Unwritten forum rules and moderator biases (or what you *really* can't do on forum.hr)

I feel like I’ve asked this somewhere before, but I haven't gotten a straight answer yet:
Why isn't using terms like "rvat" or "rvatina" actually penalized?
In my opinion—and I might be wrong here—it just doesn't sit right with the spirit of the forum rules.

On this topic The DOJ handed Joe Simunic a fine over those 'for home ready' commentsPosts are vanishing faster than money disappears from the US Chamber of Commerce. 😬

Faster than a Chicago chili cook-off on May Day. ☕

What’s even the protocol for off-topic stuff here? Just delete it? Ban the user? Or at least drop a warning on the thread before wiping it? Especially when we're talking about a PDF from the Wall Street Journal.

Moving right along...

It looks like someone over on the politics board decided they aren't going to tolerate any mention of ZDS or Simunic, so they're just scrubbing anything that brings up the five-pointed star.

They’re just coldly deleting posts, including things like my own signature...

And once again, this whole deletion thing happened without a single warning or even an explanation of why.

I really have to wonder, how are we supposed to actually debate problematic symbolism if every logical parallel is wiped away from the record?

Though, it's not like they're deleting all parallels, just specifically the ones that touch upon that star.

Not to mention that the star and ZDS are practically inseparable, like two sides of the same coin...

The moderator has essentially made a subjective call that the star simply can't be used as part of an argument.

It's a textbook case of moderator overreach on the politics board, which honestly seems to have nothing to do with common sense, let alone any actual forum rules...

briskjackal5 said:It seems to me that the current US leadership is better than previous ones. They seem patient regarding the PiK threads, up to a certain point. Especially Sves, who has been most involved with PiK lately.
I wouldn't say the disagreement among some forum members about that one thread showed anything different.

That’s just my take, even though I actually agree with Herbie that Zadacnica could move to Literary or somewhere else (meaning I'm on the other side of how things currently stand on that issue).

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and people have certainly voiced them, but at the end of the day, it stays here—if the mods want it to stay on the US, then it stays on the US. It's their call to make, and they've made it.

-Stipe

The previous leadership was much better simply because they were more engaged with the subforums they were responsible for. Shout-out to Velia! 🙏

You haven't experienced the smearing I went through just because I spoke up about Zadacnica, so you don't know what kind of communication I had to deal with from the moderators. 🙄

Jeffrey Bennett77 said:If Sves could get to everything, it would be great. 😁 These people on the side just get in the way and make up their own rules whenever you write something they personally don't like 😁 Of course, those rules don't apply to them...

R. I. P. Sves 😳

We'll see what happens next, but I'm not putting much hope into improving the moderation of the lonely heart subforum.☕

Sophia Smith29 said:We'll just have to wait and see how things unfold—though, if I’m being perfectly honest, I'm not holding my breath regarding any real improvements to the moderation over in the lonely heart subforum. ☕

Well, why not? You were the one claiming the LJES section was handled beautifully—now you've finally been gifted with that signature LJES-style upgrade. 🍿

😬

graniteridge6 said:Why not? You were the one saying LJES was well-moderated, and now you've got an "LJES-style" upgrade. 🍿

😬

He’s held this role before. He didn't exactly stand out for doing anything great back then. ☕

Disclaimer: I'm not trying to be malicious about the general moderation here. Please don't ban me for this comment.

Sophia Smith29 said:You just didn't live through it. You really haven't. There’s a massive difference between reading about something in some history book and actually being there—feeling the air change, seeing the chaos unfold right in front of your eyes. It’s one thing to watch a documentary on the History Channel, but it's a whole different beast when you're standing in the middle of it all, wondering if everything is about to go sideways. Some things you just can't wrap your head around until you've been in the thick of it yourself. Trust me on this one. Mud-slinging. Just constant, bottom-of-the-barrel mud-slinging everywhere you look lately—it’s honestly exhausting. It feels like nobody actually wants to debate the merits of a policy or talk about what’s actually happening in the country anymore; instead, everyone just takes a giant bucket of filth and throws it at anyone standing in their way. It’s become this endless cycle of character assassination where the goal isn't to win an argument, but just to make sure the other person looks as disgusting as possible. I was reading this thread earlier—and don't get me started on how toxic some of these digital spaces have become—and it's the same old story. People aren't even arguing points anymore; they're just digging for dirt, or worse, making stuff up out of thin air just to score a cheap point. It reminds me of that one time back in high school when the whole football team turned on the quarterback because of some ridiculous rumor—nothing ever changes, really. It’s just different faces, same petty tactics. We used to value substance, but now? Now it's all about who can scream the loudest about someone else's flaws. It’s pathetic. I mean, seriously... what did I even do to deserve this kind of treatment just because I posted an ad? It’s actually unreal. One minute you're just trying to get something done—just being a normal person putting a notice out there—and the next, everything goes sideways. Honestly, it feels like people are just looking for any excuse to jump down someone's throat these days. It's exhausting. ZadacnicaHonestly, you have no idea—you really don't—the kind of absolute nonsense I've had to deal with from the moderators lately. It’s been constant. 🙄

