Originally posted by alien
For some - they seem to have the mentality of "Meh - I'll take the Warn in order to say something unacceptable to this person, what do I care, I
have 4 more chances yet". Well...nah...not going to happen. I for ne will be banning without Warns, without consultation, without listening to
excuses. Play nice or get out of the sandpit...can't find your way out of the sandpit, no problem, I'll help you.
These people do exist, in signifigant numbers. I applaud your stand on this issue. People even go so far as to flaunt their warnings, as a status
symbol. That's more than a little childish. So, indeed, out of the sand pit.
I will continue to do my best to refrain from insults and below-the-belt attacks, and I hope the smoking trails of more and more ATSers falling from
the sky will warn off potential trouble makers in the future.
Of course, Seekerof's suggestion to lower the warn/ban threshold has merit as well, and I would even go far as to advocate three strikes, you're out
law. Two warns, third brings the hammer down.
I don't think a zero tolerance policy towards flaming is warranted, but hate speech definitely should be dealt with harshly. There is an incredible,
sobering, amount of racism on the web, and necessarily on this site. I think it needs to be quashed if it violates hate speech law, that is, any
speech intended to injure or incite others to cause injury.
Saying you don't agree with someone, saying they're not accurately perceiving the facts, that sort of debate has a place I think. If it gets too
heated, by all means, warns are in order. But I think the REAL problem lies with people who use this board to spread a message of intolerance.
Also, intent is a very big factor, and should be used to determine appropriate action. If someone jumps on a thread and starts jabbering about how
all jews are evil, money grubbing, satan worshippers, that's obviously hate speech, because it's intended to injure and incite others to hate. If
someone points out something A jew has done, or the Jewish state of Israel has done, that's not hateful in general. Again, it's all in the intent.
I think the mods have a pretty well developed troll-dar, and I have confidence they'll make good decisions even if the rules become more strict.
There was one member I remember, who came on, and on his first or second post said all Gypsies are thiefs and liars, it was hateful and ignorant.
They received a couple of warns for their behavior, and since then, their behavior has improved somewhat - even if their opinions are just as
deplorable. So there is something to be said for 'training' the trolls to play nice.
[edit on 2-4-2005 by WyrdeOne]