Some points that I think need attention, even after being locked.
Legend wrote: ↑3 years ago
With all due respect, this statement is the embodiment of why this thread exists
...
It would be better if political discussion really wasn't allowed. Or if people were allowed to soberly share their views without concern of being cancelled. Or if Nexus stated plainly that it leans one way or the other and doesn't tolerate opposing opinions. Thanks for listening.
I've said it many times, I'll say it again, and I stand by it: Political discussion is not allowed here. The world has gone to %$#%, and I think everyone can agree this has been the craziest year — at least in a long, long time. Politics are insane right now, with the largest polarity between sides than we've seen in living memory. Turn on the news, and it's chaos and unrest and political discord, and an unending stream of negative emotion and a cacophony of anxiety.
People need to be able to get away from this when they need to, and sites like this can offer them that opportunity. There's no reason to have political discussions here, it doesn't fit the site, and there's no good merit for having them
on a magic site when a lot of people won't want them and there's other, better places to have them.
Now, there are times when real world actions bleed over into the magic world. A good example is WotC ending its relationship with Terese Nielsen. This was motivated by politically charge ideology and it's kind of impossible to discuss the situation without also touching on whole-world politics. We do our best to allow these discussions, but they still have a tenancy to expand beyond the magic-centric news and devolve into full on political arguments.
Beyond the above kind of situations, we don't allow political discussions. We do our best to be lenient and know people can easily slip up. This is why we almost always start with a mod note of "get back on topic" or something. Warning people the moment anyone gets into political areas would be egregious, so we generally only warn when A) it's a glaringly flagrant thing that served no purpose, B) people continue on after we've asked them to stop, or C) someone is regularly doing it after we've asked them to stop multiple times.
Now, there are what I would call "micro-statements" that one could argue blur the line. Much like the above, we're not trying to shut down peoples thoughts and such, we're simply stating (rightly) that such discussions don't have a place here. As such, if a small statement goes without drifting the conversation off into a tangent, we might easily just let it lay. If it bothers you, report it.
There are, of course, some statements that will never be allowed. Bigotry, sexism, racism, etc, aren't political statements, they're inflamatory and sometimes even hate speech. Anyone who tries to say their prejudice beliefs are political are simply trying to justify their implacable beliefs as if it's ok to treat others like subhuman garbage. It's not political and it's not acceptable. This goes back to the core tenant of treating others with respect. I don't care what political belief you have, what ideology or religion you belong to, you are absolutely not welcome here if you start spouting that kind of trash and will be banned without hesitation or remorse. This isn't political, it's basic human decency and dignity, and you can have that regardless of any other beliefs you might have. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect.
Legend wrote: ↑3 years ago
I was also shadow banned for awhile
Shadow bans don't exist here. It's not a thing. So no, you were never shadow banned, because you literally
can't be.
(Well, I mean I could create one, but I haven't yet, so......)
robertleva wrote: ↑3 years ago
To them conservative = bigot = sub-human
Conservative does not equate to bigot. You can easily be one without the other. The former is fine, the latter is not.
More succinctly: Conservatives are welcome here; bigots are not. Or,
at the very least, absolutely need to keep their opinions on such things to themselves.
Again, bigotry isn't a political ideology, it's a plague that has no place among decent people of any
actual political ideology.
robertleva wrote: ↑3 years ago
getting our voices heard in hard left forums like this
While there are more left-leaning staff here, I know we also have at least a few conservatives, and I myself am a moderate. On just about every defining issue between conservative and liberal, I am in the middle. Of course, you're also the one that told me that if I was truly a moderate I'd be a conservative like you and seem to think, as if anything that isn't conservative is liberal... so... I'm not sure you
actually understand the political spectrum.
We've literally been called liberal for stupid %$#% like offering pronoun choices. Offering people the ability to show their pronouns so we know how to refer to them isn't liberal. It's a basic thing. Who knows how many women I've called he/him/sir over the last 19 years with this community simply because I didn't know and there wasn't an elegant way for them to inform people. Now there is. If someone has an issue with pronoun choices, they're probably heading into that bigotry area we discussed before and really need to take a hard look in the mirror.
robertleva wrote: ↑3 years ago
We are not guaranteed free speech in these private settings, and brother we DO NOT have it here!
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Whatever little snips I can manage to get through the thought police that are constantly watching I will consider a victory.
Stop posting about politics and trying to work your "conservative snips" into things. That's all we've been asking you to do. I wouldn't even know you were conservative if you didn't shout it from the roof tops every chance you get. You seem to be unable to separate magic discussion from political discussion.
I love 8 Rack, it's one of my favorite archetypes. I'd love for you to stay here. But if you can't keep the politics out of your posts and continually (and purposefully) try to "get your political snips through" yes, you will absolutely end up banned eventually. I'm sure you'll try to scream "they banned me for being conservative" but no, it'll be because you can't stop talking politics, trying to sneak political pot shots in, etc. I get it, you're a conservative activist. I don't care, just stop trying to be an activist
here. Stop trying to constantly work politics into things. If you were constantly posting liberal-view politics, we'd 100% be in this exact same boat. It's not that hard, just talk about magic. You know, that game you play? Yeah, lets talk about
THAT instead.