When moderation turns into harassment

Posts are being wiped and people are getting banned for trolling.
But apparently, that rule only applies to one side of the aisle.

Where exactly is the trolling here?
The topic was Iraq and terrorism.
I posted a comment about ISIS this morning with a link related to terrorism.
Gone in a heartbeat, but @the supermod sees everything.

Yet, a link to a video game is clearly not considered trolling on the subject. Not at all. Especially since it comes from a moderator with similar views.

Also...
My own comment on the Iraq thread got deleted—the one where I asked how we can call this "fact-based" dosing.
I don't consider links to outlets like Fox News or CNN to be actual facts, even if they're cited as the mainstream media. So, they just scrubbed my comment along with their own links too.

If this is the new editorial policy for the world, just say so openly for everyone to hear: praise Putin, spit on the US and Europe, and you'll be just fine.

Incredible.

It didn't take very long, I guess.

Now, this isn't really meant as a personal sanction against the user for breaking any rules—though I suppose one could wonder exactly which ones were violated—but rather it feels like a message to everyone else reading along. It’s just a few points, but it definitely makes an impact. It seems our moderator, driftingtinker, has decided to make the PDF public to the whole world. I imagine we might see some revisions to certain partials and perms in the near future, maybe.

There's just no hope left for this forum; the atmosphere has become quite unhealthy, and that’s really all there is to say. You might as well just forget about it. As for what happens next on this site—well, I suppose the only small consolation is that fewer and fewer people seem to be visiting or reading anymore.

I used to come here specifically for the high-quality discussions, but nowadays, I find myself dropping in just to check the chat. I can't even remember the last time I left this place feeling like I had actually gained some insight or truly understood a complex issue.

They’ve completely ruined it, honestly. There was that brief little window of hope right after Anderlonov appeared, but nothing ever really came of it. Now, it feels like we're just stuck with a hollow script that will keep running until eventually, both the site and we users simply fade away.

Seriously though, just let it go. It doesn't really make sense to stay.

Sam Alvarez4 said:Posts are getting nuked and people are catching bans for trolling. It’s all happening.
But it’s only ever one side of the story. Always.

I mean, where's even the trolling in this? I don't really see it.
So, we're back on the Iraq topic... terrorism and all that mess. Honestly, I don't even know where to start with this one. It’s just heavy. I guess there's no easy way to untangle the whole thing, maybe. It feels like every time we think we've got a handle on what's actually happening over there, something else shifts and everything gets messy again. Just one endless cycle, really. Tough stuff.
So, some random comment about ISIS popped up this morning—some link tied to terrorism, I guess. Just one of those things.
Deleted before the milk even went sour, but still... @The supermod probably sees more than we do. I guess they’ve got that inside track on everything.

The topic is... Iraqterrorism, and the deleted post said:

I mean, honestly... nobody else really stepped up to fight ISIS with that kind of heart or guts. Not like these guys did. It’s just different.
Cut his head off and burn the body.

"Just lop his head off and torch the rest."

So, this link just leads to some old story from back in 2019 about those Russian mercenaries being total thugs. I guess... maybe it’s worth looking at, but it's pretty much just more of the same stuff we've seen before. Just another deep dive into how those guys operate. over in SyriaI mean, what does that even have to do with anything? I don't see the connection. So, about that whole terrorism mess in Iraq... I don't know, man. It’s just one of those things that stays heavy on your mind, I guess. You look at what went down over there and it feels like we're just spinning our wheels in the sand, maybe. Everything feels so messy and complicated, like you can't even find a clear starting point to make sense of any of it. Just my two cents, though.?
So, you just got slapped with a 10-point penalty for trolling. Rough.

Here’s the link to that game... I think. Check it out if you want, I guess. Look, I’m not even trying to troll this thread. Seriously. Actually, I'd say otherwise. I mean, it’s coming from a commentator like Sam Alvarez4, so... yeah. I guess that says everything you need to know.

The whole thing with posting game links has been this weirdly charming little tradition for years on these neighboring threads—you know, the ones that are basically ghost towns where everyone just sits around insulting each other from both sides. Honestly, none of the old-timers even blinked. We’re all used to it by now, I guess.

So, some moderator just nuked my comment over on that Ira thread. I was just asking what kind of doctorate we're actually talking about here if we're supposed to be sticking to the facts, you know? Just a simple question, I guess. But yeah, gone. Deleted. Typical.
I don't really count links from those certain news outlets as actual facts, even if they claim to represent what most media is saying. I mean, honestly... he even went ahead and deleted his own comment because it was just full of links. Typical.

