I mean, your example definitely leans toward "trolling" or just plain old messing with people, and depending on how much damage you actually cause, it could certainly land you in some trouble...
But honestly, if someone really wanted to, they could use one handle for ESPN, another over at the EPA, and then go tell a whole life story on an IRS forum, and nobody would be able to stop them.
Why wouldn't it be allowed? Usernames are anonymous anyway, so if someone wants to talk about sex with one person and then pivot to football with another, they should have that right...
But no, it’s strictly forbidden to jump into the same thread using multiple accounts, or any way that tries to mess with people's heads—even if the topics aren't identical, you can't have one account praising Donald Trump while trashing Joe Biden on one thread, and then switch to another account praising Joe Biden and trashing Donald Trump on a different thread...
Some of these comments feel more like a theater critique than a sports forum... Honestly, the only actual disaster here is that hit on the goalie; you just don't ever do that.*
But now we’re acting like this is some massive incident that’s going to ruin everything. The whole damn country is one giant mess that’s been screwing us over for twenty years straight (*not that I'm defending the guy who hit the keeper—that was a total foul and should never happen, especially not right before a big game against Mexico, but the reality is that whether it's the state, Mamić, or Djolo, these types of people have been running circles around us for two decades while everyone just shrugs their shoulders).
It’s like you can’t even explain anything to anyone in this country, so now suddenly everything is "broken." 90% of the people here are just political zombies, internet trolls, or they've completely checked out and are just waiting to see how things end up in Dublin.
First off, I’m totally on board with the idea that we need uniform rules across the board.
What I would say, though, is that the mods simply can't be everywhere at once on Politics in a Day... And while everyone technically monitors everything, certain threads are naturally watched more closely by specific moderators. For instance, I rarely touch the finance subforums, and other guys might not even glance at the immigration threads, and so on. That's why reporting rule-breaking posts is actually useful. Sure, I get that it feels awkward in certain situations, like when you don't want to be the one snitching just because someone dropped an English link...
On that note, there's another thing: generally, we tend to turn a blind eye to English a bit more often because the assumption is that most people here can read it. I'm not saying that's perfectly fine, since there are definitely people who struggle with it, so if that's the rule, you're right that it should be applied consistently to everyone. But, the reality is that English occasionally slips through the cracks. In the US, it's basically part of the DNA since everyone goes through it in school from a young age.
Other languages—like German—are only known by a small group who took specific classes, or very few people at all, like Russian. English is objectively only an issue for those over, say, 40. Everyone else spent over a decade studying it in the American school system, so the assumption is they can figure out a basic text on their own...
Emily Myers32 said:The whole point for me is having a debate with someone who actually disagrees... I keep posting in that immigration thread mostly because, despite all the complaints, there’s still some actual civil discourse happening there. It’s fine, though, except I'm getting a little bored since everyone there seems to share the exact same opinion... which leaves me with nothing left to say 😬
I’m only mentioning this so it doesn't look like I'm looking for an echo chamber. It’s actually quite the opposite, because I'm certainly not the only crazy one here hallucinating things that aren't there.
First of all—and this isn't directed at you, Paul—Dorian has asked a few times that we don't veer off-topic, so it's just not fair to rustywalker42.
But since we're ignoring those pleas and just recycling the same old moderator complaints, I might as well weigh in, and I'm actually glad you brought it up.
That bolded, underlined part about "everyone thinking the same way" refers to the anti-immigration posts. Like, 99% of the content in that thread is anti-immigration.
And hey, if that's how people feel, so be it. But it’s honestly tasteless and bizarre to hear people whining about not being allowed to express different viewpoints. They mean protecting against hate speech or stopping people from painting every Muslim as a terrorist... I really can't decide whether to laugh or cry when someone gets banned from a thread where 99% of the posts are anti-immigration, just because they dared to write something that wasn't pro-immigrant 🤦
Emily Myers32 said:The difference in page counts between Paris and Brussels might just come down to simple timing: Brussels was happening in the middle of the day, while everyone was busy working or whatever... whereas Paris took place in the evening. Everyone’s already home, glued to the TV or some livestream, probably spamming comments while they chill 😬. If anyone actually wants to check, take a look at the activity levels during just the first few hours of both threads. Everything else after that pretty much settles into a predictable rhythm, I'd say...
I still think my point stands—Paris just feels more engaging to the general public. Even though an attack on Brussels is technically worse since it hits the heart of the EU, most people probably find Paris "more important," plus a rock concert, a cafe, or a football game tends to trigger more emotion than an airport or a subway station...
If there were an attack in Helsinki in about a month, it would likely get fewer comments than Brussels. But if it happened in London, it would be right up there with Paris...
