Talk Fantasy Football

I'm concerened about something that happened in one of the threads here recently. A thread was censored and locked because the subject matter was not political itself, but had the potential to become so. Up until this point, threads need to acually violate one of the posted rules on TBB to have moderators take action. Is this a fine line that has been crossed over?

For the purposes of this discussion, the subject matter of the thread locked is immaterial. What I am worried about here is thoughtcrime - something being locked because of what may happen in the future.

Yeah, that one was a little heavy handed. I could see that the discussion was about to spiral out of control though. I have mixed thoughts on it. Sometimes I think that the total ban on political chat is a little much. Politics is such a big part of our lives and its so natural for it to creep into discussions. Especially when we're talking about something like the London bombings.

But in reality the moderators have been doing a pretty good job lately. Of course that is mainly because a few of the ones causing the bulk of the problems have decided not to post on Totally Off Topic anymore. But credit where credit is due.

That topic was floating pretty close to the line in terms of political content. As much as politics interests me, and I want to talk about it, I can see the sense it banning it here. The way discussions tend to go as soon as politics enters the arena demonstrates that quite fully IMO.

Having recently been over to the GW SG forums, I can testify that most of the mods here are pretty reasonable. I also think it is a viable tactic for new mods to stamp their authority on a situation early on, just to let it be know that they are willing to act. In the long term, this will lead to less need for moderation, as people know for themselves what they can and cannot post.

Cheers
Joe

So Skummy, you would prefer us let the topic sprial out of control and let a some people get really pi**ed off with the content then lock it? I would much prefer to nip it in the bud early on. As already stated here, that particular thread was highly likely to get out of hand.

I would very much rather see a topic be locked and controlled when it is shown that people cannot handle it civily instead of having it locked when moderators think that is the case.

Overall, the new mods have done an excellent job, but this is something on a different level.

And I'm also wondering exactly why the mods have moved this topic to a less-used area. It was posted in General Chat so that we could start a diolouge on what gets banned and why. Putting it here just guarantees that fewer people will see it.

I moved it to here as if you took time to actually read the descriptions under the headings of the forums this is the place to discuss the running of the board.

I understand your point but it has been proven time and time again that alot of people here cant be trusted to discuss sensitive subjects in a mature fashion which is why the mods have had to start to take these threads in hand early on.

Let's have a little example:

Joe Smith, from Out-in-the-Sticks, UK starts discussing gun laws with John-Boy Billy-Bob, from Nowheresville, USA. They start off ok, but pretty soon one of them takes umbrage an something the other said, and in a matter of moments, a full-scale flame war erupts, with both sides hurling insults. The mods come in and lock/delete the thread, but the damage is done. The two of them follow each other around the board, sniping each other, and genrally makethe place miserable.

Sound familiar? it should, because that was what was happen to get political discussions banned in the first place.

Then we have example two:

Same situation, but before the flame war can erupt, the mods ask for the subject to be dropped, and suggest that if they really want to discuss it they take it to PM, or any board where that's allowed. Peace, quite, tranquility and world peace descend on the board once more, and the two can happily discuss BB issues without any nastiness.

Now, I don't know aboutyou, but I know which of those 2 scenarios I prefer, and from the posts we've had from old posters I'm guessing that's how they prefer the board to.

So, yes, maybe I was quick to delete posts/lock the thread, but I erred on the side of caution on that one, and I stand by my judgement.

my point is I didn't get the feeling the thread was headed that way. everyone was pretty calm and collected about it.

if that's going to be the policy it should be changed in all the sticky's or something. but really anything could end up political under that assumption.

gken1 wrote:my point is I didn't get the feeling the thread was headed that way. everyone was pretty calm and collected about it.

I agree - at that point.
How many "calm and collected" threads have we had here that have turned nasty with just one post?
Unless there's a mod watching that thread at the right time, the damage is done, and then it's all a damage limitation exercise.

As I said, I may have been over-cautious, but I'd rather nip the flame in the bud than have to fight a bushfire, and has been said many times, if you really want to discuss politics on a BB board, then Majortusk seems more than happy for you to do so on BBC, without moderation.

[Removed House Rulez, due to Torg's post below - Darkson]

Actually don't include House-Rulez in there, following Zombie's postings on the London bombings, politics isn't really encouraged to be discussed (it's not banned, but it is a BB board, not a political one). If you want to discuss the vault or any other contentous subject, come on over.

Darkson wrote:As I said, I may have been over-cautious, but I'd rather nip the flame in the bud than have to fight a bushfire,

Valen wrote:I understand your point but it has been proven time and time again that alot of people here cant be trusted to discuss sensitive subjects in a mature fashion...

Both of these are examples of a new policy then? Moderators decide on a case-by-case basis what is and is not appropriate as a subject? What are the guidelines? How do we know what is and is not appropriate?

For example, on fumbbl, the word "bastard" is not allowed in team names, though it is hardly a swearword in the US. Are any topics that are political anywhere banned? If so, why is any subject on the London bombings allowed at all?

And a big thank you to whoever put this thread back in general chat. I think it's worthy of being seen and discussed by everyone, as the implications could very well impact everyone on the site.

Well one thing that isn't known is that I was taunting Darkson while he was cleaning up that thread too.

He asked us to take it PM because the thread was originally about the Olympics and had digressed and starting a new thread about gun laws and UK USA comparrisson would inevitably turn into something other than what it was intended.

I was okay with what happened.

Skummy I think what you missed was that you came in and posted discontent with Darkson right after I kept adding new silly posts as soon as he could delete them. I poked him with a short stick but he bit you.

all right guys,

i am not a very active mod, but i totally agree with what was done.

Specially as a non Mother tongue english speaker.
Cos we can sometimes misenderstood what was said and take it wrong.

That said,
The gun stuff was not in the good subject anyway.

There is this last time a lot of lines that i could have delete from some of you cos i disagree with . Some that i found (imho) political and in wich i would like to answer . but i didnt and even if i like to talk also about politics and other stuff i know how it can be taken badly sometimes.

We could discuss of those things in PM, other forum, in real.. not here please.

Please also dont think that Mods are evil or too powerfull and using the so great mods power. It is a pain for us to keep the board clear specially when we like people like we do ( yes, i swear it, we like you guys ! )

to skummy and anybody else :

Well, there was a post in the mod forum about the bombing in London:
We said that as long as it stay on good feelings we will keep it cos this is over politics but more about human beeing in general and cos we are all sad about that.
That said, if you check the thread , i told: please stay on the subject.
This is a risky thread that is true, but i suppose that the other Mod do like me about this one and always keep an eye on it.

To know wich thread is risky, just think that somebody could disagree about it with you.. can it go into an argue political, social, religion stuff?
If yes.. then this is a risky one.