[quote=“Dragonbones”]5) Now for my *** key point: for citizens to understand what laws mean, it is useful for them to see not only the codified, legislated laws, but also the law as established by court decisions, as it is only in seeing both that one has a complete picture. Thus the quest for information by many posters here, and the gratitude (mine included) for TM sharing the info. I
[quote=“Loretta”]…I don’t particularly like the system as it is, but I don’t have a better alternative and I do believe that it works reasonably well. So I’m just going to leave the Star Chamber to decide.
Now will people stop suggesting that we’re fascist bully-boys please? Or we’ll introduce a new rule requiring you lot to kow-tow before moderators on pain of instant suspension.
Incidentally, what do you all think of a ‘public warning’ system for first offences. Like a sticky thread where moderators can say “BroonApe, stop talking rubbish or we’ll make you abstain from sex for a whole day.” so that if a suspension/ban becomes necessary we can say “We warned him and he wouldn’t listen.”[/quote]
I dont think a public warning system is required although it might help, all that is required is a little openness as to the why’s and wherefores of how a suspension came about.
TM did this clearly with a small extract of what had been said that finally in TM’s opinion tipped the balance.
This really is necessary as area/forum the mods use for moving unwanted posts to is not accessible by most, therefore we have no idea as to why somebody is receiving the suspension pending trial by star chamber.
Whilst the rewritten rules are clearer and more succinct than the old, it is only the open practical application of those rules that determine what is and what is not acceptable. With everything being conducted behind closed doors then no one can assess where the practical limits are.
A mail from the mod suggesting suspension/banning as per the example from TM, together with a judgement from the SC again with reason is what is required.
I don’t think a suspension deserves so much fuss being kicked up. It’s like Forumosan “time out.” You’ve been smacked on the bum and told to go to your room and think about what you’ve done. I still say bannings should be made public in a locked sticky thread updated by Maoman or GooseEgg when a member is banned, stating what rule was broken and any other extenuating circumstances they deem necessary. Also, if this were done, a rule should be put in place that any and all second-guessing of the SC regarding bannings will be deleted. As long as the reason is there, and the member is banned, what is bitching about it going to achieve? And as for all the “he was a quality content contributer” stuff - that may well be true, but rules are rules. If someone repeatedly breaches the rules, they should be punished, regardless of who they are, what they’ve contributed, or what anyone else thinks of them.
[quote=“Fox”]
Perhaps he took some revenge on Namahottie for having that comment in her signature. [/quote]
No, SJ hasn’t even contacted me about having the comment in the signature. As I am sure that s/he stands behind the idea expressed, and possibly quite proud that it’s still alive and well …
----edited
Reading thru all the posts, it is obvious that SJ has a certain amount of respect from his fellows on here. But what concerns me is that it has been pointed out to me that this isn’t a democracy, yet, it seems as if many posts are fighting for freedom of speech which is a tenet of democracy. Even at the expensive of fellow forumosans whom you call friends. I’m missing something here, care to explain?
I would have to agree here. After 1000 posts, any poster of any quality should know where not to go.
And as for having the star chamber discussion thread made public…why and what real purpose would that serve? That would give the rest of us lots of chances to take sides and pick our favorite mods. I don’t care to know. I have a certain amount of blind faith in the mods. I read Mod langs (sp) shocking rape thread with disgust. He got banned. Fine by me. The mods were right to do so IMHO.
But, are we casting our own votes at SJ? I’d say suspension, yes, based on what I read yesterday on the thread in question. Ban? Next time anything remotely similar happens (although, from what I’ve read, this IS the next time.) So, go figure. 
So Tetsuo, by your own reasoning, you should be sent to your room, publically humiliated? I refer to your repeated offense of the “be nice” rule. How many people have you called a dick, prick or gimp? Yet here you are, day after day, contributing alot and a little and sometimes not at all. What should be done about your chronic inability to play nice with others?
And yes, it is humiliating to be banned. Have MPS/TS/ML been to a happy hour recently? Are they back in another incarnation? Probably not.
I applaud the mods attempts to make this site a happy and informative place that people like to visit and their open minds when presented with constructive criticism. I hope there is a wee bit more transperancy in the process, but if they choose to keep it behind closed doors, so be it. I’ll still post here.
this site is made up of people of all different shapes, sizes, colors, and orientations. there should be mechanisms in place to insure that everyone is comfortable visiting this site.
the post by screaming jesus was offensive and i am glad that it was deleted or put into the flame forum. it was also the right decision to punish screaming jesus and therefore i don’t understand the criticisms being leveled at the process and the people who implement that process.
