An Announcement For Everyone About A Recent Certain Topic Of Discussion

I think enforcing the rules of the venue is completely fair, as long as it is done consistently.

I also think that folks who want to have reasonable discussions about these subjects are well-intentioned but completely naive. I am forced to deal with a number of highly polarized blue and red people in my family, church, and social circles. As a practical, relatively non-polarized person, I simply recognize that you cannot hoist a pointy conductor during a storm and not get struck. A few of those people are like a balloon praying for a pin; they genuinely cannot wait for an excuse to climb up on their soapbox and get rolling.

I think it feels unfair to "reasonable" people when they are sternly warned not to hoist that metal stick. Their argument is that the unbalanced people causing the lightning discharge should be the parties penalized. Honestly, they're not entirely wrong about that. But the job of moderators—which is constantly misunderstood by the Internet—is not to serve as a justice system to punish the polarized people for derailing threads. The job of the moderators is to prevent unpleasant discharges, often by forbidding users from hoisting pointy metal sticks.

Under ideal circumstances where all people behave, should a respectful conversation on these subjects be possible? Sure. In an ideal world, I should be able to leave my gas cans in plain sight next to my shed overnight. In reality, those gas cans will be gone by morning, if not tonight, then right soon enough. Theft is indisputably wrong. But leaving your gas cans in plain view overnight is also poor judgment. Even if something isn't illegal or morally wrong, it can still be foolish. Bobby is the forum dad, and he gets to tell people not to be foolish, and make rules forbidding poor judgment. Ideal? No. But fair.

I totally agree with this statement, thanks for enforcing it.

Full agreement here.

As a trusted Moderator I'll do my best to be fair - but we are not going to allow the CCF to be fractured by political divineness based on current events.

This is a valued forum about coins - let's keep it that way.

I had death threats over getting counterfeits taken down on ebay.

Most of the time, this is what we do. You probably have never even noticed it. However, when people repeatedly derail a conversion, the whole thing needs to go.

Many thanks you for your prompt response.