ATS censorship, who decides?

Hey all,

The formula used to decide what posts and threads to remove has always intrigued me, I see some consistancy within posts themselves although it does seem whats ok on 1 thread is not allowed on others.

Is this down to the individual mod or is there some definitive line that if its crossed its pulled or 404d.

Individual posts is easier to understand but threads themselves

Ive been involved in very active debates on several threads before and mods have come and closed them with lines like "this thread has turned in a toilet, time to close this before it becomes an open sewer" or there is no merit to thread, nothing to discuss, thread closed"

They were only the 2 most memorable but similar things have happened at least 3 other times.

I write this now as a fairly disturbing thread title has been getting alot of attention and I feel its not only unwarranted but even unwelcome on this site.
I do appreciate Im still a noob but I fell I have somewhat gotten the hang of the place and I just dont see how a thread about EXTREME child abuse is appropriate.
The whole thread (about 160 posts) is almost exclusively people saying how they would like to make the sick individual suffer and the rest are saying the cant see the point in the thread and all its done is put them in a bad mood.

Hoe does a thread like that survive when it blatantly has nothing to do with the site, has no valid points on which to discuss or debate and lastly makes most people ill to just look at the thread title.

Is it perhaps because a mod wrote it?

Originally posted by IkNOwSTuff
Hey all, sorry pushed enter to early. Am writing the post as we speak
3 min pls

edit on 6-7-2011 by IkNOwSTuff because: (no reason given)

I do..... Minimal posts will not be tolerated

Thread closed.


Only joking.. I saw a really strange one that was 404'd the other day.. The op was asking what are your habits when you sleep.. He had stated he sleeps with his hand under the waistband of his pants... This was 404'd without even 1 comment.. It wasn't crude and the op was asking a genuine question (even though it wasn't really relevant to this site, but then again most posts are not)
Anyway just baffled me why it was 404'd..

people seem to think they have rights here but in reality we have none.. As with most other things in life, it's an illusion.
The owners of the site and mods make the final call, and it's either like it or lump it.. (not bashing them)

reply to post by IkNOwSTuff


who decides its cencorship ? - mostly people who have no idea what free speech really means

reply to post by IkNOwSTuff


Well, who decides who can come into your house? Who decides who can drive your car? And so on and so on. It is the right of the owner to make these decisions, and if you don't like it, well, then so be it.

vvv

I gave you three minutes and no post has arrived.

I'm starting to worry that the ATS Mind Police have gotten to you!

MM

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep


True, but if you have a big house you probably higher door men.
A better metaphor would be an office building, you have security deciding who going to get in, are all the security on the same page? do all the security have the same agenda? do they recieve the same training? are they consistant in who they will let in?

I love this site, wouldnt leave it but just ranting about what I see as inconsistancies

reply to post by IkNOwSTuff


Yes, but in the end, the owner makes the final decision. The boss.

Like a boss.

vvv

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep


So ur saying skeptic overlord or that simon guy weigh in on every single thread and post?

No its the mods, are they trained or given guidelines and discretion?

reply to post by ignorant_ape


What does free speech really mean?

Originally posted by IkNOwSTuff
reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep

 

So ur saying skeptic overlord or that simon guy weigh in on every single thread and post?

No its the mods, are they trained or given guidelines and discretion?

Of course the mods are there to patrol the boards, but they are still under the command of SO, so to speak, they cannot just go wild, without authorization.

vvv

Originally posted by IkNOwSTuff
reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep

 

So ur saying skeptic overlord or that simon guy weigh in on every single thread and post?

No its the mods, are they trained or given guidelines and discretion?

There is one mod here, that is militant... you would think this person personally owns the site.. (no names) although I'm sure some members will know exactly who I'm talking about..

They also have to consider advertising revenue.. Etc.. So they can't let it be total free speech.
Even though it sort on contradicts the whole point if the site..

Saying that, I do like it here and I'm glad there is some sort of moderation.. If you look at others forums or posting boards.. Eg YouTube, I don't even get past the first page usually because it's all complete crap..

if you are active on other forums then you begin to see what its all about, i see this site as a fun site, nothing new to find, no secrets or information, although i have seen in my short time a consistency of what is going on and to me its simply tooooo much of a head rush to give it anymore thought let alone bandwidth. so its bts for me and enjoying this side of site as its more casual and relaxed that is until this side of the site begins to come under the same hammer then ill simply move on, it wont be my loss as i am what has been defined as "user generated content".

so its party time, tequila's are on the house....

This Decides

What - another post questioning the integrity of the board staff?

It must be a day that ends the letter y again.

reply to post by IkNOwSTuff

Ive been involved in very active debates on several threads before and mods have come and closed them with lines like "this thread has turned in a toilet, time to close this before it becomes an open sewer" or there is no merit to thread, nothing to discuss, thread closed" They were only the 2 most memorable but similar things have happened at least 3 other times.

Some people are just punks. It's all they were, it's all they are, it's all they will be. Sad, really.

Maybe they were picked on as kids and now it's revenge time. Being a mod is easier than being a cop.

Originally posted by IkNOwSTuff
I write this now as a fairly disturbing thread title has been getting alot of attention and I feel its not only unwarranted but even unwelcome on this site.
I do appreciate Im still a noob but I fell I have somewhat gotten the hang of the place and I just dont see how a thread about EXTREME child abuse is appropriate.
The whole thread (about 160 posts) is almost exclusively people saying how they would like to make the sick individual suffer and the rest are saying the cant see the point in the thread and all its done is put them in a bad mood.

I know exactly what thread you're talking about - though I did not visit it to know how much attention it was getting, but all day yesterday it was in the top topics getting flagged...

I feel the same way that you do as well. I think its completely inappropriate and I also noticed it was written by a mod... double standard maybe....

I just advise you not to read it - like I didn't - and accept that SkepticOverlord is the boss. We don't have to agree with him, but we can't change what he feels is OK or NOT OK

It beats the alternative of going somewhere else ♥

reply to post by neformore


LOL

hey dude,

Not questioning anyones integrity, just wondering how much personal choice goes into mods decisions to delete and snip.
Ive seen threads were people get t&c warnings for calling someone idiotic and others were a guy was called a wanker and it was fine.
I saw a thread on beastiality closed almost straight away yet we can have the rape of a baby on the front page all day

I dont see consistancy but am definately not questioning anyones integrity

This site used to be pretty cool, but the last couple of years, something has gone horribly wrong. I have one particular MOD who denies repetitively deleting my post, yet I keep seeing his/her name in my messages ever and over. This MOD will delete my posts, not because they are vulgar or anything but, just seems to make up reasons, all the while letting others escape for the same thing. He or she even deleted one of my posts one time and when I asked them why, this MOD literally told me that ATS is not a place for jokes or comedic styling. So, because i made a joke while responding to someone, my post got deleted. You can't have any fun on here apparently. I got another thread removed tonight because I posted it for someone else. OK, it is in the rules to not post from other forums or banned people, but it was a message that I posted from a guy who said that it was his last night on earth...whatever that means, The MOD tells me that the guys should get an account on ATS and write it himself. Obviously didn't read the whole post before deleting it! or he or she would have noticed that he was either offing himself or dying or getting abducted by aliens or something and here this MOD comes along and deletes the thread and the thread was on fire. Most of this site is breaking that rule of not copying material from other sites and forums and their content doesn't get deleted. There is one MOD that I feel is harassing me. I have been here since 2004 and it wasn't until this one MOD that I started having trouble. There is some censorship going on here. Give some people the illusion of power and even they can't go without being corrupt.

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