TheProspect
Moderator
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2016
- Messages
- 885
- Reaction score
- 1,823
Some here on the Anything Else forum have been engaging in political discussions lately, especially given recent events. Let this thread be a reminder that political discussions on the SoSuave Forums are against the rules.
Why are political discussions against the rules? Because they've proven to be inflammatory on this forum. No further explanation needed.
Many of you have been civil and/or discreet with your political post & threads. However, that doesn’t change the rules.
Disagreeing with the rules also doesn’t change the rules.
Your opinion of the rules and how the mods choose to use their discretion to enforce them, doesn’t change them neither.
Any particular post or thread that is interpreted as political by a mod is subjected to being locked or deleted by that mod. Furthermore, repeat offenders will be given warnings, and ultimately a ban if they continue to reoffend.
Is the enforcement of these rules perfect and always consistent? No.
Each moderator is a unique individual with their own perspectives and opinions, with diverse enough leanings as a group to balance us out. We often agree with the political posts we have to moderate, but that doesn't change the fact that we have a responsibility as moderators to enforce the rules against political discussions.
Implicit political posts that are more discreet and disguised make it harder for us moderators to determine their nature (many of you do this intentionally), and requires us to use our discretion as to whether the post violates the rules against political discussions or not. As mentioned, each mod has to subjectively interpret these posts that lie more in the grey area. Does that cause room for misinterpretation and potential bias? Absolutely. Moderators are only human. But you can make our jobs easier for us...
If you want to avoid your posts being interpreted as political, it’s actually quite simple: Don’t post content that can be reasonably interpreted, explicitly or implicitly, as political. Posts about mountain biking and Christmas songs are less likely to be interpreted as violations of our rules against political discussions than posts pertaining to government, stimulus packages, elections, COVID response, far left/right ideologies, and the mention of political figures... as the latter topics inevitably invite politics into the discussion.
Per the sticky at the top of the forum (in case any of you missed it):
Why are political discussions against the rules? Because they've proven to be inflammatory on this forum. No further explanation needed.
Many of you have been civil and/or discreet with your political post & threads. However, that doesn’t change the rules.
Disagreeing with the rules also doesn’t change the rules.
Your opinion of the rules and how the mods choose to use their discretion to enforce them, doesn’t change them neither.
Any particular post or thread that is interpreted as political by a mod is subjected to being locked or deleted by that mod. Furthermore, repeat offenders will be given warnings, and ultimately a ban if they continue to reoffend.
Is the enforcement of these rules perfect and always consistent? No.
Each moderator is a unique individual with their own perspectives and opinions, with diverse enough leanings as a group to balance us out. We often agree with the political posts we have to moderate, but that doesn't change the fact that we have a responsibility as moderators to enforce the rules against political discussions.
Implicit political posts that are more discreet and disguised make it harder for us moderators to determine their nature (many of you do this intentionally), and requires us to use our discretion as to whether the post violates the rules against political discussions or not. As mentioned, each mod has to subjectively interpret these posts that lie more in the grey area. Does that cause room for misinterpretation and potential bias? Absolutely. Moderators are only human. But you can make our jobs easier for us...
If you want to avoid your posts being interpreted as political, it’s actually quite simple: Don’t post content that can be reasonably interpreted, explicitly or implicitly, as political. Posts about mountain biking and Christmas songs are less likely to be interpreted as violations of our rules against political discussions than posts pertaining to government, stimulus packages, elections, COVID response, far left/right ideologies, and the mention of political figures... as the latter topics inevitably invite politics into the discussion.
Per the sticky at the top of the forum (in case any of you missed it):