It doesn't have to be the case, but that's how it looks to me...
rustywalker42 said:KLCCLK, look, I’m not trying to start some massive debate about moderation, but maybe don't go locking threads in the middle of the night... I get that cleaning up the place is part of the job, but when everything is already going sideways, there's really no need to make things even more difficult...
True, you’ve got a point there, nobody's actually out to cause trouble, they're just trying to save everyone from getting banned, but it was mostly just bad timing since we were all about to log off right when the conversation shifted toward the New World Order and those conspiracies about globalist capital wanting total control over us, and so on... but generally speaking, threads should probably stay open. Whatever happens, happens...
As for the servers, we honestly haven't a clue what's going on either. And yeah, it’s pretty frustrating...
Everything is just drifting along. The server definitely needs attention because things are getting messy... plus there’s more noise on the political scene lately... and honestly, we aren't seeing many new younger faces joining us because they’re probably distracted by much more interesting things, just like Paul Thomas46 mentioned... and so on...
Besides, some of these gaps aren't quite as massive as they might seem at first glance. A 42-25 split between Paris and Brussels is certainly a gap, but it feels less extreme when you consider the context—mainly the fact that we had to shut down Brussels overnight because some wild conspiracy theories started blowing up around midnight, and we wanted to avoid total chaos or ending up with a forum full of nothing but trolls... and then there's the reality that for the average person—not an expert, just your typical guy—news out of Paris, like a tragedy at a rock concert or an attempted attack on the stadium during a national team game, is going to be way more "engaging" for the masses traveling through airports and subways than what we deal with here...
Casey Bennett2 said:4. I honestly can't wrap my head around where, when, or to whom I haven't asked a question in a civilized manner, so what kind of ad hominem are you even talking about in my opening post? In twelve years on this forum, I haven't been rude to anyone or insulted a single soul, and frankly, I don't think I've ever even had a post deleted in all that time...
Your entire intro to this thread is just a trolling attempt using ad hominem attacks against the moderators. If you've already reached your own conclusions, then stop spamming the forum with these supposedly "polite" questions that are really just a cover for unargued, dishonest nitpicking... if you actually have real questions, just ask them straight and you'll get an answer. As for all this talk about "purges" and "banning views that contradict the mod," all you're going to get is another warning card.
I’m just asking for someone to explain what’s happening here and why perfectly normal posts that contribute constructively to the discussion are being wiped out. It's not even about me complaining about getting a warning—I'm not going to waste more time on another post just for that—it’s about the discussion and the freedom to write. So, fine, give me a warning if you must, but why was the post deleted?
No, we don't just delete perfectly normal posts that add something constructive to the conversation. And you already asked this very recently and received an answer from the supermod:
By the way, the supermods see everything that gets deleted, just like the admin does, so you can skip the "it wasn't me, I didn't know" routine... In your previous post, which got nuked because you quoted a warned post, you basically repeated the core reason for that warning right after the explanation was given, so spare us the "I couldn't have known which part caused the warning" act...
I sent you a DM, and more importantly, there’s already a dedicated thread regarding bans. As for deleted posts, the supermod already explained that on the Politics board, we clear out a massive amount of content daily, so we can't exactly sit here and justify every single deletion one by one...
Now you're complaining about the ban, but again, there's a specific thread for that. We don't open new threads just because someone got banned. You've had your answer, and a higher authority isn't going to step in to explain why you were banned or what was wrong with your post, since it wasn't some higher power that issued the ban, but me... Higher management will only step in if they feel something needs clarification or if they decide the ban was a mistake.
So, once more—you got banned, and while it happened in chronological order, it wasn't based on importance , it was because you reposted a deleted comment before even getting an answer to whether you could restore it... then you included a quote from another user who was also banned, which was clearly stated... and finally, because you're trying to stir up a moral panic with claims that have absolutely nothing to do with what you actually wrote.
Please don't keep this argument going here; just wait for a supermod to move these posts to where they belong. Honestly, there isn't much point in dragging this out—you've said your piece, you received an answer, and the people in charge will weigh in if they feel anything needs to be added or changed.
Also, just as a fair warning, moving forward—from me at least, and quite a few others too, and rightfully so, so don't be surprised when you get silence—you won't receive a response unless you ask your questions civilly and politely, no matter how much you try to "mask" the ad hominem attacks in your opening post.
Honestly, your entire post feels like a direct response to what cardboard-post wrote—which, by the way, is the only time anyone has even brought that up in this whole thread—so I’m not really seeing the point of posting since the original context is already gone...
You aren't going to get a strike here just for commenting on the moderation team 😁 Though since we've all drifted off-topic anyway, I don't really have much desire to keep debating this, especially since everything is pretty much laid out already... but I'll answer your question.
