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Recently, iit's become pretty clear that people on Barbelith want to feel like they are being censored by oppressive moderators. See furioso, citing George Orwell's classic tale of a totalitarian government utterly crushing the human spirit as the only sane metaphor to encapsulate the horror of a topic abstract being changed from a statement that Seaguy part 2 will be out shortly to a statement that Seaguy 2 will not be out shortly, just because Seaguy 2 will not be out shortly. Also see Waggling Naughty Finger - afeared that he may at any moment feel the knock on the door at the middle of the night.
Unfortuately, these and many others through the years have been and will be disappointed to find that Barbelith simply does not have the appparatus to oppress them, and that in fact they will be able to post with a considerable degree of freedom anything, be it ever so ill-informed, that bounces into their heads. This is clearly not a satisfactory state of affairs, and I can't imagine they'll be able to enjoy Barbelith if it fails so abjectly to meet their clear desire to be SILENCED. Was George Morrison (not) die for nothing?
So, a proposition for the goood of the board. I volunteer to be the Barbelith Censor. This role will involve complete power to moderate and delete posts and logins, without the need for approval. This power will never be used to censort soomebody due to their politics, beliefs or any other factor - except one.
The moment somebody complains that they are being censored, or threatened with censorship, on sketchy grounds, I will spring into action. Their suit password will be changed. The content of their recent posts will be altered to suggest a variety of shocking and disgusting sexual proclivities. The suits of various other members will be hijacked, briefly, to condemn them for these proclivities, and then returned to the owners. I will then return the suit to the censoree, briefly, and invite him or her to confess and to express profound regret. Regardless of what they post next, it will be deleted, and the suit confiscated again. The suit will then post a thread in which a form letter is read out, expressing profound regret, confessing to a variety of crimes and begging for the court to end its compulsion to commit thought crime (caps) on Barbelith, which request will then be granted by the leniency of the Barbelith Censor.
How's that sound as a thought starter? I'm not sure whether a single focus (viz, me) will be more or less satisfying than a sinister and faceless cabal would be more satisfyingly totalitarian, so obviously we can talk about that... |
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