Premature Thread Closure

[billythewiz]

I'll close the thread unless anyone else has anything new to say.

What's your urgency ?

The Abortion thread was silent for 6 days ... presumably Galant was busy, but he eventually found the time to write two very long responses. I too was busy, but I eventually found the time to contribute.

What then followed was 18 posts, by 8 different contributors, in under 5 hours. During that time it was probably the busiest thread on the site ! Those 18 posts included a very candid and heart wrenching story by HalloweenJack and an interesting question by directhex. A little over 7 minutes later the tread was locked.

I have a question. Don't you people work ? Don't you realise that some contributors do ? Do the views here offend you so much that you have to sensor them ?

But if it isn't human life, what sort of life is it?

It is human life. It doesn't have rights. They are superseded by the mother's rights.

I guess we should grateful that we live in a free country. In other parts of the world premature thread closure and imprisonment for having an abortion are common place.

[g8ina]

I closed it.

It had already been noted by one poster that the whole thing was simply going round in circles. The same question had been asked and answered in several ways and no-one was getting anywhere with it. I felt that it had run it's course, and closed it before it had the chance to get out of hand.

We do not suppress free speech, on the contrary we encourage it, but not over and over again.

(and fyi, no I don't work)

[billythewiz]

Well it was a bad choice.

Galant, the OP, invested a considerable amount of time in the posts in this thread. In one he even apologised for not being able to contribute more. You'll notice that many of his posts are at 6am. And yet even this afternoon he was still adding to the debate, with this post containing a link to a new aspect, a publication on medical ethics and philosophy.

You need to realise that some contributors are in employment and not just the kind that allows them to play on the internet all day.


Sorry Galant, I agree with some of your points and have a lot of sympathy for lowering the 24 week legal limit, but while discussion of this topic continues to be halted, hindered and censored, I'll just remain content with the law as it currently is.

[dave87]

Well it was a bad choice.

It was a judgment call, one g8ina made. That is one of the reasons he's a mod - because we trust his judgment. You are more than welcome to have your own thoughts on the choice made, but that choice has been made.

You need to realise that some contributors are in employment and not just the kind that allows them to play on the internet all day.

What's that supposed to mean?

Each of us has different circumstances, and I'd likely guess that you know very little of mine, of g8ina's or of many of the other members on this forum. I moderate HEXUS in my spare time, and invariably the amount of spare time I have available varies based on my other commitments. What I do with my spare time is an issue entirely of my own - and snarky comments about what Moderators do or do not do in their spare time are unlikely to go down well.

....but while discussion of this topic continues to be halted, hindered and censored, I'll just remain content with the law as it currently is.

Contrary to what some may have you believe you do not have an unqualified right to free speech on these forums. As they are privately owned and run, such a right does not exist: Access to these forums is entirely at the discretion of HEXUS, and by their delegation, to the Administrators and Moderators of this forum.

We do encourage debate, we do encourage freedom of thought, but we also have the discretion to close/moderate/remove any topics we feel unsuitable/inappropriate/reached an end. I'd say these forums have a very light touch in terms of moderation, and I think you'll find many of the administrators and moderators on here a lot more flexible, approachable and understanding than on many forums - which is why these forums continue to be a good place to be, imho.

[billythewiz]

What's that supposed to mean? .... I'd likely guess that you know very little of mine, of g8ina's or of many of the other members on this forum.

I can assure you that I know considerably less than "very little" and that's entirely irrelevant. My comment was about me, not you ! It's possible that, like me, "many of the other members on this forum" have no ability to post during the day. So when a mod says "I'll close the thread unless anyone else has anything new to say", to do so within 30 minutes, in the middle of the day, especially when several people have just said many new things, is to essentially silence everyone who can only respond in the evening.


You could choose to take what I've said as constructive criticism. Alternatively, you can take as line like this :-

Contrary to what some may have you believe you do not have an unqualified right to free speech on these forums. As they are privately owned and run, such a right does not exist: Access to these forums is entirely at the discretion of HEXUS, and by their delegation, to the Administrators and Moderators of this forum.

The choice is yours.

