Censorship is Bad

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Let me respond to a couple different things going on in this thread, starting with @_bob’s comments regarding censorship. We agree with your bullet points, completely. But we’re not here to censor you to keep the “truth” away from other members. It’s the moderation teams responsibility to keep the peace, to keep the conversation flowing, and to remove distractions and off-topics comments from the original topic. It’s far to easy to get off track, especially when members resort to tearing apart another member’s topic/post, whether legitimately or illegitimately, in the topic itself. That shouldn’t happen. If there’s a problem, use the flags to report the matter, discuss it with the mod team directly, or message the member.

@_bob, regarding profitbaby, that’s what happened with your removed posts. We weren’t protecting profitbaby, we were trying to keep the discussion on topic. Now, regarding profitbaby’s membership , we made a mistake keeping him/her on as member as long as we did. He/she should have been gone a long time ago, We went through that user’s last 18 months of posting history, and in too many occasions, there were numerous violations that, while recorded, weren’t taken into account together. And we made a request to him/her, that went unanswered, and that should have been the end of it. But it wasn’t followed-up on. So profitbaby is gone. We apologize for that error, which ultimately resulted in your replies to him/her, and your post removal.

I also want to take this opportunity to make clear that we have no hidden agendas or for-profit deals with scammers and trolls or any vendor in the Forums, as is peddled here by a handful of members repeatedly. If you see a banner advertisement or “sponsored by” tag on our website, that means we either have a direct or indirect (through something like Google AdSense, or some other ad network) advertising deal with that vendor or ad network. We also allow sponsorships of certain areas of our site, including articles, quizzes and polls. WE HAVE NO OTHER DEALS WITH ANY OTHER COMMERCIAL VENDORS IN PLACE. NO AFFILIATES. NO INTRODUCING BROKER DEALS. ONLY DIGITAL ADVERTISING.

Could that change, sure. But any other accusations of something different are completely false, and I’ve stated that on several occasions. If there are members around that you feel are scammers/trolls, report them using the flags available to you in every post. As for us protecting stealth vendors and promoters, that is also a false claim. If a topic turns into a flaming war, the off-topic comments are removed. Plain and simple. If you have a problem with your comments being removed, or want to know why, you can simply message a moderator to find out why.

We’ve been openly flexible in our moderation efforts and even the most critical topics about the site, our relaunch and moderation efforts are still open for anyone to read and contribute. Discussion that go around in circles are of no benefit to anyone, so they get closed, but not deleted. If our motives were to censor, those would be the first topics to be removed. And there are several members, new and old, with consistent criticism of our efforts that are still members, posting their opinions openly.

As for our moderators, they are staff members, employees of the company, and have been for over 5 years. We do not employ 3rd party posting or moderation companies. Those, again, are completely false claims. Unless you read it on the Forums, posted by a company employee or moderator, any statements made by other members about our motives are pure opinion. They are entitled to make them. But to sell them off as “truths” is completely unfair.

And for those members that haven’t moderated a discussion where those involved all have a different opinion and claim to be right, it’s harder than it looks, Case in point, we censor bad language and several members don’t agree with the decision to remove it, that we’re heavy handed. We leave the image of a woman, uploaded by a woman, in a bathing suit and members don’t agree with the decision to leave it. Moderation isn’t always black and white. We can’t please everybody, we know that. But you can always contact us and make your case.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. As always, keep it civil.

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I didn’t say that.

If you really can’t see the difference between “attractive women” and “pictures that objectify women and are displayed for that sole purpose” then I have no more to say to you.

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No problem TT! All good clean fun here.

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Thanks for replying to the thread.

It seems to me, from reading very many previous threads here, in which the same problems have been discussed so very repeatedly by members and former members, many of whom are now no longer here for precisely the reasons being discussed here, that that’s rather a repeated error.

Would you say that that’s a fair comment, Pipstradamus?

Or would it perhaps be helpful to you if I clarify it further, by posting links to some of those discussions, and comments by those former members about why they were leaving?

I hope you don’t mind me asking, but it seems that we’ve caught you in a rather rare “listening mode” and it could be a suitable opportunity for a non-prejudicial discussion about some of the forum’s underlying problems? They’re ultimately your business, not mine, naturally, but when more or less the same issues have been arising over and over again, for years, there might be something to be learned from it, don’t you think?

