Moderation Questions
The last iteration of the moderation discussion thread was a complete disaster. Numerous attempts to keep it on topic failed, and it became a general discussion thread with almost no moderation related posts at all. And those that were posted were so buried in non-mod posts that it became a huge time drain on the mods to sort through them. Then, when off topic posts were deleted posters complained about that.
This led to the closing of the mod discussion thread, replaced by the post report/pm approach. This has filtered out lots of noise, but has resulted at times in the General Discussion Thread turning into a quasi-mod thread. This is not desirable, but going back to the old mod thread is also not a workable option.
Therefore, I have created this new moderation thread, but with a different purpose and ground rules than previous mod threads. The purpose of this thread is to provide a place for posters to pose questions to the mods about how policies are applied; to bring to the mods attention posts they think are inappropriate and reach the level of requiring mod action; and for mods to communicate to posters things like changes or clarifications to policies, bannings, etc.
Now let me tell you what this thread is NOT a place for. It is not for nonmoderation related posts, even if the discussion originates from a comment in in a mod related post. It is not for posters to post their opinions about other posters or whether a poster should be banned. It is not to rehash past grievances about mod decisions from months or years ago. The focus of this thread will be recent posts that require action now. Or questions about current policies and enforcement.
So basically, this is a thread to ask mods questions. Which means, pretty much that only mods should be answering those questions. If a poster asks why a particular post was deleted or allowed, only a mod can answer that. Everyone else who wants to jump in with their opinion or their mod war story needs to stay out of it. It just increases the noise to signal ratio and does nothing to answer the question.
Everyone needs to understand that this thread has very different rules than the old mod thread and any other thread. Any non-moderation post will be deleted on sight. Not moved to the appropriate thread, just deleted. So don't waste your time crafting a masterpiece post about wars or transgender issues or the presidential election and then post it in this thread. It will be gone. Also, this isnt a thread for general commentary about our mods performance. Posting "browser sucks as a mod" or any such posts that don't actually ask about a policy or request a mod action will be deleted. Everyone is entitled to their opinion about the moderation of this forum. But this thread isnt for complaining about mods. You are free to go to the ATF forum and make your concerns about modding in this forum there.
So with that intro, this thread is open for those who need to bring questions about mod policies or bring inappropriate posts to the mods attention. Again, it is NOT a thread for group discussions about other posters or for other posters to answer questions directed to mods.
We'll see how this goes. If you have what you feel is an open issue raised in the General Discussion Thread, please copy that post or otherwise reintroduce the issue here.
Thanks.
Qatari donations to American universities might be accurately described as a form of pro-Arab propaganda.
Qatar itself is actually somewhat of a black sheep of the Arab world. I would say it is more accurate to describe their propaganda as pro radical Islamism and anti-Western. Their propaganda supports groups like the IRI, Houthis, Hamas and Hezbollah; and they are extremely antagonistic towards efforts to bring peace and stability to the Arab world, especially as it pertains to normalizing relations with Israel and the US.
stop playing games roc
i've lived in the middle east for over 2 years across several countries - i'm not speculating
a major topic of conversation amongst expats is how to hide being gay, handling hotel checkins, being sure not to act "too friendly" in public etc so you don't get arrested or beaten by a mob - and it's easy for them because they're already being weird foreigners
an arab person could watch the birdcage and because our cultures are so different, they wouldn't pick up on the "flaming homosexual" imagery and behavior - so as long as the subtitles never explicitly said they are gay would have probably assumed it was wealthy politician vs urban bohemians culture clash and not a gay vs conservative one because they wouldn't have picked up on all the hints - one of my favorite games to play in egypt was bring up seinfeld (they all love it) and then casually mention how every character is jewish and they are always shocked and deny that's possible until they look it up themselves - they usually storm off pretty upset about the fact they one of their favorite shows is made by jews
if you are still unsure about that perhaps you can dm garick who is 2p2's resident arab world expert and we'll see if he disagrees
thanks vic, you got that in sooner than i expected
stop playing games roc
i've lived in the middle east for over 2 years across several countries - i'm not speculating
a major topic of conversation amongst expats is how to hide being gay, handling hotel checkins, being sure not to act "too friendly" in public etc so you don't get arrested or beaten by a mob - and it's easy for them because they're already being weird foreigners
an arab person could watch the birdcage and because our cultures are so different, they wouldn't pick up on the "flaming
I have never disputed that gay people are mistreated in many Arab countries. Of course they are. I never wrote anything remotely to the contrary. Any jackass who has ever thumbed through Lonely Planet -- Saudi Arabia knows that you probably don't want to move there if you are gay. And I never accused you of speculating baselessly about the treatment of gay people.
You need to focus on what I am actually writing rather than what you imagine that I am writing (or what you imagine that I am trying to avoid writing).
I have never disputed that gay people are mistreated in many Arab countries. Of course they are. I never wrote anything remotely to the contrary. Any jackass who has ever thumbed through Lonely Planet -- Saudi Arabia knows that you probably don't want to move there if you are gay. And I never accused you of speculating baselessly about the treatment of gay people.
You need to focus on what I am actually writing rather than what you imagine that I am writing (or what you imagine that I am tryi
but then why contest it?
obviously you can see why they are doing it because disenfranchised groups tend to band together with other disenfranchised groups (hence how T+ got lumped in with LGBQ)
but that's just insane, if they go to Gaza right now protesting like that with queers for gaza at the very least they'll be soon pelted by rocks
this is basically like protesting queers for nazis during nuremberg where they sift through and protest against punishment for those who were just taking orders
I obviously don't know the person in the picture, but I don't find anything particularly incoherent about a gay person having empathy for displaced Palestinian civilians.
I gotta side with Rococo on this one. It is possible to find someone's views or actions atrocious (even those have to with an identity category that you are in) and still empathize with their suffering. The problem is that they're not consistent in doing that.
I obviously don't know the person in the picture, but I don't find anything particularly incoherent about a gay person having empathy for displaced Palestinian civilians.
i do find that incoherent because if they were not displaced but had autonomous rule as a free state and those queers for palestine went their on vacation as an official organization it would have been a very brief visit and not have ended well
it's like protesting against all the innocent and benign viruses that are killed each by medicine
Grunge: birdcage is a great movie and also a sentimental favorite as it’s my mom’s favorite and what she cites as her disappointment that I, Iranian male, am not gay
i do find that incoherent because if they were not displaced but had autonomous rule as a free state and those queers for palestine went their on vacation as an official organization it would have been a very brief visit and not have ended well
it's like protesting against all the innocent and benign viruses that are killed each by medicine
I'm probably more inclined to agree with you than with Rococo/Gregory here, but this analogy is just awful. F.
The ability to empathize with people who hate you is a virtue. Positions regarding the war itself are secondary to the point I was arguing. The problem I see is this: Rocky fought Ivan Drago because he loved Apollo Creed, not because he hated Drago. A lot of protestors (not all) are supporting Palestine because they hate America, not because they care about Palestinians.
