Moderation Issues (5)

Please use this thread for (and only for) alerting admins to moderation issues and for raising complaints arising from particular decisions. We remind participants that TSZ is a benign dictatorship, the property of Dr. Elizabeth Liddle. All decisions regarding policy and implementation are hers alone.

2,097 thoughts on “Moderation Issues (5)

  1. Mung:
    It looks like you’ve been busy editing it until a few minutes ago. Are you ready for it to be published?

    Yes, I have been… Thanks for the opportunity! I made Darwinists look better thanks to you! They should buy you Timothy’s gift card or have you visit the “dirty house”…

  2. And could I suggest that folks save their OPs as “Draft” and not in “pending publication” unless they want them published. Admlins are not mind-readers!

  3. Neil Rickert: That OP has been moved back to draft status.

    Thanks. Alan apparently published it…
    I was waiting for Dr. Lonnig to comment on his views of creationism and flightless birdies…
    I’m going to email him again to see whwther he is going to comment…
    Depending on whether he comments or not, I can edit the OP and then get it ready to be published…

  4. J-Mac: Alan apparently published it

    Because you PMed me! Jeez!

    I was waiting for Dr. Lonnig to comment on his views of creationism and flightless birdies…

    He’s a plant biologist.

  5. Alan Fox: Because you PMed me! Jeez!

    He (J-Mac) probably intended that to be about the “random” OP. And there’s an important point there for J-Mac and others — when requesting that an OP be published, try to be a bit more specific about which OP.

    In the meantime, I suppose it all works as background entertainment.

  6. I could argue that J-Mac asked for his OP to be removed out of sheer embarassment, rather than it being a draft. I hope others saw it, and what I posted in response. I doubt Ernest Rutherford ever got a bigger shock.

  7. quarrion:
    I could arguethat J-Mac asked for his OP to be removed out of sheer embarassment, rather than it being a draft. I hope others saw it, and what I posted in response.I doubtErnest Rutherford ever got a bigger shock.

    So, if l post the same OP later, other than with possible comments by Dr. Lonnig, you are going to take it all back, right?

    BTW: The embarrassing point lately was your -1 + 1 example used by Einstein almost 100 years ago (left glove right glove analogy) to explain entanglement… Not only was his theory experimentaly proven wrong some 50 years ago, you didn’t even understand what it was about… It definitely didn’t apply to the OP unless accidentally you were trying to prove my point that mutations happen via quantum mechanics… lol

  8. Alan Fox: Because you PMed me! Jeez!

    He’s a plant biologist.

    So? He wrote a book on the “evolution” of giraffe’s neck and embarrassed Dawkins…

  9. J-Mac, I am totally unfamiliar with Einstein’s familiarity with a left-glove/right-glove analogy (about what, you don’t say), or even his knowledge of mobius strips, but it is nice to share the opprobrium.

  10. Please publish the The challenge to creationism? Dr. Wolf-Ekkehard Lönnig OP.
    Thanks, Jmac

  11. Didn’t Lizzy say she was coming back on Oct 1?
    I hope she can keep her promise, so that we can kick out those lausy, inconsistent admins and have the new era ushered in with mung, keiths and so on…

  12. I guess most of us have no choice but to start our own blogs with the shitty admins here or cut a deal with a devil himself the pissfullofscience.org guy…
    Isn’t what politicians do when their ideas get trashed by their own circus?

  13. phoodoo:

    Tom English:
    Insight of the day: The Dunning–Kruger effect rises to the level of personality disorder in some individuals.

    Mung, are you trying a little too hard to appear impartial or something?

    I mean, I realize Alan has quit and all…so he has already stopped pretending.

    There should be some sort of penalty for repeatedly ignoring instructions not to dump moderation issues into the comments sections of posts.

    I am fairly sure that I’ve seen moderators comment that there’s no rule against off-topic comments. Furthermore, I see my remark as a pithy bit of hyperbole, played to humorous effect, and I believe that most readers will see it similarly — even if they are offended. No one with scrambled eggs for brains is going to think that I am, in a single sentence, literally declaring that psychiatrists should diagnose some patients with Dunning-Kruger Personality Disorder. I think that a smidge of acerbic levity is in order when the most prolific of our authors opens a post with a reference to “this crummy blog.”

    I’ve sent phoodoo a personal message, directing him to this comment.

  14. Tom English: I am fairly sure that I’ve seen moderators comment that there’s no rule against off-topic comments.

    That’s true except for moderation issues.

    Just to clarify:

    The moderation issues thread is for, and only for, discussing moderation issues. So comments discussing moderation in other threads are liable to move to guano. The moderation issues thread itself is not subject to site-wide rules, so comments not discussing moderation will not be moved from this thread but so far this has not been an issue.

  15. Tom English: Furthermore, I see my remark as a pithy bit of hyperbole, played to humorous effect, and I believe that most readers will see it similarly — even if they are offended.

    I’m pretty sure that phoodoo took that remark to be against the rules.

    It wasn’t, because it was a general comment. But phoodoo probably took it to be aimed at a particular person.

  16. Neil Rickert: But phoodoo probably took it to be aimed at a particular person.

    It’s a baited hook, not an arrow. The barb doesn’t get you unless you bite.

    J-Mac was the proximate cause of my putting it out there. But, in all honesty, I was responding to the willful and increasingly aggressive ignorance of many conservative Christians: I’m talking about members of my family and most of the people I knew in college, not just Web personae.

