Suggestion Should we ban religious / LGBT / political threads?

[MadMageKefka]

This started as a status message, but it sparked some interesting discussion, so at the advice of someone on my status, I made a thread to see what everyone else thinks.

Now, its not my place to decide the rules of this site, nor am I the kind of person to usually censor what people talk about. However, I am seeing more and more of these threads every day, and its getting out of hand. They always, without fail, devolve into bigotry and arguing. With this being a video game website, and these sorts of threads causing so much drama, maybe it would be for the best?

An example I would like to give is the thread from the other day about the Afghanistan bombing. After several pages it devolved into several people saying how gays should be executed. The thread was deleted shortly after. My question is, why aren't those people being punished and having their comments deleted? Why was the entire thread removed? Some of that conversation was legit discussion. I have a feeling the staff here is tired of the crap too (please correct me if I am wrong).

So what do you all think? I don't wanna censor people really, but at the same time I think it would make the site a more friendly, enjoyable experience for everyone. Maybe another option would be to create a separate forum for this stuff, so at least it doesn't appear on the front page? Please, let me know how you all feel too.

EDIT: At this point, after discussing this for so many hours, my opinion on the matter is that outright banning this sort of thing is not the answer. I do, however, feel that off-topic discussions of this nature don't belong on the front page of a gaming / hacking forum. A lot of people are tired of seeing it and it just plain makes us looks bad as a community when 4 out of the 10 topics on the front page are off-topic shit shows of bigotry and hate. This is obviously not too often the case, but it does seem to be happening more frequently.

 

[Dr.Hacknik]

I am so glad that this hasn't started into a flame war for the past hour~ Good job, this is a proper debate!

 

[evandixon]

Good point, let's say, for example, someone nominates me. The only things I have ever moderated was a minecraft server and school projects. I am no way fit to be a mod. But if enough people vote for me, I'll just be a useless staff

You'd learn on the job. When I started moderating, I was by no means "qualified". Having been moderating for years now, I feel that I am.

 

[Boogieboo6]

I actually enjoy reading political threads because I know nothing about politics and want to see people's views. Religious threads I'm okay with, they don't seem to cause a fight, but maybe I just don't see too many of those. LGBT threads turn into a brawl by the second page. I've gotta say, my only gripe with this site is the LGBT and furry stuff. I'm not a furry, but I don't hate them or anything. Same with LGBT people. But this really isn't the place for that kinda stuff. Same could be said for political and religious threads, but I don't see a problem with them. Keep in mind, this is just my opinion and I don't mean to suggest the site take this direction of partial banning of specific content. To be fair though, after a bit of thought, I haven't seen very many flame war threads lately, or furry convention 2017: the thread. I think the staff have been doing a fine job keeping up with reports posted. I like the site the way it is, but in a perfect world, there would be a greater focus on gaming than other not-gaming content.

 

[Dionicio3]

You'd learn on the job. When I started moderating, I was by no means "qualified". Having been moderating for years now, I feel that I am.

Yeah, but my moderating experience is only about a year and a half, no where close to being a good temp mod

 

[The Catboy]

Staff have their way of choosing new staff, thankyouverymuch Also, one thing to keep in mind when it comes to "more staff": Quality over quantity.

Now, this thread is starting to derail, and I'm sorry for being part of that. Now let's keep to the original subject.

I don't know, the suggest of more staff actually kind of is on topic. It's giving a suggestion based on observation and at the same time trying to give an alternative to censorship. Take into consideration that these members are only talking about what they see, not what they can't see. What they see is troll posts taking forever to be removed, what they don't see is the reason why it's taking so long for them to be removed. So the simple solution to the problem is to get more men out there. This is why I am glad you did post about what goes on with the staff, it gives more clarity to what you guys deal with. Even if it's not that big a deal, members care and don't want you guys overworked. You may be a Staff member, but you are also a member of the Temp. You guys are family to us and we only want the best for our family.

 

[Wolfvak]

Remember, these staff members are humans and they do get backlogged on reports. They can only do so much with their time and this isn't including their own personal lives. And in some cases they the staff has to actually talk about these reports, putting the issue on backlog.
Basically does the post look report worthy? If the answer is yes, report, don't reply. This should be the golden rule of this site.

I'm sure they are, and I'm also sure they're nice people - I once got a post removed incorrectly, PMd the moderator that removed it and got it back up in a few minutes. What gets me mad is that it's *always* the same people and the mods (appear) to be doing nothing about it.

I actually enjoy reading political threads because I know nothing about politics and want to see people's views.

Ideally people would only post about "their views" and reasons why they think they're right, but NOPE! Members feel the need to tell people they disagree with that they're worthless humans, heartless pieces of meat, and other nice things. I believe that's the reason this thread was created.

 

[Dr.Hacknik]

Yeah, but my moderating experience is only about a year and a half, no where close to being a good temp mod

I can see that, but @Issac did mention the "Quality over Quantity" part. And I would agree. Having 1 and a half years worth of experience is not something to be too proud of to put on your Resume. Although, if you had maybe 4+ years, that might be something to look into.

 

[The Catboy]

I'm sure they are, and I'm also sure they're nice people - I once got a post removed incorrectly, PMd the moderator that removed it and got it back up in a few minutes. What gets me mad is that it's *always* the same people and the mods (appear) to be doing nothing about it.

