General discussion of moderation procedures

"Civilized intellectual debate..." AAAAA HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAAHA You're even funnier than Percy's parody.

I'm sure you're right. For one thing hitting the right note in parody is not something everyone can do and even if you do it right somebody is going to think you're being straight.

i am absolutely in awe of the fact that you suspended the admin and owner of the site.i guess what's fair is fair.

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אָרַח

Unless I've missed something (like a ban or a suspension) - why are we operating very obvious double standards in regards to faith?Every other post involves calling someone an idiot or a fool, why are we holding atheists to higher standards ?What's the explanation?

Don't be naive. If we don't mollycoddle the anti-evolutionist or christian fundamentalists they either get banned for their blatant infringements or run away. We have to give them some leeway unless we all want to spend our time sending ourselves smug little congratulatory messages about how right we all are to believe in evolution or atheism.TTFN,WKP.S. we have so many spare atheists that one or too don't matter, all banning does is yank another dog off the pile.

First of all, thanks for replying here, and not in the suspension / bannings thread.I think you did miss something. The message was written by Percy here. (My bold) Hope that helps explicate things.

But why do we have such a song and dance about debating the person and sticking to the rules for the rest of us? Why are we getting mods boring us all to death telling us that they are going to suspend "name-callers".It's pretty insulting really - People like Faith get special treatment because we (the board) don't think that they are capable of the self-control needed to debate without insults. It's just another way of treating them like children.

There certainly is an implied insult.I don't see how we get around it though. Do the admins strictly enforce the rules and leave us with only 1 or 2 literalists or anti-evolutionists? Surely the entire raison d'etre of the site is to debate with these very people and without them the site is pointless. I suppose ideally a strict enforcement should act as a filter leaving us with only very well behaved anti-evolutionists or literalists, but that certainly doesn't seem to be the way it works in practice.TTFN,WK

I think it's SO funny that you all consider the normal style here to be well-behaved, that snotty way everybody has of demanding "proof" and only a particular KIND of "proof" for instance, the rampant misrepresentation that is NEVER noticed by Admin, the INDIRECT name-calling that is epidemic. You guys are a riot! At least I'll be going out laughing.

That is well-behaved. Well-behaved people do not simply believe everything that they are told, or fail to challenge falsehood when it is put forth as truth.I mean, look. It's obvious that you can't cut it here; that any level of rigorous questioning is far too much for you. You should understand, at least, that for many of us here - for instance anyone involved with any of the sciences to any extent - the level of scepticism you find so antagonistic on this board is as a playful picnic - an orgy of credulity and acceptance - compared to the level of scrutiny, interrogation, and outright antangonistic inquiry that constitutes one average day among the scientific community.It's that level of questioning and skepticism that moves science forward and trims the fat, skims the dross, purifies by fire our scientific models and conclusions. Keeps your medicine safe and effective. Keeps your transportation safe and reliable. Keeps your technology safe and useful.Of course it's too much for you. This is how we separate the truth from the lies. Anyone who shows up trying to offer lies as truth is going to find no easy berth here.

General Krull writes:

quote:

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It's pretty insulting really - People like Faith get special treatment because we (the board) don't think that they are capable of the self-control needed to debate without insults. It's just another way of treating them like children.

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Not just "pretty" insulting, it's highly insulting. I've quit coming to this forum as often as I used to because the fundies are allowed (and, by extension, encouraged) to make slanderous statements about gay people so long as those statements result from their "beleif system". We gays are expressly forbidden to respond in kind, I presume because we can't point to a "belief system" to validate our views.I don't know if the same policy is applied to atheists and non-fundie Christians. I assume it is, based on what I'm reading in this thread, but like I said I don't follow this forum as closely as I used to because I'm sick of the disgusting double standards. I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised; this is the same situation that exists in the major media. If the Fox News Channel were running this forum I don't think it'd be much different than it is.If the forum rules are too strict to expect fundies to obey them, then those rules should be amended or dropped. There's no excuse for double standards. But then again, this is the way society operates these days. Christians are held to a looser standard everywhere. This forum is certainly no different.

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Keep America Safe AND Free!

But, hey, there's no theocracy, right? Can't use the T-word...(Not disagreeing with you, of course, nor suggesting that you specifically have denied incipient theocracy.)

I think the point is that it was insulting to the Fundamentalist Christians because it assumes that they are incapable of behaving any better. And it would be insulting, if it were not true.

Do you mean the same respect that she shows here to other posters? I haven't got involved in most of the debates that Faith has participated in because of the double standards that were applied. Life's too short to show respect to the views of someone who can sling insults with impunity. I'd rather not be a sitting duck for her ill-tempered venom.

I absolutely agree. All should be held to the same standard. that one side can more consistently adhere to the rules really says more about the sides then the rules.On the other hand, if we insisted on the rules for all, Phatboy would be the only one left on the religious side. Well, and Jar, but he's really more of a universalist and those guys have to be tolerant.