There’s perhaps a contingent representing something close to 50% of the population who differentiate between “good clean fun” and the objectification of women, isn’t there, RISKonFX?

If Tacita’s offended by pictures displayed purely to objectify women, then she’s offended by them, but I think she’s probably far from alone there, wouldn’t you say?

Particularly in a forum where absolutely no bad language is allowed because it might offend people from other cultures, as Pipstradamus has explained in another thread, it does seem very incongruent to allow pornographic images which have the potential to offend so many people, doesn’t it?

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Can I clarify the picture was in response to another member, not my own doing? Of course the original post was removed so now I look like an idiot

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I know.

And happy to clarify that it wasn’t your “responsive” picture I was referring to, but Campione’s avatar, which is obviously inappropriate in a forum which allows no bad language at all “for fear of offending other cultures”. I was suggesting that Pipstradamus’s view on “other cultures” is very out of step with his view on “other genders”!

I was only responding to your confusion between “clean fun” and the objectification of women! :slight_smile:

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Well, there are a couple of things that I would like to Opine on.

  1. Times have changed, wow what wisdom and discernment :smile:, So please bear, or bare, with me. When I was in 10th grade there was this girl Twyla Stansbury, no wait that ain’t it. Oh yeah here it is, ok, 10th grade, there was this guy that would carry an armload of books, and everytime we would pass in the hall, walkways between seats, he would swing his armload of books right into my stomach, now my
    師傅/师傅, always taught, that threat assessment was vital, and you had to know what was a real threat and what was just, well, someone being stupid. Well, being young and full of pride and self confidence, I sometimes confused the two. So here comes armload guy heading down the aisle and me up the aisle, and class was just starting, the teacher was standing right there, and armload guy just could not resist, and neither could I, I threw him over 2 rows of desks, he ends up on his back with a thud. Now this was in the 70’s, and guess what, no suspension, no police, not even a peep from the teacher. Today a kid who defends himself from bullying gets sent to a reeducation camp.

So the same is true for trading sites. they used to be dodge city, a free for all, cursing screaming etc. Insults, nekked pictures, were the order of the day, and everyone had a good 'ol time. But then things changed, doxing, bad actors with evil agendas, threats of violence etc. have caused changes to how websites are run.

I think the old days were far more fun, but, the reality is, there is a segment of society, that when they say “I’m gonna kill you”, the possibility is quite high that they will. So we modify and adjust, you learn to insult and harass people in a way that you make your point, but you violate no rules of decorum.

  1. I have yet to be censured, except for that Lexys thing, but bottom line, I could have disagreed by arguing fact and logic. Its just poking fun is, well lets face it, More Fun On A Bun.

  2. Every poster I have reported has either modified their post, or been deleted. I have no complaints about that. Yes it takes time for the mods to research the issue, contact the poster etc. But remember patience in trading is a virtue, and it might be good to apply that to this situation also. Are the Robot Elders perfect, no, pip S admitted as much, but I think they are sufficiently well meaning and proactive that these things should not be a deal breaker.

  3. Finally the Ceremonial Killamajig hurts.

The Never In Jail VIPER

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Yep, there we go again. Censorship by denial. Well done @Jess

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I think not Jess, this time? It was Pipstradamus using his “Nica” alias, who predictably locked the thread (probably to avoid the question about 6 people were asking him, increasingly insistently).

Jess, I’m pretty sure, is genuinely a different person from Pipstradamus. “Nica” clearly not (same use of language, idiom, expression, etc. etc.)

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Quite right bro. My apologies @Jess.

So well done @Nica.

Regardless time to move on.

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I think so. For all of us who actually care.

And let him run the place on a turnover of trolls, spammers, scammers and no-value posters, without ever retaining real members, since it apparently means so much to him.

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for people with common sense, yes

is a madhouse, here

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Yes, I see.

Probably that whole thread will “accidentally disappear” some time soon, as well?

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It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s the plan, but I’ve been told that if it does, it’ll promptly reappear, and prominently, on a few other sites.