I get removing comments that break the rules, but nobody is breaking the rules by pressing disagree. Even though the disagrees are uncalled for in this post, the mod team removing them as they please sets a dangerous precedent for the integrity of the forum imo. Just my 2 cents.
That being said, congrats to all the winners!
I get where you’re coming from, but there’s also a precedent for mods intervening for more than just rule violations. Mods clean up comment threads all the time just to keep them less cluttered, even if no rules are being broken. It’s not too much of a leap then for them to remove some disagrees here and there, especially on a thread like this
I get removing comments that break the rules, but nobody is breaking the rules by pressing disagree. Even though the disagrees are uncalled for in this post, the mod team removing them as they please sets a dangerous precedent for the integrity of the forum imo. Just my 2 cents.
Actually, any action which primarily serves as a personal attack on another forum poster is technically against the rules. It is within the mods purview to remove any such content and even reprimand posters for doing it. A lot of disagrees on the forums probably fall into this category but it’s hard to prove. But in this case, the volume of the flags combined with the nature of the post being flagged make this ridiculously obvious.
I’ve said many times before that disagrees don’t really bother me (when directed at me specifically). My reputation in the community (to the extent that I have one) is such that at this point disagree flags aren’t changing anyone’s minds one way or the other, and I wade into sufficiently contentious topics that some disagrees are unavoidable (and even justified). You aren’t going to see me crying about flags (making fun of them occasionally, that you’re going to see). But flooding a single poster with disagrees when they make a completely innocuous post isn’t just harmful to the target, it is harmful to the forums as a whole because it projects an environment of hostility that those that aren’t aware of the forum’s politics and history won’t understand.
Whatever one’s gripe or personal feelings or judgments, we should all act civilly towards each other on the forums. Not because the other person deserves it from you, but because the forums deserve it from all of us.
Personally, unlike many others I think the disagree mob should be left alone to wallow in their own anonymous rancor. But in extreme cases where they blatantly show their hand, I don’t mind the mods taking action, if for no other reason than to remind them that the disagree flag is not something that has much integrity to protect. The people who use it taken as a whole have made it meaningless with their pettiness. And when the mods decide to remove their “contribution” to the forums, it is important for them to see that almost nobody really cares.
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I tend not to enter these kinds of contests for personal reasons, but that is some cool looking swag,
I’ve said many times before that disagrees don’t really bother me (when directed at me specifically). My reputation in the community (to the extent that I have one) is such that at this point disagree flags aren’t changing anyone’s minds one way or the other, and I wade into sufficiently contentious topics that some disagrees are unavoidable (and even justified). You aren’t going to see me crying about flags (making fun of them occasionally, that you’re going to see). But flooding a single poster with disagrees when they make a completely innocuous post isn’t just harmful to the target, it is harmful to the forums as a whole because it projects an environment of hostility that those that aren’t aware of the forum’s politics and history won’t understand.
Whatever one’s gripe or personal feelings or judgments, we should all act civilly towards each other on the forums. Not because the other person deserves it from you, but because the forums deserve it from all of us.
Personally, unlike many others I think the disagree mob should be left alone to wallow in their own anonymous rancor. But in extreme cases where they blatantly show their hand, I don’t mind the mods taking action, if for no other reason than to remind them that the disagree flag is not something that has much integrity to protect. The people who use it taken as a whole have made it meaningless with their pettiness. And when the mods decide to remove their “contribution” to the forums, it is important for them to see that almost nobody really cares.
Dr. Zola