    I could say much more, but I wouldn’t be addressing moderation issues.

  17. I submitted a thread/post for possible publication after review by moderator().
    As usual I’m dumb about procedure.
    Thanks. RB

  18. Given the allegation (which, afiak, has never been retracted) that I have a long and sordid history of anti-gay bigotry I’m going to recuse myself from this one.

  19. Mung:
    Given the allegation (which, afiak, has never been retraced) that I have a long and sordid history of anti-gay bigotry I’m going to recuse myself from this one.

    Do you think my OP is anti-gay?
    My OP is anti-evolutionary nonsense… I will leave it at that…
    ETA: I don’t question homosexual tendencies among people the same way I don’t question addictive tendencies…

  20. FWlittleIW, I don’t think J-Mac’s remark that VJ wasn’t getting a fair shake on his new thread ought to have been guanoed.

  21. walto:
    FWlittleIW, I don’t think J-Mac’s remark that VJ wasn’t getting a fair shake on his new thread ought to have been guanoed.

    It was a complaint about lack of moderation, claiming some comments were personal attacks on Vincent. He may have a point but the rule is that such issues are raised in this thread, not elsewhere. He’s welcome to repost it here.

  22. walto:
    FWlittleIW, I don’t think J-Mac’s remark that VJ wasn’t getting a fair shake on his new thread ought to have been guanoed.

    Thanks walto but this is not about what is fair anymore…It’s is about what moderators feel like on any particular day it was fair…
    The destiny of this blog is set to be like https://pandasthumb.org/
    They are lucky if they get 3 comments on an OP even with sock puppets chipping in…

    BTW: You were the only one who acknowledged me as being resourceful. Your appreciation for fairness has been noted as well… 🙂
    It was a pleasure “to disagree” with you…Farewell walto…
    If you ever need help with someone in your close circle of friends with cancer, let me know…

  23. dazz: What rule did I break there?

    Not sure. Telling someone to “fuck off” is not an attack on the person in the sense of an accusation of stupidity or dishonesty.. I think I’ve told someone in a comment of mine to fuck the fuck off before now.

  24. Shall we have a discussion about whether it’s ok for everyone to end their posts with a happy “fuck off”? 🙂

    …the idea here is to provide a venue where people with very different priors can come to discover what common ground we share; what misunderstandings of other views we hold; and, having cleared away the straw men, find out where our real differences lie.

    It is to this end that the rules are established. There does not have to be a rule that explicitly states “thou shall not say ‘fuck off’ to people.”

    dazz, if you don’t think someone is worth talking to why are you responding to them in the first place? I see telling someone to “fuck off” as a gratuitous insult. It doesn’t advance the conversation and actually does the opposite. It discourages conversation. There is also no explicit rule against telling someone they are “full of shit.”

    It’s a judgment call.

    If any of the other mods want to restore the comment I won’t be upset about it. But it wasn’t without precedent.

    Guano (3)

  25. Mung: Shall we have a discussion about whether it’s ok for everyone to end their posts with a happy “fuck off”?

    There was a discussion a while ago (it had to be, Lizzie participated) about whether profanity itself should be guanoable. I recall she had no objection in the right context.

    On the other hand, people vary in their tolerance to profanity and we are trying to encourage dialogue. On the other hand, do we have to add another rule?

    Shit – I’m turning into Emmanuel Macron.

    @ dazz

    We could always kick the can down the road and you could repost with an edit to “please go away”!

  26. Mung: Shall we have a discussion about whether it’s ok for everyone to end their posts with a happy “fuck off”?

    Personally, I would not have guanoed that post. However, I’m also not going to make a fuss about your different decision.

    It’s a judgment call.

    Yes, quite right.

  27. Mung: dazz, if you don’t think someone is worth talking to why are you responding to them in the first place? I see telling someone to “fuck off” as a gratuitous insult.

    I was referring to a hypothetical future response from fifth, how could you possibly miss that?
    At any rate, if that’s guano worthy I wonder why you consistently ignore phoodoo’s rants and all the insults within

    Alan Fox: We could always kick the can down the road and you could repost with an edit to “please go away”!

    I’m not going to comment any further on this, no big deal… unless it becomes a trend. I suspect Mung may have a chip on his shoulder here. We’ll see

  28. dazz: I suspect Mung may have a chip on his shoulder here. We’ll see

    I have a lot of them. 🙂

    I will try to be consistent though, and not pick out any one person or side for special treatment. Let’s hope I succeed.

  29. dazz: I’m not going to comment any further on this, no big deal… unless it becomes a trend. I suspect Mung may have a chip on his shoulder here. We’ll see.

    OK. Que sera, sera!

  30. I’m very pleased with Mung as a moderator. You are doing a great job

    Even though you are the only one to ever guano me that I’m aware of.

    My comment was a tad over the top and in hindsight I should not have posted it.

    Sorry everyone

    peace

  31. Mung: It’s a judgment call.

    And you failed to exercise good judgement, Mung.
    As you concede, dazz’s post broke no rule.
    Please do not do this again.

  32. Mung: I have a lot of them.

    I will try to be consistent though, and not pick out any one person or side for special treatment. Let’s hope I succeed.

    You have already exceeded my expectations.

Comments are closed.