[dave87]

We take all criticism on board - always have done


Tone is inevitably hard to get right when there are only words to communicate it. The last two paragraphs are intended to be read together, the first one does seem a little harsh when read on its own, that I do concede.

The point I was (in this instance cack-handedly) trying to make was that despite us reserving the right to close threads, we only do so occasionally. It is certainly not the first thing we think of. There never has been, nor do I envisage there ever being any malice in the moderation of this forum. My point was perhaps a little blunt, but equally was your comment on g8ina's decision.


Edit to add - the comment which I took most issue with was the one regarding censorship - I vociferously defend people's right to say what they want, as long as it doesn't break the rules, so the suggestion we censor/suppress/etc is a bit of a slap in the face for all the times I've taken that stance. On this occasion, it may also have impacted on the content of the rest of the post.

[billythewiz]

There never has been, nor do I envisage there ever being any malice in the moderation of this forum.

I think the decision today was hasty, not malicious. That thread had been going for a long time, with a small number of contributors putting a very considerable amount of time into their posts. And this is the Question Time board ! It's not the frivolous, "look what I've just found on youtube" board !

My point was perhaps a little blunt, but equally was your comment on g8ina's decision.

If I had been sycophantic, my comments would have been ignored. I was very annoyed when I got home from work this evening.

[peterb]

<---snip

Edit to add - the comment which I took most issue with was the one regarding censorship - I vociferously defend people's right to say what they want, as long as it doesn't break the rules, so the suggestion we censor/suppress/etc is a bit of a slap in the face for all the times I've taken that stance. On this occasion, it may also have impacted on the content of the rest of the post.

Absolutely, although we do take exception to members who take advantage of that to repeatedly post on single issues, or subvert threads to their own agenda, which we would regard as trolling.

[tiggerai]

What's your urgency ?

There was no Urgency - it was merely a warning. The thread is a contentious one where all the contributors concerned had aired their views.

I have a question. Don't you people work ? Don't you realise that some contributors do?

Yes, I work, where do you think I do my moderation from? The office, on my lunch break, on my time.

Do the views here offend you so much that you have to sensor them ?

They do not offend me at all - and as a woman I have been very interested in the conversation and the male views in the thread. I don't GET offended - I get annoyed when conversations just go round and round because there is no ONE answer. I've seen these before and usually they will just degenerate into Personal Attacks - of which I DO NOT tolerate.

I don't believe we have censored anything, the thread has not been deleted, or closed, or edited beyond our guidelines. We have not removed anyone's views or stopped people from reading them.

An open and fair discussion is fine, but even discussions need to be curbed if they're just not getting anywhere.

[dave87]

If I had been sycophantic, my comments would have been ignored.

No need to be sycophantic but asking rather than demanding, and perhaps in a slightly more polite and less forceful way would not go amiss? Personally I respond far more favourably to someone who asks, rather than someone who demands - I think that is inherent in human nature.

I was very annoyed when I got home from work this evening.

That you may have been, but taking a step back and asking the question will never hurt.

[Zhaoman]

For what it's worth, I did feel that while the thread had gotten stale over the last few pages there were some new points brought up that might have had room for discussion; especially Directhex's question on hormonal contraception and Halloween Jack's first hand experiences, beliefs and advice. A few of the questions had been answered before but there's no harm in going over them again, if it really had gone stale then I'm sure people would have not bothered to continue to post and the thread will die of its own accord. Just my 2c.

[dave87]

A few of the questions had been answered before but there's no harm in going over them again, if it really had gone stale then I'm sure people would have not bothered to continue to post and the thread will die of its own accord. Just my 2c.

Problem is, that's where the arguments start and the point from which the threads, in our experience, end up being proliferated with person attacks rather than debating the point at hand. When that happens we end up with a thread we have to go through and tidy up - be it by removing posts, editing them, whatever. That takes a lot of time to do, and leaves us open to allegations that we are censoring the debate - which is not what we intend.

The other option is we let it run regardless, which has the potential to escalate things even further, and could result in us having to make the decision to ban someone, which is even further from what we want to do.

[Lucio]

So, when's the ironic lock of this thread gonna arrive huh?