<p>First, Id like to make it clear that this thread is
NOT about any specific posters
NOT about the political views of the posters,
NOT about the substance of the political posts
NOT about the board moderators and their discretion, although I hope that the moderators would recognize that the topic of this thread is important for the public image of the CC board and will contribute to this discussion (hopefully not by deleting the thread, although I am more then willing to edit my post if I inadvertently posted anything incompliant with the rules of this board)
I am asking the respondents to refrain from comments on any of the above topics and rather comment on the issue.</p>
<p>Now, lets consider a situation when a poster, whose name or political affiliation is irrelevant for the purpose of this discussion, consistently uses profanity, insulting tags and/or graphic sexual language in his political posts. Further, lets consider that her/his numerous opponents have repeatedly made it clear that they find her/his posts insulting, inappropriate and distasteful. Finally, lets consider that the poster responds by encouraging people to be offended, expresses pleasure and satisfaction with this outcome and continues his offensive posting. Over the last year, I have witnessed similar situations involving at least three different offenders. Interestingly, this happened exclusively on the political threads, indicating that the very same posters are fully capable of effectively communicating their views and disagreements in a respectful and decent manner. </p>
<p>Here is my question: why the only posters who express disappointment with this situation are those ones whose political views concur with the attacked posters? Why the political allies of the offender remain silent? Do they feel that these posts are appropriate? That its not their business? That both sides have been equally insulting? Or do they feel that, since the poster represents their viewpoint, they are obliged to support her/his posting style? I have a lot of respect and admiration for the many posters from the opposite political camp, I appreciate and value their intelligent, insightful, informative and courteous posts and Ive learnt a great deal from them. Its very apparent that these people possess a deep sense of compassion, fairness and tolerance. I dont want to believe that the partisanship comes in the way of their sense of justice. Id appreciate any thoughts or comments.</p>
<p>It could be any or all of the above. It could be that the political allies of the offender are afraid of derailing the thread (while the opponents, being the ones attacked, are less likely to be bothered by this). It could be that the political allies consider the offender to be a crazy with whom it’s pointless to argue and that saying something will only rile them up more. It could be that they are afraid of criticism of the offender being misinterpreted as sharing the beliefs of political opponents who are criticizing the offender. It could be that they were going to say something, but then saw a political opponent reply in a way that offended THEM, and so they decided not to bother.</p>
<p>The purpose of the “Report Problem Post” link, which appears on every post, is to address and eliminate problems such as “profanity, insulting tags and/or graphic sexual language.”</p>
<p>ADad, I’ve personally reported one post that I felt crossed the line by an “opponent.” It was not removed and the behavior continues. That said, in PMs many on that poster’s “side” have commented and some have even commented within a thread. I don’t like ugly posting and I don’t like ugly behavior in real life. There is one poster whom I ignore, one who used to bother me a lot who now amuses me and with whom I agree on many parenting issues and suspect would be friends with IRL, and another with whom I disagree vehemently, but have learned from and whose depth of knowledge and polished articulation I have come to enjoy a lot. The shame to me are the posters who are so able to convey their point effectively and don’t have to resort to viciousness but choose to do so anyway.</p>
<p>Precisely, Ive started this thread and was immediately contacted by some posters via PM, who appear to be just as concerned as I am about quality of life on this board, but very few people post comments on the actual threads. </p>
<p>ADad, as evidenced by the many posts that were never edited, the report problem link is not a solution, I am sure that ZM is not the only offended poster who has reported the problem. I could provide you with some search keywords, but this is not the purpose of this thread. I would not start it if I was the only one feeling this way, but I saw many analogous opinions on this forum, as well as on other web sites. After all, the posters comprise this forum, and they can change its mood if they speak up their opinions, providing, of courses, that they care. On the contrary, silence and ignorance are usually perceived as support. If the posters support this situation, Id like to hear from them perhaps I am the one who is unreasonable.</p>
<p>When I was going through my “situation” I had to delete my PMs repeatedly because of all the comments I got. There are people who are still going through the process (like me) and don’t want to destroy relationships or be banned because there really isn’t anywhere to get the quality and specificity of college information as here. But the bullying is just not very nice and it does seem to be a small group of people who run wild. Respect and honesty are great attributes in any type of community.</p>
<p>“silence and ignorance are usually perceived as support.”</p>
<p>I don’t agree. I perceive silence as refusal to get involved in a shouting match. Ignoring rude people is usually pretty effective in virtual and non-virtual worlds. I’ll hit the “report problem post” button, but in general I will not take people to task for being ugly to other posters. I’m not a moderator, and nobody appointed me referee. If this were an actual cafe, it wouldn’t be my place to tell other adults in the conversation that they are rude for using certain language, etc. I can alert the staff about violations of the rules, and/or I can choose to leave.</p>
<p>I have not read any posts that .consistently uses profanity, insulting tags and/or graphic sexual language in his political posts . That doesnt mean there have not been posts of that nature, just that I havent read any. </p>
<p>There has been times when a poster would make a claim, and call it a fact, I have then ask the poster for information to back up their claim, but instead of backing up the claim, the poster just starts calling names. It not right but it has happened.</p>
