Can't debate in Christinaity forum because of modding

stevejazzx

Moderator is making unfounded and insulting claims (trollish muppetry) and not for the first time.

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055860383&page=37
(Post 551)

I was already one month banned by this Moderator (unfairly in my opinion) but I accepted the ban ultimately. In that thread (which led to subsequent banning) I had been using the moderators words/phrases back at him in thread, in an attempt to highlight that his nature of attacking the poster and not the post was really un-mod like and had actually been quite disrespectful on occasion. I went about it the wrong way back then.
That was about a year ago.

However since that time I have barely posted on Christianity. I've been on boards since 2004 - posting extensively on A&A and Christianity with never a problem or accusation that I was a troll. Since PDN became moderator however things are vastly different over there. There is a fundamentalism in his approach which is very unhealthy imo. PDN's consistent threats (if you still wish to use the forum) coupled with an insulting attack (trollsh muppetry) after just one post in Christianity today (I haven't posted there in ages) is really out of order.
How he could make such a claim regarding my post is beyond me; it is on thread, on topic and in reply to previous addressing specifically the nature of Dr. William lane Craig’s rationalizing. With such heavy handed and insulting modding going on I can't imagine wanting to take part in a debate in Christianity which as a long standing member of Boards and someone who has studied Theology is very disappointing for me.

Also please note:
After my ban last year I received PM's/emails (list of names readily available) from scores of other posters, genuinely interested in debating religion who have been on the receiving end of overly harsh modding, in some cases, imo, outright unfair modding from PDN. I have noticed that many of them have come and gone and i have even received invitations to join debates on other sites. That is a real shame as Christianity used to be a fantastic place to debate.

He cannot separate the honest posters from the real trolls which is a major problem. He has been called on it countless times and has even accused more straightforward and gentle posters of more atrocious things than he has me and has historically handed out straight insults with relative impunity.
The reason I report this post is because my last run in with him ended badly for me as people weren't quite up on the politics involved; extracts of posts were produced that made me look particularly bad which I am confident to say that, should a comprehensive review of my postings be made one would see that I am not a troll and am genuinely interested in debating.
Steve

PDN

Steve, you did not receive an infraction or warning for this incident (at least not until you subsequently decided to indulge in some back seat modding, earning a yellow card). You were warned inthread - a course of action which I would think is about the least heavy-handed available to mods.

I stated that I had sympathy with the general point that you were trying to make, but warned you not to indulge in ad hominem attacks that detracted from your overall argument.

I am no fan of Dr Craig, and you should be able to find enough material in his writings to refute him without resorting to that kind of stuff.

I would apply the same kind of modding to anyone who attacked an atheist in an ad hominem way - eg if Christopher Hitchens was described as having an honorary PhD in Anti-Religious Ranting from the Josef Stalin University.

I'm sorry that now that we don't allow atheists to troll with impunity on the forum that you no longer find it to be "a fantastic place to debate" - and I'm not surprised that your atheist friends support you in this opinion - but then again you already have an Atheism & Agnosticism Forum where you guys can vent your dislike of Christianity to your hearts' content. However, given that most of the regular Christian posters have expressed their appreciation of the changes in the forum over the last 12 months, I think that your opinions actually reveal more about you than they do about the moderating of the Forum.

LoLth

Hi,

This is a carbon copy of the text contained in the reported post. which the mods would have received notification of. did you hear anythign back from the mods of the forum before you posted here?


If not, please give it some time, mods arent 24x7 (we'd like there to be enough cover so they could be without any extra effort on their part but thats not really realistic). If you have heard back from them, is there a particular reason why you are posting this in the helpdesk? Do you wish to make a formal complaint about the modding of the Christianity forum (this would be the right place, sort of) or would you prefer me to move this to feedback so you can talk about it there with other users?

have you heard from any of the other mods, other than PDN?
Fanny Craddock or Asiaprod ?

