Is GAF too strict?

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Devolution said:
I just see your tag and then I'm like "lol" regardless of what I read.
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And that is why Bish owes me an apology!! :)

Tookay said:
I'm not afraid of being banned. I haven't been yet. *crosses fingers*

What I'm more concerned about is how easily a handful of posters get stereotyped into being "the conservative troll" or this or that, simply because they have a point-of-view that the mainstream of GAF doesn't share.

That's why I prefer staying out of those types of threads, because I'd prefer not having my opinion on other topics immediately written off.
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If your argument is well considered, you will not be written off as a conservative troll. GAF skews liberal, no doubt. But they also skew educated and intelligent. Not saying the two are related though! A good argument is a good argument.
 
Tookay said:
Honestly, I feel like this forum passed a point of no-return a year or two ago, and it's never going back. The moderation favored cohesion and acceptance-at-all-costs over lively debate, and now we're reaping the rewards.

For a forum that rails on about "privilege" so much in its many forms, there seems to be a particular sort of privilege that goes unmentioned and is even encouraged: the empowerment of certain groups to get outraged and berate others who don't share their view with impunity.

Controversial topics have become toxic, and controversial opinions (that being anything outside the progressive way of framing the world) even more so. Almost every time the outcome is predetermined: posters trip over themselves to quote dogpile a dissenting view into oblivion and derail a thread in order to show some sort of holier-than-thou high-mindedness.

There's rarely anything constructive gained from such posting; it turns the thread into a "race-to-the-bottom" mess, where the instigator (who is sometimes simply misinformed or naive, but often coming from a completely different point of view) comes off looking better and less antagonistic than those who supposedly know better. And most of this stems from posters thinking the worst of other posters and not bothering to hear them out beyond a single post (except for the GAF celebrities).

It makes me stay away from participating any semblance of a discussion concerning serious issues.

Anyway, back to your irregularly-scheduled bloodlust countdown.
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Yeah, this happens on a lot of forums, but here at GAF these groups often lead people to bans with their outrage. Sometimes on purpose.

Also, I like Bish, but I don't know about creating this whole spectacle over banning users. Maybe he's just joking around.
 
upJTboogie said:
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fggO2.gif
 
Still say the the mods need to confine all the bannees into one thread for a bizarre series of challenges till one person survives and gets a pass.

The Gaffer Games
 
DrForester said:
Still say the the mods need to confine all the bannees into one thread for a bizarre series of challenges till one person survives and gets a pass.

The Gaffer Games
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Except none of the survive and it was all just for our amusement.

Looks like Creep-shots is going to burn.
 
Dead Man said:
Only if you think mods ban based on pressure from posters and quotes. I have made some arguments that were pretty unpopular, but the only time I have been banned (so far LOL) was when I insulted another gaffer.
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I think that does happen some times. Of course there are posters that just post dumb shit that makes no sense half of the time (for attention), and deserve to get banned, but I feel like there's a good segment of people who post unpopular opinions about touchy subjects, and are banned because of it. Silencing them completely doesn't seem like the answer to me.

I understand what Tookay is saying. I mean, my usual opinion seems to line up with a lot of Gaf's, but I don't like how if you see something in a different way, then you can just be completely "silenced" for lack of a better term, or just written off and laughed at by everyone in a circle jerky kind of way. I don't like when people gang up.
 
In the egypt thread.
bishoptl said:
I met a guy once, and the first words of greeting out his mouth were...racially insensitive, to put it mildly. Definitely not the sort of thing I'd let slide without comment. So I commented, we started a dialogue and found out that sometimes differing backgrounds can result in things being said that aren't necessarily what is meant.

We've now been friends for nearly 18 years.

Point being is that without sometimes taking a chance to talk with somebody about their dumbass views, they won't necessarily realize it and have the opportunity to change things up a bit. This feels like one of this crossroads, and I'm going to go left instead of right.

* Was the OP madly rowing towards the 30,000 ft drop in Fucktard Falls? Yup.
* Was it motivated by out-and-out racism, as opposed to ignorance? Eh, doesn't feel like it.
* Is there a really good opportunity to have a discussion about Egyptian anthropology here? Yup?
* Can this thread be saved? I believe so.

So congratulations. Everybody skates. Let's get back to talking about what I think the real intent was here, despite horrible mismanagement. Discussions about racial makeup in that part of the world, how ancient Egypt is normally presented in mainstream media, etc.

I'm taking a chance here and will probably kick myself if it doesn't go well...but I'll do it anyways. Prove me right, for once. Please.

That other thread, though? Some long-ass vacations coming up. Gon' get this work.

Carry on.
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You know, this post is really awesome. I really liked the friends for 18 years story.
 
LeBrick James said:
Yeah, this happens on a lot of forums, but here at GAF these groups often lead people to bans with their outrage. Sometimes on purpose.

Also, I like Bish, but I don't know about creating this whole spectacle over banning users. Maybe he's just joking around.
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How do you lead someone to a ban? Either someone posts what they think or they don't. If they post some stupid shit they cop a ban. No one is typing for people here.

G-Fex said:
I see the bumbling start in the egyptian thread is now ancient history
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Most excellent post.
 
**...and lo, the storm clouds passed, and the people rejoiced. 300 leagues away...the very ground breakes opene, and hellfyre with e'ry manner of perdition knowed to mankind, and many types unknown, spewed forth and made their horrible presence known. It was the end time and there would be no more.**
 
Dead Man said:
If your argument is well considered, you will not be written off as a conservative troll. GAF skews liberal, no doubt. But they also skew educated and intelligent. Not saying the two are related though! A good argument is a good argument.
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Here's the issue though: because I'm a conservative, I don't share some of the same foundational views on the way the world works that others on GAF might have.

I try to remain open-minded in a way many conservatives are savaged for not doing, but that doesn't change the fact that real-world issues/evidence goes through that filter and comes out in different manner than somebody who processes something from a liberal POV.

That means that sometimes what I believe to be a "well considered" viewpoint you might not believe to be one in the first place, because there's a subconscious level of framing things that we fundamentally might disagree over.

EDIT: Like LeBrick is saying, though, this probably isn't the proper time to discuss this, though. The forum's mind is on something else entirely.
 
Dead Man said:
How do you lead someone to a ban? Either someone posts what they think or they don't. If they post some stupid shit they cop a ban. No one is typing for people here.
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I've definitely seen bans instigated here before. Someone gets out of line... Not with the rules, but with political correctness or popular opinion, then trolling accusations and enjoy your ban type posts ensue and are often granted.

But anyway, that discussion is for another time... Here comes the pain soon.
 
1gpKz.jpg


Tomorrow will be the most beautiful day of the Egyptian thread posters' lives. Their next post will be better than any post you've ever made.

Edit:

I should have done a whole The Dark Knight thing with the two boats scene and the two threads. Shit! Too late now.
 
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