The moderation team ignoring their own rules

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I also get frequent reminders and yellow cards because of my criticism of certain religion and opinions on politics. I don't say anything offensive (e.g. "**** Islam" ), I make valid arguments.
The mods have now also taken to giving me reminders for when they feel like it. So if I post a family related issue in the relationships section, I get a warning/reminder because they feel the thread belongs somewhere else. Then I get several of these reminders which get me an automatic yellow card.

I keep bringing this up in Ask the CT but I don't get responses for weeks, and on the one time I did (I still have one pending for ages) my thread in there was deleted before I could review the response.

Generally it seems like the moderation team is attempting to enforce a left wing approach that cards and bans people who speak out on certain issues, while tolerating those with homophobic and pro-extremist views.

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Yep, there's definitely a move by them to try and stifle discussions that they don't agree with.

Interesting to see you got a plethora of warnings though. I got two warnings (I couldn't quite figure out for what) then got two yellows and a black card in quick succession (the same day I believe)

I've not actually had a temporary ban, I just went straight to a permanent ban.

Weird.

Reply 21

Puddles the Monkey

Original post by phoenixsilver

I'll have a look at this now :smile:

I've had a really quick look through your community record, and I'll get back to you in AtCT rather than here.

Generally it seems like the moderation team is attempting to enforce a left wing approach that cards and bans people who speak out on certain issues, while tolerating those with homophobic and pro-extremist views.

Posted from TSR Mobile

We try to be as neutral as possible in our moderation. And we definitely don't allow homophobic or pro-extremist views on TSR - if you see examples of this, please report them.

Again, the line is blurry and offensiveness is a big grey area. However, in general I would say that criticism of ideas is alright on TSR, but criticism of those who follow those ideas in a lot of cases isn't, as it tends to veer in to personal attacks. It's also not okay to make posts which are deliberately designed to upset or get a rise out of people. We can talk about things in a constructive way. It also depends on context and a post might be breaking guidelines without necessarily using swear words or direct insults.

(^^I'm not saying you've done any of these things, but am just trying to add some further thoughts to the discussion.)

Reply 22

LockheedS.

Original post by Puddles the Monkey

Heya, I'm not sure what the situation is but I'll chase this up for you :smile:

They just banned me again.

What the hell is going on?

Reply 23

The Free Radical

It is honestly extremely unprofessional to ban a user if he posts with his account in Ask-a-CT, rather than giving him a full response.

Reply 24

tehforum

I believe the moderation team are a bunch of Islam sympathisers who seek to silence those who dare speak against their backward ideology.

Reply 25

Puddles the Monkey

Original post by tehforum

I believe the moderation team are a bunch of Islam sympathisers who seek to silence those who dare speak against their backward ideology.

... the moderation is all done in house by TSR. We're not trying to silence anybody, but we do have a set of community guidelines and we're trying to make TSR a place where everyone can share their ideas freely without being personally attacked or attacking others.

Reply 26

tehforum

Original post by Puddles the Monkey

An informed attack on religion is bound to be a personal attack because those who believe in Islam and its retrogressive values have vested their 'faith' which is innately personal.

Your moderation policy fails.

Reply 27

driftawaay

Original post by BoomCha!

In my view the moderators are turning TSR into Stalin's Russia through the use of censorship.

I've lost count of the number of perfectly good posts of mine that have been removed or the number of warnings I have received.

I am very outspoken about my feelings on Islam but this is becoming very difficult lately as I struggle to post anything without it being removed for "racial hatred" (impossible: no religion/ideology is a race.) I'm not sure if Muslims are running TSR or there are users who report all of my posts, but it's becoming quite ridiculous.

Posted from TSR Mobile

I'm suspecting ISIS hacked the site, kidnapped the moderators and stole their identity a long time ago.

Reply 28

driftawaay

Original post by LockheedS.

They just banned me again.

What the hell is going on?

At least they have done one thing right.

Reply 29

Puddles the Monkey

Original post by tehforum

It's completely possible to discuss religion (and this goes for all religions) without making it personal. People may be offended that their religion has been questioned, but in this case it would not be against our guidelines.

It's the difference between saying "X religion is questionable because of a, b, and c." and "people who believe in X religion are stupid" - the former isn't against our guidelines, whereas the latter is because it contains a personal attack.

