Posted by greywolf on May 9, 2006, at 7:13:03
In reply to Re: It Isn't About the Civility Rules » greywolf, posted by Estella on May 8, 2006, at 18:43:09
Look, I understand that being blocked is no fun, and I understand how people can disagree with the reasoning behind why they were blocked or with the length of the block. This is not the first time I've been involved in a discussion of this issue.
But take a look at the majority of blocks. Of the group I've seen, there's a large percentage that are completely obvious violations--for instance, remarks that were intentionally made to disparage other people or to tell them off, and which, without doubt, were uncivil. IMHO, blocking in such circumstances--even for lengthy periods of time in the case of repeat offenders--is entirely appropriate. There are plenty of other sites out there to post on if the objective is to dump on other people or get into arguments.
A smaller percentage of the blocks I've seen fall into the judgment call group--for example, someone being banned for expressing his opinion of Republicans or the president in apparently too harsh terms. I have more trouble accepting the fairness of some of these determinations, but that's limited mostly to the first offenders who reasonably didn't think their posts would be any problem.
My bottom line? I think you can say just about anything you want in a civil way--if you really want to. However, that appears to be difficult for some people because it requires that they take the finger off the trigger and give up the cathartic feeling of telling others where to go.
poster:greywolf
thread:640562
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20060412/msgs/641634.html