The second everyone started breathing down my neck about the terminology used in the initial post, I felt like I kind of had to step in. People were jumping all over the place with the criticism, so I figured I’d just throw a Google search in there to show that, honestly, the original poster wasn't even wrong.

I can't really make sense of what you're trying to show me here. It looks like some broken search link or maybe just a fragment of a URL that didn't quite make it through properly. I guess if you were looking for something specific on Google, the link is pretty much useless in its current state. Maybe try copying the whole thing again? Or just tell me what you're actually hunting for, and I might be able to help you dig it up. No big deal, though. Just seems like a bit of a dead end right now.

Besides those two you guys already have down, I guess you could also dig through the archives of the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, VOA, Wikipedia, or even Teleskop... if you really wanted to go down that rabbit hole.

So, I left you guys that educational starter post, but then I went ahead and nuked the follow-up because... honestly, I have no clue why it got wiped. Just some random reason, I guess. So, about that whole situation with Iran... I don't know. It’s just one of those things where you look at the news and feel like you're just spinning your wheels. Everything feels so heavy lately, doesn't it? Just constant tension and layers upon layers of stuff we probably won't fully wrap our heads around. I guess I'm just sitting here wondering how much more of this we can actually take before everything just... shifts. Maybe it'll settle, maybe it won't. Who knows, really. So, they’ve started writing in Russian... I guess. Or maybe that's just how it looks from where we're sitting. Everything feels a bit off lately, doesn't it? Just one more thing to add to the pile, I suppose.

Long story short.
Look, let's just stick to the facts here. No sugarcoating it, no fluff... none.
So, I heard this guy works as a doctor for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps... which is just wild to think about, I guess.

Honestly, I don't think giving out a 10-point ban for trolling is even an exaggeration here, so I really don't see any kind of persecution going on.

Hope you guys have a good one.

Linda King said:It didn't take long.

Look, this isn't really about punishing the user for breaking rules—whatever those actually are, I guess—it’s more of a message to everyone else reading along. A little bit of a point being made, maybe. So, driftingtinker decided to just drop the PDF out there for the world to see. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing some revisions to certain sub-sections and permissions pretty soon.

So, basically, my colleague (about ten days ago) got into a bit of a spat with a user in that post mentioned above, and he ended up getting a warning for it. The whole argument—which involved a bunch of people, actually—got wiped. After some back-and-forth communication with the Democratic Party, we worked it out so his post (well, the one part that was actually useful) could be put back up without all that messy intro stuff. The user wasn't really against it and just went back to hanging out on the site.

Nice try, though.

Thanks so much for providing all that context on this.

ps
I figure, since I’m an active user here, maybe I could help out with managing my favorite PDF by reporting any trolling posts whenever they pop up. 👍 It might make the forum a better place overall, and I suppose it would lighten your workload a bit too.

Best regards.

Look, I'll own up to it—I messed up by leaving a post up there after editing it, which obviously sent you guys down the wrong path. My bad.

I really am hoping we can just stick to some constructive back-and-forth that actually follows the rules. If you see someone acting out, just hit that report button right away; maybe then we can actually make this forum a decent place to hang out.

I’m stepping away from this thread feeling a bit deflated and honestly, pretty disillusioned. I really believe that if we all just pull together, we can make the world a good place. 👍

edit
Just as a gesture of goodwill, I went ahead and deleted my thank you note too.

First off, we're talking about terrorism in Iraq.
ISIS operated in both Syria and Iraq, with their caliphate stretching across both nations.
Unlike those comments linking to some video game or criticizing "American" military action against ISIS, my link covers actual historical events.

Secondly, regarding that VOA link: is that just a Mexican translation?
As for the New York Times: is that H. Diab praising Suleimani?

Honestly, everything has been crystal clear since day one of your moderating the world slowly...
@Sam Alvarez4/">@@Sam Alvarez4, @driftingtinker/">@@driftingtinker.

Whatever, I'm done here...

I honestly can't figure out why someone would drop a Russian link on an American thread about Armenia...

Why Vladimir Putin thanked Ilham Aliyev. Moscow-Baku News July 20th

As far as I can tell, nobody has even blinked at it since July 29th.
But hey, my own link—written in English—was deleted in record time...

