I’ll also take this opportunity to remind everyone that when moderators post content, they’re posting as themselves and not as representatives of the site.
By content, you mean opinions and such, not “Let’s get back on topic”? Obvious question is obvious, but I’d like a little more clarification on this point if possible.
Correct.
I’ll also take this opportunity to remind everyone that when moderators post content, they’re posting as themselves and not as representatives of the site. We’re individuals with our own thoughts and views.
Not when they do this:
I won’t ask again. Get back on topic - or feel free to PM me - or continue your thoughts and views in the ‘Culture’ section of ‘Off Topic’.
When they do the above, they are posting as a moderator.
Right. Given recent activity regarding threads being driven off the rails, we’ve been a bit more sensitive regarding threads staying on track. Maybe in this case it got a bit blurred because oojason was expressing his opinion as a member who disagrees with DrDre, but also providing direction as a moderator for the sake of the thread. When those two things seem to be working in concert (which I don’t think was oojason’s intent), it creates the impression of using moderator authority to “win” a debate. I’ve been accused of the same thing in other threads.
I’ll discuss it with the mods, but perhaps we need a policy whereby any moderator involved in a discussion should recuse themselves from moderator duties within that discussion and leave it to another moderator.
As always, OP sets the tone, and we usually won’t act on off topic discussion without their request unless it’s getting out of control.
When a mod directs me, threatens with a ban, and calls me toxic in the same post, it becomes very hard not to percieve this as personal animosity and bias in mod action, especially considering oojason vehemently disagreed with me, whilst expressing his disdain for my opinion, and also considering the fact that the OP had at that point not chimed in, whilst the discussion was still on the topic of toxicity in the fanbase in my humble opinion. So, the claim that I was derailing the thread seems a bit excessive in this context.
There was no threat of a ban - please direct me to where there was a threat of a ban made. I believe I said…
As stated above:
I won’t ask again. Get back on topic - or feel free to PM me - or continue your thoughts and views in the ‘Culture’ section of ‘Off Topic’.
…is a pretty clear threat of a ban. You can’t have your cake and eat it.
In my view Photoshopping her head on a hulk body is not fair game.
Is creating a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad fair game? In my view it is. That’s the way free speech works, and that right should be defended in my view, even if you disagree with what is depicted. If creating a caricature of a Prophet is fair game, then so is creating a caricature of the Star Wars character Rey. If it was a caricature of Daisy Ridley, that attempts to ridicule her personally, then I would agree with you.
That’s free speech - not toxicity. For many people they would consider a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad to be toxic, and in my view rightly so.
Well, I disagree. The only toxicity I see is in those that cannot accept the foundations of a free, and democratic society. As such, any point of view that is too foreign relative to someone’s own, is considered to be toxic, evil, communist, degraded, blasphemy, or any other term used to label people, or put them in a box for having a different, or controversial opinion.
Like I said above - it’s okay that you do disagree. Nice one.
I have empathy with anyone who’d offended by a caricature of the Prophet Mohammad - and can see why such a picture would be toxic. Hey, I live in a free democratic society and accept it’s foundations too - as do many who may think it toxic too - or even those who don’t.
Now let’s get back on topic re taking a stand against toxic fandom - not re the Prophet Muhammad and communism being aligned with evil, degraded and blasphemy - your words.
It was on topic, since I specifically criticized those that abuse the term toxic for their own agenda, perpetuating toxicity within the fandom. Toxicity ends with respecting different, sometimes more outspoken points of view. Labeling people toxic for having an opinion does not.
No mate, it wasn’t.
I won’t ask again. Get back on topic - or feel free to PM me - or continue your thoughts and views in the ‘Culture’ section of ‘Off Topic’.
It’s not this first time you’ve twisted my words recently to try and make them into something else - and I think it’s the 3rd time of late I’ve had to asked you (along with others) to stay on topic / not derail a thread. This time was you introducing the fairly toxic and incendiary subject of caricatures of Mohammad and then a statement on the evils of communism, later passed off ‘analogies’ - which would have very likely taken the thread further away from the thread subject.
Likely? So this was preemptive mod action, just in case the thread got further away from the thread subject? This does not seem to adhere to the policy of not modding a thread’s content unless requested by the OP. Only two people responded to the Mohammed/communism analogies, which were you and Frink. The debate still centered on toxic fandom. As such, I don’t see how these few posts constitute derailing a thread outside of you personally not liking my analogies to the point of calling them toxic, thus using your own personal point of view and your mod status to forcably shut down the discussion on this matter.
As for disagreeing with you… you seemed to take issue with what I posted, not the other way around.
No, I took issue with the latter part of Kittythatsit’s post, which you endorsed. I argued why I disagreed, feeling some fans are using the label “toxic” to smear their opponents, which led to the communism analogy. Frink chimed in on how a caricature of Rey was not acceptable, after which I used the Mohammed caricature as an analogy. You then claimed Mohammed caricatures are toxic, and apparently so are my posts by association.
On more than one occasion I said it’s okay that you disagree, yes? Disdain for your opinion…? Doesn’t seem that’s the case at all.
Calling someone toxic for his opinion seems pretty consistent with disdain to me, and ironically consistent with my argument, that some fans are using the term “toxic” to smear their opponents.
I’ve stated it before, but there’s a highly intolerant atmosphere here towards critics of the new canon. People and sites are painted with the same brush, and labeled sexist, misogynist, toxic, and what not. I take issue with that, and with the people that perpetuate, or endorse such behaviour.
Over time many critics have been bullied out of this site, where biased mod action in these people’s view and my own has been a factor, with specifically you coming down hard on anyone with a strongly negative opinion, where it is often not clear whether you’re expressing your personal opinion, or acting as a mod of the site. Jay’s politics thread has been a breath of fresh air, in what is sadly becoming an echo chamber of extremely negative opinions towards a large section of the fandom.
I tried to get things back to civil discourse with an apology, but it seems, it sadly was to no avail.