I've been meaning to post this picture for a while now but I always stop myself for a couple of reasons: it may be considered by some as political, or may offend a group who do not see it remotely funny and start questioning the political views of those who might like it.
So do you think stuff like this can be posted?
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@Ken from ontario - now that's just funny!
I think this thread is a great example of why this forum is the best I have been privileged to be a part of for so long. I want to echo all of the warm sentiment offered to
@682bear...Bear, please do not stop posting your funny content.
I read through
@Eddyde's explanation of the recent dust up. It sums up perfectly what happened. I also read through the many varied comments about a few specific topics, namely:
1) No Politics rule,
2) Moderation duties
3) Free Speech and Constitutional Rights.
At the risk of being controversial, I'd like to offer some additional staff insight as a good faith effort to restate our No Politics rule.
First the no politics rule. We are currently discussing in the staff lounge a revision of our lengthy list of rules and I can tell all of you that the No Politics rule is always a fun one to revise. What is true for every staff member dedicated to keeping Hobby Machinist friendly is the following
intention behind our rule. We are surrounded by politics, drama and controversy everyday. Our families, our neighbors, cable news, our politicians, our workplace, co-workers, the newspaper (if you still read it) or your favorite follow on "X" - everyone has a hot take on why they are right and you are wrong or why you should be a member of this tribe and be mad as hell about what that tribe is doing to keep you down. What makes Hobby Machinist special is that it is the one place we all can rely on to NOT be inundated with politics and controversial topics. The topic here is making chips; THAT is the
spirit of the rule.
Second. Moderation duties. The spirit of the rule is what guides our actions. I won't repeat what
@Eddyde already stated, but perhaps with that in mind, you can see why the net of moderation was cast wider than just the controversial posts responding to
@682bear's meme. As some others have said, moderation can be a no-win proposition, but if we can preserve our no politics rule, then I'll take the loss. One piece of criticism that I would like to speak to is that moderation of speech is akin to an illusion of control for those of us in the job. I can't think of a time where I ever thought that moderation was controlling anything, but only ever a cleanup job to preserve the no politics rule. After all, moderation of the posts Joke Thread today will absolutely not prevent another member from violating the rules in the future. Therefore, we (the staff) have to be very comfortable having no control over your actions. We are setup men, referees and a cleanup crew, that's it. With that said, we always try to communicate with members when their content is being moderated and explain why their posts are edited or deleted.
Finally, Free Speech and Constitutional Rights. As someone else rightly pointed out, this is a private organization and is not run by the government. Therefore, nobody's speech is protected in the way Americans think they should be - NOT that we are looking for speech to suppress. Quite simply, we have rules members agree to abide by when they join. I have a strong aversion to editing posts, deleting memes, or stifling any protected speech. My wife jokingly calls me the gestapo when I have to moderate. That stings! The truth is that it goes against all fibers of my being to moderate posts and I work hard NOT to. But in most cases, we are just cleaning up violations of the rule.
Are we suppressing speech? I've toyed around with the idea of proposing a political sandbox here on H-M, just so those of you who need to can scratch that itch.
After about three seconds, I come to my senses. That action would take away from what makes Hobby Machinist special. And I hope all of you take time to reflect on the following: if we did so, we would be
pretending to control the discourse in a moderated sub-forum. We would be
pretending there is no controversy in those sub-forums, because the controversy is "over there." We would be
pretending there are no politics because we "have it under control here." This would bring the outside world of politics (which is an illusion in and of itself), to the inside. Do you really want that?
Our philosophy is to keep the politics and controversy "out there" and "out of our control". See? Simple! Our strategy is to abstain from politics with you - not for you. And that is why we ask you to agree to the rules when you join.
To not engage in this type of discourse and to engage with like minded people about a common, shared interest - it is a high bar in this day and age. I'm quite proud of the fact that in a world where there are one million places to talk politics - we are politics and controversy free here.
@682bear keep 'em coming!
