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[Beleth]

Beleth

With the recent mod action against Schlenkerb, I thought I’d take this opportunity to state what I take the “unmoderated” nature of the Explicit section to mean.

Of course, it never meant that it’s totally unmoderated.  Spamming, posting of other people’s private information, posting viruses, etc. would always be dealt with.

Where the moderation most differs between Explicit and General is language allowed.  You can swear up a storm in Explicit.  You can post pictures of (adult) genitalia there.  You can insult people a lot more freely there.

One of the biggest gray areas, in my opinion, is advocating violence.  In General you can’t do it at all.  In Explicit, it’s a little less clear-cut.  It’s going to come down to a value judgment on my part, and I see no way around that.  I am going to have to decide your intent, and the only way I can do that is by the words you choose to use.  If they are witty, entertaining, well-tuned words, I am more likely to judge that your intent was in jest, and will probably let it slide.  If they are the ham-handed words of a dullard, such as, oh, “Go kill yourself”, then I am more likely to judge that your intent was serious, and you will earn some time off to think about it.

Think of General as a public pool.  Don’t run, don’t swear too loudly or too often, don’t get naked, don’t beat each other up, and don’t pee in it.

Think of Explicit as a permissive night club.  Run as much as you want.  Swear; yell; get naked if you want to.  But you still can’t beat each other up or pee in it.

Anything I find that breaks The Rules in other parts of the forum, I'll re-shelve into Explicit.

There is no part of this forum that’s like a back alley, where you can kill each other or break laws.

If these rules are too strict for you, I’d like to suggest that you check out the least-moderated skeptic’s board that I know of: http://skepticalcommunity.com/ .  Perhaps you will find their atmosphere a bit more to your liking.

Edited 8/31 to reflect my greater understanding of applicable laws.

Edited 9/7 to reflect my greater understanding of the will of the panel.

[Neutral Milk]

Schlen is banned? Can I get a link to the thread where it happened?

[Beleth]

If you pull up Schlenkerb's profile, at the bottom there's a link to his most recent posts.  It's one of the ones there.

[craig]

I'll start by saying that I mostly agree with your take on this subject.  I do want to add one thing however.  Although the explicit section has become mostly about the swearing and nudity (yeah!), when it was first established about a year ago the main reason given by the panel was to provide a place where people could "beat each other up" a little bit.

The big moderation crisis of that fall was that some newer people complained about the rough treatment that they were receiving from some of the old-timers.  Of course the old-timers responded that it was their right to call people as*hats and f*cktards if they disagreed with them and that the n00bs should get tough of GTFO.  The panel responded by saying that if we wanted to play like that then we should do it in explicit.  It wasn't so much about the words being used as it was about abusing each other (in my opinion) which is why they added the bit about "not recommended for those who can't stand the heat".

I am just throwing this out there for perspective.

[Beleth]

Thanks for that, Craig.

While it's good to know the history of Explicit, I think it's also important to notice that Explicit has matured beyond merely being the place where you can call noobs names.

You will still be able to insult noobs all you want in Explicit.  It's the threat or advocating of physical violence (including suicide) that was a fuzzy area, and one I am trying to clarify.

[SQ the ΣΛ/IGMд]

That's it.
I'm going to join a Christian forum and a Psychic forum.
They are less dictatorial.

 

[SFBaker]

Beleth,

Does the explicit section still exist? I don't see it anymore. Maybe there is something wrong with my account, or view or something?

[Beleth]

Beleth,

Does the explicit section still exist? I don't see it anymore. Maybe there is something wrong with my account, or view or something?

Rebecca explains what is going on here.

I have a potential solution, but it's not ready for prime time yet.

[SFBaker]

Beleth,

Does the explicit section still exist? I don't see it anymore. Maybe there is something wrong with my account, or view or something?

Rebecca explains what is going on here.

I have a potential solution, but it's not ready for prime time yet.

Thanks Beleth!

I figured it was something like that

[wastrel]

Irrelevant thread is irrelevant

[Beleth]

Irrelevant thread is irrelevant

Indeed.

[Beleth]

The new Explicit is live.

And with that, this thread has truly outlived its usefulness.

*click*