Lambdadelta Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 To the Admin/Moderation staff, I would hereby like to register my concern with the fact that while this board professes to have a "Debate" forum, conversation within it is policed to the standard that opinions that others may find offensive, irrespective of the legitimacy and/or honesty of those opinions, are considered censurable behaviour. I do not believe that this is conducive to an open debating arena (which is, I believe, the intention of this forum) and as such that it should be closed down if the application of these particular moderation standards is to be continued there, its purpose having been made largely moot. Sincerely, 1 There is no order and no meaning, there is only the truth of The Signal. The Signal ever transmits from here to the eyes and ears of the 'verse. Can't Stop The Signal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grillick Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Debate and respect are not mutually exclusive, and a rule against flaming is not inconsistent with a debate subforum. Asking those who participate in debates to be respectful of one another is not an unreasonable restriction on debate and, in fact, should be a requirement. Another forum on which I used to post regularly had a debate forum that had limited access, with access restricted to those who promised to keep the discussion respectful and avoid a small number of topics chosen by the moderation team (including, strangely, operating system debates). It works exceptionally well. "It's hard to be a team player when you're omnipotent." - Q Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambdadelta Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 Debate and respect are not mutually exclusive, and a rule against flaming is not inconsistent with a debate subforum. Asking those who participate in debates to be respectful of one another is not an unreasonable restriction on debate and, in fact, should be a requirement. If my opinion is that I do not respect a certain other person's opinion, to censure me for expressing such is to defeat the purpose of the debate forum. Also, it's worth noting that you were not warned by a moderator, so it is not clear that any attempts to report your posts were taken or, if they were, that your posts were considered by the moderation staff to be flaming. Actually, I was given a warn, thus my exit from that topic as mentioned therein. There is no order and no meaning, there is only the truth of The Signal. The Signal ever transmits from here to the eyes and ears of the 'verse. Can't Stop The Signal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grillick Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Oh. I thought Warn points were public, and so because I couldn't see any on you, you didn't receive one. I deleted that statement while you were posting because I didn't think it was productive, though. Apologies. 1 "It's hard to be a team player when you're omnipotent." - Q Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obongo the Paultifex Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 I !@#$ing hate you. But you bring up a really good point. as always. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zimmerman Posted February 13, 2014 Share Posted February 13, 2014 Hear hear. As J.S. Mill once said in On Liberty: "If all mankind, minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. Were an opinion a personal possession of no value expect to the owner; if to be obstructed in the enjoyment of it were simply a private injury, if would make some difference whether the injury was inflicted only on a few persons or on many." But the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generations; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error." TL;DR: censuring people because you don't like their opinions, no matter how offensive you find them, is always a mistake because if their opinion is right you have deprived yourself of the truth. If their opinion is wrong you have deprived them of the truth in being informed that they are wrong, and the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth produced thereof by collision with error. 2 It's cos I'm >BLOC, isn't it? Where da party's at:http://politicsandwar.com/alliance/id=115 Haters: everyone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquinas Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 No one silenced your opinion Lambadelta, no one deleted or hid your post, you were warned for being disrespectful to the other players on a regular basis. It doesn't matter if it were the debate forums or elsewhere. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Alex Posted February 14, 2014 Administrators Share Posted February 14, 2014 I'm not familiar with whatever instance you were warned for, but yes not trolling/flaming/baiting is a requirement for the debate forum and all forums. You can politely disagree with someone, just because they have a different opinion doesn't mean they're stupid or dumb or a baby or whatever, and even if you think it does, you needn't tell them. If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. 2 Is there a bug? Report It | Not understanding game mechanics? Ask About It | Got a good idea? Suggest ItForums Rules | Game Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambdadelta Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 No one silenced your opinion Lambadelta, no one deleted or hid your post, you were warned for being disrespectful to the other players on a regular basis. It doesn't matter if it were the debate forums or elsewhere. Hitting me with a warning point that, if more are accumulated, will lead to my banning from this forum is most definitely silencing my opinion, as it puts limits on how much of that opinion I can express without censure. Good to know you think warns are "not a big deal" though, Mr Moderator: And it's only one warn, not a big deal I'm not familiar with whatever instance you were warned for, but yes not trolling/flaming/baiting is a requirement for the debate forum and all forums. You can politely disagree with someone, just because they have a different opinion doesn't mean they're stupid or dumb or a baby or whatever, and even if you think it does, you needn't tell them. If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. If my opponent's opinion is patently moronic to the point of endangering the human race, I'm going to call them out on it. But thanks for this clarification, Sheepy - I simply will not be participating in the debate forum under these conditions (censorship of unpopular and/or strongly-held opinions) and I encourage others who feel the same way to join my boycott. Thanks for killing the true meaning of a debate by forcing all opinions expressed to conform to your one-sided sense of "politeness". PS: I find suggestions that we should engage in genocide of the human race quite offensive myself, so expect those to be reported in the future. There is no order and no meaning, there is only the truth of The Signal. The Signal ever transmits from here to the eyes and ears of the 'verse. Can't Stop The Signal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereno Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 Given the discussions I've seen take place in the Debate subforum, if you got a warning point there, you almost certainly deserved it. Go cry in the warn appeals subforum. It exists for a reason. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambdadelta Posted February 14, 2014 Author Share Posted February 14, 2014 Go cry in the warn appeals subforum. It exists for a reason. Warn appeals are for when you don't believe your post broke the rules as stated. I don't dispute that, I dispute that the rule should be applied as it is to the debate forum in the first place - thus my placing of the topic here. There is no order and no meaning, there is only the truth of The Signal. The Signal ever transmits from here to the eyes and ears of the 'verse. Can't Stop The Signal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unkajo Posted February 14, 2014 Share Posted February 14, 2014 locked friends>infra Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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