LFPF censorship and moderation

[Kirk Gittings]

Then the moderators shouldn't take actions that push an agenda.

There is no political consensus amongst the moderators on much of anything so the likelihood that the moderators would push a political agenda is frankly.......pardon my French, silly.

[rdenney]

With the "Hearts on our Sleeves" thread having been open without incident for three months and with Richard having made actually political comments about certain subjects in his sci-fi portraits series, you can see how we might have thought the words that accompany the photos were welcome, too.

The words were fine until responses to them showed evidence of degenerating into a political discussion. We did not delete Richard's posts--we simply closed the thread. We are defending that action, but we are still listening.

Rick "those thread is growing faster than he can read" Denney

[RHITMrB]

There is no political consensus amongst the moderators on much of anything so the likelihood that the moderators would push a political agenda is frankly.......pardon my French, silly.

I'm not claiming that it is intentional or that it's your agenda, but you've collectively very well accomplished Kent's agenda.

[RHITMrB]

The words were fine until responses to them showed evidence of degenerating into a political discussion. We did not delete Richard's posts--we simply closed the thread. We are defending that action, but we are still listening.

Rick "those thread is growing faster than he can read" Denney

Well, thank you for not silencing the words that have already been spoken, I guess that's something. I'm equally concerned with the words that haven't been spoken (written) yet.

[richardman]

Because your society it is like this

Interesting:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodomy..._United_States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_v._Ziherl

Until a few years ago you could go to jail in Virginia because "dirty".

U.S. it is an amazing country, with some issues to solve...

This is something that your society has to solve, but not here... perhaps in the Lounge...

Pere, but the point is that there was NO POLITICAL DISCUSSION until Kent brought it up, and the moderators can easily delete the comments. They do it all the time.

Then they specifically forbidden the words from the subjects, which are not political.

[Kirk Gittings]

I'm not claiming that it is intentional or that it's your agenda, but you've collectively very well accomplished Kent's agenda.

Well I'm not a moderator, just another guy with an interest in LF photography. I used to be moderator-a long time ago. Now I have absolutely 0 influence on the moderation.

As a former moderator, I can say that in my day post #24 of that thread would have sealed its fate and it would have had nothing to do with taking sides on the issue, as I am personally sympathetic to Richardman's project's intent as I understand it.

[RHITMrB]

Well I'm not a moderator, just another guy with an interest in LF photography. I used to be moderator-a long time ago. Now I have absolutely 0 influence on the moderation.

As a former moderator, I can say that in my day post #24 of that thread would have sealed its fate and it would have had nothing to do with taking sides on the issue, as I am personally sympathetic to Richardman's project's intent as I understand it.

My apologies for lumping you in with the current moderators! I'm just still surprised that post #24 sealed the fate of the entire thread, rather than just that one post and responses to it being deleted. My point stands: the action may not have been meant to take a side, but it still accomplished the goals of one particular side of the discussion. Deleting posts from both sides wouldn't have done that.

[Pfsor]

This is not an art forum. It's a discuss-materials-and-methods forum, with picture sharing as a valued auxiliary feature.

Dude. Really? Where is that in the guidelines? Of what point is all the tech stuff if not in the pursuit of art? Maybe that is just my preoccupation but I sincerely doubt it.

In case you forgot, it is not in the guidelines but from the almanac of a moderator's decision taking. Take a beer to swallow. Cheers.

[rdenney]

It is clear that I will not post images further on this forum. Just remember, these words that are so dangerous that need to be shut down, may be to preserve whatever mission this site has, are people's stories.

Innocent people's stories.

They just want to be who they are.

Whatever noble principles you think you hold, you are afraid of their stories.

RDenney, I specifically think that you are better than that.

Richard,

Those original words remained posted for a long time with no action from us. We didn't take action until the resulting discussion went down a certain path. Think about that.

Rick "respectfully submitted" Denney

[RHITMrB]

Richard,

Those original words remained posted for a long time with no action from us. We didn't take action until the resulting discussion went down a certain path. Think about that.

Rick "respectfully submitted" Denney

I ask yet again, since the question still hasn't been answered: why did the fact that the discussion went down a certain path result in the closing of the thread, rather than in the deletion of specific posts, as in other threads that touched on politicized topics?