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It has been a little while now that this fledgling community has been around and it remains one of my favorite stories about communities. A splinter of a much larger community took it upon themselves to challenge the rest and make a move to a new home. Shedding the shackles that were being placed on them was a bold move, but one that has been fantastic.
The community here is great, but here is my question. Overall, we are amazingly tolerant of others, of the choices they make, and of their beliefs. I would then be curious, if we are such a tolerant group, how do we address intolerance in our ranks? I recently came across what I can only say filled me with pity and sadness. I find it saddening that in this day and age, and especially in this group, there are still such hate-filled people.
But this poses a question: how does a group that is tolerant deal with intolerance within it's ranks? Does our acceptance of others extend to accepting someone that has thoughts and beliefs which are far from the norm within this community, or is there a limit placed on how far from our own values a member of the community may be?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Aighearach on Sunday April 13 2014, @08:02PM
"Voting people off" like a "Reality TV" show is a really bad and silly idea, because unpopular people would get voted out along with the offensive and hateful. In fact, the haters would use it to bully people.
Instead you need a clear policy, and some editor or otherwise appointed person make the call. And if they choose poorly, either direction, then people will leave. No way around that though.
(Score: 3, Informative) by NCommander on Sunday April 13 2014, @08:23PM
My stance on this is here: http://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=1261&thresh old=-1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&cid=30886 [soylentnews.org]
When I finally finish the manifesto/constituion for the site, it will clearly lay out these things.
Still always moving
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Reziac on Monday April 14 2014, @03:07AM
Thank you. I also do not believe in silencing (ie. banning) disagreeable opinions. Even if they're disagreeable people too. Tolerance (which I would say is an aspect of free speech) is not just for stuff you like or people you agree with.
And as I vaguely recall (having not used it) don't we have the ability to hide posts made by 'foes' ?? So it's not like people can't 'disappear' from their personal eyespace what they disagree with or annoys them. It's not like someone holds a gun to your head and forces you to read their posts.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by NCommander on Monday April 14 2014, @04:37AM
You can mark someone foe, then have foes get a pseudo-moderation to get the score to drop by X points. So if you browse at 0, you can set Foe to -6, so it will always be at -1. Its a bit clumsy though ...
Still always moving
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Monday April 14 2014, @05:28AM
Ah, so that's how it works. Well, silencing someone ought to be clumsy, so no worries :)
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.