# Thoughts on GD moderation change for Gun Debate threads **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 19, 2022, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-gd-moderation-change-for-gun-debate-threads/964717 "2022-05-19T22:23:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 32
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2022, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-gd-moderation-change-for-gun-debate-threads/964717/32 "2022-05-20T14:29:57Z")
Okay but is the standard then that just because people choose to use the flag system we should treat a topic that is not really dissimilar from many other topics, in a special way? Maybe there should just be consequences for repeated use of the flag system when the flagged post clearly is not a moddable action. I guess for me at the end of the day–I mostly like to see a message board have as many discussions as possible within the remit of that board (and this board is basically a broad spectrum general topic board), I support the concept of not letting really hateful topics be discussed because there’s a flipside of open discussion where you end up like 4chan/8chan/Stormfront etc which isn’t what almost anyone wants. I doubt I will participate in any future gun threads unless the topic is very interestingly crafted–which is my norm, in the 2000s and such I used to debate guns on here a ton, but I’ve largely decided these threads aren’t worth participating in for many years. But I wouldn’t want my personal disinterest in them to mean people who are interested in hashing it out lose that privilege. And along those lines I thought @puzzlegal’s point was a salient one–just because I’ve mostly said all I have to say on this topic, shouldn’t mean the topic is closed for any future members or current members who have not done so. I’m already somewhat investing a lot of typing into a topic I’m not super invested in, but my high-level philosophy on things like this would be: 1. Is a gun thread a genuine debate or premise for debate? 2. Is it distinct from other gun debates within a reasonably recent timeframe? 3. Have the posters in the thread avoided devolving into deliberate trolling, rules violations (i.e. personal attacks etc)? If those three things are met, I don’t personally see a problem with it being in GD. What I could maybe see being a good idea is saying **if a post is just a complaint about guns, it should just be a post in the already extant complain about gun omnibus thread in the Pit** ([Stupid Gun news of the day (Part 2) - #211 by Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-2/958428/211)), I would argue Velocity’s thread that kicked all this off would actually fall pretty obviously in that category–taking his OP in a textually strict way, I don’t think it was really a vehicle for debate, just a vehicle for being angry and upset about mass shootings–and we basically already have a place for things like that, a one sided thread that anti-gun people post anti-gun things in, and largely avoid spamming the rest of the forum with it. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-on-gd-moderation-change-for-gun-debate-threads/964717)._