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RFalvo69 -> Tired of moderation here? Try RPG.net! (2/17/2021 5:25:04 PM)
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I don't know if this will be an interesting post (or, admittedly, even an appropriate one). For sure it is about something that gave me a lot of fun, but also food for thought.
All started when this was sent to me by a friend:
Ol' Jim has received a 🚫 One Day Ban - Disrespecting Chicken McNuggets for the following post:
Content: https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?posts/23544796/
"Also, one more thing: Which part of the nugget is the Mc?"
Note that this is not tongue-in-cheek, it is a serious ban. [:D]
Intrigued, I went exploring. I had heard rumbles that RPG.net was becoming the STASI (and the butt of every joke) of the internet, but I attributed it to the usual internet exaggerations. I frequented the site back in the day when I was still playing regularly but I found it full of interesting stuff but also unfriendly, and I stopped my visits after a while. Nothing, however, like the current level of [very strong quote]moderation[very strong unquote].
A dude who wondered about an incredibly banal thing in RPGs (exp. if you are the master and need to adjudicate a situation)...
What chance does a professional boxer have against an attack dog?
Can a trained human punch crack a large dog's skull, for example?
...Got permaBanned, literally "because".
https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/what-chance-does-a-professional-boxer-have-against-an-attack-dog.873636/#post-23626218
You think that the new Star Wars Trilogy sux? (I do, btw) Too bad, here is your Three Day Ban: Negativity and Thread Crapping.
https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?threads/elvish-lore-receives-a-%F0%9F%9A%AB-three-day-ban-negativity-and-thread-crapping.874309/
If you are curious for much (much, much, much) more, just go to the subforum "Infractions" where all the "disciplinary measures" are collected. Be warned, surrealism reigns:
https://forum.rpg.net/index.php?forums/infractions.138/
The problem, as I see it, is that RPG.net started like any other forum: no politics. During the years, however, for some reasons they moved so left in the political spectrum that they had to make space for them in an adjacent timezone. Anything that doesn't fall within a very narrow spectrum (defined - badly BTW - by RPG.net) becomes "problematic". Our recent discussion about wargames and RPGs would have generated a bloodbath.
At the end, I think that they perfectly (and unknowingly) summarised their problems with the following warning:
And we swear to God, if anyone comes in here and starts spouting off QAnon bullshit about COVID-19 or literally anything else, you are going to get permabanned so thoroughly that your grandchildren won't be allowed to post here.
While one can agree to the content, in principle, A) a simple "no politics" would be enough, B) what "literally anythings else" means is left nebulous and C) more importantly, the language only betrays immaturity and insecurity. I guess that there is a lesson to be learned here - only not by them.
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