Should able2know ban people for having untoward opinions?

@JPB,

I can agree with that up to a point. This went far beyond any comment of belittlement in a response to a terrible tragedy in someone's life. It was a case of inhumane treatment as far as I am concerned.

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@realjohnboy,

I think that's the point, rjb... Rob wants to know how we feel about banning someone for expressing an opinion that most people feel is reprehensible.

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@Robert Gentel,

Robert Gentel wrote:

If someone posts a viewpoint that is considered offensive enough, should this result in their banning?

No.

To do so would be the end of the much of what I value about A2K.

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@Robert Gentel,

The only people that should be banned are the ones actively committing crimes. I have not seen or read any such criminal activity while I have been a member here at a2k.

Distributing child porn;
Writing violent and abusive threats against other posters;
Posts that are acts of extortion and blackmail;
Etc....

As for those alleged individuals who support ... rape are they literally confessing that they are financially, spiritually, socially, or legally supporting an actual rapist? Since I have deliberately stayed away from that thread, I would fathom a guess that though the members in question are in fact not supporting factual incidents of rape.

Please inform me of my error if that is not the case then I'll withdraw that minute statement.

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@Robert Gentel,

No.

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no, absolutely not

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@Robert Gentel,

Robert Gentel wrote:

This thread is being started to continue an off-topic discussion from this thread: http://able2know.org/topic/158723-214

The core of Occom Bill's argument is that certain members should be banned, mainly for having opinions he says constitutes "support for rape".

I believe that able2know should be a free marketplace of ideas and I do not think we should ban people on the basis of their opinions, no matter how distasteful they may be, as long as they do not infringe on the rights of other here for peaceful coexistence as they express them.

However not all think the ideals of an intellectual marketplace are the most important ones, and value the free exchange of ideas less so than a certain forum decorum they prefer. This thread is intended to discuss this core issue: should members be banned based on the opinions they express? If someone posts a viewpoint that is considered offensive enough, should this result in their banning?

Couldn't resist exaggerating my argument to stack the deck, could you?

What Occom Bill has been advocating is some level of moderation that could eventually result in banning. This stems from watching relentless ruthless verbal attacks on rape victims, with a very clear trolling purpose of causing emotional injury to several posters on a the linked thread, for sport. The real question should be several:
1. Can relentless spamming of a thread with hateful mockery be considered trolling?
2. If so, should any steps be taken to diminish the effect of said trolling?
3. In the event said trolling persists, beyond warnings, should the habitual offender be sanctioned in hopes of discouraging the deliberate targeting of innocents for abuse?

We’re not talking about differences of opinions here, we’re talking about deliberate targeting of innocents for abuse, with the clear intent of causing emotional injury.

(Between Robert’s slant and my own, you should get the gist of it.)

1 Reply

@Arella Mae,

Quote:

Let me make this very clear to you. I don't like you. I do pity you. What you and your friend have been doing on that rape thread is more than disgusting. Robert started this thread so that people can discuss options. You aren't helping your case by these snide posts of yours.

Sorry I am not a bit interest in making a case one way or another AM.

My personal view is the very idea that a Bill O was a reason for Robert to had created a thread about I or Hawkeye being ban is more then full of humor.

In any case, as long as I am allow to I will keep pointing out when false information is being posted in whole scale lots and people like Firefly and Bill O and to a must lesser degree you try to control the content of a thread by your nastiness.

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@maxdancona,

maxdancona wrote:

Maybe I spoke too soon. I don't know about the thread.

If a rape victim is being attacked by another member, I probably would change my mind. At this point it changes from theory to personal attack.

And this is precisely what happened.

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@tsarstepan,

One thing they are supporting is that adults should be able to view child porn, which is about as reprehensible as you can get.

They have throughout the thread continuously belittled any report of rape and attacked people on the thread explaining about their rapes.

I am not one for censorship by any means. I believe in freedom of speech up and UNTIL it crosses a line. Supporting child pornography crosses that line as much as what they did to a rape victim on that thread.

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@Butrflynet,

Quote:

The subject of rape is a sensitive subject for almost everyone.

To the point that posting false information should not be challenge?

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@BillRM,

No one has ever said you don't have the right to challenge any information posted. We even agreed with you and Hawkeye that if a woman did falsely report a rape she should be prosecuted.

The problem, that you clearly do not seem to understand, is the way you and Hawkeye treated women on that thread when they talked about their rapes. I don't care about the comments you made to me but I do care about the ones that were made to someone else.

You were devoid of common decency and you just don't understand that. That is the reason I pity you.

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@tsarstepan,

Quote:

Distributing child porn;

Firefly did in one of her caring and feeling postings claimed I had a collection of child porn on my computer.

1 Reply

@realjohnboy,

realjohnboy wrote:

(oops, I did not realize that this topic may be in response to a particularly controversial thread. I was responding to the general question. Sorry).

This was Robert's intent when he framed the question. He certainly didn't want anyone thinking about a brutal verbal assault on a senior citizen for bravely sharing a painful event. (Actual examples are just appeals to pity, you see.)

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@Arella Mae,

Quote:

One thing they are supporting is that adults should be able to view child porn, which is about as reprehensible as you can get.

When did I express such an opinion AM?

I did stated that the UK was more sane on the subject and break such material into five levels so a picture of a seventeen year old who she had taken herself and send to her boyfriend is not the same as a video of an infant being rape.

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@BillRM,

It is still considered child porn if she is underage! Okay, why do I even bother with you? 200 pages plus on the other thread and still you are like you are.

1 Reply

@Robert Gentel,

I do not envy the position you are in. Freedom of speech is freedom of speech and like tartespan said (paraphrasing) if they aren't breaking the law then it wouldn't be right to ban them.

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@Robert Gentel,

No, I'd definitely much prefer no one was banned.

But I sure wish we had some way of influencing aggressive troll-like behaviors, from the small number of troll-ish "offenders", though .. Sigh.
Not that I have any brilliant new ideas on how that might be achieved, admittedly .. apart from (the usual) ignoring & scrolling over over their annoying serial postings, very quickly.
But I guess one can live in hope, yes?

1 Reply

@Arella Mae,

Quote:

It is still considered child porn if she is underage!

Sure it is and in the UK it is also child porn that is likely to get the girl and her boyfriend a fine however unlike in the US it is not the same as a video of a infant being rape.

1 Reply

@Arella Mae,

Quote:

I do not envy the position you are in. Freedom of speech is freedom of speech and like tartespan said (paraphrasing) if they aren't breaking the law then it wouldn't be right to ban them.

I feel bad for the man because he need to deal with Bill O.

Hell I feel so bad for the man I am not going to say anything that is anti-Microsoft and it OSs.

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Should able2know ban people for having untoward opinions?

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