Things that make you go hmmmm

How come Patrick's post was deleted?

I mean it was clearly just a condescending, throw-away remark, but it wasn't abusive, and it didn't seem to break any forum rules.

Was that the post that wasn't a great advertisement for Yellow Fever?

I removed it myself because it wasn't adding anything to the discussion. 

Well much respect for that. 

I wish I had that option with my own comments sometimes!

amen

Whats the point of an 'Off Topic' section if the material has to be relevant to something? How are Japanese Import Cars or Film Recommendation threads of greater relevance?

They are because we want to know what we can drive on the way to the cinema too see a film worth watching.

Total cop out in my opinion and symptomatic of the times we live in with all the usual excuses for censorship and control rolled out.

Whats the point in having a OT forum if you don't want to let people have OT discussions? Great discussions are had here and I see no need for censorship.

feels like some posters want YF to be a safe space. why is that? 

Is this just more evidence of people being intolerant to views outside their own echo chamber? People just wanting to hear things that they agree with or feel good about?

I bet if I started making fun of trump it would not be seen as a bad look for YF by mods and in fact all the usual suspects would love it.

Political moderating? YF echo chamber?

Hmmmmmm.

Either way disappointing and rather hypocritical moderating.

This line here proves you probably have a point.

Yes its politically motivated moderating imo being disguised as something else. But the fact of the matter is if I make fun of a character like Obama I am going to be in trouble with the mods yet if I take the piss out of Trump mods wont see a problem at all and plenty will happily join in on the abuse of Mr Prez.

Ergo: not all abuse is equal

So obviously the moderating on here is applied in a subjective manner according to political outlook rather than any other factor.

By the way I voted Labour in the last election :)

Anything to do with films is football related due to our Tyler

You’re basing your entire point on a lot of hypotheticals there. 

Nobody shut anything down. I think perhaps the point was that a football forum isn’t the best place to have huge discussions about such heavy and at times controversial topics.

That’s the difference between what this thread has become and the Japanese import cars, book recommendations etc threads. 

I enjoy reading this thread.

As long as no forum rules are being broken, i don't see the problem.

Why?

Obviously football and these topics don't often intersect, but this is off-topic, it's a place set aside specifically for non-football talk.

I'm genuinely interested to know why this makes people so uncomfortable. 

And if it does, why don't they just leave the people to it who do want to talk about it if they are doing so in a respectful manner, without breaking any forum rules? Why try and shut it down? 

I don't think a football forum is the best place to talk about World of Tanks, I don't give a sh*t about computer games in general, and obviously it would be better to go talk about that on a gaming forum or some such. But I'm not about to go waltzing into the thread and tell them that glorifying warfare isn't the best advertisement for Yellow Fever, and that it should be shut down. 

I think it's more than hypothetical here. I would put my house on him being 100% correct. 

If he was in here taking the p*ss out of trump, there wouldn't be a problem.

This whole thing clearly reeks of people's personal political opinions.

Moderator Patrick says this discussion is not a good look for the YF forum nor some of the posters on it which naturally raises more questions than answers:

1. What consists of a "good look" for the YF forum and why?

2. What does a "bad look" for the forum consist of and why?

3. Who decides what is "good" and what is "bad" and how is it decided?

4.Why should posters care what other anonymous think of them?

Is there really any genuine reason to shutdown this discussion (because thats what you said you want to do) other than for the reason that some people disagree with some of the views being aired? 

After all no-one has been abusive to other posters and all arguments and positions have been put forward in a manner that is both civil and sits within forum rules.

Is not the purpose of a forum to discuss ideas in a civil manner?

Or is there something esle going on here that is inline with my original post: people being intolerant of views that don't fit in with their world view. people shutting down discussions they are not comfortable with by using censorship and control?

Are people becoming so extreme that they cannot even enter into dialogue with people who's views they dislike or disagree with?

A few pages ago I put forward a theory of how echo chambers have created an atmosphere of intolerance, censorship and disbelief that someone might have an opinion that differs from your own and ironically the response was one of intolerance, censorship and disbelief.

I rest my case my honour 

How about you create a new thread for philosophical thinks so those that don't care much about it, don't have to read about it in a more general thread.

Jesus there is some bullshark in here.

Firstly - The ONLY politics being talked about in here is from the little England enclave you have created here.  Apart from an occasional moment where someone offers an opposing view and is shouted down (you might want to see the forum rules on thread bullying) this thread has become 100% an echo chamber for all your views because no one can be bothered with being shouted down. Then by extension you have turned this whole website into an echo chamber for your views.


Secondly - Last time I checked this is a private website.  It is not impinging on your free speech if the people who pay for it ask you to take your views (whether they disagree with them or not) elsewhere.  If I ran the place the thread would have been closed weeks ago due to the bullying and the Fever having no obligation to provide a safe space for people with views locked into the world as it stood in the 1950s.

Don't bother shouting me down. I have better things to do with my time than most of the posters in this thread. I'll look for a range of views not just self congratulatory backslapping and bullying.

This thread is fudgeing hilarious - keep it going!

Jesus. A few points that I hope you’ll understand from my perspective. 

* nobody shut anything down - I can’t even remember the last hidden post in this thread.

* This is a football forum. A place where people come for football and other banter. Intense heavy discussions do seem out of place for a forum like this, surely. Keep it at least vaguely light. 

