"Politics" on Atari Age.

[youxia]

When I first joined this forum I was very happy to discover the rule forbidding talking about politics and religion. It was very refreshing to find a place free from the usual squabbles unrelated to whatever hobby the actual forum was dedicated to.

 

Over the few months I was here though, I saw that this rule is not really observed by some of the members. Hence lots of "political" posts appearing fairly regularly. These are not of "Reps vs Dems" pure politics variety but regard flammable topics such as guns, unions, alleged PC culture and so on and on. I think it's fairly obvious that these are "political" too.

 

Sometimes these threads would get locked but only when inevitable arguments exploded. I thought that such leniency was down to the "busy mods" angle - it is a fairly big board after all - but after the recent celebs pics thread action, I'm not so sure. It's clear that a couple of mods have taken sides there, not only by locking/unlocking itself but by the language used. The main problem with this thread (for me at least) was not the pics themselves (though that was fairly cringeworthy) but the fact the posters there were often venting their anti-PC sentiments - another bit of "politics". By supporting this lot the mods have taken a clear stance.

 

I would like to hear the clarification regarding this issue from the board owner itself. Is AA really apolitical or is it only the lefty-politics that's in reality not allowed here? That's unfortunately the impression that the whole picture presents now: seeing as non-PC posts are allowed to go unmoderated but any opposition to them is perceived as troublemaking and stomped upon.

 

Please note that I am not campaining here for a right to promote the, shall we say, "SJW" views on this board. I simply wish it stayed true to the rules of "no politics" whatsoever in regard to anybody who tries to do so. I also realize that it's a private forum and the owners/mods can shape it in any form they wish - but then the rules would need adjusting, so as to avoid confusion.

[Albert]

The "no politics" discussion ban does not cater to one side or the other as far as left or right goes. I'm leftist myself, but I don't use the forum to espouse my views and I generally don't want to know how others lean. So, stating that only lefty-politics are being discriminated against certainly isn't the case. We somehow managed to survive the political drama of the last several years without it bleeding onto AtariAge for the most part.

 

Yes, some discussions are going to get started that impinge on politics. Sometimes they will run for a bit and only get closed when people once again reveal they cannot embark on such discussions in a civil matter. I have many times, including recently, stepped into a conversation and removed posts that were political and asked people to keep politics out of the discussion. Discussion of current events may often wander into politics, sometimes these are shut down, sometimes not (or at least not until they spiral out of control).

 

I just locked the female celebrities thread and will be permanently deleting it as well.

 

..Al

[CPUWIZ]

Please feel free to report any type of political or religious posts, thanks. It makes it easier on us, reading through forums is a bitch task.

[spacecadet]

I would like to hear the clarification regarding this issue from the board owner itself. Is AA really apolitical or is it only the lefty-politics that's in reality not allowed here?

I'm a "lefty" too but I haven't noticed the kind of persecution you seem to be implying. And I posted a couple times in that celeb thread; I don't think that's got anything to do with politics. If someone makes it political, well, that's just kind of sad. Not everything has to be political.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

All moderators at AA are humans and have their own, differing views and opinions. Thus they can never be 100% objective, even if they try hard. There always is some bias left. And the same goes for every normal member. Also to draw the line between politics and non-politics is not always easy.

 

But all moderators and almost all normal members are doing their best to keep politics out of the board.

[youxia]

The "no politics" discussion ban does not cater to one side or the other as far as left or right goes. I'm leftist myself, but I don't use the forum to espouse my views and I generally don't want to know how others lean. So, stating that only lefty-politics are being discriminated against certainly isn't the case. We somehow managed to survive the political drama of the last several years without it bleeding onto AtariAge for the most part.

 

Yes, some discussions are going to get started that impinge on politics. Sometimes they will run for a bit and only get closed when people once again reveal they cannot embark on such discussions in a civil matter. I have many times, including recently, stepped into a conversation and removed posts that were political and asked people to keep politics out of the discussion. Discussion of current events may often wander into politics, sometimes these are shut down, sometimes not (or at least not until they spiral out of control).

 

I just locked the female celebrities thread and will be permanently deleting it as well.

 

..Al

 

Thank you for the balanced reply. As long as this really is the official stance here then it's all good. Of course with a board that big and with so many members and varied personalites, there will always be occasional friction - I was only concerned if there's a connection to recent events, where it seemed that mods themselves were aligned on one side.

 

I'm a "lefty" too but I haven't noticed the kind of persecution you seem to be implying. And I posted a couple times in that celeb thread; I don't think that's got anything to do with politics. If someone makes it political, well, that's just kind of sad. Not everything has to be political.