Talk about hypocrisy...

Thanks for asking.

You're talking about that post from a veteran user, seraphim (here's the snippet):

that meeting between the Russian president and Azerbaijan about a week ago

The colleague followed the rules here—he included a short description along with the link, so everything is fine. Since the thread title is "Armenia, Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh (general discussion)," it’s standard practice to include a quick summary when posting a video (which, let's face it, is almost never in American). Expecting users to sync up or subtitle videos is just unrealistic, and trying to do that leads to all sorts of legal headaches regarding copyright.

To make a long story short—comparing that situation to you just randomly deciding to write in languages most people here can't even follow (not your first time, either) doesn't really work. At least, that's my two cents, I guess.

And again—whenever you see something that looks off, just hit that red triangle icon and let the moderators do their jobs.

Here's a fresh one for you: a certain polite lady clearly saw an opening in the PDF chat thread about moderating the world slowly and shamelessly used it to plug her own business:

Sam Alvarez4 said:@g***y

I'm free on the 10th and 11th, two nights, go ahead. I'll be down at the coast near Miami.
if you're still in the US on those dates, I'd love to meet up.

DM me.
ps. sent you my number.

This blatant rule-breaking was reported by a user and promptly deleted, plus they got slapped with a 50-point penalty.

Just another example of how this place could actually get better if people put in even a little effort.

Have a good one.

What kind of twisted logic makes inviting someone over for a two-day visit with their spouse sound like solicitation?
Especially since people my age truly love America, and I'm just a Russian guy who speaks English fluently...

Thankfully, @driftingtinker/">@@driftingtinker, the Democratic Party guidelines clearly state that I am inviting them to my home, for FREE, for a couple of days when I have some downtime.

But man, some people are just warped.

The witch hunt is in full swing. 🕺

P.S. People invite each other out for coffee or dinner all the time, mentioning specific names of restaurants and everything, yet I get slapped with a 50-point penalty just because I'm the only Russian on this forum and I invited his wife and him over to my place for two days.🤦

So you sent all those juicy details over to Groznom via private message, but then felt this sudden, burning urge to dump it all in that public chat thread too?

I mean, I guess it would’ve made sense if the post explicitly said it was "free," but I didn't see any mention of that part.

People are always tossing out restaurant or coffee shop recommendations around here, which is totally fine, but whenever someone tries to pitch their own services, they get slapped with that vague little warning about "Prohibited Advertising (please coordinate advertising through marketing@forum.com)."

If you're looking to make private business deals, you use PMs—which is clearly what you tried to do, at least partially.

Sam Alvarez4 has shared so many funny little stories on the chat about her tourists so far, giving examples of how much they loved it when she spoke their native language or showed she actually understood where they were coming from.

If we look at how most booking platforms actually encourage hosts to list every language they speak—since being able to communicate clearly with guests is such a massive advantage—would it be fair logic to suggest that Sam Alvarez4 deserves a permanent ban just because she knows multiple cultures and shares those anecdotes?

I mean, I guess you could argue her whole persona is basically one big advertisement (she even gives English lessons, so what are we supposed to do with that?), but still.

And yeah, it was pretty obvious she was offering two free days. It would have been redundant and honestly a bit tacky to explicitly state that. She reached out because she had what hosts call a gap between bookings.

I really don't buy that you didn't see that yourself—not right now, but the moment you saw the post and decided to just ban it and wipe it away.

driftingtinker said:So, you sent all the specifics over via DM to our resident expert, Groznom, but at the same time, you just felt the need to broadcast it all to everyone else in that chat thread?

It probably would have made sense if the public post had explicitly mentioned it was "free," but I totally missed that part.

I see people recommending local restaurants or coffee shops on this forum all the time, which is fine, but whenever someone tries to recommend their own services, it gets wiped out immediately and they get hit with that vague warning about "Unauthorized Advertising (please contact marketing@forum.com to discuss advertising options)."

Private business deals should happen in the DMs, which is clearly what you tried to do—at least partially.

I’m with you on this—if a private message was already sent, there really wasn't any reason to post it in the thread too. Honestly, stuff like that doesn't really belong here, not even in the chat. Plus, the initial post was a bit confusing; it wasn't clear if it was a friendly gesture or a formal business pitch. But hey, we accept the clarification, and I'm clearing the strike. I think everything else has been laid out clearly enough.