A serious request regarding anti-LGBT+ posts on this site.

[Smart Marx]

Rereading the first couple posts in this thread make me a bit perplexed for lack of a better word because before this thread was made not a single one of the offending posts was reported. If nothing is reported, chances are higher it’ll take longer to act.

This is why I stress the report button is your friend. Please use it so we can help each other out.

I will say to the point in the op about specific rules that the member in question did in fact break several rules that are clearly posted in that old rules thread.

He definitely earned that month’s ban.

Rules that were violated for those interested:
(trigger warning for repeating what was said)

1. Spamming. He continually spammed across several threads and chats and even made a frivolous new intro thread to mock the moderators.

3. Flaming. He flamed several members in the political thread, main chat and that intro thread.

5. Being offensive. He certainly violated that in spades. Insinuated bi people fornicate with aliens and later said they ARE aliens because they abduct people and make them gay or bi or both.

7. Spoilers. He posted a spoiler in the chat. And it wasn’t the first time he had been warned.

He also argued with moderators ad nauseam after being warned just this morning for that spoiler and then decided to BAIT a supervisor into a fight.

We do not tolerate baiting here.

So I hope there’s no one EVENTUALLY coming in here to say we acted too hastily in banning him.

He needs to reread the rules on his return.

 

[Lethal]

Who was the member, just out of curiosity? I mean I can guess by the clues

Some people just struggle to find functioning brain cells in online communities. I love this place and actually miss chatting you fine people when I'm busy as shit for a few days. I've actually fallen back in love with writing and want nothing more than to see my BTB flourish. I'm really enjoying AMA, the polls, the chats, and just everything. I want everyone to feel as content with this place as I do, so fuck any arsehole who wants to have a crack at someone or a group of people to make them feel down.

The easiest and most efficient thing every member can do is use the report button if you see something that you feel is out of bounds. These start discussions in the staff room and if the content is actionable, we’ll take action.

I’ve even instructed my staff to do the same. I wasn’t online until the tail end of the conversation in the chat, but as soon as it was made clear no one found that behavior tolerable actions were taken.

What we usually like to do is have a sliding escalation of bans from 3 days to a month to 3 months to permanent, but his consistent violation of our “leniency” had us jump that to a month. Hopefully when he comes back he won’t continue to test us.

My friend, I don't wish to rekindle old flames, but surely this abhorrent shit (judging by the context of this thread) would surely be more along the lines of 3 months to permanent? Yeah, I'm thinking back to the former mafia players actions and bannings. I mean, I trust and understand your judgement (as well as the entire mod staff) but feel perplexed that a piece of shit like this bloke get off imo light given other instances of bans.

I'm not nitpicking or anything, or being an ass, just genuinely curious in case there's a future incident.

 

[Smart Marx]

Jumping from no bans to 3 months is a bit much and we'd just get people in my messages telling me we're being too harsh.

He'll get three months when he returns if he can't behave himself.

It's honestly the hardest part of running a forum. You'll get people saying you're not doing enough and saying your doing too much at the same time all the time.

 

[Lethal]

Jumping from no bans to 3 months is a bit much and we'd just get people in my messages telling me we're being too harsh.

He'll get three months when he returns if he can't behave himself.

It's honestly the hardest part of running a forum. You'll get people saying you're not doing enough and saying your doing too much at the same time all the time.

Fair, and again, I wasn't trying to come across as anything critical, just a genuine curiosity is all

The way you're doing it clearly works and has worked well for several years.

 

[Poyser]

I’ve said this in staff chat as I’ve been catching up but in my personal opinion, bans don’t really need to be flying around all that much.

We need to remember that this is a forum and not a social media site, people come here to give their opinion, debate, discuss and even argue. It’s only natural that on that kind of platform (and especially in a political thread), you’re going to get people that have contrary views, people trying to pick fights and people being edgelords etc and yes it can be very annoying but at the end of the day, that’s precisely what a forum is for. I don’t think we really want to turn this site into an echo chamber where everybody just agrees with each other because that’s boring.

