Admins, is there a grace period before we're monitored?

Man, my post about those college protests just got nuked from the political discussion thread!

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/2517/picture5beg.png

I mean, seriously, what gives?

And hey, I’m asking the admins if there isn't some crazy reason for pulling it, could you please just put my post back where it actually belongs in that thread about the student protests?

Look, I already warned you about this trolling behavior. First, you replied to me with a comment that had absolutely nothing to do with what you actually quoted—and then you tried to derail everything by pushing off-topic provocations when the veterans asked their questions, which really had nothing to do with the subject at hand.

Bryan Sanchez86 said:Look, I already told you that you’re just trolling at this point, so don't act surprised! First, you hit me back with a reply that had absolutely nothing to do with what you were even quoting, and then you immediately tried to stir the pot by dragging the whole conversation off-topic with those questions about veterans, which honestly has zero relevance to what we're actually talking about here!

Honestly, you just label everything as trolling whenever someone calls you out on stuff that doesn't fit into that rigid little value system you're constantly trying to force down everyone else's throat like you're competing in some high-stakes championship!

Look, your moderation style is totally biased and honestly does absolutely nothing to support free speech or protect anyone's right to speak their mind! If you’re going to give yourself and all your little buddies a pass to say whatever you want, then you seriously need to extend that same grace to everyone else on this board too. You can't just use your moderator powers to twist the entire conversation and manipulate the thread to fit your own agenda or whoever else you might be looking out for!

Honestly, you really need to take a second to look in the mirror and ask yourself if you’re actually the problem here! Just seriously think about how much you're totally trashing this entire forum and how much of a hypocrite you've become lately. You should definitely be wondering if you're even remotely replaceable as a moderator at this point, and honestly, you need to ask yourself why you're constantly resorting to heavy-handed tactics just to get your way!
You really gotta take a second to ask yourself why some people are so obsessed with shoving their own agendas right in front of everyone else or, even worse, building themselves up by stepping on everyone else's toes, and honestly, you should probably start wondering who exactly these types of people are and how much they actually remind you of yourself!

Look, if you actually sat down and asked yourself those hard questions—and tried to be the kind of person you claim you want to be here on this forum—your conscience would have given you a massive wake-up call a long time ago telling you it’s high time you showed some actual gratitude for the mod team and especially for the site admins, and honestly, I bet your character would have finally listened to that gut feeling by now!
Honestly, I think it’s high time everyone starts asking some serious questions about when you’re actually going to step up, because seriously, why are you even a moderator? Like, who is actually putting up with this nonsense and for what reason?
Look, I’m not even trying to call out your massive, top-down moderator authority or anything like that, but I honestly feel like everyone hanging out in this sub you're running needs a fair heads-up about what they're actually signing up for! People should know right off the bat if they actually want to deal with this, because at the end of the day, being forced to adapt here feels less like joining a community and more like having your entire way of thinking shoved into some mindless Borg hive mind!

Look, since I already know that one of your go-to moderator power moves is to dive into this insane, nitpicky level of micro-analysis whenever you feel like your authority is being challenged—basically just obsessing over every tiny little detail until it’s completely ridiculous just to prove to everyone here how "unbiased" and objective your ego supposedly is—I honestly don't even see the point in dragging this conversation any further with you, so...

I’m honestly calling on the admins here to step in and give me the straight truth from both sides of the fence, because I really need to know if they think my post was just some blatant trolling or if I was actually just pointing out a massive, textbook example of how someone can use totally broken logic to defend a point—which is something this guy keeps doubling down on instead of admitting he's wrong—or if this is just a sneaky way for the mods to silence an opinion using tools they’re clearly itching to use!

Look, I’m totally sorry for rambling on like this, but honestly, there’s a huge reason why my post is such a novel, and it’s directly tied to how I reacted and why that other thread got nuked for being "trollish" in the first place! It also ties right back into that neighboring thread they just locked up, and since I really don't want to go starting yet another whole new discussion from scratch, I figured I'd just lay it all out right here.

So, I’m putting this out there for the admins, all the mods, and honestly just everyone hanging out on the boards, because I really think we need to have a serious talk about how our moderators are handling those threads regarding the recent student protests!
Honestly, the words coming from those moderators just don't carry nearly as much weight as what the actual students and all the supporters or critics are saying in this thread about these campus protests!
They honestly use every bit of their expertise and experience right up until they hit a wall where their own knowledge—or just some other personal limitation—kicks in, and then suddenly they start pulling rank and using those moderator powers to shut down anyone expressing an opinion that, I don't even know why, just doesn't sit right with them!

Honestly, it’s pretty obvious that these moderators are totally fine with dragging the whole discussion into this hyper-politicized mess just because it gives them an excuse to play games, whether they’re being subtle about it or just straight-up insensitive when it comes to tossing around ideas about using force against protesters!
Look, call it whatever you want, but I’m gonna say it again... the mods running this thread have a serious responsibility here.
If the admins and the higher-ups can’t or won't step in because they're hiding behind "freedom of speech," then I’m totally using my own freedom of speech to point out exactly how people are trying to twist this discussion and play the victim card.

