Discussion, not Provocation

[pocaracas]

My hovercraft is full of eels!!

[Cyberman]

Yes, intentions matter. That's our job, to evaluate such things as far as is possible. Investigations are not done in a vacuum; we don't just look at the reported post and go "VOTE: lynch Neo for being a shit again". We see if there's a pattern developing and decide accordingly. Trust me, it would be so tempting and all-too easy to quietly disappear anyone we don't like for whatever reason. I wonder why we don't (usually)?

[Jackalope]

Personally, I believe Neo is being sincere here, that his intent was to demonstrate the shit that members with minority forum views endure.

The decision to close some threads was done by consensus, which I happened to agree with.  I also am personally sympathetic to his position on this matter.

However, this is an issue that we have been discussing for longer than I can remember, and we've made several attempts to encourage more civil discourse and deal with trolls and persistent flaming.  We recognize that this problem cuts across ideological lines and I believe there is universal consensus among the staff to deal with it regardless of a poster's views.

We recognize that the less hands-on approach has not resulted in the kind of environment that we want to foster.  Simultaneously, we also recognize that some posters will not like it.  Frankly, I'm more concerned about dealing with the former than I am with posters who routinely and unreasonably denigrate entire groups of people (in the opinion of the staff).

[Catholic_Lady]

As a wise staff member already mentioned in relation to what Neo was doing: two wrongs don't make a right.

Intentions matter. Insulting people for no reason is one thing. Responding in kind to teach the other person how it feels is another thing entirely.

A: You mother is a hampster.
A: Your father reeks of elderberries.
A: You're also an asshole.
A: People like you are cunts.
B: None of that is true. How would you feel if I called you those things?
A: The fact that you don't recognize the you are cunt proves you are one.
B: Maybe calling other people a cunt makes you one.
A: See now your just being a fucking asshole again.
B: Your sister drives a pickle truck.
A: Hypocrite!!!

Yep^

[Minimalist]

"VOTE: lynch Neo for being a shit again".

It's worth considering.

[Amarok]

Intentions matter. Insulting people for no reason is one thing. Responding in kind to teach the other person how it feels is another thing entirely.

A: You mother is a hampster.
A: Your father reeks of elderberries.
A: You're also an asshole.
A: People like you are cunts.
B: None of that is true. How would you feel if I called you those things?
A: The fact that you don't recognize the you are cunt proves you are one.
B: Maybe calling other people a cunt makes you one.
A: See now your just being a fucking asshole again.
B: Your sister drives a pickle truck.
A: Hypocrite!!!

Too bad this is not an accurate reflection of whats happened with you PoeWooter . But it does give us insight into twisted realm that is your mind space . And once again shows that despite your insistence your little experiment accomplished none of your imagined objectives .

[Shell B]

If we're going to make rules, why not ban fake social experiments. It's so fucking tedious online when people start a bunch of shit and then claim they were doing it to prove a point or see what would happen. It's the height of insincerity and it can go shit in a fucking hat.

[LadyForCamus]

^^^ 👍

If nothing else, it's certainly childish.

[Edwardo Piet]

I agree. Insincerity is fucking disgusting. That's why there is no worse insult than being deemed insincere (/dishonest/disingenuous/a liar, etc) for me.

What PoeWooter did reminds me of my stepdad recommending the family not remind my brother that it was my mother's birthday coming up, when they know he is forgetful about a lot of important stuff, to see if he would forget so they can tell him off if he does. Rather than doing the decent thing and giving him a reminder. That made me really mad.

"Oh hey, rather than directly state the truth or confront things honestly, let's pretend not to think certain things and see what the other person does."

Disgusting.

[Joods]

People might as well file "someone not owning up to their shit" in the list that's been started in this thread. People who can't accept ownership of their faults and mistakes and instead look to reason away or blame others, is pretty pathetic. This is a lesson I try to teach my kids all the time. Their father can't seem to ever be sincere in any apology he has to give, partly, because he has to be told that an apology would have been nice in the first place. The kids have gotten used to blaming everyone else for mistakes that were clearly their own.

This is the sort of thing that can create a division. You have the person who sees through the bullshit and then you have the person who refuses to acknowledge their error and then you have all of the people who are totally blind to the fact that there's even a problem to begin with. The person in error knows this and will manipulate and do whatever they can to get the uninformed on "their side", almost as if it's a stupid popularity contest.