* On that, because of the often controversial nature of the topics that keep coming up in here, as a moderator I do have to at least skim read through it all. It’s not that I dont agree with it politically, it’s just fudgeing draining. 

* For the most part it has been an at least vaguely civilised discussion, which is surprising given the subject matters. But it does tend to be dominated by a small number of posters - which is thread domination. 

* I think it was Hard news who said a while back, the media read these forums. Anything that crosses a line will get picked up on, and it’s not the anonymous posters that get asked for comment, it’s those whose faces appear on the “about” page. So if one of them suggests taking the chat about intense and at times controversial topics elsewhere, I tend to respect that call. Apparently there is form in this area too. 

* This thread has been turned permanently serious, whereas it actually started off as a light hearted thread. It’s not that serious topics can’t occasionally be discussed in here, I think Hard News is just saying maybe give it a rest for a while. 

Quite puzzled by this post. Disclaimer: the comment below is not being shouted, just calmly spoken:

"Firstly - The ONLY politics being talked about in here is from the little England enclave you have created here."

I don't understand this. What do you mean? 

I think the rest seems a bit dramatic. If there is bullying going on in here then I need to reassess my life, because I must be getting bullied day in day out i.e. whenever someone disagrees with me.

Are you able to provide an example or two of what you class as bullying in here? I need to know this, I am not up with the play at all it seems. 

This is also a good idea. 

Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional , illogical minority, and promoted by  mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of shark by the clean end.

I think a separate thread would be the go. 

However it's probably run it's course now. The outrage from others is fast putting an end to these types of discussions. Sad really that we can't even have a calm, reasoned debate, like this one has been. 

I think the point made about an echo chamber is a valid one, but anyone who suggests it's the posters in here that have created that can go jump. It's notable that the complainants were virtually absent during the real discussion, barely a point was presented between them, and yet now here they are. Don't just sit back and watch, and then complain that others have created an echo chamber, give your 2 cents!

Baiter's post is the best example of this. Comes in, fires off a few shots, says he won't be back to read the responses, effectively appointing himself as he-who-knows-everything-and-will-not-be-challenged. Yea, great discussion mate, you're a real critical thinker you are!

Forum Rule:

5. Thread domination. Do not try to bully someone into submission or disparage every comment they make, simply because their views may differ from your own. Write a coherent reply setting out your views and then let others have their say. Play the ball, not the man.

I think this has been impeccably observed for the most part in this thread. 

First of all, I have no issue with a thread bring made for politics and moving away from this one. 

If I knew how to make a new one, I would. It's probably best I don't know or some topics may be immediately shut down

Second without naming names I really think some people are being a little precious here. 

We were discussing Donald Trump for goodness sake. The only people I know whom are mad enough to support his right wing views are people from Christchurch and the United States. I don't hear the views from Americans everyday so hearing those from Christchurch are both interesting and amusing.

 I really don't think it's going to make international or even local news 

Your comment about the only people mad enough to support Trump are people from Christchurch and the USA is probably the most idiotic you have ever made. I thought lawyers were meant to be intelligent. 

For a lawyer your reading and comprehension skills seem rather poor

I have gone out of my way numerous times to say I don't support Trump nor follow ANYONES ideology or regime. I am 100% my own man making my mind up on an issue by issue basis.

the fact that you still insist on pigeon holing me in a way that suits your own narrow-minded narrative/outlook on the world says a lot about you and your rigid outlook on the world. You have my pity.

Maybe you simply are not used to conversing with someone who has a free mind, someone who refuses to follow anyone else or refuses to partake in tribal group think? 

With all due respect you are saying you are not shutting anything down but then in the next line you issue a thinly veiled threat about what is ok and what is not ok to discuss. Hmmmm.

For one I don't think these discussions are "heavy", quite the opposite: I enjoy hearing other peoples points of view.

I realise moderating is difficult so I am quite happy to offer my services for moderating this thread 24/7 :-)  set me up bro!

Hold up fella: point out the bullying because I haven't seen any in this thread. Who has been shouting down anyone? I get the feeling you are projecting your own emotional response here and not sticking to facts.

I would love it if heaps of people were involved in discussion but people simply aren't that interested other than a handful of posters. Thats something totally out of my control. End of. Anyone is free to join this discussion.

Last time I looked the only people wanting a safe space on YF are those of a liberal persuasion. Everyone else seems fine with the discussion.

Shout you down? I wouldn't waste my breath as you've made it pretty clear you have selective hearing :) 

Hope I never need this guy as my lawyer.

Most people whom need to lawyer up tend to be right wing

And most lawyers are left wing. 

Interesting that whenever you are challenged on some of the things you have posted you always try to dodge or deflect the question rather than man up and take responsibility for the fact that maybe you were both wrong and out of order with what you said in a previous post.

Your lack of sincerity or honesty certainly does you no favours 

I think he would make the perfect lawyer: gets paid money to defend the indefensible using every sneaky trick in the book! Being sly, contorting the truth and ignoring facts when it suits them: welcome to the world of the lawyer where personal honour takes a back seat to personal gain and money!

What sort of person takes a paycheck to protect a criminal from facing charges? Maybe a Green Party MP? :P\

Hmmmmm!

Funny when he is stumped he goes off line.

*puts mod hat on*

Stop getting personal.

Thread domination, play the ball not the man etc.

Getting piszed off reading the carp on this thread

Shark like this reely makes me miss the A-League season...