Censorship?

[Astral Blitzen 469]

Are posts here that go against anything sjw-related being censored by means of removal. I have been here for almost 3 years and never had a post removed out of the blue before. Has there been a large change in staff or something that I'm not aware of. It's really depressing to see this site go downhill like this. This was the first mlp related place I signed up to when I first became a brony and now there is censoring even when a post abides by the rules. What happened. What did I miss?

Edited December 14, 2016 by Astral Blitzen

[Sphinx-Ara 3,553]

What exactly did you say?

[Astral Blitzen 469]

What exactly did you say?

Something like "op is somewhat anti-sjw, I'm fine with that" something like that

[Sphinx-Ara 3,553]

Huh odd.. well i mean im anti sjw and tumblr mentality but i am also against generalizations...and ended up leaving the thread after my last post bc i just got offended by his bs...

 

As for your post being deleted...no idea why it would be..

[Astral Blitzen 469]

Oh, well I guess it's most likely the case

[GenderIsAnIllusion 2,177]

Yes they are. Thats because these kinds of PC lunatics are infecting our fine website.

[SynBassilicious Pony 322]

....................

Edited January 30, 2023 by SynBassilicious Pony

[Zyrael 1,471]

I don't know about pro or anti-sjw but I know some of the things that trigger the mods into action can be profoundly silly       ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

well, it's a case-by-case issue. One mod may find a post they think should be removed, another may not see anything offensive about it. It depends on what they deem to be suitable for removal, which varies from person to person, especially when it hits the grey area we often find ourselves in.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Zyrael

[Astral Blitzen 469]

So it's true it seems, this is all really depressing

[Venomous 18,862]

@@Astral Blitzen

Because this thread is asking a question as well as giving a bit of an opinion, it has been moved to Feedback. 

 

Also, replying to a thread with a simple statement such as the one you mentioned does not add to the thread's discussion goal. It's likely your post was removed because it was off-topic/non-contributive. 

[Jeric 46,850]

Well, I don't go to a hardware store hoping to buy a BMW.

 

Often times the cry of censorship comes from a psychology of being told one can't do what they want to do. Heck, I don't like being told what I can and can't say. Noone really does. I understand it, but what I can't understand is ignoring the years of history the site has in moderating content similarly. A few times a year the same comments are said about how there is more censorship. That is simply not the case.

 

No. There is actually less. I was on staff from 2014 -2016. I was able to review reports and old hidden threads from ex-staffers. The OG staff was just as aggressive at hiding a removing caustic threads. There were a few months that warnings peaked in late 2014 to early 2015, but I'm not going to go into why that was. It was fixed and the team adjusted. That isn't a secret as it was discussed openly more than a few times.

 

As far as the political persuasion of the staff ...what nationality are we talking about here? Seriously? There seems to be this notion that American politics and spectra define moderation. A significant amount of the staff aren't American. I can also name a few who do, in fact, hold to specific conservative values or classical liberalism. I also have to laugh at the notion that there is the perception of a pro-SJW movement taking place in staff, or that it's getting worse. I mean, the staff did lose three strong minded progressives recently, so if anything it helps to show political values do not determine the action taken.

 

But that is beside the point. A political or ideological stance has nothing to do with making a call on the presentation of an idea. I've often said here that you give me a topic that is controversial, I'll write a post that meets the standards here, and it won't be removed until replies come in. Because that's the thing, isn't it? Some are looking for a way to do what amounts to emotional masturbation. There is no forethought to the construction of a salient argument using diplomacy or decorum. Conditioning on the internet, what can you do?

 

You want to criticize the staff? Well, I would be a hypocrite if I said you shouldn't. Instead, I suggest that before you do offer criticism take a step back and make certain it isn't coming from a simple knee jerk reaction to a thread being locked or a post being hidden or a user getting upset over that. Take a deep dive into the past. Understand who has communicated the initial issue and what, if any, is the motivation.

 

Basically imagine people complexly.

[Yellow Diamond 7,565]

Essentially, everything what Jeric said is all that needs to be said.