Of course, you personally do not have to put up with anything that you’re not comfortable with and do not want to stand for. There are steps you can take for yourself to make this a safer and more inclusive place for you personally. You can obviously choose not to engage with people being morons or trying to start fights. If you have trouble with that (I do for sure) but their posts are triggering to you and you really do not want to have to see them, then you can use the ignore feature and that person will never be able to bother you again because you won’t see any trace of their existence.

Now this is not to say that nothing should be bannable of course. If you are personally being attacked, harassed or targeted for abuse then of course action needs to be taken by the mods. If people are using slurs and offensive words then again, action should be taken by the mods. If people are clearly trolling to try and get a rise out of people of a certain group and just will not drop it after being asked then again, action should be taken.

What I don’t think we really want to get into is this becoming a heavily policed space where you have to be super careful of what you say as that is the death of a forum or forum like platform. Being an idiot or a dickhead or even a piece of shit isn’t a bannable offence in and of itself. People should be allowed to post their opinion even if it fucking sucks as long as they’re not targeting people here. These people will usually be jumped upon anyway and not taken seriously and in fact some people actively enjoy spending their day arguing with and calling out idiots with shit takes.

For the record, SCX absolutely deserved his ban. I just thought I’d throw in my 2 cents whilst we have been and are discussing the moderation philosophy on the whole.

At the end of the day we are all adults and you have to take some responsibility for creating your own safe space and taking your own action to block out people that trigger you, rather than trying to turn the whole forum into what you want it to be and expecting others to protect you.

 

[Comrade Khan]

Bad reports will get dismissed.

Never be afraid to report something and staff will just decide whether or not it’s actionable.

It's true and I'll even add its never bad to do so so staff can document it. Sometimes something is on.the fence or ambiguous but documenting it can like, paint a clearer picture if there's more infractions down the line. Helps staff build a case / see patterns or if it's a one off then it's no harm no foul. No one gonna get in trouble for reporting

 

[Redboy123@]

it This is where I'd comment "even if every base can't be covered, there should be something where the staff reserves the right to ban toxic members even if they didn't break a specific rule"... but turns out there is

Well I'm in trouble...

 

[Redboy123@]

I hate to use this word, but the site needs to be a "safe space" for people of different walks of life and that buzz-word people make fun of (I'm looking at you, Dan Lambert) comes down to "Don't be a dickhead" and I think that line was crossed weeks ago.

The problem with this I that you give power to whoever is the judge jury and executioner of what is offensive and what's not.

I hate politicial correctness because it is a set rules based on politicial opinion that we are forced into obeying.

What if you do not agree with the politics of the political correctness machine?

Rules are the rules I know but I ain't going to be happy if I say something breaks the rules of a safe space because of a disagreement over morals. Why do people think they can act as God and decide what is moral and what is not?

 

[Smart Marx]

Just don’t call gay people aliens. You’ll be fine.

 

[Redboy123@]

Just keep opinions you know will get you in trouble inside your noggin.

Utterly ridiculous thing to say

 

[Smart Marx]

Utterly ridiculous thing to say

I mean if you want to be banned, feel free to post them.

It’s really not hard to follow rules. He knows what’s gonna get him in trouble so he has the choice to not post them and stay or post them and get banned. His choice.

 

[Redboy123@]

Just don’t call gay people aliens. You’ll be fine.

I do think it's possible that people have been body snatched by evil reptilian aliens and this is what's making them gay.

 

[Leon TrotSky]

The issues of homophobia, racism, or any kind of bigotry should be outside the realm of "politics" or even "opinion" anyway. When you say hateful things you're expressing that you think some people should be counted as "less human" purely on the basis of how they are born. There should be no protection for that

 

[Poyser]

The issues of homophobia, racism, or any kind of bigotry should be outside the realm of "politics" or even "opinion" anyway. When you say hateful things you're expressing that you think some people should be counted as "less human" purely on the basis of how they are born. There should be no protection for that

Its not a court of law though, its a forum. You taking it upon yourself to protect your own space is infinitely a more effective solution than us policing everything and banning people that hold dumb opinions.

 

[Grimoire Lenin]

Go about your business.