Moderators

[King Boonen]

I know that you and I discussed this in the plastic thread, but the OP didn't write the article, and it didn't say good or bad, it said who was doing more and who was doing less (and why less). IMO, stating that fact isn't political, but any discussion of it (likely) will be.

This is essentially the rock and the hard place we find ourselves in. It's compounded by the fact that assessment of different policies is hardly apolitical. Many may agree that the USA is doing less and China is doing more, but we can't really spend our time determining if an assessment has any bias. As such, we are probably going to have to remove anything we can't easily tell is apolitical and has no intended bias.

For what it's worth, using Trump and China, rather than USA and China (or the federal government of the USA if you want to be more specific) will likely lead us to assume political motive.

Cheers,

KB.

 

[Pricey_sky]

I’ve removed several posts that have turned into a slanging match and as KB has said, please avoid political implications.

Thank you.

 

[GVFTA]

I’ve removed several posts that have turned into a slanging match and as KB has said, please avoid political implications please.

Thank you.

No. Thank you.

 

[red_flanders]

I know that you and I discussed this in the plastic thread, but the OP didn't write the article, and it didn't say good or bad, it said who was doing more and who was doing less (and why less). IMO, stating that fact isn't political, but any discussion of it (likely) will be.

Maybe we can just report posts that have a political bent and let the mods do their job instead of freaking out every time we think someone violates the ban. It almost comes across as some persecution complex.

Seems unlikely that everyone will be perfectly satisfied no matter what the mods do. Let's give 'em a break.

 

[RedheadDane]

Here we go again … good luck, mods!
And a swift, merciless, takedown that was!

 

[King Boonen]

Here we go again … good luck, mods!

Fortunately the moderation panel does let us select multiple things from a single user more easily now. There's also a spam clean option that wipes everything from a user, but the system has to assign it as spam and for some reason that last lot didn't get assigned.

 

[BigMac]

So politics can't now be discussed in these forums? So what if discussions got heated? People are adults.

Truly embarrassing patronizing behavior by the administration. Symptomatic of our current thin skin society.

God forbid someone gets offended.

 

[Cookster15]

So politics can't now be discussed in these forums? So what if discussions got heated? People are adults.

Truly embarrassing patronizing behavior by the administration. Symptomatic of our current thin skin society.

God forbid someone gets offended.

I was warned recently in the Coronavirus thread in the café. I think the problem with venturing into politics or the politically sensitive, even unintentionally, is it can easily get out of hand. I think the mods wish to err on the safe side and keep it to a minimum. While I don't necessarily agree with this censorship I can understand it.

 

[aphronesis]

I second this. The range of knowledge, perspectives and contemporaneity that various posters were contributing was greater and more synthetic (while remaining generally accessible regardless of approach) than pretty much anything readily available in the common media.

 

[GVFTA]

I guess the no politics in the covid thread didn't last long. Some people just can't resist.

 

[SHaines]

Hi folks,

Just jumping in with a link to the forum rules, to avoid any confusion before I carry on.

The rules are clear that we don't allow discussion of politics. We recognize that people have political perspectives, but this is a forum for the discussion of cycling. There is no shortage of places online to get all the political discourse you could ever want, this just isn't one of them. Folks are absolutely welcome to disagree with our forum rules, but they will still be enforced.

In addition, please note that we also don't allow discussion of moderator action. If you have a concern with action taken against a post you can message me directly to share your concerns. If your issue is with me, you can email community@futurenet.com (this goes to our full team of Community Managers). It's best to include in the subject line what forum you're contacting us about and someone else on the team will follow up with you.

We want to be clear about the expectations we have for users of these forums, which is why we hit the rules pretty hard when things veer off course. However, it's just as important that you have an avenue to follow up with your concerns about moderation in a productive way, which is why we make our team email address available as well.

Thanks very much for being part of the community.

 

[GVFTA]

I was attempting to go back and look at a particular users posts in the locked US Politics thread and can't find it anywhere. The other politics threads are still available to view. What's the reasoning on that?

 

[King Boonen]

I was attempting to go back and look at a particular users posts in the locked US Politics thread and can't find it anywhere. The other politics threads are still available to view. What's the reasoning on that?

For some reason it’s listed under the approval queue. I’ll try approve it and then lock it, but it’s possible it’s a bug in the software.

 

[King Boonen]

Afraid it didn’t work. Maybe an admin can shed more light on the issue.

