This isn't quite about game development but I wanted to post under this forum's umbrella anyway just to signal the fact the thread's content needs to remain constructive.
It's in response to this:
@lisse24 said in San Francisco.:
@arkandel said in San Francisco.:
'Silencing' doesn't happen very often here - moderation is pretty damn light. I've had to give a couple of warnings for personal attacks in non-Hogpit threads, and booted that one guy who was trolling every thread.
I just want to point out that no matter how much, how little, or what sort of speech you moderate someone is going to be silenced. If you go full-SJW, you may end up silencing some people who have controversial views, or just those who are scared of speaking up for fear they'll say something wrong. If you let the classic internet "bro-mentality" rule, you sideline PoC, LGBTQ folk, and women, creating a hostile environment that effectively silences them. If you refuse to stamp out inflammatory speech, the people who like fights and drama for drama's sake will rule the day, and anyone who wants a reasonable discussion on an important topic will end up silenced and marginalized. I know I'm posting this in the hogpit and the decision about which type of speech to allow here was decided long ago, but the idea that no moderation means everyone gets to be heard is BS.
And that's a fair point so I wanted us to discuss it.
For starters a disclaimer; MSB has only two actual rules about moderation. You can't attack a person outside of the Hog Pit (attacking opinions is fine) and you can't be blatantly racist, misogynistic, etc.
The general idea is to avoid going too far with sanitizing language, so for an actual 'formal' offense to happen there needs to be no question the rules were violated; it's the difference between "kill all Jews!" and "I don't like dealing with female staff". The first will get you into our shortlist for removal, the second makes you sound idiotic but unless it's persistent and it looks intentional (which is usually the case, as troll bait) we wouldn't intervene as administrators.
This has at least a few effects:
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Just because you are permitted to be ignorant it doesn't mean ignorance is protected. In the scenario above, for example, you are going to get flamed... and you'll deserve it.
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Sometimes people use this clause to derail conversations just to be, well, shits. Slapping the comment in the middle of an otherwise tense but ongoing debate in the Mildly Constructive section, for instance, is pretty much guaranteed to move the thread to the Hog Pit within a few pages.
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The lines aren't always clear. There's a fair question about just how SJW-y we want this forum to be, especially as the mention of some words triggers people to different degrees; the easy example would be "bitch" or "cunt" used as insults. As it stands my inclination is to leave it in the 'endangered zone' area above; it can get you yelled at by posters, but unless you're doing it on purpose just to pick on people, it's not going to get you banned.
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Dealing in absolutes isn't just for the Sith; it also lets MSB admins moderate without requiring all of us to develop advanced groupthink. What I think is offensive and my life experiences and biases differ from @Auspice's or @Ganymede's as we look at a gray area, yet all three of us would nuke from orbit someone who promoted domestic violence. Do keep in mind administrators are also posters; just because we are rolling our eyes at you it doesn't mean you're in trouble (and it's on us to make the distinction clear).
I'd like your opinions on this. Please remember to stay civil, if only to escape the meta-irony of a thread specifically meant to discuss it devolving into its own discussion material.
