Tulsi Gabbard Completes MAGA Makeover by Endorsing Donald Trump(www.thedailybeast.com)

Blocking them doesn’t silence them. It just means that you, specifically, can no longer see them. Which means you can no longer downvote them or call them out.

Blocking someone is not winning an argument, it’s ceding the floor to them.

permalink

report

parent

[ - ]

TheHiddenCatboy@lemmy.world

2 points

4 months ago

Unfortunately, you can’t call them out like they should be called out because we handcuff ourselves with rules about ‘civility’ when they have none. Thus we only can try to call their arguments out, which of course leads to a circular argument where you lay out the counterpoints to their nonsense and they repeat it, just more fervently. Within the context of both the rules and the mods choice to enforce them more on our side than the dishonest people who come here, ESPECIALLY with the prohibitions of calling a spade a spade (no calling shills, no calling trolls, no calling Russian plants, no calling out as a bot or a sock puppet, even if it’s clear the account in question is what’s being called). When you’re basically told ‘be nice to people who are not being nice to you’, the only real answer is to block and move on.

permalink

report

parent

[ - ]

Cryophilia@lemmy.world

1 point

4 months ago

the only real answer is to block and move on.

Hard disagree. There’s usually more of us than them, and as we can see from lemmy.ml, when mods/admins blatantly and obviously go against the will of the people, then people abandon them. Seeing 15 upvotes and 136 downvotes is a powerful indicator. Seeing a series of people ridiculing a tankie or fascist or “bothsides” troll is powerful. Mods get afraid to be obviously partisan because people will leave.

But when people avoid testy conversations, it gives power to those trolls and partisan mods.

permalink

report

parent

[ - ]

TheHiddenCatboy@lemmy.world

2 points

4 months ago

Good point.

I still think we handcuff ourselves too much with Rule 3, especially if the comments put up by the trolls are left up by the mod team while removing our comments. I’m not going to go so far as to call the mods here partisan, just unintentionally handicapping the community against paid actors. I am absolutely certain the account I was replying to was disingenuous and not here to have an honest debate. That we can’t accuse users of being bots or paid actors or trolls when they most clearly are definitely is ceding the floor to them. We then have to engage them like they are honest and open debaters, when they are most definitely not. Some of us get frustrated with the same old bullshit going unchallenged and unchecked, so I can see why those people would like to block, but you make a good point about ceding the floor to them.

permalink

report

parent

[ - ]

Cryophilia@lemmy.world

1 point

4 months ago

I agree that rule 3 (and similar community rules) are a big handicap, and I think you’re more generous than I am regarding mods. It’s tough to keep seeing obvious propaganda left up while counter points are removed.

When it gets to be too much for me, I disengage for a couple of days. Just stop reading for a bit.

permalink

report

parent

Show more comments

politics

!politics@lemmy.world

Create post

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to “Mom! He’s bugging me!” and “I’m not touching you!” Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That’s all the rules!

Civic Links

• Register To Vote

• Citizenship Resource Center

• Congressional Awards Program

• Federal Government Agencies

• Library of Congress Legislative Resources

• The White House

• U.S. House of Representatives

• U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

• News