Should able2know ban people for having untoward opinions?

I vote a strong no.

Censorship severely decreases the value of an open forum. Arguments which are easily countered and discredited do no harm other then people who choose to take offense. If you take offense, then you have no business in open Internet forums.

I am probably pretty biased on this because I was involved in the thread you are talking about. The comments that were made to a certain person giving a testimony of what happened in their life were probably the sickest thing I think I've ever viewed. Do they have a right to their opinion? Yes they do and I wouldn't tell them they do not have a right to them.

But, do they have a right to to disrespect and hurt a person in such a disgusting and perverted way? No, they do not. There is probably only one other person on A2K that agreed with what that person said and did and I find him just as disgusting as the person that made the comments.

Should they be banned forever? I couldn't begin to tell you because like I said, I'm biased but I definitely do believe there is a line that once crossed something needs to be done and they crossed it.

No.


When it comes to legal issues in a post then I would say banning is up to the owner of the site.


Of course, we could just have an adult version and a children's version of a2k. But that doesn't really solve the issue of which posts are adult and which are childish.

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.

Of course not.

Occom Bill is Ayn Rand follower. Ayn Rand isn't exactly top notch and we tolerate Randites. It shows the intolerance of Randites.

YES YES YES Robert you should ban my account at once.

This is becoming one hell of a time sink for me and I am about to go to our condo in Las Vegas for two weeks and my wife is likely to kill me if I end up spending a similar amount of time on your system that I am doing now in Miami.

While I ignore persons with whom I cannot play nicely, I do not advocate banning any of them. I agree with those who hold out for freedom of speech.

Yes, I think offensive opinions should result in banning. Who should determine if the opinion is offensive enough? Why, me, of course.

























Seriously, isn't this what the "Ignore" feature is for?

I think the installation of the new group software will help with a lot of this. Participants in a sensitive subject such as the one you linked to would be able to move their discussion to a group unit where they can administer or not administer their own standards of moderation for their more sensitive posts and use the main A2K forum (we need a shortcut reference name for this) for the "my sources and statistics are better than yours" ping pong match.

Until we have the group software and can see it in action, I'll reserve judgment over whether people should be banned from the main A2K for their untoward opinions.

If the group software were to never materialize, I don't think untoward opinions should be banned, but I do think improved mechanics are needed now that some voids in the safety-net of our thumbs up/down system have been exposed.

What comes into play is the contention between self-moderation and site-moderation. For self-moderation, it is easy to use the ignore user button and the problem is solved for ourselves but does nothing to aid in the site-moderation goals of having the thumbing system cause posts to be automatically collapsed when they fall below a thumbing formula's threshold. For site moderation, using the thumbs up/down on individual posts is time consuming and causes feelings to be affected by those who view the numbers as being important.

Whatever happened to the possibility of just changing the font color of the thumb numbering system to the same as the background color so the numbers are not visible without highlighting them?

If not forever how about from Nov. 16 to Nov. 30 AM?

That would be one hell of a punishment as it would free up time for me to loss more money on the roulette wheel at Texas Station.

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.

Of course, the answer from me is a strong "no."
I go back to almost the beginning of A2K (I believe I am member #179, but I may be wrong - that stat is no longer available).
Certainly it is a lot less civil then it was 8 years ago and the moderators, if there are still moderators, have relaxed the standards more than a bit.
Many of us are refugees from Abuzz, which was, on some threads, absolutely brutal. It was refreshing to move to A2K and the spirit lasted a few years before the nastiness started in earnest.
Still, I don't think any change is needed.

No.
Most of us learn to consider the source, as some others do re ourselves.
You are already remedying the situation of angst re people who have been through certain experiences by offering the possibility of curated groups.
Some may remember I was a poster on that thread.

No. And, while I don't know the details of the personal story that was shared and then apparently attacked or belittled, one must realize that sharing a personal story on the internet is risky. We sometimes think of this place as a safe haven and a place where we're among friends. In many instances that's true, but it certainly isn't guaranteed, nor should it be.

(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).

No where did I say it was a support group for rape victims. The subject of rape is a sensitive subject for almost everyone.

I wondered about this too. The title of the thread asks a question, doesn't it?