Why are Einstein's and Newton's quotes getting deleted on the forum while low-effort one-liners stay

Looking back at the thread about our new Secretary of Science, Smith, there’s an endless stream of one-liners, insults, pointless noise, rambling tangents, and just general creative license

I wanted to pull out a few of those snappy little remarks—though there are countless others you can find if you care to look. Honestly, the whole forum feels like a collection of "one-liners," where people hide behind their screen names to throw hypocritical jabs at public figures... and so on and so forth.

For instance, the thread is full of these "profound" gems:

1) Well, there you have it. A crackpot is running our science policy.

2) We aren't falling behind; the idiots are just lagging.

3) Check out that hair. 😍

4) Quick trivia question for everyone following this thread:

What do you get when you combine the minds of Secretary Smith and Secretary Hasanbegović?

...you get the whole spectrum of nonsense.

Anyway, if you look below, you'll see what I actually posted before it was deleted. 😉 Apparently, I got slapped with a 35-point penalty for "trolling."

So, since this thread has somehow managed to create this incredible—yet totally false—atmosphere suggesting that a Secretary of Science shouldn't be a believer, or that he's some kind of crackpot just because he has faith despite his PhD, I thought I’d share a few
quotes from world-class scientists regarding atheism. I’ve posted three separate excerpts below that actually have something to do with the topic, unlike the endless stream of online trolls and insults being hurled at the Secretary. Of course, they’re perfectly fine for a regular moderator to post 😉

1) When asked in the famous book COSMOS, BIOS THEOS: "

''Many scientists, including Darwin, Planck, and Einstein, were deeply preoccupied with the concept of God. What are your thoughts on the concept and existence of God?''

The Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, the American scientist Christian Anfinsen, responded by saying

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''I think only an idiot can be an atheist!
We have to admit there is an incomprehensible power or force of infinite providence and knowledge that set the entire universe in motion.''

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So, what was deemed worthy of publication in a legendary book, and what a Nobel laureate told a moderator like lonebadger6, was apparently "not good enough" for this space. Apparently, internet trolls and INSULTS TOWARD THE BELIEVING SECRETARY ARE ALLOWED, but certain Nobel laureates who don't align with our (leftist) agenda are unwelcome. Just delete it then!

We all know exactly why this bothered him, but honestly, moderator, unprincipled censorship is like a hydra—you cut off one head, and two more pop up in its place. 😉

So, I tried sharing what one of history's most legendary scientists—the author of the famous *Principia*—actually thought about atheism. For some reason, the moderator didn't take too kindly to it and wiped my post, yet somehow the snarky one-liners from 🤦
managed to stay up.

Anyway, here is what many consider to be the greatest physicist to ever live, Isaac Newton, had to say regarding atheism:

"Atheism is so senseless and loathsome to mankind that it has never had many
advocates."

So, I finally shared my thoughts on what he actually believed regarding atheism and science—specifically referencing when Time Magazine named him the Person of the Century, Albert Einstein.Unfortunately, even he didn't escape the scrutiny and was eventually bumped from the top spot.
Yet, the cheap one-liners and insults directed at the Secretary—who, despite what some might think, holds a PhD—still persist.😉

According to TIME, the most significant figure in our civilization over the last millennium is Albert Einstein.
I went ahead and dug up his specific take on atheism:

There are people who claim there is no God, but what truly frustrates me is how they
use my own words to bolster their arguments...
What sets me apart from the majority of atheists is this profound sense of humility in the face of
the unfathomable mysteries within the COSMOS...
Fanatical atheists are like slaves who still feel the weight of the shackles they cast off
after an exhausting struggle. They are beings who, in their fierce opposition to traditional religions, are unable to hear the music of the spheres.
Atheists lack that sense of humility and wonder regarding the unreachable mysteries of the harmony of the COSMOS, a quality that believers possess in abundance.

If you were to poll our staff, nine out of ten would likely strike you as staunch liberals and progressives—people who champion justice and stand firmly against dictators, censorship, the church, political elites, taxes, recessions, or even just a slow-loading webpage...

But here’s the kicker! It seems those grand principles our moderators hold dear don't actually apply to the very forum they manage. 😉

Give anyone a little bit of authority—whether it's a seat in Washington or just a mod role on a message board—and you'll quickly see what kind of parent, politician, or leader they really are,😉 especially when they face zero consequences for any unfairness they dish out.😉

It’s honestly a shame that a public forum like this ends up discriminating against and censoring ideas simply because they rub a moderator the wrong way, even if those ideas are straight from Einstein or other Nobel laureates.
That goes against the entire spirit of an open forum and completely ignores that famous Voltaire advice given to moderators:

"I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

Great topic, hiddenpuma75. 👍
I've been wanting to vent about this for a while. It’s the same issue I ran into during that discussion about the veterans' protest on the Potomac, where a ton of my posts were wiped out. I put real work into those replies, trying to clarify points and stay strictly within the forum rules, yet the moderators don't feel obligated to give any explanation for deleting them—even though they are required to log an official strike.

If I have the time, I could dive back into those closed threads just to show you the level of garbage left behind. Most of it is just pathetic, hateful nonsense from users who didn't bother to actually engage with the issue. Like you said, it's mostly just endless one-liners, insults, irrelevant fluff, and people just wandering aimlessly through the conversation under the guise of "artistic freedom."

Here are just a few examples from that last thread:

,

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 am deeply dissatisfied with your moderation practices—honestly, you’re deleting posts based purely on your own political leanings. I have no intention of returning to this site—so if you won't just delete my account, then go ahead and issue a permanent ban—because frankly, nobody here respects you anyway.

My perfectly innocent post just got nuked over on the Politics > Immigrant board. I was simply responding to a moderator with actual facts and public links—stuff the moderator himself used earlier in the thread. Nothing controversial about that.

There wasn't a single negative or offensive word in my reply. It was part of the discussion. If you can't argue points or present evidence, what's the point of having a topic at all?

I've been an active user here for over a decade. I stick to two or three specific boards and try to stay constructive. I don't insult people, and I back my views with solid data. In 12 years on this site, I've never had a post deleted before.

Something isn't right here. The site administration should scrap this policy; the whole purpose of a forum is to debate different perspectives.

I already sent a PM to the moderator asking him to restore my post, and I'm saying it here too: there was absolutely nothing offensive, untrue, or controversial about it.

Thanks.

In the realm of politics, hundreds of posts are wiped away daily. Our moderators simply don't have the bandwidth to send personalized notifications explaining every single deletion. We have touched upon this subject here on several occasions, and I believe there is little need for repetition; however, let us establish a fundamental principle: deleting a post is one of the most routine, common, and relatively mild disciplinary measures available to a moderator. Most deletions occur due to off-topic tangents, trolling, or, as we see in this specific instance, sweeping generalizations. I am closing this thread.