I’d say I have a fairly high tolerance for being shocked.
Now that I think of it, I did shake his hand. Ew.
Oh, and before anyone asks, it was Waverly.
Did I mention sarcastic?
Link?
Well here’s the thing about my sexually-oriented, or as you peeps like to say, “tasteless” threads – they tend to do pretty well. They typically get plenty of responses and LOTS of views. It’s like I’m not the only one on this board whose tastes are more broad than that of the wannabe censors who report them (and I’m sure every one of my sexually-oriented threads and most of my sexually-oriented posts get reported sooner or later).
I see the people who report such posts as saying, “Mr. Mod! Mr. Mod! Please save me from even having to know that people have different tastes than mine!” Because of course you DO have the option of not reading the thread. But that’s not enough for you, no, you’ve got to be protected even from knowledge of the thread’s very existence. What wimps you are.
Oh, yeah, the “broken window” thing … classic slippery slope argument. I mean, if that’s the approach, why not have posters submit prospective posts to the mods for approval BEFORE they post, thus obviating the distressing necessity of opening a thread you know you won’t like and reading it to see if you need to report?
I object to this accusation.
It was just my taint.
**Zoe ** “Link?” <------------- love her. 
This censorship thing is starting to grow on me. And, EC, being a BIG believer in the dangers of the slippery slope, I’m going to start reporting you every time you even THINK about sex or anything else disgusting and tasteless like that. Because once you start thinking these repulsive thoughts, its only a matter of time before you post something horribly offensive that I should be protected from reading. God only knows what kind of damage that might do to my innocent Christian brain.
Sincerely,
The Thought Police
First of all, I thought this thread wasn’t supposed to be about you.
Secondly, despite the fact that a lot of people do it around here, bleating out logical fallacies from a list you memorized isn’t a fucking argument. Especially when you counter my well known example of a “slippery slope argument” (oh the horrors, statements like that can’t possibly be true!) with one of your own. There is no reason to think your idiotic “then why not” would be a better solution to what they do now, which is very occasionally close an offensive thread.
As an aside, I’ve never really understood objections to a “slippery slope” argument. If I don’t like something, I think I have valid concern that allowing it or accepting it will lead to more of the same. How is that necessarily a fallacy?
Around here, though, I am still in favor of ignoring such threads/posts, rather than bringing the “law” down on them. I guess I never noticed what EC is claiming…that his threads in question “do pretty well,” probably because I do just ignore them…it’s not that difficult, and I don’t even use the “ignore” function.
I will say that I don’t consider it to be “thought policing,” as SmokinMom says. As I said earlier, it’s not my board, and I don’t have a major problem with the administration running it as they see fit. It’s not my favorite aspect of the board, but it’s tolerable. Honestly, if they are getting complaints all the time, I don’t blame them for shutting down threads. I’m more amazed that anyone would bother to complain.
Yeah, it’s one of the more abused of the internets argument winners. The idea is that it is often used as a scare tactic so that perfectly reasonable solutions seems to allow or even promote gross distortions of your good intentions. Sometimes it’s a valid concern, though.
I agree with you that a growth in skeevy threads probably isn’t a big concern here, unless one of our resident pervs creates his Magnum Opus and it gets slashdotted or something.I wonder if the “Horror of Blimps” brought in a certain crowd.
Good question…I’m sure it did, although how they might be categorized, I’m not sure.
My attitude towards the “resident pervs” is that I knind of like to know who they are. The more people show their true colors…for good or for bad…the easier it is to know if I want to spend my time in discourse of any kind with them.
I disagree. Back in the day they allowed such things. Every few weeks we would get an relatively innocent thread: Do you like oral sex? That would lead to another a little more shocking and soon we would have: Men, do you like to take it up the ass with a dildo that your wife is wearing? I sure do! (No I didn’t make that up.)
There are enough places on the web to hang out and discuss sex. I’m glad this board doesn’t want to be the next “Dear Penthouse.” Once it becomes that, I’m outta here. It may be that the majority want a “Dear Penthouse” - if so, ::shrug:: it is just a small hobby anyway. But until that is determined, I’m glad they keep a lock down on it.
So do I, so I can hang out with them. 
Perv power!!! 
Now that you mention it, I guess I remember a few ramp-ups like you’re talking about. Where one person would say “That last thread on masturbation made me wonder, how many of you masturbate in this weird way that I do?” type threads. So maybe the “Broken Window” theory has a bit more weight than I originally gave it.
One thing I definitely remember is that in the old days a thread like this about the genuine running of the SDMB would have been a hot thread, rather than the weak showing we’re getting from it now. And very few people would dare to try to make it a joke thread like featherlou kinda just did.