 

But I'll add is that disagreeing with someone else doesn't entitle you to attack them. This has been a rule we've enforced since I joined the staff back in 2012. Sometimes members think it's OK to insult each other for holding "deplorable" or unpopular views -- but there's an enormous difference between saying "I think you're totally wrong, and here's why..." and "Fuck off, alt-right troll!" Anything which may be offensive should be reported to the mods, the very people who can, you know, do something about it.

 

But if you think there's a pattern of poor decisions by moderators, consider what Jeric offered: Who was the mod(s) involved? What did they say? What was the content which got reported? Then contact an admin (like me!) or another moderator about the matter. It doesn't guarantee things will go your way, but at least the staff will end up discussing grievance rather than assuming it's simply sour grapes.

[Mesme Rize 15,683]

I know i am a bit late, but i also would like to take my position.

 

Being a mod is always a double edged sword, because sometimes you have to make decisions that not everybody will like, but that you have to do anyway. I noticed that alot of people like to hide behind their "freedom of speech." Freedom of speech is all fine, what they don't seem to get is, Freedom of speech does not equal Freedom of consequences.

 

Do i say that we shouldn't criticise the staff on this site? Of course not. Just like everyone else here, they are also humans and also tend to do mistakes. But i know the staff very well here, to know that they always do everything with everyones best interest.

 

In short, i would be very cautious to just yell out censorship.

[Kaneki 1,072]

I know i am a bit late, but i also would like to take my position.

 

Being a mod is always a double edged sword, because sometimes you have to make decisions that not everybody will like, but that you have to do anyway. I noticed that alot of people like to hide behind their "freedom of speech." Freedom of speech is all fine, what they don't seem to get is, Freedom of speech does not equal Freedom of consequences.

 

Do i say that we shouldn't criticise the staff on this site? Of course not. Just like everyone else here, they are also humans and also tend to do mistakes. But i know the staff very well here, to know that they always do everything with everyones best interest.

 

In short, i would be very cautious to just yell out censorship.

 

Indeed.  Freedom of speech basically means you can say things without persecution, that doesn't mean you won't see a consequence for it. Just keep that in mind, OP.

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,526]

Lots has already been said but I wanted to add a link to this FAQ article. The comic in it is relevant to any discussion about freedom of speech, or the lack thereof, on the Internet.

[Spootiepatootie 19]

Now I feel old... I had to look up what sjw was....

[Ganondox 899]

Are posts here that go against anything sjw-related being censored by means of removal. I have been here for almost 3 years and never had a post removed out of the blue before. Has there been a large change in staff or something that I'm not aware of. It's really depressing to see this site go downhill like this. This was the first mlp related place I signed up to when I first became a brony and now there is censoring even when a post abides by the rules. What happened. What did I miss?

 

The problem is the opposite: I posted a super SJW post and it got deleted.  

[Mentis Soliloquy 3,025]

This is a place for ponies, getting into arguments over SJW and those who oppose it, well honestly should be discussed elsewhere. (I mean in my humble opinion) there are ton of places to argure about the subject and no one will check your arguments.

 

I personally for a better word hate SJW's and got in trouble for saying so last year here on our forums, I told a joke in poor taste and paid the price. But I agree with Yellow Diamond, if you think there is a rouge mod overstepping their bounds report it to an Admin they police the police.

[Kaneki 1,072]

Lots has already been said but I wanted to add a link to this FAQ article. The comic in it is relevant to any discussion about freedom of speech, or the lack thereof, on the Internet.

 

Feld0 is right about this (love the XKCD reference, btw!).

 

I thought I'd add that sometimes I feel the same way in ways, coming from a standpoint politically and morally that some here would highly disagree with (not in a bad way, just highly differing from many members' views), but I try to keep it to places that are private, and with someone who I know wouldn't get very upset with me on it. Consider that before you ask, anyone who has a similar situation, now or in the future.

 

Just because a community likes to keep potential drama-causing topics at bay doesn't mean that the community is "going downhill" in any way - I'll give Reddit as an example. There are THOUSANDS, if not MILLIONS of Reddit boards out there, and do you see many that are un-moderated? If you do, then there's likely more times - actually, there will be many times - than not when extreme amounts of drama will spill out. That's why many of the subreddits are moderated, you could say that about pretty much any sane, large community like MLPF/Poniverse.

 

It's just a pet peeve of mine when someone takes a site's general community and groups them all in as something that they're not all that way.