Reply 30

The Free Radical

Original post by Puddles the Monkey

I do not believe that the CT team favours Muslims at all, but the way in which this user is being treated, is utterly disgusting.

To ban him, rather than giving an explanation and to ban his dupes when he asks why he was banned, even though he was not permabanned for repeated bans, it shows that since moderation has been taken in house, that the CT really can't cope with dealing with all the reports.

There is a poster called errm who keeps making new accounts and just adds a new number after his name, each of his accounts is eventually banned after a couple of days, but if the CT response times are going to be so slow and they are happy to ban users who make threads in ask a CT, rather than discussing your issues with the community team, it tells us to keep making dupes.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 31

Puddles the Monkey

Original post by The Free Radical

Things should have been chased up with this user now in AtCT. Obviously it's a little bit difficult for me to talk about this as we shouldn't really be discussing these decisions publicly and I'm also not completely in the loop with this case.

There is a poster called errm who keeps making new accounts and just add and new number after his name, each of his accounts is eventually banned a couple of days, but if the CT response times are going to be so slow and they are happy to ban users who make threads in ask a CT, rather than discussing your issues with the community team, it tells us to keep making dupes.

Sorry I'm not completely following here - you mean CT reactions to banning dupes are slow or...? Again I can't discuss moderation in the public forum but this user has been spoken to several times by a member of the CT.

Reply 32

The Free Radical

Original post by Puddles the Monkey

Sure, but the real is issue is that if a banned user creates a dupe account and uses this account to post in ask a CT, there is no way that account should end up being banned unless he uses it in the public forum.

Original post by Puddles the Monkey

In general since moderation has been taken in house, response times to everything have massively increased and this in conjunction with the above creates a scenario where bad behaviour is rewarded over good behaviour

Right now it's easier to just create a dupe and start posting again as normal, rather than make a dupe and ask the CT's why you were banned (the right thing to do) if they ban you simply for asking such questions.

Reply 33

Puddles the Monkey

Original post by The Free Radical

I'd say that yes overall that this is true. The only exception I can think of is if they were using the account inappropriately within AtCT.

There's already been a big discussion about response times in another thread, and it's something we're working hard to improve upon. Response times for some areas of the site have really improved, but in other sections it's slower. Overall response times have improved. The point you've raised here is a fair one and something we need to think about - we don't ban people for asking why they've been banned, but I can see how a delay in getting a response would make people give up and just create a dupe.

Reply 34

The Free Radical

Original post by Puddles the Monkey

I'd say that yes overall that this is true. The only exception I can think of is if they were using the account inappropriately within AtCT.

I agree with this of course.

Original post by Puddles the Monkey

That is also a key issue, you can't expect people to behave perfectly, but you can act in a way which makes them less likely to cause problems.

Reply 35

BoomCha!

I don't quite believe it, but one of my posts on this very thread has been removed! I posted a grumpy cat meme which said "you're offended. Good." Completely intended as a joke yet someone must have been so offended by a meme they removed it. I'll repost to see if it gets removed again.

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Reply 36

Puddles the Monkey

Original post by BoomCha!

Hey, this wasn't removed for being offensive, it was removed for not adding anything particularly constructive to the conversation as it was just a picture of a meme.

There's been some really good discussion in this thread and useful feedback, so if you've got anything to add that would also be good.

Reply 37

BoomCha!

Original post by Puddles the Monkey

I have added good discussion onto this thread: sharing my experiences and speaking with others about the issue. I'd forgotten that humour is not allowed on TSR. Also, about 1/4 of all TSR posts add nothing to discussions, yet they aren't removed.

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Reply 38

phoenixsilver

Original post by Puddles the Monkey

That's part of the problem.
A relatively large proportion of my own and others' posts are given reminders and yellow cards for being "Not constructive".
How does an external moderating party determine whether my response is constructive to the public or the author of the thread? This is a forum generally for students - why give people reminders (which eventually escalate into cards) for posting meme responses, images and single word replies such as "fail" or "lol"?

These users aren't doing anything wrong, nor are they impairing the functionality of TSR for other users. An example would be reminders and posting tips I have received for posting joke responses to spam threads! In other words, you are punishing me for joking around on a thread that is going to get binned anyway (the korean spam)! It literally seems to be a case of moderators seeing what they can get away with and giving as many cards and reminders as possible.