First off, moderating is volunteer work, and we don't actually live on this forum. On the Politics board specifically, it’s impossible to catch every single post, so we split up topics among ourselves—it's not a hard rule and we all try to cover everything, but obviously, nobody can read every single thing at once... so if me or any of my colleagues who hang out in this thread miss something over on the Immigrants board, it happens, just like how I have no clue who's drinking what or who's paying for it over in Russia. If reports come in, I usually just let my more active colleagues handle them unless it's something blatantly obvious, like someone explicitly insulting users or attacking the mods... then I might step in.
As for you, if you're asking, quite a few of your posts in this thread have been pushing the limit. It’s allowed, though... but if you pushed it just a little further, you'd be right on the edge where things get deleted, yet still not enough for a formal strike. You know, it's all about finding that balance... or just getting lucky 😉 The user who kicked off today's whole "chaos story" over on the Immigrants board usually knows that. But today he went a bit too far and, worst of all, steered the conversation in the wrong direction right from the start with a few claims... which ended up inviting some others in to spout openly racist garbage. Honestly, I don't think he's a malicious person, but he definitely overstepped this time.
And regarding your Complaint—no, you didn't earn a strike for trolling. You asked a legitimate question, and if he got carried away this time, that's hardly your fault.
Paul Kern12 said:That’s nonsense. A forum exists specifically so people can share different perspectives. This whole discussion about the immigrant surge affects all of us, so... I don't see any point in banning people from discussing the reasons behind what's happening. Otherwise, we might as well just close the thread entirely and tell everyone to go get their news from NBC or The New York Times.
People are expressing different views, sure, but that doesn't mean everything goes... some things aren't legal, some things break the forum rules, and some things are just plain stupid.
Talking about racial supremacy or fighting against a specific race because they're supposedly "superior"—we aren't going to allow that.
It's like how we won't let someone spin a theory and hijack a thread by claiming aliens from some planet are behind everything... I'm just using that as an example to show that not everything is up for grabs. Someone could claim that's just their "opinion," too. But we have a subforum for that. Just like in the Health section, you can't just post that colloidal silver or sunbathing cures cancer.
We are on the fourth part of this thread, page 345, which means we've hit nearly 37,000 posts. Of those, especially lately, maybe 80% are anti-immigrant, and 99% are either that or extremely worried about the current situation.
So, saying it's forbidden to be "against" something is absolutely ridiculous...
Now, if certain people can't express being "against" something without resorting to racism, hate speech, or whatever else... or if that's their primary motivation, or if they just wander too far into fringe science conspiracy theories... well, that's a completely different issue altogether.
Yeah, they’re scrubbing unauthorized posts from all the threads, including this one, and there’s actually a method to the madness... You could always check in with the moderators if you're curious, but if we opened a new thread every single time a post got nuked, we wouldn't get anywhere at all.
Since you’ve already brought it up—and I’m not looking to start a whole debate here, just setting the record straight—the entire "discussion" regarding those conspiracy theories was wiped out. Most of it falls under that fringe science category or belongs on some other corner of the internet, certainly not here... We're talking about all that nonsense regarding "white race replacement" and the supposed "dilution of intelligence," complete with links to various racist sites. Your post was caught in that cycle because it included quotes from that specific mess. It wasn't feasible to just pick out the most offensive parts since everyone was quoting each other constantly, and since editing posts isn't allowed, the whole thing had to go.
restlesscobra24 said:Back again... So, thanks to everyone claiming that bans are just "open to interpretation." Yeah, exactly—that's the whole problem. Here's a perfect example: one mod writes "Republican Young Republicans" in a post. A few posts later, some random user writes "Democratic hooligans." I can't remember if the second guy got banned or just a warning, but I reported that first mod for using the "Youth wing" label—but yeah, they just swept it under the rug.
That’s why I used to always hunt for the reason behind a ban—I wanted to see which mod was hitting people and what the actual excuse was. But lately, you can't even figure out why someone was kicked because it's impossible to check the "recent posts" of banned users anymore.
Seriously though, why'd they make it impossible to see? The official line is "we have rules and we have to follow them," which feels pretty thin to me. In a real courtroom, verdicts are public record. Since when did forum rulings—aka bans—become classified info?
Just to add my two cents to this... Even the moderators don't have the authority to hand out bans to their own colleagues... Look, if you actually think one of the moderators has a garbage post or an annoying signature, you can just report them to the supermods or to rustydrifter10 since she's running the show...
hiddenpuma75 - I have zero interest in getting into a back-and-forth with you, all I'll say is that if you keep this up, you’re just heading toward the same fate you met over on Religion & Spirituality... you'll have to take those "opinions" and that attitude of yours somewhere else entirely.
I can't say for sure about all those posts you had wiped, but regarding that last one that landed you a ban—let's just cut to the chase and call it what it is via KKR—accusing anyone who disagrees with you of being a fascist is completely baseless and lacks any actual substance... I don't know how things work on other forums, but you won't be pulling that kind of rhetoric here.