In a completely foreseeable turn of events, in response to the post I referenced here the thread has morphed into a debate about armed guards/carrying a weapon for self-defense.
I do not understand the resistance to moderate, either initially or currently. Given how that thread is being treated, it’d be best for the rule against hot button topics in breaking news threads be removed. It’s impossible to reply to anything being posted as one would expect a warning for doing so.
Then don’t reply to any of those posts. If you simply must reply, what’s wrong with: “Sorry, I can’t reply to the substance of your post without breaking there rules of this forum. If you want to debate this, please open a thread in another forum and I’ll respond there.”
Because the point of the thread is to discuss that event and its aftermath. That’s impossible when, before the first funeral even, everything gets drowned out by a discussion about whether guns are awesome or not. The thread is useless otherwise and it’s potentially a waste of time to post about anything else there.
Which was the reason for the hot botton topic ban in the first place.
Additionally, while I believe the discussion occurring in that thread is incredibly disrespectful, I have no desire to reply to it. I will not be responding to it elsewhere.
I do agree that the mods should jump back in there and do something. Either shut the thread down, start issuing mod notes/warning, or issue another STRONGLY WORDED mod note to everyone. Did you report it so they would know? Even just posting here in this forum is not the best way to do so.
I reported it yesterday morning or somewhere around then. Miller had subsequently participated in the thread.
Miller wouldn’t have seen that report. We only see reports in the fora we are assigned.
I only intervened earlier in the MPSIMS thread at the request of a MPSIMS mod who wasn’t in position to do so. I’ve done that a few times, myself. I recall one thread where we had an actual, rip-roaring Sovereign Citizen racist stinking up the place and I was driving for an hour or two. I posted to the loop something like, "I got a live one here, can someone intervene and spank him for me?’ and it was done.
Thanks
Yesterday we laid my aunt to rest. She lived to a ripe old age so it was a celebration of her life. Lots of catching up with cousins. Some earthshaking family history news that changes my whole view of my heritage. The usual. The point being that I wasn’t doing much moderating yesterday.
I received a report from another thread complaining about lack or enforcement of the “no politics in MPSIMS rule.” Rather than just respond to that individual I’ll put it here. There is no rule against politics in MPSIMS. There never has been. The breaking news “rule” is simply stating in breaking news threads we will strictly enforce the no hijack rules. Nothing more.
All the normal rules apply for all other threads. If your mention of Trump isn’t a hijack there is nothing saying you can’t do it. Political discussions may be moved to a more appropriate forum. Other than that there are no rules saying you can’t mention politics in MPSIMS.
In the Whitey Bolger thread if you hijack it with an argument against the designated hitter rule you will be modded. If you derail it with an anti-Hilary rant you will also be modded.
Loach and Jonathon, I’m afraid I don’t understand the distinction you’re drawing about no political commentary, particularly in light of the Trump quote that is mentioned upthread.
The poster quoted Trump and then added his personal commentary that he was sure Trump was sincere, because his daughter and son-in-law are Jewish. Apparently that’s not political commentary.
But if someone quotes that same Trump quote and then criticised Trump, saying it was an example of Trump being insincere, because of his refusal to condemn white supremacy, would that be political commentary that is not allowed?
I realise Trump is a political lightning rod, but is it okay to quote him approvingly, because that’s not hot button, but forbidden to quote him in a critical way, because that’s hot button?
There is nothing about being pro or anti Trump that makes a difference as to how it is modded. Tone and composition and context might.
Ask yourself if you want every single post that could be modded to be modded. In that particular thread I could easily be the number one poster if I dropped a note on everyone. As it is I’ll be going to try and clean it up now.
In general terms I always see myself as a facilitator for conversations. I’m not the Punisher. There are times when I may see a post or a report and know I could drop a note but instead I sit back and wait to see if it will lead to a problem. In this particular case that post didn’t derail the thread. Other posts and posters did.
I will continue to make judgement calls as to when I will step in. If the conversation can continue despite a few editorial comments from posters I would be inclined to let it go. If the thread starts to derail I will step in. The hope is always that everyone plays nice and by the rules without the mod stick coming out.
From my point of view the sticky and change in how we mod these threads have improved things. It used to be that when a tragedy hit one of us better be near a computer because there would be a rush to see who could hijack a thread first. Too many threads got moved to the Pit because they turned into a dumpster fire before a mod could get there. That does not happen much any more.
I’m afraid that lengthy answer does not provide me with any guidance on the question I asked, so the takeaway is not to post in those threads.
As I said it has nothing to do with if it’s pro or anti Trump. That seemed to be your main question. Clear?
There were many other posts that were at the very least tiptoeing up to the line that weren’t noted. No one is mentioning those. This one seems to be bothering people because it was pro-Trump and the poster didn’t get punished.
If you write political commentary of any kind in one of these threads you run the risk of being modded. Just like in any other thread the mods use context to decide to mod or use our discretion. In breaking news threads there will be a lot less slack than in other threads but there has to be some.
For the post in question, stating what the president said about the incident was fine. The commentary should not have been part of it. By the time I saw it the post didn’t seem to have caused any problems and it did not appear to me to be an attempt at a hijack. I used my discretion and decided to let it slide. I do that a lot. Another mod may have handled it differently.