First off, up-front, front and foremost, 100% transparency: this is about the now-locked thread “Is Charlie Hebdo racist?”. I know I will not garner any love by opening a thread about something that was locked, but in fact I just got home, saw this thread, saw some of the posts, and quite frankly I don’t give a damn about what Charlie Hebdo is or isn’t, but it seriously rubs me the response this got here.
First post: The opening gambit, brought on because - apparently - someone else does have this declaration in their signature and it irked the OPoster who thought it merited discussion.
Second post: a warning that this discussion would come to no good, which was made fun on on the fourth post.
Fifth post: the first to try and tackle the question, who insulted the OP by asking it in the first place and attacking him, as far as I can see, completely out of left field.
Sixth post: a good, reasonable post about the topic at hand (finally!).
Then namekusejin got in and things got hairy because he was being himself (and seriously, either ban him or deal with him, he behaved pretty much as he always does, and if you don’t want to go in his direction you can ignore his posts). Then a mod comes in and says the conversation sparked various reports.
I find that quite interesting, because the conversation is horribly sparse. Everyone involved seems to know what they’re talking about; I didn’t and I would have quite enjoyed the discussion which is quite current and was actually triggered, apparently, by a concern the OP had over a signature of another forum member. Except that the whole thing was shotgunned at the start, and apparently tons of people got highly offended by I-have-no-idea-what. Most of the discussion, right at the start, involved “let’s not talk about this” or “you just want us to tell you you’re 100% right and correct”.
Soooooo…
Having a CoC is one thing. Wanting a nice place to discuss things - off-topic as they may be, as this IS the off-topic board - is one thing. Being civil and respectful and not wanting trash in your back yard is one thing.
This was something else. And it scares me. Well, no, not really, it doesn’t scare me because there are other places to talk about things, but is this what IntFiction has become? Everything’s roses as long as no one touches upon a number of forbidden subjects, lest they be shot down instantly?
I wonder how many people will just look at this thread, completely overlook the concern, and just conclude I’m a troublemaker. I wonder how many people will report this. I wonder.