 

But this is precisely what I'm talking about. If you haven't seen it, fine, but I have and I only opened it few times (can't quote sice I was banned there). By "it" I mean not just posting pics - I could live with that - but also posting comments regarding how fantastically non-PC this thread is. This is politics. Same goes for starting a thread about a postal strike (unions suck), mass shooting (guns could save us) and pretending this is just personal opinion. I mean, at least if you do that do not be surprised if somebody objects and starts arguing. So, no, it's not just some local pesky sjw cucks spoiling the fun for everybody else with their snowflake sensibilities. When it is, it's a reaction to an existing flamebait. I have yet to see a "lefty" OP where eg I would start rambling on how #GG was just a big 4chan conspiracy or about mass shooting (guns caused it).

 

But above all I do not want to argue about it. Like Al said, "I don't want to know". This is the underlying message and one of the main reasons for this post. For krissakes, can we really just not stick to retro gaming and go to war over Atari vs C64, CRT vs HDMI, FPGA vs emu and other such fun stuff, instead of, well, you know what? For me this board is a briliant form of escapism and I so wish it could remain this way.

 

tl;dr:

 

 

The ball is retro gaming.

[Keatah]

This thread is talking about taking political sides.

[PlaysWithWolves]

Some people can't let politics go. I actually think it's more important for us, writ large, to enjoy each other's commonality than it is to promote our politics. Or at the very least, it's good to be reminded such. I'm a righty and have definitely seen some lefty political digs go by unchastised by mods. I don't think it's intentional, though, and there seems to be a decent political spectrum within the mods themselves (not that it should matter).

If you see a bias, it's probably because those posts stick out to you. Sometimes the poster may not even realize he's being political, nor may a mod realize as much. And did I mention there are some people who just can't let politics go?

 

I don't envy mods here at all.

[John Stamos Mullet]

here's a great example of what Youxia was talking about:

 

In the "millennial monopoly" thread, the entire theme is how millennials are supposedly soft, lazy, snowflakes with left leaning views and shitty jobs. The whole thread is dedicated to insulting people from that age bracket who are perceived as liberal.

 

As a joke, I made a post saying "hey, to make things fair, they should make a MAGAoply version too, insert your favorite insulting stereotypes".

 

It was deleted within minutes. Yet the rest of the thread, including all the insulting political/social stereotypes still exists. It's all still there.

 

There is a definite, measurable anti-left bias by certain moderators, and they use it to delete posts and ban users from Threads entirely. But the same thing quite literally never happens the other way.

Edited December 18, 2018 by John Stamos Mullet

[Shawn]

 

I just locked the female celebrities thread and will be permanently deleting it as well.

 

..Al

 

Which was a much needed thing to do IMO. I believe so as that thread was pointed to and used as a crutch by some users who where posting things which where out of line for much different reasons. Posting other questionable content cannot be justified by pointing at a thread objectifying what each person sees as beauty weather you are cool with that sort of objectification or not. They tried to use that threads on-goings as the "go to" for way too long as a "tit for tat" comparison of unequal content treatment. With that thread closed it removes the ability to point to it before or afterward as reason anyone should be able to post whatever it is they found grounds to compare that thread to which is or was unacceptable by AtariAge's mode or operation in the first place.

[John Stamos Mullet]

 

Which was a much needed thing to do IMO. I believe so as that thread was pointed to and used as a crutch by some users who where posting things which where out of line for much different reasons. Posting other questionable content cannot be justified by pointing at a thread objectifying what each person sees as beauty weather you are cool with that sort of objectification or not. They tried to use that threads on-goings as the "go to" for way too long as a "tit for tat" comparison of unequal content treatment. With that thread closed it removes the ability to point to it before or afterward as reason anyone should be able to post whatever it is they found grounds to compare that thread to which is or was unacceptable by AtariAge's mode or operation in the first place.

As others have stated, I think the loudest objection to that thread wasn't because of the pictures, but the comments in between the pics. It became the "safe space" for all kinds of angry political/stereotyping/generalization commentary to exist and be protected, especially after it was decided that anyone who disagreed would be kicked from the thread.

[Trinity]

[John Stamos Mullet]

Posting this here seems helpful, and totally not trolling at all.

[Trinity]

Posting this here seems helpful, and totally not trolling at all.

[Trinity]

At the risk of getting in trouble,,,

 

[pacman000]

But this is precisely what I'm talking about. If you haven't seen it, fine, but I have and I only opened it few times (can't quote sice I was banned there). By "it" I mean not just posting pics - I could live with that - but also posting comments regarding how fantastically non-PC this thread is. This is politics. Same goes for starting a thread about a postal strike (unions suck), mass shooting (guns could save us) and pretending this is just personal opinion. I mean, at least if you do that do not be surprised if somebody objects and starts arguing. So, no, it's not just some local pesky sjw cucks spoiling the fun for everybody else with their snowflake sensibilities. When it is, it's a reaction to an existing flamebait. I have yet to see a "lefty" OP where eg I would start rambling on how #GG was just a big 4chan conspiracy or about mass shooting (guns caused it).

Ah, but the folks on the right probably perceive themselves as responding to a perceived slight as well.

 

One person posts something they think is innocent; someone else does not see it as as innocent, so they respond. Then the 1st person responds to defend himself (herself). Then the 2nd person responds to defend himself (herself). And so on.

