Mis-Censored

I've been sitting here for quite a while, trying to figure out how much to disclose.

To be honest, this is really stupid.

To be even more honest, I made a bad thing worse.

Since Friday, I've watched the thread on "Class President Suspended?" post continue to grow and become unreasonable. I watched until it got to the point where I was seriously pained. I cheered when someone pointed out:

"I appreciate those who are aiding this discussion by providing clarity and differing rational viewpoints.
I do no appreciate those who are detracting from this discussion through mudslinging, poor manners, and outright lying."

And then they were ignored and I was pained again. This continued for some time, especially after 龙年 commented and a following poster paid no attention to what he had said.

After posting myself, I had hoped that the amount of extreme language would be lessened or outright discontinued. With the following comment, such was not the case. And when I saw who it was... I was seriously annoyed. Given the tone of my comment, and the fact that I signed it, I had thought that it would be, at the very least, regarded. Quite obviously, I was entirely mistaken. And then the Nazi comment was made. I was more than annoyed at that point, since it was an admin that had posted both comments.

I really hate acting without discretion. With the admins, and with the site in general, censorship is a big deal. Twice have I asked admins to reconsider statements they've made. Compared to the thousands of posts generated and the tens of thousands of comments made over the site's history, two incidences doesn't seem like a lot. I don't tell admins what to say or what not to say. I've always thought the admins know that with the admin priviledges, there are responsibilities when they decide to write.

We all come from different backgrounds, believe different things, and have different political leanings. We disagree with one another. Everyone can see that on the posts. There really isn't any particular "tangst ideology" other than openmindedness. The only real requirement for being an admin is responsible behavior.

So when I asked Graffiti Pastry about his Nazi comment, I didn't expect a lot of argument. Some grumbling, yes. A frank discussion, yes. A lot of explaining, yes. But I didn't think it would be a huge issue. [The last time an admin brought up Nazis, they were immediately rebutted by another admin. Admittedly, that was on the thread, not as a side conversation.]

What I got instead where accusations of hypocrisy and high-handedness. He took the comment off, but that wasn't the goal I had intended. Because of our shared preference for reasonability, I'm surprised that we did not reach the same conclusions. (I will not publish the text of our argument without his permission.)

After arguing, I was... quite upset. As I stated before, I don't expect much from fellow admins. I know that everyone is not as huge on the neutrality thing as I am. I know everyone doesn't post with same amount of discretion that I do. However, the notion that I'm forcing certain opinions on the site left me paralyzed.

Reconsidering everything once I'd calmed down, I decided that republishing the comment was the only option. It leaves the users to respond or ignore the comment as they wish and whatever happens, happens.

I shouldn't have said anything to begin with. I should have left a message citing Godwin's Law and letting it die.