[quote=Awson]
It's not a controversial topic at all. It's just a silly topic. And there are loads of bullshit threads that spawn endless debate that get posted in Spam. You can't use that one as a reason, especially before any debating even begins.My problem is that it looks like it Spam xenophopia and pseudo-mob mentality pushed a thread into the redzone when it had no business being locked yet.Sure, it was a shitty thread, but it shouldn't have been locked. At most it should have been ignored, and at least didn't need to be filled with the standard "fuck off" x 5.Disclaimer: I'm not even against getting rid of threads that are going to end badly or that and just plain shitty. I'm against it being so arbitrary.
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Such things are based on judgement, here. Of course it isn't perfectly rigorous; of course it's arbitrary. And, as I trust Sherly's judgement, I'm fine with that - the mods, although they also should not abuse the power they're given, should not be so caught up in red tape that they cannot take action when and if they deem it necessary.
I don't think it was nearly so xenophobic as you think. If such a thread comes from someone we know, often we can be sure that it was simply badly thought-out or whatever. Coming from someone completely random, who has no reason to post such controversy here, who has no reason to value our opinions, and therefore (unlike an established member of the community) certainly no reason to skip over OT where that stuff actually belongs, it reads much more like a petty troll attempt. It's the same as you forgiving your friend for shoving you, whereas you wouldn't forgive a stranger. You assume your friend is having a rough time of it and forgive them because you know they're not usually like that. You don't - cannot - assume that about the stranger. In the same way, I would overlook it coming from you, or from Tripz, or Idle, or Smiral, or whoever. But from folk I know less well - say, Giygas or Derpestein, or, again, any of the regular Spam folk I simply don't know as well - I imagine it would get a similar response. Being part of Spam isn't anything to do with it, within itself.
There is no fucking way that thread was legitimately posted in search of enlightening debate; everyone saw that, everyone was annoyed by it, and everyone - as individuals - posted to disagree with it, with the same autonomy as you have now expressed your disagreement. Just because you disagree with the majority does not make the majority - or, indeed, the mod who locked the thread - a mindless mob.