Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hey, I have a rant.

I call it the "I-do-my-best-to-be-as-civil-and-polite-as-possible-
in-order-to-produce-an-intelligent-debate-but-am-still-met-with-snide-
remarks-and-rude-comments" rant.

I would like to think that I am generally an accepting person. That, for the most part, I am willing to acknowledge that everyone has their differences of opinion and debating is just another way to gain another point of view, as well as have an intelligent discussion with another person. If I am wrong, and I really feel I have had my a** whooped in said debate, I am pretty good at admitting it. Though, this doesn't mean that I am a pansy when it comes to standing up for what I truly believe in.

That being said, when it comes to a forum as politically sensitive as Gaia, I definitely make an effort to maintain my cool and make sure that I have made my point as clearly as possible. Yes, I do lose my temper on occasion and have made comments I regret later on, but I will chalk that up to my being, you know, human. What bugs me is that despite my respect towards others I am often met with short, smart-a** comments or things that are just plain rude. I am frustrated that people who make eloquent and well-thought out posts don't seem smart enough to at least refrain from childish comments.

And I am not point fingers at liberals. I find fellow conservatives doing it as well. I find everyone doing it. Perhaps I am old fashioned, but a little civilty towards one another (and I don't mean to imply being non-offensive and appeasing others -- I really do mean being civil) and acting appropriately (as in, an adult-like manner) would not only be very much appreciated but reflects well on one. Too bad Gaia is not only full of children, but adults who act worse than children.

This really wasn't about any specific people or groups. I have just noticed my reluctance to post in the actual politics sub-forum because I can debate political issues all I want, but I refuse to become involved in a flame war just because someone felt the need to make some unnecessary comment about how I am "ignorant" simply because they disagree with me.

I would encourage everyone here to avoid doing the above. I don't believe it is a problem here, but just keep in mind when debating to try and keep your cool as best as possible. When the other is being the hothead and you're responding calmly, it'll reflect positively on you.

Yeah, that's it. Just sort of pissed about the current attitude on the politics forum and how ridiculously divided it has become.

Adios folks, for I expect yet another banishment. Here's what I just fired off to the supposed right wing mod of ED-P







Lesson learned: Don't report Angsty Shem or any of the mod's bitches to the mods.

Sometimes I think I pay one of the BUGGIEST site on the net way too much attention stare

Yep. It's because they're content to overlook anything that attacks a conservative. So much for their "token conservative mod".

I'd lay off her, geez.

It's not her job as a moderator to take our side every single time. It seems like everyone here simply won't be happy until some liberal's a** is banned for whatever reason. Maybe if you stopped complaining over every little thing, the few times you have a legitimate case it will be handled properly.

Here's the thing liz, I really don't CARE what side the mods take. All I ask for it's uniformity in decision making. Either Spam/one liner/ad homien are ok or it's not. with threads like Hating/liking/Kerry/Bush/Gay Marrage/AWOL/Voting record/WMDs, or the livejournal-esque 9/11 Commission Report Released [link] around, you think mods really have any legitimate grounds to stand on when they would then warn/ban people for one liners/spams?

If they want to make a set of rules and regs, fine, but hold everyone to it. It's the inconsistencies that's breeding discontent and not political ideologies.

*which is probably why the appointment of Sere Mudou as ED-P mod was not too well received because she was a solution to a problem that was never there. And it'd be too much to expect her to be a conservatice gestapo mod who goes around stopping all the lefties' fun in the forum (since it's ultimately the wrong thing to do), as I had hoped for awhile, to even out the field *

First off I'd like to thank HaloHaley for putting it quite well. And then on to the meat of my reponse to Liz.

The "token mod" comments may or may not be true in the original intent, but as it stands the current moderators use her in a token fashion. Any complaints about lack of conservative moderators are immediately pointed at her, the token "conservative" mod. The problem lies in the fact that none of the mods, including said "token mod", are interested in pushing to fix the grievances that are currently happening. Nobody in the moderator staff has taken up the banner of the downtrodden who get their posts deleted for no apparent reason (a la "one liner rule", which is an abomination in any alleged open forum. "No spam" sufficiently covers the intent of the rule, while corrupt moderators use it selectively). The big problem lies not in lack of moderators who will enforce the LRG population's will, but rather that nobody in power bothers to take exception to the illicit moderator actions of the other moderators or to raise the appropriate stink to the right administrators, and lack of any sort of accountability system makes doing so near impossible.

If they don't want her to be thought of as a "token mod" they should stop presenting her like one.