Here’s the thing. Life is made up not of solely gross injustices, but of small injustices that build up into larger ones. If you attack the smaller injustices with vigor, when you actually have the power to do something about it, you help prevent the larger injustices.
I have tons of perspective, and I’m sure everyone else does, too. But this is the realm in which we actually can do something about it. Fighting for the molehill can prevent the mountain from forming. Or it can just be good practice for when they do.
Note that I’ve been wanting to say this for a long time, and thus this does not apply uniquely to this situation. It’s just the first post I’ve seen where I decided it really fit, without sounding like I was defending a cause I didn’t support.
I hate the idea that fighting for a principle is somehow wrong. Fighting on a principle means you are fighting against similar actions in the future that may be worse. If anything, not fighting on a principle is wrong, since it doesn’t change anything afterwards.
I have more I can say, but I’ve said it before, this thread seems to have become a lot more civil, and I don’t want to be the one who makes it no longer so. I care about this principle, but not that much.
I agree that Soulfrost shouldn’t be banned just based on a single bluff to that effect, but the mods claim they ignored that and it was only repeated bad behavior after that caused it. I’ll take them at their word.
I think the mod response to the original thread was flawed. But the situation was fairly unique. It was kind of bizarre for the OP to create a poll and then ban discussion of the poll in the same thread. The mods should have just nixed that premise in the bud, but it’s understandable that they tried to enforce the stated rules of the thread, even if they were ridiculous.
While responders to a thread should try to follow the rules of the thread, if they aren’t breaking actual board rules more leniency should be given. If an OP states that all responses must not include the letter “e” an offending response might be called out, but it shouldn’t warrant a big fat official mod warning.
It’s kind of lame that mods won’t just come out and say “hey this was a unique situation and we did our best, but in hindsight we should have done things a bit differently”.
But hey, I understand the desire to come to a consensus behind the scenes - if mods were outright contradicting each other left and right publicly it would be chaos and confusion.
Let’s look to the future. I think most people on both sides would be happy if:
the user ban was not permanent (cool off period)
either the ability to create a commentless poll was enacted somehow in the board code or a new rule was created banning any polls that forbid discussion/debate related to the poll in same thread
maybe there should be no expiration period for adding a poll to a thread
As to the warnings, I assume warnings are considered in context. Since this was a confusing situation I would think that any user getting a second warning for something wouldn’t be instantly banned, considering that the first warning was not an obvious offense.
You’re arguing a slippery slope here. I understand what you’re getting at, but for the life of me I can’t see how what happens on a message board will ever extend outside it, aside from when people deliberately choose to carry the drama out.
Here’s a counterpoint: Pick your battles. Don’t be the boy who cries wolf. If you stand on principle every time, folks start tuning you out or yelling right back. If so much fuss is raised regardless of whether it’s a dinky little issue or a giant, make-or-break-the-community one, folks stop being able to tell the difference after a while.
Czarcasm screwed up. The mods closed ranks. If you (general you) keep beating on them, they’re going to be resistant to opening up again. Go after them when it matters and they might be more likely to listen.
And yes, it is possible to tell the difference between dinky issues and large ones. This was a dinky issue that got blown out of proportion because it was connected to another IMO dinky issue (but one that clearly matters to a lot of people). Boardwide changes like moving all mod criticism out of the Pit and to ATMB, and restricting language in the Pit, do have very large effects on the tone of the board and do deserve this level of attention. If this particular issue is hurting the community, it’s only because the community (at least that portion of which follows ATMB) seems willing to self-detonate over it for no good reason.
But then again, we haven’t been able to change their minds on that big stuff, so shrug. Yell away, I guess.
You seem to be lacking in the ability to imagine that other people may have differing experiences and views on the importance of a message board in their lives. It may serve purposes that you haven’t dreamed of. As for myself, I’ve been married for 25 years to someone that I met on a computer message board. (And I wasn’t looking to meet anyone.) These are real people with real feelings. The message board is part of real life. It isn’t “just” anything as some people seem to compartmentalize it.
That may be true, but maybe not. Maybe the mods don’t act with one mind. Maybe they don’t get in sullen snits when challenged. Maybe they have more moderate temperaments. What you describe would be really childish. Are you projecting your own way of reacting?
Bosstone, how can an issue that “clearly matters to a lot of people” be a “dinky issue”? People aren’t self-detonating over “no good reason” to them Sitting in judgment on the feelings of others is very emotionally unintelligent. Certainly you can continue to criticize their thinking. But feelings are a different matter.
And stop exaggerating what you see. No one is “yelling.” Thanks for the permission anyway.
I’m out. I can’t in good faith deride one poster in a Pit thread for declaring a type of humor objectively better or worse and then come here and categorically state that this is a dumb issue to get worked up over. I personally think it is and that the responses have been way out of proportion to the offense, but what do I know?