 

[GVFTA]

I am assuming that politics and religion are once again fair game, since nothing has been done to stop it in the covid thread. You should probably announce it so everyone knows.

 

[Pricey_sky]

I am assuming that politics and religion are once again fair game, since nothing has been done to stop it in the covid thread. You should probably announce it so everyone knows.

Due to the global current circumstances, moderators may not be around as much as normal, with my job I certainly don’t have the amount of time to spend on here as I usually would.

The admin have left an email address just a few posts above yours that you can contact them on should you have any issues to raise, my suggestion would be to use that avenue.

PS: the rules have not changed.

 

[GVFTA]

Due to the global current circumstances, moderators may not be around as much as normal, with my job I certainly don’t have the amount of time to spend on here as I usually would.

The admin have left an email address just a few posts above yours that you can contact them on should you have any issues to raise, my suggestion would be to use that avenue.

PS: the rules have not changed.

Same poster back at it again 24 hours later. Imagine that.

Correction: same two posters.

 

[Chris Gadsden]

Maybe we can get some comment from Admin SHaines on this. How exactly does this fit on a site so stridently neutral regarding politics?

“Much of the film focusses on where Armstrong is now. Initially, his life, post Oprah, appears calmer. Yet at times, Armstrong is so self-aggrandising that he's almost Trumpian. "I am relevant," he says defiantly, then repeats it to himself, just to make sure. "I am." ”

From your LANCE first look front page story.

 

[GVFTA]

Maybe we can get some comment from Admin SHaines on this. How exactly does this fit on a site so stridently neutral regarding politics?

“Much of the film focusses on where Armstrong is now. Initially, his life, post Oprah, appears calmer. Yet at times, Armstrong is so self-aggrandising that he's almost Trumpian. "I am relevant," he says defiantly, then repeats it to himself, just to make sure. "I am." ”

From your LANCE first look front page story.

Don't hold your breath.

 

[GVFTA]

And now there are sock puppet accusations being thrown around by a poster in the covid thread. That used to get people banned. SHaines?

 

[King Boonen]

Maybe we can get some comment from Admin SHaines on this. How exactly does this fit on a site so stridently neutral regarding politics?

“Much of the film focusses on where Armstrong is now. Initially, his life, post Oprah, appears calmer. Yet at times, Armstrong is so self-aggrandising that he's almost Trumpian. "I am relevant," he says defiantly, then repeats it to himself, just to make sure. "I am." ”

From your LANCE first look front page story.

That's an article on the website. The rules are forum rules.

 

[Forever The Best]

I'm not active on politics threads, but why did the politics threads get closed? I think a cafe section without politics feels a bit...weird to me. Also the fact that some topics, like Coronavirus, will go into politics nonetheless.

On another note, appreciate the banning of rick james.

 

[King Boonen]

I'm not active on politics threads, but why did the politics threads get closed? I think a cafe section without politics feels a bit...weird to me. Also the fact that some topics, like Coronavirus, will go into politics nonetheless.

On another note, appreciate the banning of rick james.

If you read back through here you should find your answers but essentially, the rules brought in by the new admin forbid those kinds of threads. Initially some legacy threads were allowed to remain but the decision was made to remove/lock them as well.

As mods we still allow some leeway in other threads, it’s a constant balancing act and the pace of the discussions can catch us out at times, but generally we’ll accept factual political statements where they are highly relevant and discussion become so almost impossible without them. So commenting that a certain government is doing A to fight COVID, another is doing B and so on is ok. Critiquing those Government decisions based on political leaning is not ok.

 

[Forever The Best]

If you read back through here you should find your answers but essentially, the rules brought in by the new admin forbid those kinds of threads. Initially some legacy threads were allowed to remain but the decision was made to remove/lock them as well.

As mods we still allow some leeway in other threads, it’s a constant balancing act and the pace of the discussions can catch us out at times, but generally we’ll accept factual political statements where they are highly relevant and discussion become so almost impossible without them. So commenting that a certain government is doing A to fight COVID, another is doing B and so on is ok. Critiquing those Government decisions based on political leaning is not ok.

Well, I disagree, but it seems like it is not gonna change anything so it is best to agree to disagree.

 

[Chris Gadsden]

That's an article on the website. The rules are forum rules.

KB, this is not directed at you but to the Admins.

Political bias in the paid for content on the website is okay.

Political censorship in the free content on the forum is okay.

It’s a strange look in my opinion, if anyone cares.