General Discussion Of Moderation Procedures 9.0

I find this (and especially the emboldened parts) remarkable!The general humanist attitude of this forum has served it very well in forging a common place where what are extremely divisive subjects can be discussed. That humanist attitude includes the notion that everybody has the right to free speech. Now, I understand that Ray being permanently banned from these forums would not impact his freedom of speech in the sense that he could continue to post at alternative forums, but it would impact the humanist attitude of the EvC forum in showing that our reaction to a dissenting, annoying, maddening voice is to shut it up.I do not know much about the background of this argument. But I must say that if I were to be confined to a "special" forum described as a "sandbox" as though I were a child, I would not post here again. Being restricted in that way is humiliating in a real sense. Not humiliating in the practical sense of our lives in the mundane world, but humiliating for the online personae we all adopt on this forum.I agree with Ray that a permanent restriction to the "sandbox" forum is unfair and does not reflect well on the "liberal thinking" of the moderators.mickEdited by mick, : No reason given.

I would hope that Ray might not be banned, and others could simply ignore any posts he makes that they consider irrelevant. Nobody is forcing anybody to devote pages of text to debating Ray if they don't want to.I personally have never found the disruption of threads to be a problem except for when both parties decide they are going to have a long debate on the forum, which might be more suited to the chat room.MickEdited by mick, : No reason given.

Sorry, while you were writing your reply I was editing my post to add a final paragraph:

quote:

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I personally have never found the disruption of threads to be a problem except for when both parties decide they are going to have a long debate on the forum, which might be more suited to the chat room.

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Instead of asking for a moderator to step in, just invite the opponent to a converstaion in the coffee house or the chat room.Basically, behave online the same way you behave in real life. When a bore sits next to you on the bus, you can talk to him and wait for your next stop, or you can tell him you'd rather not speak. What you can't do is ask for a moderator to ban him from the bus. Why shouldn't the same rule apply online?PS. I don't want to talk to you any more because you're boring me.Edited by mick, : No reason given.Edited by mick, : No reason given.Edited by mick, : No reason given.