So Tetsuo, by your own reasoning, you should be sent to your room, publically humiliated? I refer to your repeated offense of the “be nice” rule. How many people have you called a dick, prick or gimp? Yet here you are, day after day, contributing alot and a little and sometimes not at all. What should be done about your chronic inability to play nice with others?[/quote]
Exactly. I have been reprimanded by the boss before, and it is basically but for the grace of God (or should that be Mod?) I could have been suspended. And it would’ve been entirely deserved. In fact, at one particular point I was pretty much waiting for it. And I don’t know about humiliation being the right term for a suspension when it’s just used as a cooling off - it’s been used a few times in that sense since I’ve been here, and I haven’t seen anyone come out the worse for it. Most have come back suitably chastened.
Squiddy’s been back to the happy hours. Saw him at the last one I went to actually. Don’t know about Toe, but IIRC he was an irregular HH attender anyway, and ML lives too far away to attend. And I’m pretty sure that at least two of them are back, although I haven’t quite been able to narrow my list of suspects down far enough yet.
Hear hear.
Quite likely, yes. At least one of them. 
SJ was one of the best posters here. He always came straight to an interesting point and often did so in an entertaining way. I loved his posts and considered it kind of a privalege to converse with him - until he started with the racist stuff. He needs a wake up call on that issue and I respect Tigerman for giving him one.
I think that is the way most of us feel. He needs to get over it, whatever “it” is. Best of luck brother.
[quote=“Mother Theresa”]Strange. It must have been a matter of nasty personal e-mails, because his recent posts have been perfectly benign.
forumosa.com/taiwan/search.p … ming+Jesus
I agree that he has voiced some offensive views in the past, but he’s a good member of the community who adds to the mixture. It seems to me that banning should be reserved for only the very few extremely egregious offenders, who repeatedly use intense racist, sexist or hate-filled language in a large number of posts, or repeatedly send offensive pms, or repeatedly spam, despite having been warned to stop such behavior. As far as I know SJ didn’t come anywhere close to that standard. :s[/quote]
Yeah, you can’t quite see flamed posts when you pull up his posting record, can you?
I couldn’t agree more.
If you want to go to a forum full of hateful, racist speech, I invite you to spend some time on the yahoo news boards and see how much intelligent discourse happens there. Forumosa is a community and posts like the ones SJ has made, whether tongue in cheek or otherwise, are not the kind we welcome here.
The rules were laid out to be as plain as day so no one could say, “but I didn’t know.” As a long-term poster, Screaming Jesus had lots of opportunities to review the rules and had been warned about his hatefully racist speech and continued to post these things in spite of the warnings. In willfully choosing to ignore the rules, he has willfully chosen to leave his fate as a member of this community in the hands of the Star Chamber.
QED
Started? One of the first posts he made on forumosa was racist.
[quote=“ImaniOU”] he has willfully chosen to leave his fate as a member of this community in the hands of the Star Chamber.
QED[/quote]
If the Star Chamber does decide to ban him (and I hope they don’t), can they end it with a “the tribe has spoken” just like on TV? 
I certainly think some of the rules hinder free speech and I certainly think this board is politically correct. Some moderator behaviour needs to be questioned at times.
However, Screaming Jesus seems to have been violating rules continuously with warnings and opportunities to pull himself together.
If he has made hateful racist posts against minorities which would have clearly offended other members of this board then I believe that his common courtesy, common sence and his qualities as a person should have guided him.
I ask whether he would have said something similar in a meeting room full of Forumosans?
If not, then why on a public message board in a close foreign community?
I appreciate the rules. There are some pretty severe posts as it is. Some discussions get pretty heated up.
It seems that it takes quite a bit to get suspended or banned.
It seems like an involved process to do it.
Not to mention the Mods have a life too (or do they?)
Thanks guys for all your hard work. 
Sorry if we make it a little harder sometimes. 
It seems strange that someone so smart can be so consistently stupid. Screaming Jesus struck me as an intelligent poster, but…how can anyone with an IQ over 80 believe all that racist crap? Strange.
The questions not whether or not he believed it, but why he consistently posted it despite being told not to. He has put helpful things on this board which makes it even more of a shame that he let his hateful posts decide his fate. Same thing with Toe Save, Ma Po Squid, and Mod Lang.
And Dangermouse, it might seem PC, but that’s because it’s a community. You don’t build a community with hateful, racist speech. If you are interested in expressing your true feelings about minorities, there are plenty of websites out there that would welcome such comments.
I didn’t advocate racist comments. I just said I think this board is too PC.
I have no qualms about expressing my true feelings about minorities the same as I have no qualms about expressing my feelings about any ethnic minority, culture or nationality. You do not know what those feelings are.
Are you insinuating that I have hateful and offensive things to say about minorities? If so, I’d like to know where you got these ideas. If not, shut up. How dare you connect me with websites of such nature. You have absolutely no right.
Besides which, PC’ness encompasses many, many things of which ethnicity is just one.
Perhaps you should have continued reading the rest of my post:
[quote=“I”]If he has made hateful racist posts against minorities which would have clearly offended other members of this board then I believe that his common courtesy, common sence and his qualities as a person should have guided him.
I ask whether he would have said something similar in a meeting room full of Forumosans?
If not, then why on a public message board in a close foreign community?[/quote]