I'll put it another way: We decided long ago that we would put up with a good deal more on this subforum than we do in the general forums. The reason for that is that political and religious topics inherently get a bit more heated, are more emotional, and often entail vigorous debate. We want to encourage that vigorous debate because we believe it can be productive, in the same way the American founding fathers found vigorous debate to be healthy, productive, and necessary to vet important ideas. I want to continue to encourage that. At the same time, people have to be somewhat civil to one another. You don't have to be polite. You don't have to like each other. You don't have to concede anything. But you have to be reasonably civil. Sometimes, folks here (myself included) cross the line. We don't often ban people for it, because we understand that it comes with the territory. But when we receive a report or one of us perceives that things are too close to the line or cross it, we step in and try to settle things down. Sometimes, we make the wrong call one way or the other. And right or wrong, people often disagree with those calls. But we do the best we can because we want this place to continue, and to not be the type of cesspool that you see in comments sections all over the Internet. I think we (the collective "we" of all those who post here) do a reasonable job.
As to the particular set of posts here, from my perspective:
-Barry: I agree with Joe that you were unnecessarily aggressive and dismissive. I am asking that you tone it down.
-Stadler: Often you can beat a point into the ground to miss the forest for the trees in trying to make your point. Try to find that balance between vigorously standing your ground vs. recognizing when others have just had enough.
-Adami: You had every right to report the posts. I don't see anything warranting anything more severe than what was said here. I don't see it as something that "needed" to be reported. But it wasn't a frivolous report either. And sometimes, it's just good to get the mods' attention and ask us to step in to cool things down.
Anyhow, I don't feel like any "formal" reprimands are needed for anybody--just please try to keep the above in mind. Carry on.
Topic: 2020 Election Aftermath Thread (Read 41183 times)