So, I’m wrapping this up, and sticking to what I already said, I want to bring up my very first post along with that one they deleted—the one where I was calling out the total lack of logic from people trying to oversimplify the whole idea of using force to deal with student protesters. These folks are trying to paint those students as nothing more than classic internet trolls who deserve everything coming their way, but honestly, those people cheering for the crackdown should take a good look in the mirror and decide just how much they actually deserve.

To be real with you, the questions I’m asking are mostly rhetorical; I don’t actually care about who wins this little debate or how this thread ends up playing out.
The real answers, and the actual positive change I’m looking for, will show up through the actual posts, the disciplinary actions, and the way the moderators and admins actually run this site.

I could’ve even titled this thread with that famous Hackle quote... facts don't just vanish just because we choose to ignore them.

Check the attachment, the extra bit, or whatever you want to call it...

...internet troll...

Just a quick note on the attachment: on an American forum like this, the term "troll" usually refers to the users, while the mods tend to use much more subtle tactics.

Thanks for listening and being patient.

Here is the post...

1. the users
2. supermoderator Vojka
3. supermoderator Bryan Sanchez86
4. moderator ZgSash
5. moderator d@d@
6. the admins
7. Secretary of Education
8. everyone else interested

Bryan Sanchez86 said:It's because you're trolling, which is exactly what I warned you about. First, you replied to me with a comment that had absolutely nothing to do with what you actually quoted, and then you tried to stir the pot by dragging the conversation off-topic toward veteran issues, which isn't even relevant here.

I honestly don't get why anyone thinks my post needs to be deleted. I was just telling Simba that if you look at the opening post of this thread, it’s pretty obvious there's no trolling going on and nobody is shifting the focus to veterans.

Since I want to believe someone just made an honest mistake here, I guess I'll spend a little more time repeating myself: the question was specifically about privileged access 🙂

So, basically, user Ahimsa just copied an entire blog post from Professor Anderson, who wrote his take on those protests. The mods nuked it as spam and banned her for it.

Here’s the blog she shared:

I just reposted that thread and it got nuked. Why though? 🤷

Oh well, at least I didn't get slapped with a spam warning. 🤣

Henry Cox78 said:I just reposted that exact same thing and it got wiped. Why's that? 🤷

Well, alright then. At least I didn't get slapped with a spam warning. 🤣

You aren't allowed to copy over 2,000 characters at once. The rules don't say you can't just break the text up into a few different posts. 🥳

🙈

You really should’ve said: This isn't normal, the way they're running this place like a police state. Anderson should be ashamed of himself. 🤣

Honestly, I had no clue about that. 🙈

Henry Cox78 said:I guess I wasn't aware of that. 🙈

Man, that just won't hold up in court. It's right there in the subforum's policy rules 😉 I suspect a lot of people aren't aware, mostly because that rule gets broken all the time 🙂

Just saying, I had no clue. If I’d been hit with a fine, I would've just taken it on the chin and served my three days.

Got my card a little late. 😬

Why’d they lock that thread so fast? It was only open long enough for some "objective" person to jump in and claim Michelle Johnson16 is the biggest troll on the board. 🤣

If you complain about trolling, then you're the troll—logic is wild. 🤣

Henry Cox78 said:My card finally showed up after a bit of a delay. 😬

Why did they lock that thread so fast? It was only open long enough for one self-proclaimed "objective" person to chime in and declare Michelle Johnson16 the ultimate troll of the discussion. 🤣

I mean, if you complain about trolling, then suddenly you're the troll—makes perfect sense, right? 🤣

Yeah, they basically let exactly one user call Michelle Johnson16 a troll and then immediately shut the whole thing down. Like the verdict was already decided before anyone else could even type a word. 😁

Anyway, what actually got Michelle Johnson16 banned?

Michelle Johnson16 is out of her mind, and 🤣🙏

Honestly, I’ve been wanting to dig into this whole deal with preferred admissions anyway, so I might as well take the opportunity to jump in...😁

🍿

@ a unda:

I already told you—the point you're trying to pivot to has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion. We talked about veteran benefits for kids back when that was actually an issue, but that’s a separate thing entirely. These current student protests? They aren't related to that, their demands aren't related to that, and neither is this thread. You’re just doing your usual thing—trying to provoke or troll, I guess. It won't work. You can act offended or take another swing at me personally if you want, but it’s not going to fly. If you want to be difficult, go ahead. Anyone looking at your posting history can see what kind of troll you are—and honestly, you haven't even gotten close to my level, so it's not like "Simba I hate" is the problem here.

@ Henry Cox78: Just so we're clear, the rules for the Politics subforum are pinned right at the top of the main Politics section—in case you missed them. It’s pretty pathetic to jump into a debate and then come over here to complain about moderation when you haven't even bothered to read the basic guidelines. I don't think I need to say anything else.

And one more thing—take a look at how many people are piling in here just to off-topic and spam. Then, once someone finally hands out a sanction, suddenly it’s all "the moderators are jerks," right?

Honestly, it’s just hilarious at this point. They seriously need to go out and write entirely new textbooks for traditional and formal logic because, oh boy, they’re already being drafted! It's some kind of totally made-up, "traffic light" version of logic.

