Until recently, there was an active thread entitled “Explain Why You Must, Sadly, decline the opportunity to be the new Pit Moderator”. See: Explain why you must, sadly, decline the opportunity to be the new Pit moderator - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board. That thread is now closed, because:
This was a harmless, funny thread. It poked harmless, light-hearted fun at Ed Zotti - and it got shut down because of it. That’s absurd, and it points to precisely the reason that censoring a board like this is futile: when you start off just censoring a little bit, you annoy people, and then you begin penalizing the people who express that annoyance, and then the people who comment on that decision, and soon you have moderators making absurd decisions - like this one - to enforce an unenforceable, wrong-headed policy.
Yes, I said it. The Board has chosen a bad policy. You, Mr. Zotti, have enacted a bad policy. What will you do about it? I’m not swearing (even though this is the Pit), I’m not spamming, and I’m certainly not threatening anybody. All I’m doing is pointing out that placing the staff of this Board above all criticism, by fiat, is an absurd decision on a Board whose sole value is the free-flowing exchange of ideas. If you don’t like what I say in the Pit, Mr. Zotti, you should have the courage to defend yourself with counter-speech - and so should any other Mod.
But of course, Mr. Zotti, you cannot do that. Your policy is that there is to be no criticism of the staff, yourself included. I am willfully, intentionally violating that policy - and so I imagine you’ll have to punish me somehow, or your policy loses its teeth. So, I ask again - what will you do? Will you just close this thread? I shall start another - politely worded, as this one has been, but just as critical. Will you suspend me? I’ll criticize this policy again upon my return.
I despise censorship, Mr. Zotti, especially self-serving censorship, the kind meant for nothing more than to protect oneself from criticism of one’s own policies. I will continue to say so until you ban me, because this has got to stop. And when you ban me, this Board will be a little poorer for it - because, while I’m far from one of the really great posters on this Board, I like to think I’m a good one. And the next poster you ban might be a bit more prolific, a bit higher-quality than me - because Ford knows, I’m not the only one angry about this.
In a free society, Mr. Zotti, people need a certain thickness of hide. The Dope is valuable only to the extent that it is free. Stop trying to stifle criticism of this board - it is ineffective, harmful, and it makes you look very foolish.
