A comment on partisanship

[Lithos]

It's been on my mind for sometime to talk about some of the partisanship here in the forum. I realize this does not apply to everyone, but there are enough for me to raise this up publicly as opposed to individually.

One item which has bothered both Undergroundrailroad and myself is how personal the posts and commentary have become. It seems like the goal is not discussing I/P events, but rather to paint another poster as an extreme bigot, right-winger or terrorist supporter. Thankfully it is not as overt as it was 5 years ago, but it still is present in the form of innuendo's at what amounts to an unhealthy level. To say this annoys both UGRR and myself is an understatement. We also consider it a form of disruption.

At a high level, I will share this about people who we've banned. While we've banned our share of people who seem to repeat notions found uniquely in hateful places and groups, most people of note were banned for disruptive behavior or repeating behaviors we've asked them not to do on repeated occasions.

The takeaway is this, think before you post- please do not spend time arbitrarily trying to parse subliminal meaning from people's words and making assumptions as a result. Jumping in with both feet can easily throw up as much mud on yourself as the person you are commenting about. Making something more inflammatory is likely to draw as much, if not more attention, your way than the original post.

Please remember, this type of BBS style communication is well noted for being imprecise and inefficient. Add to that, a fair number of posters here are outside of the US where English may not be their first language and you should have a case for being extra patient, not impatient.

Lithos
DU Moderator