Does it really—and I mean *really*—bother you that much that Zadacnica exists in the US? Seriously, out of all the massive issues we could be debating right now, you’re choosing to get hung up on Zadacnica?

By the way—just so we're clear—I’m typing this as just another person hanging out on the forum, not as a mod.

Sophia Smith29 said:He’s actually held that position before—if you can even call it that. Honestly, he didn't exactly leave a glowing impression during his first run. It wasn't exactly a "gold star" performance, if you know what I mean. ☕

If you actually think the moderation over at LJES is handled well, then maybe there's a chance Phiber's style of moderating could actually do some good for this PDF—right? Or am I totally off base here? Do you honestly think the US would handle things differently?

Let's keep moving along with this discussion regarding those unwritten rules...

Edge is out here playing judge and jury on the politics board, handing out 100 points to anyone who dares to say "for home ready" in any conversation about the war... all because he’s decided that phrase is some kind of forbidden extremist slogan... it's just such a strange way to moderate, honestly, acting like he's the moral compass for everyone else's historical perspectives...

Time really takes its toll, doesn't it... and it isn't just weighing down on those forum members who have been penalized, but it seems to be drifting over toward everyone else as well... It’s funny how things just seem to multiply, isn't it... like how many different ways there are to look at the same old problem, and yet we always end up circling back to the exact same starting point... it feels like there are so many layers to everything these days... I suppose when we talk about those who stood their ground back then, those veterans who fought for everything we have today... it really makes you think about the weight of that legacy and how much it shapes our sense of identity here in America....

Lol, Susan Price acting like she's a mod for Edge. I actually saw her posting on some PŽK thread a few months back saying she wanted the mod spot 😁 And she totally called it regarding Alex too 😁

Excuses, my bad for going off-topic 🙂

I happened to stumble upon a brand new rule over in the politics section by @Roko

"Any attempt to summon the moderators will be treated as if you were commenting on the moderation itself"

If you want to see how this actually plays out in real time, you can check out these examples here:



And honestly, applying this unwritten rule also means falling under the umbrella of all those other unwritten rules they have over in the politics subforum—though I suppose I don't even need to say which ones, because you can probably guess, can't you? 😍

Let's keep moving along with these unwritten moderator rules...

I was just wandering around the forums and happened to stumble upon a specific rule regarding religious discussions:

When discussing religion, drawing an analogy between homosexuality and incest is strictly off-limits.

James Patel20 said:Moving right along with these unwritten rules...

Edge on politics is handing out 100 points to anyone who uses the phrase "for home ready" in the context of the war, justifying it by claiming it’s nothing but "fascist rhetoric."

It really feels like this insults not just the user being penalized, but so many veterans as well...

And Edge keeps up the exact same style on the politics board, shutting down the whole discussion about Simunic and ZDS with a single sentence:

Enough with this fascist apologetics. Closed.

So, basically, this moderator is pushing his own narrow-minded view—that ZDS is strictly a fascist greeting—as if it were an unwritten rule of the forum itself...

Now, look, Edge certainly has every right to hold his own opinion regarding ZDS, but as a moderator, labeling every single argument presented as "fascist apologetics" is just a massive insult to many users, and even more so to the veterans who actually used ZDS during the war...

Given that the people in this video were essentially busy covering for this moderator, maybe it would be appropriate for him to offer them an apology...

I'll leave him to judge that for himself... ☕

James Patel20 said:Since those people in the video were basically busy covering for that moderator, it probably feels like the right thing to go out and offer them an apology.
Go ahead and give me your best shot. Give me an assessment. ☕

Get off my back. I'm done dealing with you. Go find somewhere else to dump all that nonsense.