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Strategies & Market Trends : VOLTAIRE'S PORCH-MODERATED -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Voltaire who wrote (15629)	11/13/2000 7:15:47 PM
From: jambo-bwana	Read Replies (8) \| Respond to of 65232

The danger with "moderated" threads is that it invariably leads the moderator to censor people/opinions for reasons that have nothing to do with the original stated mission for the thread. Most moderated threads start with a mission that allows people to post anything as long as civility is maintained and/or the stated purpose of the thread is not violated. I have seen other threads which started with this well-intentioned goal and then at some point the bar was lowered. Thereafter, the issue is not one of complying with the stated goals/rules of the thread - but to stifle dissent. Keith had become an irritant to the "in" crowd on the porch. Rose committed the "sin" of being supportive of Keith. Nichols sought to find out why there was a double standard being applied to Keith versus others, including Dealer, who is obviously part of the "in" crowd. So each of them were banned in turn. Keith's comments about Jim were out of line - but then, so were Jim's remarks about Keith. For anyone who says that the language used was intemperate, perhaps it was but then even a cursory examination of some of the posts during the past few weeks would demonstrate that there was plenty of that by several posters who were not taken to task. The interesting thing about this whole episode is that I have now received several messages of support for Keith in response to my tongue in cheek request for supporters of Keith to send me a pm - but with one exception, these messages were from fairly regular posters on this thread. This is all the more remarkable in that I am not someone who chats privately with anyone on SI, for the most part - so this whole thing must have hit a chord with these individuals. What is most striking is that none of these individuals felt able to post their support for Keith in public - I assume that it was because they felt that it would not be well received. The easy solution for anyone who found Keith or anyone else's posts bothersome would be to place that individual on "ignore". It takes care of the problem almost unfailingly. I shall join Intcfan in leaving the porch until these individuals are reinstated by "banning" myself. Now to find another home on SI! "I disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it." Voltaire 1694-1778