Quote:
Originally Posted by wisdom
Did you just change the signature rule? If so, I appreciate that and so should the person who made this thread.
Now, putting my head on the guillotine, what about the issue of atmosphere that some of us have complained about? Another ongoing thread indicates that many visitors to this site probably go into increasing avoid mode if unhappy with things, me included. I'm mostly here to have fun discussing music, and I think I'm a typical non-spammy visitor in that sense, moderately sensitive and not here to "outgrow" that or put up with much in exchange for music talk. "Rudeness" and "insulting posts" cover the main concerns of mine, so why are many such posts seemingly tolerated? Moderators mostly wait for users to report such posts? I would think the business purpose of this site involves maximizing legitimate traffic, and hostility undermines traffic. I can say that such posts tend to breed each other.
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While we state that we do not tolerate rudeness and insulting posts, it's difficult to enforce that rule in a rigid way without oppressing freedom of expression as a whole. We do have lines that we draw, but ultimately it's up to the moderator to assess the situation and make a judgment about whether removing posts and/or disciplining members is necessary.
More often than not, occasions where our regular members outright insult someone else, whether intentionally or not, are relatively rare. More often than not, however, accusations of rudeness are a matter of interpretation, and it's usually better for staff to let members work through their differences without needing to constantly dictate the terms of people's interactions with one another.
If you ask me, that would be more harmful to a community than anything. Obviously, we take care of problematic members straight away. But we'd rather let individuals prove themselves as such, rather than oppress their expression by default in an attempt to ensure that they never get the opportunity to make a mistake at all.
We give people the chance to make mistakes and recover from them on their own. Having to arbitrate every instance is not only insulting to the members here, but not conducive to an environment that promotes honest discussion and expression.