censorship & glaring controversiality...

Discussion in 'General Forum Feedback' started by Digit, Jan 9, 2007.

  1. http://forum.grasscity.com/pandoras-box/130406-saddam-hanging-video-inside.html

    snuff, ok.
    nudity, not ok.

    (i'd post a link to the deleted threads containing nudity, but... they got deleted)

    riiiight. :rolleyes:


    methinks the ethics of this place has gotten a little skewed and twisted in some desperate striving for keeping up appearances and principles/ideals.


    could this be just another time echo of the dark ages?
     
  2. Digit, the nudity rule has been a long standing one that SJ is firm about. Since this seems as if it's a complaint against the thread that you linked us all to, I'll delete it. :) Report questionable threads/posts in the future, please.
     
  3. I definitely don't always agree with the actions of the admins... but considering I don't pay for this forum, and its not a democracy -- their word is law.

    Thats all I have to say about that.
     
  4. Actually, everything is SJ's word/law. If the City gets out of hand, he'll close the forums and we don't want that. Therefore, we follow his guidelines (but usually give more chances and allow a bit more than we should).
     
  5. Same difference, your all somewhat faceless authority figures.
     
  6. yeah, i remember the days when all the mods were just like the rest of us. gah, "power corrupts"* :rolleyes:. loads of inner party lines to be towed these days. its just not the same friendly community we once knew.... and we're not even allowed to make comments about it, at least, not without getting another brick wall of a party line thrown at us. the funny thing is, SJ is a far more reasonable guy than the mods, the mods seem to have been reduced to automatons. Talking to SJ is like talking to a guy who still has his humanity, still can reason, can think, and offer his rationality... the mods... party lines. :( it is a disgrace to the place... but what can we do?

    i realise this is rubbing the mods up the wrong way... but what else can be done? something still needs be said to hold a mirror up for them. i love em all dearly, even those i had more tiffs with than any (hi critter, u still around anywhere?), and that's why i say these things. if i had no love for them, i'd gladly let them slip into a pale of their own shit. but i care. not jsut for them, but for this place, and this place's place in the universe.



    *it doesnt really. real power exists without corruption. real power can be more "meta" and have the power to be immune to corruptible influences. real power is soft, real power is in touch with intellect, ethics & timelessness/eternity.

    It's like Londo Molari from Babylon 5 when he realises he has all the power he ever dreamed of and none of the freedom. he had become a cog in a power hierarchy, where all his power was meaningless, his actions dictated by circumstance, necessity and convenience. it can be really depressing if you think about it enough. and good. sometimes it takes us getting really depressed before we hit that bottom, that tipping point, which launches us up again.

    too much sun makes ya dumb.
     
  7. Yeah, SJ is like my brother so I know exactly what it's like talking to him. I know what he expects and wants and I know what he is for and against. As does Indy, as well. ;)

    We're all going to have our opinions, no matter what they're about or who they're about and we're all faceless Blades whether we have any kind of "power" or not.

    It's clear that you think we are all shit and that's fine. We're all very well aware of it. However, we're still here to do what SJ expects us to do. SJ would ban, delete and edit way more than we do if he didn't have his business to run. Yet, he does have a business to run. Therefore, he has Mods, Super Mods and Admins to take care of the City. (Not to say that he doesn't come here and take care of business on his own every once and a while because he definitely does. :D)

    We also have excellent Blades who do their part here by reporting posts on a regular basis and those people are greatly appreciated. You all know who you are! :)

    You can't make everyone happy and if you set out to please and pacify just one then you aren't doing what is right for others or what's right for the City which SJ created. We have a little over 11,000 active members and I get correspondence from many every day...all more positive than negative so I think the City is ok overall.

    Suggestions are always welcome but in the end the City will be as SJ wants it no matter who agrees.
     
  8. Ok, Digit. I kicked back, played with my son and got inspired...or just cleared my head of the negative. :)
    As far as content, since this thread is about censorship and controversy...what are your thoughts on what should be and what should not be?
     
  9. fuck yeah nudity.
     
  10. First off, I want to say that I do not feel that I am different from anybody else on this forum. There are plenty of non-mods who help enforce the rules by stating them when necessary and reporting posts when necessary also. All we do is take the actions to enforce these rules. It takes alot of work for all of us to keep up on things weither it be moving threads(alot), getting rid of spammers, and keeping out the disrespect. And we all do our best.

    Sorry, I'm not quite following what you mean by "party line". The city is growing, very, very rapidly. It has been for a long while now. With new growth comes new problems, and more trouble makers. The only reason I even do this modding stuff is because I miss the community where everyone knew eachother, and there was no disrespect. And issues could be resolved without name-calling.


    I feel that I am very reasonable, I admit when I'm wrong and all the actions I make I beleive are for the overall benefit of the forums. Though it's your opinion and your intitled to it. Just remember, I am a person, and like all people I make mistakes, misread things, and change my mind sometimes. No one is perfect.

