[Request] Lock or delete over controversial threads.

[St. GIGA]

Mod edit: (title isn't entirely correct, this post ain't a PSA, changing it) Original Title: [PSA to the Mods] Lock or Delete the controversial political debate threads. I already got warned, and I almost ignored the warning. Please make sure that nobody goes nuts. /edit end//

I got warned due to reporting old posts rapidfire. I would request that my SQL file be rolled back to 1 hour earlier from now, and that the thread I overliked be locked and hidden to all but moderators. This would keep the forum clean. I never meant to ddos this lovely place, but my snark got the better of me. While at it, PLEASE lock that topic. I do not need a warning to blemish my record. I do not crave a ban, but my brain cannot help itself. Please keep others from falling into the same trap. Please shut down the topic, and lock it. Sorry. Please understand that I regret everything that happened in the past 90 minutes. Undo it for me, OK.

[theSLAYER]

2 minutes ago, St. GIGA said:

I got warned due to reporting old posts rapidfire. I would request that my SQL file be rolled back to 1 hour earlier from now, and that the thread I overliked be locked and hidden to all but moderators. This would keep the forum clean. I never meant to ddos this lovely place, but my snark got the better of me. While at it, PLEASE lock that topic. I do not need a warning to blemish my record. I do not crave a ban, but my brain cannot help itself. Please keep others from falling into the same trap. Please shut down the topic, and lock it. Sorry. Please understand that I regret everything that happened in the past 90 minutes. Undo it for me, OK.

I can't roll back the SQL 1 hour back lol.
Don't worry, I've gotten infractions myself, we all have our past.
you won't get banned from the infraction, its 10 points that expire automatically.

In any case, I went to lock up some of the older controversial threads already.
I'm wondering if it's necessary to hide the more controversial older threads.
Any thoughts on hiding the old threads, @evandixon ?

To my understanding, the intention of having the Debates forum is to have intellectual debates,
but it seems to always ends up as some type of unholy combination of a flame war shit maelstrom.

I do hope that everyone can conduct themselves in a manner that begets respect.

[evandixon]

My word, that was a lot of reported posts - let's say that if an entire thread is report-worthy, just make one report for the thread while mentioning other posts need review as well. As for the warn points, no action will be taken until you reach 100 points, which I really don't think you'll reach in less than a month. (And even I got some minor infractions in the past.)

For some reason, all of the threads that were locked in vBulletin are unlocked during the migration, so it's very likely the thread was locked at one point.  I see no reason to hide or delete the threads, since many of the posts weren't that bad in my opinion (until they devolved into flame wars).  I didn't look at all of the reports (thanks for taking care of them, @theSLAYER), but the few I looked at simply expressed an opinion.  Because of the controversial topic, it's very easy to offend someone without meaning to.  Sometimes people will be offended just by hearing an idea they don't agree with.  In my personal opinion (and I am not officially speaking for Project Pokémon), I believe that moderator action should only be taken against those who are intentionally trying to offend or are clearly flaming.  After all, the U.S. constitution guarantees free speech, and while Project Pokémon is not necessarily bound by U.S. law, I believe we should keep this right to an extent: we should be free to express honest opinions about things without consequence, but we should make a reasonable effort to not be intentionally offensive.  There's a bit of give and take on each side.  Imagine a debate about the existence of God and the fundamentals of Christianity.  If I were to say that Jesus is the only way to heaven (aka what happens after life in this world), there would likely be at least one person to be offended, since this statement in the Bible opposes every other religion out there; however, by saying that I would not have gone out of my way to try to offend anyone; it's an honest belief.  In the same way, everyone else would be free to disagree, explaining why they think otherwise.  And who knows what interesting ideas could come from that discussion. (Unfortunately people tend to get emotional after a while of being called "wrong" and start intentionally offending.  Then the whole thing devolves into a flame war, warranting moderator action.  Let's see if we can do better if/when there's another debate out there.)

I'm going to close this thread now, because while pretty much anything is up for discussion in the debate forum, moderator actions are not.  If anyone has any questions regarding reporting posts warnings, feel free to PM a moderator like myself.