 

At some point, our own views of what is true prevent us from seeing the other side as anything but an enemy, always attacking first.

[John Stamos Mullet]

Ah, but the folks on the right probably perceive themselves as responding to a perceived slight as well.

 

One person posts something they think is innocent; someone else does not see it as as innocent, so they respond. Then the 1st person responds to defend himself (herself). Then the 2nd person responds to defend himself (herself). And so on.

 

At some point, our own views of what is true prevent us from seeing the other side as anything but an enemy, always attacking first.

None of these people are posting things they believe are innocent. We're all adults here.

[PlaysWithWolves]

Ah, but the folks on the right probably perceive themselves as responding to a perceived slight as well.

 

One person posts something they think is innocent; someone else does not see it as as innocent, so they respond. Then the 1st person responds to defend himself (herself). Then the 2nd person responds to defend himself (herself). And so on.

 

At some point, our own views of what is true prevent us from seeing the other side as anything but an enemy, always attacking first.

 

We live in a day-and-age where we don't know what the Internet Mob willl deem offensive the next day. The vast majority of the pictures and comments in that thread were respectful, then some leftist scolds came in with the purpose of disrupting. Congratulations to them: they got it shut down. It's the new Puritanism.

 

I don't particularly care about the thread itself; like politics, there's plenty of other websites which cater to things like that (as Al said). But to see it mis-characterized as a "'safe space' for all kinds of angry political/stereotyping/generalization commentary" really gets my goat. It's an outright lie written by someone whose main purpose in that thread was to troll.

[Trinity]

Please don't lock this thread.

 

[Omega-TI]

Back in the old BBS FidoNet day's there was a motto to live by...

 

Do not be annoying and do not be easily annoyed.

[NE146]

I just think many people take their politics way too seriously now.

[bigfriendly]

I hate that the female celebrities thread had to be deleted. I didn't look at very often but it was interesting to visit from time to time. I have always felt like the mods did a good job of stepping in when things got out of hand. I don't visit the forum every single day but I do enjoy the different sections available including the ones were politics do creep into from time to time. Thanks to all the mods for your hard work with the forum.

 

Scott:)

[John Stamos Mullet]

 

We live in a day-and-age where we don't know what the Internet Mob willl deem offensive the next day. The vast majority of the pictures and comments in that thread were respectful, then some leftist scolds came in with the purpose of disrupting. Congratulations to them: they got it shut down. It's the new Puritanism.

 

I don't particularly care about the thread itself; like politics, there's plenty of other websites which cater to things like that (as Al said). But to see it mis-characterized as a "'safe space' for all kinds of angry political/stereotyping/generalization commentary" really gets my goat. It's an outright lie written by someone whose main purpose in that thread was to troll.

This right here - is the stuff that is allowed to fly under the radar.

 

"I don't care about politics" preceded by an overtly political comment about the "Internet Mob" and being persecuted.

 

and yes - by having a moderator re-open that thread and tell everyone "we're letting this thread stay, and if you find it objectionable, I'l ban you" is exactly the action of declaring it a "safe space" for the kind of vulgar, crude, and insulting commentary it was filled with. again - nobody really reacted badly to the photos in that thread. It was the lewd commentary that upset people.

 

This is EXACTLY what youxia is talking about. The insane double standard here that if anyone finds something "offensive" they are a "libtard" and a "troll", but sweeping generalizations about leftist/cucks/sjws/NPCs etc. are posted on this board all day every day by dozens of users, and none of that is subject to deleting/banning/etc.

Edited December 18, 2018 by John Stamos Mullet

[PlaysWithWolves]

Hey look! It's Mullet mischaracterizing another post of mine. I clearly did not say, "I don't care about politics". We're literally in a thread called "Politics" on Atari Age. Literally.

 

 

This right here - is the stuff that is allowed to fly under the radar.

 

"I don't care about politics" preceded by an overtly political comment about the "Internet Mob" and being persecuted.

 

and yes - by having a moderator re-open that thread and tell everyone "we're letting this thread stay, and if you find it objectionable, I'l ban you" is exactly the action of declaring it a "safe space" for the kind of vulgar, crude, and insulting commentary it was filled with. again - nobody really reacted badly to thew photos in that thread. It was the lewd commentary that upset people.

 

This is EXACTLY what youxia is talking about. The insane double standard here that if anyone finds something "offensive" they are a "libtard" and a "troll", but sweeping generalizations about leftist/cucks/sjws/NPCs etc. are posted on this board all day every day by dozens of users, and none of that is subject to deleting/banning/etc.

[Albert]

This is EXACTLY what youxia is talking about. The insane double standard here that if anyone finds something "offensive" they are a "libtard" and a "troll", but sweeping generalizations about leftist/cucks/sjws/NPCs etc. are posted on this board all day every day by dozens of users, and none of that is subject to deleting/banning/etc.

 

Seems like you'd be a lot happier if I just removed your access to the Off Topic forums.