<p>It’s a mystery to me, btm. I have used the “Report Problem Post” to ask that “profanity, insulting tags and/or graphic sexual language in his political posts” be addressed, to no avail. I assume that others who share political beliefs with the offender care more about scoring political points than behaving in a civilized manner.</p>
<p>Hanna, Bluebayou, ZM, I guess, you are right, I have started ignoring certain posters a long time ago, once I have even posted about it. I am just really tired from having a bad taste in my mouth from reading every other political thread. </p>
<p>What is it so special about politics that makes people feel righteous to slur their opponents? It literally looks like they are getting high from this, just like drug addicts. Is this because of the sense of moral righteousness they experience? The conviction they are trying to convey? Do they really think that profanity makes their message more efficient? These people are so proud about their intelligence; do they even realize that they are getting ignored because of their style? I understand that political candidates can get very nasty during their campaigns and a lot of their nasty comments are calculated moves. I am also well aware that profanity is common on certain forums, but the college forum is the last place I would expect this to happen. </p>
<p>TB, I think that we have agreed not to name any names or to point fingers. I am not trying to start a fight, I am trying to find a solution. I also want to learn the opinions of the other posters. At Least I am relieved to hear that many people recognize this problem.</p>
<p>Well, I can’t speak to the extremes described in the OP - I must have missed most of the profanity and graphic sexual language, and I do tend to frequent the political threads here in my spare time - but I will admit to the fact that when someone whose social/political views are aligned with mine posts something that I think is really, really dumb (which happens from time to time) I pretty much just sit on my hands and hum. A similarly flawed remark from a Minion of the Evil Empire (as I fondly like to think of my CC sparring partners) is far more likely to draw a sharp retort.</p>
<p>I have reported posts which had offensive (to me) commentary, and seen the post deleted or bowdlerized by the moderators on a couple of occasions.</p>
<p>sjmom, Believe it or not, I have never reported a single post. The real world analogy that comes to my mind is public flashing versus public nose picking. You can report a flasher to the police and theyll come after him, but you cant report a nose picker. Does it make him less disgusting I dont think so. He can stand at your front door and youll be forced to witness his act day after day; you can relocate, you can use the back door to avoid him, but you can not get him arrested and, as most people attest, you’d prefer to avoid confrontation. Each time I see another post of this sort, I tell to myself: hm, here is another act of virtual nose picking. A nose picker can be a lord, have a PhD, be well read and have silk underwear, but at the end of the day he is still what he is just a nose picker. Sigh…</p>
<p>kluge, I trust that people have different opinions, and quite frankly I did not know what to expect when I started this thread, but it appears that at least some people know precisely what I am talking about.</p>
<p>I very seldom post on the political threads, but I do read about the first two pages. I value hearing both sides (or sometimes more than two) of an issue, and really am interested in the discussion. Sometimes there are angles I hadn’t considered. But I’ve noticed that after two pages or so, the discussions tend to run out of talking points and degenerate into something less edifying. And yes, there are posters who are predictable, and I tend to skip them, because I’m looking for insight, not venom. </p>
<p>Over Thankgiving, my H’s extended family met up in Washington, DC. Among the 15 of us, we represent a pretty long continuum of political ideology. My sister-in-law was complaining at length about her father - the two of them representing far opposite ends. He has an unfortunate habit of forwarding every email he gets, and she felt that many were nothing more than slanderous. [Some are. I don’t read them all!] Only a few minutes later, she proudly showed us the t-shirt her son was wearing, with an insulting politcal joke about “the other side”. They couldn’t wait to see Grandpa’s reaction. She seemed startled when I asked her if that wasn’t equally slanderous. </p>
<p>Sometimes we can’t smell our own bad breath, I guess.</p>
<p>I’d like to mention that the one post I have ever reported was on a thread in which I never posted but did read because it was a topic that I had nothing to contribute to but wanted to learn about. I was not the target of the post and have no relationship with the person targeted, but I found the behavior deeply disturbing, reported it, noticed that several other posters commented on it, but nothing happened. Actually, the whole thread should have been pulled, not just the one post.</p>
<p>I’ve refrained from reporting problem posts because I’ve seen entire threads deleted because of a single or a few problem posts. I don’t understand why they don’t just delete the offensive POST - why do they have to delete the entire thread?</p>
<p>“don’t understand why they don’t just delete the offensive POST - why do they have to delete the entire thread?”</p>
<p>Because I’ve seen threads in which one poster repeatedly attacks another relentlessly and just keeps coming back to it. The only way to stop that is to take the thread away.</p>
<p>I tend to skim the political threads and often don’t notice the icky stuff until someone else points it out. I’ll report truly egregious posts, but I’m pretty picky. I was a board monitor for a few years in another forum and it’s a pretty thankless job. In my experience shunning is the best way to get rid of chronically problem posters.</p>
<p>All of these are TOS violations and will result in a warning or loss of posting privileges. Ever post has a “report” link - please feel free to use it. We rely on our members to identify problem posts as our volunteer mods can’t read every post as it appears.</p>
<p>Our expectation is that CC will be a friendly and welcoming place - when that isn’t the case, we fix it.</p>
<p>Personally, I’d do away with the political threads, but it seems our members enjoy the opportunity to discuss politics. Nevertheless, our expectations of appropriate behavior aren’t relaxed if the topic is politics.</p>