    Well, as RMJL said. There is room for suggestions, if you think something should be handled differently pm me and I'll be more than happy to hear you out.


    EDIT: I want this to be known;
    This isn't a heirarchy, I'm no better than any other member on this forum.
     
  11. woah! YOU'RE a mod!?!!


    see... that's what i'm talking about... you're a perfect example. i didnt even realise. the way it was meant to be.
    thnx for keeping the comunity spirit alive greenlantern420. :)



    rumjil wrote:
    FUCK NO I DON'T! that's just your perception. no wonder u put up your defences every time we've talked recently if that's what you think.
    sorry if some of the shit i say seems like it personally directed at you. it is the actions, and perhaps the ideology & practical philosophy behind the actions that i attempt to poke into line... sorry, born on he cusp between capricorn and aquarius, i'm destined to grapple with institutions to make them run like they should.



    isn't that what i'm always spouting anyways?

    what should be is that i should not be the one to dictate what should be. that much at least should be obvious.

    yep, what's best for the city is what we all have in mind and at heart i'm sure. just some minor difference of opinion on some of the details. long may that be kept in perspective.


    this thread was just started with only one intent in mind, to point out the discrepancy of ethical values, as displayed by allowing snuff, but not nudity, no matter how tasteful (though that was cleared up by adding yet more censorship), but clearly, the thread has gone much further.

    to point out the nudity issue though... it does seem like a zero tolerance approach. and it would be totally hypocritical of me if i did not carry forward the line "zero tollerence = zero inteligence" that i have used against hard line tory fascists in relation to prohibition in the uk, to any other issue too.

    i mean... there are plenty pieces of artwork depicting nudes that i'm sure would go by unoticed. most animals are nude. many would say that it is the clothed tall walking apes that is the obscenity, and that it is our natural state to be naked and free. we're all over 18 here, so that should satisfy the censorship laws of most nations. wouldn't it make more sence to have a more "comon law" approach, where taste and decency are the guidelines, and deletion of such things be ratified by more than one mod operating alone on their idea of what's expected of them?

    where Digit is concerned (and for everyone else too i'd hope/expect), blind absolute acceptance of authority is not an option.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyagraha

    oh, and i do owe you all an apology for slating mods with that generalisation, got a bit carried away when started spiralling. very sorry for overdoing it. got caught up in my own rant, which is largely aimed at the macrocosm in the world rather than the microcosm in the city, but like all great ancient wisdom teaches, change the microcosm and the macroscosm changes to fit. so again, before it gets diluted in waffle...
    i am very sorry, most humbly apologetic for my behaviour and harsh words aimed at the mods.


    also, thanks for sticking by your highest ideals.
     
  12. Hahaha... rumjil
     

  13. HIGH All, Apology Accepted Digit.....you have yourself a Great Day.
     


  14. Ah, my sweet Digit, what hast thou wrought in thy hasty speech?

    I seem to remember I had a similar issue some time ago about a thread I wrote for the Pandora's box. A mod edited out what I considered a tasteful nude picture of a woman that I thought was perfect for the post. (The mod didn’t leave a reason so I got more pissed off.) Eventually I became so irritated that I deleted the whole thread because I believed I was being censored. A day didn’t even pass before RMJL contacted me about the thread. I pleaded my case and was amazed with her fair-minded assessment of the situation. She reminded of one fact that trumps all others, this is Superjoint’s site, and what he says goes. Also, if I were running this site, I would probably take the same position simply because it then makes keeping the peace around here that much more easier. If you had no such policy in place you’d have people who aren’t as mature as yourself posting random nudity and then trying to defend it as tasteful. Like I said, it’s much easier to have a zero tolerance policy than it is to methodically review every situation and address every argument. Dunno if that’s his rational, but it would be mine.

    11,000 active members are a lot of people to be watching over, I don’t know about you but I barely manage to read 40 posts a day. Image the hard work that goes into keeping this place as civil as it is? Marijuana smokers have very few havens like this one, and it’s free! All Superjoint asks is that we follow the rules. How much simpler could it be? The problem arises when we translate our values of fairness onto a situation that is a great deal bigger and varied than our individual life experience.

    Yeah, I wouldn’t mind having more freedoms, but not at the expense of the greater good. It’s not like this site is being diminished with the present policy. Not that this matters, but I agree with you about snuff being allowed but not nudity, maybe there could be some fine tuning done to address that. IMHO both are not good for the overall health of the City.

    Anyway…

    Stay green.
     
  15. I remember modding MMORPG forums.

    6k users online at any given time, probably a few K's worth of actual users.

    Do most if not any of you know how hard even a forum like GC can be to mod properly, and keep as many people as possible happy?

    The mods here at GC have done much better than most. My only thought is that as Rasta said, they are somewhat faceless... the only way I found the modding team to work really well on the MMORPG forums was if they all participated in normal conversations as much if not more than the average user. Almost kind of "The mods are your friends" way of doing things :p
     

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