Request for feedback from the community.

[mahnmut]

I'll actually ask this here.

So can someone please tell me what in the world is going on? Passions have been flaring here since yesterday. Slow news day or what!?

You're really really not making this easy for us, guys. I hate being the bad guy for no reason, but Hell is my witness, along with all the witches and goblins in there, we'll do whatever it

Comments

[lilenth]

Politics aren't just a dry issue, they can hurt people.

In short, people unsurprisingly don't like undermining of human rights dressed up as debate, because it's not just a debate point, it's support for things that actually do affect members in the real world.

[rick_day]

Human approach to problem solving can be broken up into two distinct camps.

Ones that agree with you

and one that disagree with you.

[luvdovz]

Slow news day sounds like a very highly probable explanation.

[moonchylde]

I'm still scratching my head over the yellow flag a couple days ago... I dont recall ever even getting a PM.

Meh. I'm too tired most days for the long-thread format others favor. I'm not on often enough to catch up on the drama. Just figured it was one more sign of the lack of good conversation available with differing viewpoints. Really, even if I do get more free time, I doubt I'll be participating much. But still on the 'read' list for the time being. At least I hear about people's hot-button issues.

[mahnmut]

Which yellow flag do you mean? I don't happen to see any.

[moonchylde]

Was just a basic 'stop' and thread freeze, just confused the heck out of me since I didn't think either of us had done anything in the conversation.

[mahnmut]

If you could link me to the place maybe I could say something more specific about it, but over the top of my hat, what I could say from now is that we generally do that whenever we "sense" that things are quickly starting to devolve and there's high potential for drama. Granted, the "sensing" part is the tricky one because that can be very subjective and the criteria vary from person to person. But on the upside, it's always better to cut drama in its roots and err at the side of caution, and possibly re-review the whole situation later in case of complaint from one of the sides. What I mean is that no decision is permanent, what we do in most cases is freeze things for a while so that more of our colleagues could tune in and exercise the peer-review principle that we cherish so much.

[johnny9fingers]

At least the drama is a sign that this place is more than an echo chamber for one or other viewpoint.

I'm not normally one associated with a, um, laisseze faire attitude to things: being, in general, of the paternalistic view, which is also known to some as the "I know what's better for you than you do" point-of-view, however, I'd rather spend time in a vibrant and alive comm than a dead one.

I'm all for light (though flexible) moderating. Lightness is all. By your flame-wars are you known: by your replies are you judged. Also, I reckon that the mods on here are only the best of a bad bunch of barely-restrained internet thugs and muggers desperately striving for control over ourselves themselves as much as our their environment.

Oops, did I say that aloud?

[rick_day]

This comment just made me hungry for a doughnut

[mahnmut]

Problem is, I don't know what's better for you. Honestly, I really don't. That's why I'm leaving smarter heads than me figure it out. ;-)

[geezer_also]

I know that air heads are drafty toilets, but what is a smart head?

[ddstory]

The more leeway you give to trolls, whiners, or simply bored guys who think Internet+Anonymity=Awesomeness, the more they'll step into the vacuum you're ready to vacate, and would fill it with all sorts of crap you can imagine. Then you try to push back, and you're suddenly the bad guy. I know this trick because I've been a troll, whiner, and a bored bitch myself.

[prog_expat]

[mahnmut]

Ugh, that was actually the pic I've been looking for all evening.

[prog_expat]

Well, there you have it, by shitcock!