Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments More inclusive "GT" classes in middle/high schools

I agree completely.

Hello,

Of course that is not the only deciding factor, however I would say 99% of the posts that are reported do warrant action.

Before you delete this post, I hope a few people will see me ask why you decided *banning* rather than deletion and thread locking was appropriate in this case. I believe (though I can't be sure) that I saw everything 22B posted, and nothing was more problematic than many other posts that have not resulted in anyone being banned, in my view. I asked this privately by notifying on the ban message, but got no reply, so I ask again.

I, too, would appreciate a discussion of how the decision was reached. I missed the deleted commentary, and it seems many respectful regular posters were surprised by the chain of events. I think it would be in the interest of fostering a respectful dialogue on the forum to open up a participative, transparent discussion about what transpired.

Add me to the list of puzzled regular posters and members of this community. Diversity and, yes, a little-to-a-lot of friction is what makes a forum both active and useful.

Does this decision reflect a shift in moderation policies at the forum?

What triggered a "ban" on a user? Because honestly, I didn't see it. Now, possibly I just missed whatever-it-was that prompted that decision, but I honestly don't understand this.

I also thought this thread would have been closed long ago.
22B was being rude IMO to ultramarina. He would not back off.

again JMO.

Since the topic of this thread seems to have moved entirely to the moderation, I will chime in to say that I did report one of 22B's posts, but it was a "please remind 22B to talk about the thread topic, not the moderation policy" request. I was as shocked as anyone by the banning.

As a suggestion, it would probably be helpful to everyone if there were a place on the boards where we could talk about board moderation policy. Instead, whenever a thread veers into this area, it eventually gets locked and deleted.

I almost never report posts, and I did not in this case. I even had a post removed from this conversation (in response to another which was also removed while I was already crafting a response), and I don't have a problem with that.

Reading through 22B's posts in this conversation, it seemed like a whole lot of arguing for the sake of arguing (what was all that about the nonexistence of gifted magnets, anyway?), and then he overreacted to moderation, which I would expect is the primary reason for the ban. I'd say you can just about count on getting banned anytime you make too much of moderator actions on a moderated forum. To make a mess of a metaphor, First Amendment arguments don't hold a lot of water in someone else's sandbox.

Unmoderated forums tend to descend to the lowest common denominator, and we're a population with a strong current of emotional overexcitability, so the choice is between some questionable moderation choices, or outright flame war. I choose the former.

Yes, locking seemed appropriate to me, as well.

I say that as someone who is an admin at a similar community.

I'm deeply sympathetic of the nature of moderation in a place like this. Truly. It's like herding cats at the best of times.

Deletion of the thread--

not really okay, in my opinion. This punishes contributing members who have made well-considered and thoughtful posts which are on-topic and insightful.

Do that too often and the most insightful and stimulating members of your forum will quit attempting to make those kinds of posts at all.

JME, that. Light moderation is a thing at places like this for a good reason. Yes, it's a little rough and tumble sometimes-- but-- tamping down ALL incivility often comes at a pretty steep cost, too.

OK, I can tell everyone is confused and possibly upset. So here is what happened and this is the last time I will post about this. Then I will leave this thread open for the rest of the day so everyone can read it and then it's gone, because this thread is no longer about it's original subject, which I think everyone can agree upon.

I received a complaint notification that 22B was posting in appropriate subject matter for the forum. 22B was arguing that magnet schools are solely based on race. While this subject matter may not be offensive, it was the tone in which the post had taken that offended someone, and we agreed, after reviewing the post, that the argument could have been handled better. The offensive part of the post was deleted. I posted a reminder to keep things friendly.

Only a few minutes later, 22B posted a very similar argument using "code" for racist comments. This post was also reported as very offensive. Once again, after reviewing the post, it was determined that the tone of the argument had indeed become more offensive. That post was deleted, another reminder post was made and 22B was messaged privately regarding the matter.

Following that, 22B posted several things complaining about his posts getting deleted. They openly admitted that they had never read the rules. After reading the rules, another post was made arguing that the rules were too vague and that moderators were hired for the soul purpose of "bullying and trolling" users such as themselves. That was the comment that resulted in the banning.

Long story short, it was not so much the content that resulted in 22B being banned, but rather the way in which they handled the situation.

I would like to now once again remind everyone that monitoring this forum is no ones primary duty, and so we rely on the users to keep it functional and appropriate. When something is reported, that is when we review something and most of the time take action.

I now request, that we leave this thread and this subject, and either A: Cease to continue posting on the this thread. or B: Continue the original subject.

Thank you.