+1 w/IainB. This "move it to the basement" thing is starting to get a little out of hand, I think.
I'd like to suggest a close reading of Ken White's polemic entitled
Ten Short Rants About #GamerGate.. I think it offers excellent insights and some direction about how adults should be able to handle their differences on the web.
There are certainly times when
some comments may need to be taken down because they risk disrupting the entire community's social contract. Liberal though I am, I'm still not one to argue that repeated and deliberate bad behavoir
must be tolerated - or allowed to go unchallenged. But when 'disruption' starts being equated with somebody merely becoming uncomfortable because they got challenged by
somebody else over of something they said...well...that's the way it goes when you're speaking to adults.
I personally think the whole 'Basement' concept was a bad one despite the obviously good and noble intentions behind it. First, because it's similar to a certain disciplinary technique you'd use with a 3-year old child: "Be nice or you'll be sent to your room." Second, because it unfairly deals with the posts of other thread participants who did nothing to merit having
their words sent to a place reserved for inappropriate comments or subject matter. Third, because the very existence of something like the Basement tends to greenlight certain subjects, language choices, and behaviors that most particiants
already knew were inappropriate for this forum. Holding a
Mardi Gras every so often may help relieve some social steam. But keeping one around as a permanent
red light district is far less beneficial. Because that can easily encourage the sort of antics you're trying to keep a lid on.
My feeling is, if something is not considered appropriate in the main venue - it's not appropriate at all, and shouldn't be here. If there's enough interest in the sort of thing that's not appropriate at one site, it only takes a few bucks a month at GoDaddy to set up your own forum where you get to make the rules. But when you're sitting at the table playing somebody else's game, the grownup thing to do is play by the rules of the house.
My suggestion? There's nothing wrong with some corrective moderation should the situation warrant. A place I once co-modded had a policy of pulling the occasional ill-considered post and suggest (via PM) that the contributor consider rewriting and resubmitting it. (The software we used had a good moderation feature that allowed us to do that with minimal fuss.) Most people agreed when they were totally out of line. A few even thanked us for pulling their comment before the rest of the forum piled on them for talking trash.
Not being perfect ourselves, there were also a few times when a mod got a little too trigger-happy and had to back down once they better understood where the poster was coming from. In those cases, the OP stood as written - accompanied by an apology from the mod for behaving "holier than thou."
It was a bit of work since that forum was even busier with regulars than DoCo is. But it was doable. And after a very brief period of time, the norms and
mores of the site were both understood and respected by 99.9% of its members and visitors. It was only the occasional newcomer who needed to be gently educated in ettiquet after that. Most people, however, quickly picked up what the expected standard of behavior was all on thier own. Probably because most people are on their best behavior when they
first start frequenting a forum. The problems tend to start mostly after they've been participating for a year or two. That's when they sometimes need a reminder they're
still guests in somebody's house. And that those hosting them
still have the right to decide what's acceptable as long as
they're footing the bill.
And...that's about all I have to say about this subject - which is relevant - but completely OT to this thread.
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