Chances are the staff are aware of these members and they have warnings, but several members I've reported often just stretch at the rules. There's one member I've seen who only posts once and never replies, but their post completely derails the thread. So who's really the problem? The member who caused the issue or the people who kept replying instead of reporting? Even if it's a little of both, it's not the staff's fault that people keep replying instead of reporting.

 

[Stephano]

I can see that, but @Issac did mention the "Quality over Quantity" part. And I would agree. Having 1 and a half years worth of experience is not something to be too proud of to put on your Resume. Although, if you had maybe 4+ years, that might be something to look into.

People have to start from somewhere though

 

[evandixon]

I can see that, but @Issac did mention the "Quality over Quantity" part. And I would agree. Having 1 and a half years worth of experience is not something to be too proud of to put on your Resume. Although, if you had maybe 4+ years, that might be something to look into.

Having that requirement makes this be a problem:

Spoiler

 

[916253]

I actually enjoy reading political threads because I know nothing about politics and want to see people's views. Religious threads I'm okay with, they don't seem to cause a fight, but maybe I just don't see too many of those. LGBT threads turn into a brawl by the second page. I've gotta say, my only gripe with this site is the LGBT and furry stuff. I'm not a furry, but I don't hate them or anything. Same with LGBT people. But this really isn't the place for that kinda stuff. Same could be said for political and religious threads, but I don't see a problem with them. Keep in mind, this is just my opinion and I don't mean to suggest the site take this direction of partial banning of specific content. To be fair though, after a bit of thought, I haven't seen very many flame war threads lately, or furry convention 2017: the thread. I think the staff have been doing a fine job keeping up with reports posted. I like the site the way it is, but in a perfect world, there would be a greater focus on gaming than other not-gaming content.

Allowing for political and religious discussion but not allowing lgbt and furry discussion seems to be a bit oppressive; perhaps rather than disallow them, steps could be taken so that those threads *don't* turn into senseless arguments?

 

[Issac]

I'm sure they are, and I'm also sure they're nice people - I once got a post removed incorrectly, PMd the moderator that removed it and got it back up in a few minutes. What gets me mad is that it's *always* the same people and the mods (appear) to be doing nothing about it.
Ideally people would only post about "their views" and reasons why they think they're right, but NOPE! Members feel the need to tell people they disagree with that they're worthless humans, heartless pieces of meat, and other nice things. I believe that's the reason this thread was created.

If you find something offensive, report it and those things are never dealt with: maybe it's because we don't find it offensive as you do. I can't say for sure, but that may be one reason. If a post get removed incorrectly, it may be because of a LOT of reasons. You got yours back in a few minutes, so that's good. Communication is always good.

I can see that, but @Issac did mention the "Quality over Quantity" part. And I would agree. Having 1 and a half years worth of experience is not something to be too proud of to put on your Resume. Although, if you had maybe 4+ years, that might be something to look into.

I had 0 years experience of being a mod when I was picked. We have our reasons and ways to pick out candidates

 

[Dionicio3]

I can see that, but @Issac did mention the "Quality over Quantity" part. And I would agree. Having 1 and a half years worth of experience is not something to be too proud of to put on your Resume. Although, if you had maybe 4+ years, that might be something to look into.

On thing I kind of hate is all the people who are like "MOD ME FGT M8". Haven't really seen it here, but I have seen it a lot in my minecraft days

 

[nero99]

Ban everything that has nothing to do with gaming, hardware, software, or any electronic discussion. Get rid of the EOF, Off topic chat, everything that is killing this place must go.

 

[H1B1Esquire]

Maybe make a section like the EoF, between Go-T? Call it Specific Outside of Gaming. Just like EoF, you'll have to search it out and that would probably cut 20% of the mess.
I've also never reported a thread, but maybe having a few more categories and a 1-10 , i.e. petty squabble, file beg-flooding, uploading banned content, spam-posting G/H/etc, continuing offense after warnings, etc, might help?

 

[Boogieboo6]

Keep in mind, this is just my opinion and I don't mean to suggest the site take this direction of partial banning of specific content.

Allowing for political and religious discussion but not allowing lgbt threads seems to be a bit oppressive; perhaps rather than disallow them, steps could be taken so that those threads *don't* turn into senseless arguments?

I don't want what I wrote to be what happens to the site. You're right, it does seem oppressive. But what kind of steps could be taken though? As soon as one person goes in and writes something that starts a fight, the fights already begun and is 5 pages deep by the time a mod can come around. Maybe there could be a section dedicated to subjects like that. It could include religion, politics, lgbt stuff, whatever else. It could be hidden from the main page, like not on the recent content tab, so the easily offended don't stumble in.

 

[Dvdxploitr]

I see this page as a gaming site...PC games, console games, handhelds, hacks, mods, glitches, etc....so, i think this should be gaming only....if its anything but gaming, I think it should be removed

 

[Chary]

Making political threads into blogs sounds fine. Perhaps I just like chaos, but I find the political threads fun, at least for the 10 minutes before they derail into trash. Banning them entirely seems a bit too harsh, especially since those threads do seem to be popular with users. It is extra work for the mods, though, and I have stepped in to lock things a handful of times, when they get out of hand. I don't think we need to axe politics entirely, nor do I think we need more mods, but some change needs to be made so the craziness isn't on the front page full force.

 

[Dionicio3]

I had 0 years experience of being a mod when I was picked. We have our reasons and ways to pick out candidates

Wow that's actually really cool.

 

[Armadillo]

No need to ban them. Just need to swing the banhammer on a few users. It's always the same few posting flame bait.