# Why are the moderators here biased and intellectually dishonest? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 1, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149 "2010-07-01T02:37:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149/161 "2010-07-02T09:25:05Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > Help! Help! I’m being suppressed! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! 'Bout time. Dammit, someone’s taken my teacup! I mean, I can see it over there on the other side of my desk but it used to be over _here_, therefore it’s been taken! ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149/162 "2010-07-02T10:10:06Z")
> [@GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](#): > > Loonies never debate each other. They might make a dismissive comment here and there (like Poptech did with the 9/11 CT stuff) to make themselves seem normal, but they never get into a real discussion with each other about their respective flavours of loonitude. It’s not appropriate to call people names in ATMB. Please do not do this again. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149/163 "2010-07-02T10:12:07Z")
> [@Poptech](#): > > It was suppressed and deleted (censored) from the Great Debates forum. A bit of friendly advice here, dear heart: When you are in a hole, the first rule is to stop digging. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149/164 "2010-07-02T10:13:41Z")
One thing is clear about Poptech: he/she is a one trick pony. Out 268 posts, 268 are about climate science/global warming and complaining about how he/she is treated when posting about those topics. He/she is also - how can I put it? - very vehement when discussing those topics. From what I’ve seen on this board, posters like that tend to burn out spectacularly and quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149/165 "2010-07-02T10:49:54Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > One thing is clear about Poptech: he/she is a one trick pony. Out 268 posts, 268 are about climate science/global warming and complaining about how he/she is treated when posting about those topics. I disagree. **Poptech** is nothing if not impartial. His own website says so: “[Impartial Analysis of Popular Trends and Technology](http://www.populartechnology.net/)” Also, FoxNews is “Fair and Balanced” and Conservapedia is “Trustworthy”. They wouldn’t say so if it weren’t true. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149/166 "2010-07-02T10:58:18Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I disagree. **Poptech** is nothing if not impartial. His own website says so: “[Impartial Analysis of Popular Trends and Technology](http://www.populartechnology.net/)” > > Also, FoxNews is “Fair and Balanced” and Conservapedia is “Trustworthy”. They wouldn’t say so if it weren’t true. I hope this post has been Peer Reviewed. At least ten times. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149/167 "2010-07-02T11:07:24Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > I hope this post has been Peer Reviewed. At least ten times. It’s been peered at. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149/168 "2010-07-02T11:11:41Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > It’s been peered at. Does that count? I guess we can say that it doesn’t need a Peer Review. So peers off Gyrate 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149/169 "2010-07-02T11:50:48Z")
> [@Poptech](#): > > It was not censored from the Great Debates forum? It was only censored if re-shelving a misplaced book is censorship. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149/170 "2010-07-02T11:58:07Z")
> [@Poptech](#): > > Too much Redbull = many typos. I need a 24 hour edit timer. Why not start a thread asking the mods to change that for you? I’m sure they’d be thrilled to help you out. > [@Poptech](#): > > It was suppressed and deleted (censored) from the Great Debates forum. You can’t be censored “from” or “to” something. Those words make no sense in the context of censoring. “To” and “from” are used in conjunction with verbs like, oh, I don’t know, “move”? ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149/171 "2010-07-02T12:02:54Z")
So, if an editor of a newspaper takes a controversial science report and buries it among the sports pages, there is nothing really wrong with such an action? It might not be censorship, but it’s certainly not conducive to the furtherance of knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149/172 "2010-07-02T12:07:29Z")
If a newspaper editor notices that a sports article was accidentally printed in the oped pages, then he’d probably run a notice in the “corrections and clarifications” section of the next day’s paper. If he notices the article BEFORE the paper goes to bed, then he would be remiss if he didn’t move it into the sports section, which is where it’s supposed to be. That’s not editing, that’s just minor sorting out. Similarly, if a librarian notices that an astrology book is shelved among the astronomy books, she’s supposed to remove it and reshelve it. She’s not censoring the book, she’s just putting it in its proper place. Censoring the book would be to remove it completely from the library, or removing at least some of its content. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149/173 "2010-07-02T12:25:46Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > So, if an editor of a newspaper takes a controversial science report and buries it among the sports pages, there is nothing really wrong with such an action? > > It might not be censorship, but it’s certainly not conducive to the furtherance of knowledge. In our case a “moved” notice is placed in the original forum. So it’s like if the editor placed a big “I moved this article to the sports page” sign in the science section. Hardly burying it. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149/174 "2010-07-02T12:30:37Z")
More like “I moved your article to the sports pages because I think it is unworthy of being in the real news section.”, but I agree, it’s hardly burying it… except in terms of killing it as a real subject of merit. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149/175 "2010-07-02T12:40:24Z")
**ivan astikov** , you’re making a bad comparison here. Sports and science articles are kept separate so people can find them more easily. There’s no rule that would keep a global warming thread out of the Pit. There have been global warming threads in the Pit before. The main difference between the Pit and Great Debates is the style of discussion, not the kinds of topics: if people want to talk about the fine points of policy they can do it in GD, and if they want to wail and nash their teeth about the stupidity of their opponents, they can do it in the Pit. It’s pretty normal to see a GD thread and a Pit thread about the same topic at the same time. [Here’s a global warming-related Pit thread from November. The OP believes AGW is real.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=537088) [Here’s another one from a year ago where it looks like the OP takes a more negative view of the climate change crowd.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=522723) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149/176 "2010-07-02T12:50:38Z")
And as for “burying” a thread in the Pit: I know the Pit is toward the bottom of the page, but the Pit has slightly more threads and posts than Great Debates does. Moving a thread to a more active forum is burying it the same way moderating a post is ignoring it. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149/177 "2010-07-02T12:53:23Z")
I don’t think you can bury anything in the Pit. It comes under so much scrutiny, from every angle, that it is sort of highlighted. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149/178 "2010-07-02T12:53:34Z")
Back on topic; **Poptech** , can you stop your complainning about moderation for a second and tell us who _you_ think is responsible for cattle mutilations? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149/179 "2010-07-02T12:54:45Z")
Crap, it’s early. _Gnash_ their teeth. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149/180 "2010-07-02T12:58:02Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > a controversial science report There was I science report? Where? I saw some witnessing by a scientifically unsophisticated layman, like John Kerry, but no actual ‘science report’. Now, the witnessing got egregious enough that it needed to be censored over[sup]\*[/sup] to the pit, but heck, that happens, it’s not even all that unusual. [sup]\*[/sup]I realize that this construction makes little sense. It’s written the way it is so **Poptech** can grok it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-the-moderators-here-biased-and-intellectually-dishonest/545149.md?page=10)