Introducing the Current Affairs/IMHO forum

Just to be clear. CA can never appeal to everyone. Like it or not, there will be some very contrasting views and opinions posted. It's not our job to censor those opinions. Yes we will clamp down on posters who post racist, homophobic, sexist etc content. However it needs to be recognised that people's view on where the line should be drawn differ. Sometimes posters post stuff they may never imagine will offend. Sometimes such offence is only in the eye of the beholder. I've had numerous conversations with posters over the years where they simply did not realise how their posts would be interpreted. Sometimes a quiet word is all that is needed. Sometimes, particularly when we see repeat offences, we will come down a lot harder on a poster. Obviously this requires mod discretion

Ultimately, and to some extent repeating my first sentence above, people will take offence at some content, but that does not mean it should be removed. We cater for a wide range of views, so please do not be surprised if some of the views expressed do not tie in with your own. Many such views that are posted I personally may find distasteful, but that does not mean I should moderate such views. Yes if they contravene site and/or forum rules (and the CA Charter is very deliberately short and to the point, but open to interpretation) we will act.

And just to add, Necro has been a star in CA and the Coronavirus forum. But I would add a number of other forum mods to that category. Some will be moderating stuff in the middle of the night. Sometimes one of us will have a splurge at all the reports, or a particular thread, both to understand the topic and deal with any issues arising.

I actually was playing round with a spreadsheet yesterday evening, and throwing some useless facts around:

Since CA was created in the middle of 2019, the CA and Coronavirus forums have reflected nearly a quarter of all site traffic (in terms of posts) - that's more than the next 5 forums (including AH and Soccer) combined

The 2 forums have resulted in over 40% of all cards issued over the same period

osarusan wrote: »

I know it won't happen, but it would be nice to see the Banlist made public again.

At a childish level, it always warmed the heart to see the usernames of utterly obnoxious posters finally appear there.

You would never recognise 95%+ of the names. Many get banned before they even post. I remember one night (here - I was actually on the West Coast of America and it was evening over there) when we had 3 or 4 of our regulars acting in tandem (or trandem/4 seat bike ,whatever it's called!) and I banned a couple of hundred or more where only a handful ever got to post, but their posts were deleted within a minute or so

Smee_Again wrote: »

I understand that. What I meant but phrased badly is, are there any measures planned or discussed to try and get posters to abide by the charter more? I mean other than issuing cards (because based on the numbers this hasn’t been particularly effective).

We get criticised for not acting against things that are reported. We get criticised for to many mod actions

It's clear that the forum attracts more extreme views. People can usually see when we have acted. If others (or indeed the poster being actioned) do not have the cop on to realise similar behaviour will result in further sanctions there's no amount of "education" that will correct that