Bryan Sanchez86 said:..so, the moderators are just total jerks, right?

I’m really not even surprised by Bryan Sanchez86, though. He just does whatever he's allowed to get away with, and honestly, I have no clue what the actual reasons behind that are.
I’m genuinely baffled by all the moderators and admins who just sit there and let Bryan Sanchez86 use them like some kind of wild card. Besides, I can't even tell anymore who is actually hiding behind whom!
I'm confused because I can't figure out if Bryan Sanchez86 is insulting the Forum members (in the name of the mods, apparently), if he's insulting the moderators by speaking for them without any basis, if he's being homophobic, or if he's just insulting the users by shoving his own twisted logic down their throats while simultaneously acting like some big hero for diversity!
..or is he just trying to play the victim? ..And doing it ahead of time, too?
You could definitely interpret Bryan Sanchez86's quote in a way where anyone else, anywhere else, would have been slapped with a ban immediately if they didn't have such a convenient excuse ready to go.
But hey, that's just how the logic works on this Forum.

Since Bryan Sanchez86 clearly identifies you guys as one and the same—my dear moderators and everyone else who thinks this doesn't apply to them—and since it seems like you all pretty much agree with him, given that... well, I don't see any real reaction here, Bryan Sanchez86 is just going to keep doing things his way using someone else's rules.
So, what am I supposed to think about you guys when you're defending against ad hominem attacks by using ad hominem attacks yourselves?

Well, if that's how you want to play it, fine... if you're that digitally obsessed, then don't get mad when people start looking at you as if... well, you're all just running on the Bryan Sanchez86 operating system.
Just like nobody forces anyone to be on this Forum, nobody is forcing anyone to moderate or be part of a body that can clearly do whatever it wants here.
No one is telling you, my dear moderators and admins... well, they're all the same anyway. You say that to yourselves.
Maybe you should all just wear the exact same uniform; that would be totally fair... both to yourselves and to us.
After that, you'll have your perfectly uniform Forum, everything will be smooth sailing, and the moon won't even exist when you look up at it.

Michelle Johnson16 said:Look, you can't just pull that crap in court. It’s clearly written in the Politics sub-forum rules. 😉 I honestly think half the people here don't even realize it because the rule gets ignored constantly. 🙂

It sounds unbelievable, but I see it every single day—massive walls of text, over 2,000 characters long, followed by nothing but a "thanks" or a thumbs up. And everyone acts like it's totally fine! Zero moderation, zero consequences. Meanwhile, you have people writing actual PhD-level dissertations that are so dense nobody can even make heads or tails of them.

How many reward points did I rack up just now? Honestly, that's not even my point. Let me tell you about the time I complained about someone being stuck in the banned section. I kept following up on it, and after I filed my appeal, they wiped the entry within ten minutes. (I had to repeat that process three times!) Is that actually how things work around here? Is that okay?

For the love of God, just put the rules for spam, trolling, personal attacks, and general Forum violations somewhere visible. Put them in BIG BOLD LETTERS where everyone can actually see them! Right now, people are just wandering around in the dark and breaking the same rules over and over again because they don't know any better. Thanks.

I honestly can't help myself—whenever I see them, I just start scrolling through my feed endlessly.

Starting today , the article's word count is just 5,545 (with spaces, 4,714 without) 😬

I guess I can't say d@d@ didn't notice the post, since she actually quoted it and even found the link. But, how much does it really matter when we're talking about a student? 🙂 It's 30 points, so yeah.

Anyway, I'm not trying to clear WeM's record; I just want to point something out (aside from the double standards): WeM registered back in March 2003. Like me and plenty of others, he agreed to a different set of rules when he signed up, which aren't the ones being used now (Desiree). So, any articles added later 🤣 to the politics sub-forum rules don't even apply to him, because I—and he—never signed any amendment accepting these new regulations. At this rate, for a good portion of us, Sanader could be Smrnader, and you guys can just make up whatever rules you want.

And regarding Rachel Scott65's response: there are way too many rules anyway. They're written so that every single moderator whim can be justified by that "etc..." clause. It's pretty obvious that this allows moderators to hand out warnings as arbitrarily as if there were no rules at all. In that sense, they might as well just scrap them. You can ban things like breaking the law, blatant harassment, or doxxing, just like on almost any other US forum. Everything else is redundant as a rule, because it's all subject to a moderator's judgment anyway—they don't even need the rules; they can just moderate to prevent various situations.

Edit: Moderating isn't just handing out warnings and deleting posts, regardless of what the legal department at the Forum thinks about it 🙂

@silajn 😂 The legal department. You think they mean the IRS? Don't panic! Honestly, I’d love to just dump all my records right here—mostly just me trolling people and breaking every rule in the book. A few private details, maybe. We go way back from the local pub and the corner bodega. 😁

I was actually about to call the authorities just now, but then I saw you pop up. I thought, "Fine, this time I'll just slip through the back door." Not gonna happen. 😁

@Rez, if I’d seen this yesterday, we would have been having some seriously deep conversations. First thing I’d do is soak all my strawberries in acid. The kind that actually smokes. 😁