Peanut Gallery Commentary on the Staff Log of Bannings and such like.

[Shell B]

No, it’s entirely ridiculous.

[Edwardo Piet]

What purpose does the Warning serve if Staff can't even be bothered to see if members are actually displaying "undesirable behaviors" before putting them up for a ban? Seems very haphazard and reckless, to me.

Hey, when I got banned for a week I didn't even get a warning, lol.

Unless "You are going to be banned" counts.

I'd rather have had a "You are going to be banned if you don't stop".

But yeah, it doesn't really surprise me that you're getting lumped in even if you already stopped and it's being treated like you didn't. I always had faith in the Staff and I still do over Staff members on any other forum, the Staff is great here, but they're certainly far from perfect. They always wanted a voice of dissent in the Staff room and the funny thing is . . . I think they lost it. But once my ass got banned for a week (I can accept that I may have delivered enough insults to constitute flaming but the idea that I was 'trolling' is still laughable) . . . I knew that they certainly won't want me back on Staff lol.

I still can't find any posts on that thread that actually warrant a rule break. What exactly are people being told to stop? There has been no trolling and the few insults that were thrown were just a few, and it then died down but the warning got thrown in anyway... despite the fact that even a few insults is not a full series that constitutes the flaming rule (I don't think even I ever went that far, but that's debatable).

Seems like a big fuss over nothing. Probably more likely to cause than prevent things getting out of hand. Most arguments die down naturally anyway unless there's any actual full on flaming happening (I still haven't seen anywhere that there is).

Just seems really odd that such a big deal is being made out of a few insults. Since when does a few insults constitute the flaming rule? People do that over AF all the time. People don't need to be babysit just because they threw a couple of insults . . . seems kind of ridiculous and like AF is being turned into a stupid ass safe space.

A few insults or personal remarks is NOT flaming. This is getting really silly. I've seen worse happen in a game of Mafia. If I wanted a Safe Space I'd post on another site.

Kinda sucks if what makes AF feel like home is being ruined. Until recently I never had to walk on eggshells on AF but it's became very clear to me now that I'm going to have to do that now. I can only really be myself in Slack now. AF is turning into eggshell land. "NOOOOOOO HE/SHE SAID A NAUGHTY WORD TO HIM/HER! WARN THEM AND CONTINUE TO WARN THEM EVEN WHEN THEY STOP! Or just ban them and warn them after you've already decided to ban them. What did they do again? Oh yeah they said stuff that was naughty and hurt each other's little feelings. Censorship time! What? They stopped? Okay pretend they didn't anyway. They're all the same person right?".

AF never used to be like that.

[vulcanlogician]

Apparently I give up on threads to early. Off for some backwards reading. Will it be good?

Some interesting things are said. Some good points were made on both sides, too. But a huge lack of listening to/respecting the other side, arguments from emotion, and guilt by association--these things kept it from being a measured debate.

[Tiberius]

It wasn’t even guilt by association, it was literally calling people supporters of the alt-right for no reason.

[Edwardo Piet]

I actually agree. Thena stopped after the speed bump and shouldn’t be given any warning, let alone a ban. I’m sure that will be noticed in any staff discussion.

The Staff seem to have gone to shit lol. Totally lost perspective.

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I should clarify that we're not talking about account bans, even temporary ones; merely thread bans.

The Prime Directive's objective is a really cool idea. Discussion *is* what AF is about. But it seems to me that it's all just code for "Delete stuff we don't like."

I'm fine with it when you guys are deleting troll threads. But deleting/banning legit discussions just because people end up saying some naughty words to each other in an emotionally charged topic... is just going to completely ruin AF.

Having a discussion and throwing the odd insult is still having a discussion. No need to stop the whole discussion just because of a few naughty words. Unless people are actually flaming then banning threads over stupid shit is just going to turn AF into a Safe Space and all the people worth having around will leave. If that's what's going to happen then that's not promoting discussion... that's shutting down discussion over stupid shit that doesn't even matter (if people aren't flaming, then it's not worth banning a thread over).

While the Staff are at it with the completely over the top censorship safespace thingy, you might as well go back to banning all Clickbait titles while you're at it!

Oooh! Oooh! And I have an idea for a new rule: If anyone ever says anything off topic or unrelated to the thread it should be considered pointlessly anti-discussion and their post should be deleted. This place isn't supposed to be fun! How is censoring people going to shut down discussion?! /sarcasm

Oooh! Oooh! I have another one!: If Boru says something unfunny in the humor subforum... delete his post for being unintentionally off topic. Fortunately for Boru, that would never happen anyway. I mean, since when does he say something that isn't funny?

[Athene]

I'd imagine that at least attempting to convey the illusion of fairness and even-handedness should be somewhat important in these matters, but if it's not, it's not.
We'll see.

Either way, I'll be fine. This is just an internet forum.
Gotta keep things in perspective.

[Edwardo Piet]

They don't need the illusion of fairness. Just the illusion of being open to suggestions and feedback

[Shell B]

OH, the staff is fine. I don’t mind being banned for it. I intentionally called Thump a dickhead after I was told to stop. I don’t necessarily agree with the rule, but I definitely broke it. I’m sure Thena was only accidentally included in that warning. Let’s not get hyperbolic here.

[Cyberman]

I actually agree. Thena stopped after the speed bump and shouldn’t be given any warning, let alone a ban. I’m sure that will be noticed in any staff discussion.

The Staff seem to have gone to shit lol. Totally lost perspective.

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I should clarify that we're not talking about account bans, even temporary ones; merely thread bans.

The Prime Directive's objective is a really cool idea. Discussion *is* what AF is about. But it seems to me that it's all just code for "Delete stuff we don't like."

Note my bold. That's all fine. Just don't be upset with anyone but yourself that you're wrong.

[Autumnlicious]

I'd imagine that at least attempting to convey the illusion of fairness and even-handedness should be somewhat important in these matters, but if it's not, it's not.

We strive for that. Sometimes we don't accomplish that. A missing specific (like say "thread ban" instead of "ban") easily can add to the chaos. If you have concerns, PM them to me and I will look into it.