The fact that the Test / Politics board has been supported and allowed to exist for so long is at best bonkers and at worst highly inappropriate. Outright racism, sexism, homophobia, and anti-semitism is rampant on the board it should have been shutdown a long time ago. It’s been effectively unmoderated for several years. Making it a premium board might seem like a reasonable step, but it could also come across as an attempt to further monetize highly inappropriate content. Why does it continue to exist at all?
Several points occur to me, and I was in the process of making them in a post on the other board yesterday evening when the rug was unceremoniously pulled out from under us. It's a little on the long side because difficult to express in bumper-sticker terms.
At its best, the Test Board was a forum for interesting, thoughtful, and vigorous exchanges on a wide variety of topics. There was actually a lot of that. It was the reason I stuck around and posted there over the course of years...especially in the college football off-season.
At its worst, it was a sewer where overgrown, emotionally-stunted juveniles played in the mud...apparently because mud holds a major attraction for them. There was also a lot of that...and in recent months I had the unscientific impression it was getting worse.
It's the job of moderators to help create an environment encouraging the first category of discourse while sanctioning the second. If the sanctions are applied consistently and fairly, the objectionable behavior is minimized or altogether eliminated.
However, there was effectively no moderation on the Test Board, and my sense is that from Day One of the transition to new ownership, Richie and company had no interest, time, or inclination to ride herd on a non-sports forum. They may even have resented being put in that difficult position in the first place.
This brings us to the events of yesterday. The way it went down strikes me as unprofessional and disrespectful...to the point that you have to wonder what the real motive is. Granted, not everyone posting there deserves respect, but from a business standpoint it's still hard to understand. I just don't believe that more advance notice and information couldn't have been given.
Richie's assurance in Cup's thread that nobody will be kicked off the new premium version of the board is actually not a selling point. There are people who should be kicked off...or at the very least warned that they will be kicked off if they continue to violate the rules. I am not inclined to pay $99...or $49...or $9...for the privilege of rolling in mud with hateful morons who've been given free rein.
Look, there's a clear difference between the vigorous give-and-take of debating political and cultural issues, an exercise which by its nature is often heated...and abusive personal attacks on other posters and their families. You don't need a degree in rocket science to distinguish between the two.
That said, it's also important to note that we live in a time when many people attempt to shut down debate by labeling opinions in disagreement with theirs as racist, bigoted, homophobic, etc. The word for this is censorship: a dishonest game intended to delegitimize opposing points of view. It's essential that moderators not fall into this trap or allow their judgment to be colored by their own bias. Everyone with a brain brings bias to the table, but some jobs and roles require the integrity to rise above that.
Finally, I can't help but note the screaming irony of Paoli's above comment. He's one of those who's quick to put labels on people. Yet a few months ago on the Test Board he expressed the wish that my wife and children be raped...and that's the problem: A) that he judged he was free to say such a thing in the environment of that board; and B) that he was correct in that judgment.
