CABL Forum - Rednecks, Censorship, and the Spaghetti Monster

For many years we've had a simple rule here about personal attacks, or what I thought simple at least:

Arguments that support or reject ideas and opinions are instrumental in discussion but they must not become inflammatory or combative, or directed at people in the debate. In other words, it's okay to say someone's comment is "stupid", but not to call the person an "idiot" for making the comment.

This was done to stop the huge wars that we saw in earlier times. It used to be that I would have to shut down parts of the site, temporarily or in one or two cases permanently, to put an end to it. The consensus was that to prevent that from happening, offending messages should be removed before the blow-ups could develop. This is, after all, a business site and name-calling is never appropriate on a professional level.

There has always been contention about this policy due to people taking things too personally. For example, somebody posts a "redneck" joke which makes another member feel slighted, so he responds with something like "your a dipstick." That post is removed since it is directed at the other member. Naturally, removing the post means this site is biased toward the member who posted the joke and probably holds an anti-redneck bias in general.

Now, hopefully I'm not getting too politically incorrect here by stereotyping, but it's been my experience that those of the pro-redneck persuasion (and I'm still using "redneck" here only as an example again, of course) are less apt to appreciate the subtleties of having a civil debate. Consequently, as a group they are more likely to have posts removed and more likely to band together to bitch about it to me. Usually not very politely. As a result, I really do begin to develop an anti-(problem member group) bias.

Another issue occurs when someone comes along with ideas that differ from those of a particular group. That person becomes the target of the group, whereupon problems ensue. I've watched this pattern happen 4 or 5 times over the course of the last few years. It always involves religious or political topics. It's one thing for someone to make fun of rednecks, but if they say God is a Spaghetti Monster then all sensibilities are lost.

Here's the thing: if I let you post your religious beliefs, for instance that all Muslims are terrorists, then someone else has the right to post the same about Christians. It may offend you, me, and many others, but that is the essence of that Freedom of Speech thing we always hear about. In any case, I'm not a minister or President or anyone who should be telling people what they should or shouldn't talk about, or how they should think. I'm just a regular idiot who put up a web site and my job is to keep it going so the members can use it suitably for its intended purpose. Not allowing anything offensive against Christians because I happen to be one, while allowing the same about other religions, would be bias at its worst. Everyone has the right to stand up for his beliefs and respond in accordance with the policy stated above.

I've implored people, if you find someone too obnoxious then use the Ignore button and they can no longer respond to you. Most thrive on the attention and if you take that away they will give up. Unfortunately, there are also a few who think arguing with those people a worthy pastime. They end up getting warnings and eventually having action taken against their account due to personal attacks (then accuse me of bias towards the Spaghetti Monster cult.)

I've always felt that we could keep things civil without being overly politically correct. For the most part this has been the case and I haven't had the need to censor posts for subject matter. Recently, however, the tipping point has been met. This being a highly-charged election year, I can't imagine it getting better. So as of this Monday I placed the following notice on the posting page: Political and Religious topics are no longer permitted in the main forums. It means what it says. That's the policy for now. Whether or not it changes down the road is to be seen. The Lineman forum is there as always (post "Subscribe Lineman" to this forum to join if interested) for no-holds-barred.

If you've read this far, congratulations, I imagine most everyone else gave up by now. I posted this as an explanation, not debate. I know there are a few who will disagree and remain pissed, and others whose feelings will be hurt when posts are removed, but there's nothing more I can do about that. My focus has to be on Broadband, and political/religious issues be damned. Also to note, I won't discuss action that has been taken against other members. As one member asked, "is this a dictatorship or what?" Yes it is. Like most private companies, I have to run it the way I feel it should best be run. Sorry.

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Rednecks, Censorship, and the Spaghetti Monster