Thread:Utter solitude/@comment-6175354-20140909001049/@comment-16953943-20140910232419

Utter solitude wrote: It has been a long day for me, and I find myself exasperated that this argument is still going on, so here are the bullet points:


 * The accusation that the thread was closed because of my personal feelings needs to die now . It is completely unfounded, and I do not want to see it again.
 * The thread was shut down because of numerous complaints about its subject matter. If I had not been distracted/forgotten about it, it would have been deleted before its resurrection. To assume that since there were no complaints in the thread itself means there were no complaints about its content is incorrect.
 * I never said that there were no complaints simply because they were not made on the thread itself. I said that two particular people claim to have an issue with the topic, but yet they not only failed to say so, but even engaged in the conversation several times. Couldn't have bottered them too much.
 * (The majority of complaints are not made publicly here on the wiki itself, they come to me through other channels. Many are not comfortable lodging a complaint about something/someone so publicly, which I think we can all understand)
 * There is also the fact that you can't prove these messages really exist. All we have is your word. A better solution would have been to hold a public poll, allowing everyone to have a chance to vote on the matter, and nobody would even have to have thier names out there. That way nobody would have a reason to question the validity of your claims that it was something the "community" wanted. The results would have been there for everyone to see for themselves. Otherwise it can easily be interpteted as something you did for personal reasons.
 * This is a community driven site. The community has the power. When it comes to my attention that the community does not like something, be it a format, policy, or forum topic, I will take steps to correct the problem. This includes removing/closing content/threads the community does not want. This is what happened in this case.
 * Again, all we have is your word that this is what the "community" wanted. Re-read above, as it mostly applies here too.
 * For what it's worth, this community has existed for over three years, and this is the first time the community has seen fit to prompt such an action. So the idea that "if we close conversations that people are uncomfortable with, we won't have any deep discussions!" is completely unfounded. There is no need to make it your hill to die on.
 * I highly doubt that in 3 years time, there hasn't been not one topic that has been "inappropriate" by the "community." This is a public fourm on the internet. Also, it's funny how when I go through the fourms, I have a hard time finding any topic where people are discussing something that is truly a deep intellictual. Funny how the first time I've ever seen one come up, it gets closed. Wonder what I'm supposed to infer from that?
 * Not every rule is written, as in life, many rules of conduct are implied. Not every rule needs to be written. (Many of our written policies come from a "staff thought that was a given but _____ tells us we need to spell something out" kind of event. We can't foresee every possible issue) Do we honestly need a written policy alerting people not to discuss inappropriate subjects? I don't think we do, I think the community at large knows that some subjects are not appropriate for this site, and will be closed/removed/whatever on an as-needed basis.
 * The problem with not having written rules, is that not everyone sees the same things as inapporiate. If there is no written rule saying specifically what the admins of this "community" deems inappropriate, then there is no rule broken by talking about a specific subject. Not having written rules also opens up the problem of admins having the potential to abuse power by making the rules up as they go, as there are no guidelines written out to keep the admins in check. This is something that is alarming. There should be written rules, otherwise you can't say I or anyone else, have broken any. If there had been written rules to show what is or isn't appropriate, then the topic of rape/rape culture would have most likely never came up, and we wouldn't be where we are now.
 * The argument needs to stop, please. At least, not on my wall.
 * You are the admin, and therefore I am here. It's your job to address the complains and concerns of the members of this forum. This is the place to bring up a problem in a way that others can read, so there can be no confusion or question as to what was said.
 * Shadows, I never said anyone was keeping me up. Please don't put words in my mouth.
 * I didn't. You said that you needed to be up for work and didn't want to be kept up by my discussion. Not sure what other way there is to interpret that other than you feeling like my discussion was keeping you up. Not sure why you didn't just go to bed in the first place. *shrug* 

This conversation is over. It is going in circles, and getting nowhere. I do not want to close this thread, but I will if I need to. '''The only reason it's going in circles is that nobody is willing to address the problem, which I have now discovered is bigger than I had originally thought. '''

'''A good way to prevent this in the future...... '''

'''1. Have a nice little set of written rules and guidelines, pinned to the top of the appropriate section of the fourm. This way newer people will have a good idea what kind of behavior is expected of them when they are here. This also gives you a reference when people break a rule, therefore they can't say your abusing any sort of power. It's their fault for not reading the rules. '''

'''2. When something comes up that the guidelines hasn't covered, like the rape/rape culture topic, give the WHOLE communtity a chance to imput their opinion, via a Poll, to find out what the majority of people think on a particular issue, then update the rules and guidelines. That way it's right there for everyone to see, and you will have some sort of validity to back up your words. Otherwise, you have no proof that the desicion was made based on what the "community" wanted.'''

I patiently await your response.