Fishkal

The moderator over at the Cars subforum is being incredibly selective.

To be clear: the thread in question is Madhouse - chat - troll thread.

Someone there touched upon the current state of the "American mindset"—essentially arguing it's a lingering byproduct of falling behind during the old era of the US under certain historical regimes.

Now, look—I don't have an issue with anyone else's opinion, nor do I mind their arguments. I certainly don't mind if posts touching on politics, the economy, the old regime, or national development are BANNED.

But what I find completely unacceptable is the fact that my response to that specific post was deleted:

My deleted reply was essentially this:

It is quite interesting—if you think about it—that under that specific brand of communism, we actually achieved faster and more significant growth than those rigid communist countries in the Eastern Bloc, only to see those much more rigid nations overtake us once communism finally collapsed.

The post was wiped out under the excuse that it didn't fit the topic. Well, if that's the case, then I'm asking that the original post I was responding to be deleted too—because by those exact same criteria, it is ABSOLUTELY unwelcome.

Of course, they also went ahead and scrubbed the Quote of my post, just in case anyone caught a glimpse of it—and apparently, I should just be grateful I didn't get a formal warning.

Honestly, it doesn't really matter to me; if mod restlessmason4 and his buddies want to treat this forum like their own private chat room, fine—but it really kills my desire to participate in any of the more serious discussions here.

Look,

Communism started popping up a few pages back. Your posts 5094 and 5104 were left untouched—just like everyone else's posts here
.
Following that, in post number 5113, I mentioned that we’d had enough talk about communism and that there’s actually a specific sub-forum for those kinds of debates. Isn't that right? None of the previous posts—yours or anyone else's—were messed with.

My take was simply that the conversation was getting way too heated and veering too far into politics, which is why I said what I did.
Then, your very first post goes off on this massive, wide-ranging political tangent. That’s why it was removed.
I honestly don't see the issue here. There is an entire dedicated thread where you can debate that stuff to your heart's content.

This specific thread is meant for joking around and hanging out with the guys over on the car forum. Heavy-duty political debates just don't belong in this space.

That’s all there is to it. Best,

restlessmason4 said:Look, friend,

The whole topic of communism started popping up a few pages back. Your posts 5094 and 5104 were left untouched—just like everyone else's posts here.

Later on, in my post numbered 5113 just above yours, I mentioned that we'd had quite enough talk about communism and suggested there’s a specific sub-forum for those kinds of debates. Isn't that right? Every single post prior to that—yours and everyone else's—remains exactly where it was.

My reasoning was simply that the discussion was getting far too heated and veering into political territory, which is why I made that comment.
Following that, your very first post went off on a massive tangent regarding politics—so, naturally, it was removed.
I really don't see what the issue is. There is an entire dedicated section where you can debate those topics to your heart's content.

This thread is meant to be a casual space for us to hang out and joke around—it's basically our digital version of a local car club hangout. Heavy, intense debates just don't fit the vibe here.

That's all there is to it. Best regards,

The issue lies in that "well, now it's not allowed anymore" phrasing—it makes it seem like someone's word is the final law. If that's the case, it would be much cleaner to just wipe out all the posts related to those topics entirely—there aren't many of them anyway—to ensure it doesn't look like one person's opinion is being given special preference. That includes your own post, #5125.

I’ve been watching this closely—the talk about communism started creeping in back around post #5091, and honestly, things just kept heating up from there. I was trying my best to monitor everything to make sure nobody crossed the line into personal attacks, even if the actual debate was getting a bit intense.
By post #5113, I finally stepped in and said enough was enough, since there are plenty of other subforums where people can hash that stuff out.

My take on the situation was that if things kept escalating, it was only going to lead to more bans and constant infighting—and frankly, we really don't need that kind of drama cluttering up the general automotive chat.

None of the previous posts were touched—that includes yours and mine, since we were both just part of the discussion. However, right after my announcement, two posts were actually deleted—specifically the ones that were pushing the argument further.

Do you honestly believe it would have been any smarter to let the entire day be wasted on arguments about 1941, 1945, or whatever other historical era comes up?

So, yeah, that’s basically where I stand. You could have always just sent me a private message if you wanted to dive deep into it; you know I don't have an issue with debating anything, provided it stays civil. But hey, I guess we can settle it here.