General discussion of moderation procedures

When the forum started to add creo moderators a few weeks ago I was worried that there might be problems. Having visited and, in rare instances, posted on Christian message boards, I suspected that some of the new mods would be overly sensitive to challenges to the Bible and Christian theology. However, my fear seems to have been misplaced as these new moderators have shown remarkable restaint. It seems to me that the boards are progressing much as they were before, and I think this fact speaks well of our cyber community.I'm so exceedingly opposed to most of what the creos stand for that I rarely find any opportunity to praise them for anything. In the case of these new moderators I think a bit of praise is in order and I think this thread might be the appropriate place to offer it.

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Dog is my copilot.

Brad writes:

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You see that is what you asked NOT be posted.

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DONE- pretend you didnt see it and wait till next time.

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You may confuse the hell out of me at times, but I have to admit that you just as often make me laugh out loud. That's rich!

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Regarding this post from the moose:Stupid's comment that gays don't take responsibility for their actions is a personal attack. I responded in kind.

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Adminnemooseus writes me:

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"He did it first" in not an excuse.

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Then you should abandon all pretense of objectivity. To say that gays don't take responsibility for their actions is an unwarranted attack, just as it would be an unwarranted attack to say that African-Americans or Hispanics don't take responsibility for their actions. Had that been the statement, and an African-American or Hispanic had responded by calling the attacker stupid, I just bet you would have responded to the original attack, not the in-kind counter-attack.Simply saying that you don't pay attention to gay-themed threads isn't good enough. You're an admin; you should make at least some effort to police all threads impartially. If the admins we now have can't do the job, then perhaps we need a gay admin. God knows we've got more than enough christians on the admin roster already.

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It is a "necessary concession" to allow fundies to make unwarranted attacks against gays? Since when?

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But that's not at all what he said, jar. Read it again. He said gays don't take responsibility for their actions. That's an unwarranted attack.Like I suggested earlier, let's change the context. Suppose he had said that blacks don't take responsibility for their actions, in line with the not-so-old fundie belief that blacks were an inferior race, and an African-American had responded by calling him stupid. You might have offered a mild reprimand to whoever used the word 'stupid', but I'll just bet you'd have had a word or two about the original attack as well.Saying that homosexuality is a sin is one thing, attacking the character of gays is quite another. You should be smart enough to see that.

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I understand, but why are people perfectly free to attack the character of gays?

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So they attack us, it goes unchecked except by debate. We attack them, an admin jumps in.Got it.

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and another thing, jar:

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Saying that homosexuality is a sin is one thing, attacking the character of gays is quite another. You should be smart enough to see that.

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Don't continue to make the same mistake and expect different results.

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What mistake?

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AdminJar writes:

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Attacking the messenger instead of the message.

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But I said: and you implied that that statement was mistaken. That statement wasn't an attack against anyone, yet you now say that my mistake was to attack the messenger. Laying aside the fact that the messenger I did attack (at another time, in another place) was making a character attack rather than relaying a message, you claimed I made a mistake somewhere in the above statement. I still don't understand where.

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Well, I'm certainly attacking your logic. You say that attacks are allowed from one side only. I'll let you decide whether that is an intelligent position, but it certainly can't be defended as logical.

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Regarding this post from Percy in which he suspends crashfrog:

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It isn't the language, it's the attitude.

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Just what is our attitude supposed to be? I read through that entire thread and I can't see anywhere that crash crossed the line, unless calling creationist nonsense lies is considered crossing a line. I note that plenty of creationists were calling evolution a lie in the same thread, why pick on crash?So, it would appear that the creationistas are given the freedom to characterize evolution proponents in any way they wish, but the evolution side is not free to point out the obvious lies and the unscientific basis of creationism. Further, fundies are perfectly free to launch character attacks against gays but gays are not allowed to respond in kind.It's your forum, you can do as you wish. But there should be no pretense that anyone who trusts science or who does not conform to right-wing christian teachings in their personal lives will be treated fairly here. In fact, there should be a disclaimer on the homepage saying something like:

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General Krull writes:

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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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Arachnophilia writes:

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however, percy himself broke his own rule. a double standard would have been if the other admins had NOT suspended him.

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No, that would have been a triple standard. The rule Percy broke was one which invoked a double-standard. The line (such that it is) had to be drawn somewhere.I see that many people like the double standards here. That isn't surprising; people seem to absolutely love all the double standards we have in society at large these days. This forum simply reflects that larger reality. As the influence of right-wing fundies continues to wax unabated in society, culture, government, the courts, etc., we're simply seeing a reflection of it here. We shouldn't be surprised. Saddened perhaps, especially since we liberals are finding ourselves increasingly marginalized with fewer and fewer places of refuge available to us, but not surprised.

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Arachnophilia writes me:

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i think of it kind of like an affirmative action thing. i mean, the debate would have been over if it weren't for faith.

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And that would have been a bad thing because...?

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