Have you spoken to or heard from the category mod responsible for the Forum?
This would be NESF or scofflaw.

LoLth

sorry, PDN's post was submitted while I was writing my own post (pesky phone getting in the way of my submit button!).

Anyway,

PDN has a very good and valid point about ad hominem attacks. Instead of namecalling, you would have been better served to use examples to support your argument.

As such, the on thread warning was fair enough. similarly, if an infraction was deserved for back seat modding then PDN was quite right to award it. An on thread warning is exactly that, a warning. The comment about trollish behaviour , while possibly not 100% deserved was part of the warning, he wasnt callign you a troll, he was warning you against starting troll-like behaviour. yes, you can take it as an insult but only if you really want to , otherwise you should take it for what it was intended to be, a warning. I hate the thought of telling a user to grow a thicker skin but I dont want moderators too scared to make a comment in case someone reads it the wrong way.

As PDN says. There have been changes to the operation of the Christianty forum over the last while, perhaps you would be best served toning down your style a bit to better suit the forum?

PDN's modding , in this instance, was not heavy handed. As for insulting, I dont think so but maybe PDN could agree to add a smiley or two to lessen the blow in future? As for threatening, yes, it possibly was threatening. In an informative kind of way. "what you posted was not right, if you continue to post that way you wont be allowed to post here anymore" . Thats a threat. its saying that your actions have consequences and it is informing you of them before they are warranted.

stevejazzx

LoLth wrote: »

Hi,

This is a carbon copy of the text contained in the reported post. which the mods would have received notification of. did you hear anythign back from the mods of the forum before you posted here?


If not, please give it some time, mods arent 24x7 (we'd like there to be enough cover so they could be without any extra effort on their part but thats not really realistic). If you have heard back from them, is there a particular reason why you are posting this in the helpdesk? Do you wish to make a formal complaint about the modding of the Christianity forum (this would be the right place, sort of) or would you prefer me to move this to feedback so you can talk about it there with other users?

have you heard from any of the other mods, other than PDN?
Fanny Craddock or Asiaprod ?

Have you spoken to or heard from the category mod responsible for the Forum?
This would be NESF or scofflaw.

LoLth wrote: »

sorry, PDN's post was submitted while I was writing my own post (pesky phone getting in the way of my submit button!).

Anyway,

PDN has a very good and valid point about ad hominem attacks. Instead of namecalling, you would have been better served to use examples to support your argument.

As such, the on thread warning was fair enough. similarly, if an infraction was deserved for back seat modding then PDN was quite right to award it. An on thread warning is exactly that, a warning. The comment about trollish behaviour , while possibly not 100% deserved was part of the warning, he wasnt callign you a troll, he was warning you against starting troll-like behaviour. yes, you can take it as an insult but only if you really want to , otherwise you should take it for what it was intended to be, a warning. I hate the thought of telling a user to grow a thicker skin but I dont want moderators too scared to make a comment in case someone reads it the wrong way.

As PDN says. There have been changes to the operation of the Christianty forum over the last while, perhaps you would be best served toning down your style a bit to better suit the forum?

PDN's modding , in this instance, was not heavy handed. As for insulting, I dont think so but maybe PDN could agree to add a smiley or two to lessen the blow in future? As for threatening, yes, it possibly was threatening. In an informative kind of way. "what you posted was not right, if you continue to post that way you wont be allowed to post here anymore" . Thats a threat. its saying that your actions have consequences and it is informing you of them before they are warranted.

Sorry about the copy of post; I didn't mean to push it at all - I thought it was practice to report it and then place it as issue in Helpdesk but I now realize one or the other obviously suffices. Understood.
I think your comments are very fair however it's hard to take' muppetry and trollish' as anything but an insult. I think PDN does it far too often.
However in the nature of letting you guys get on with things I fully accept the appraisal and you can consider this thread closed unless you want to add something. For the moment at least I'll stay off the Christianity forum and see how things go.

Steve