Seeing things again?

[wingell]

Maybe I've been seeing things again, but I could swear there was a

thread yesterday--I think on the Street and Documentary Forum--

detailing and discussing a physician's detention by police after

photographing power lines from the parking lot of a police station.

I threw my two cents into the pot, which simmered--in a moderate,

low-heat manner--with discussion of street photography in the age of

Ashcroft. If this thread was deleted (please, point me in the right

direction if it wasn't)--and deleted from the Street forum at that--

I find such censorship astonishing. Ashcroft and his stooges must be

enjoying the show.

[philmorris]

The doc from the Children's Hospital? You saw it. I've no idea why it vanished.

[michael s.]

Gone now, Bill.

 

And while I don't actually know why, I can guess. Later in the discussion, there surfaced an exchange of personal insults (some featuring profanity ... or "cutely misspelled" profanity) between and among folks who should know better.

 

Unfortunate, since the poster's account of his experience was (to me) disturbing and worthy of discussion.

 

The original poster, by the way, had nothing to do with the potty mouth that followed later.

 

And while I would have preferred selective deletions, I recognize that would make a moderator's job very difficult and (even more) time-consuming, and hence is often too much to ask.

 

Result: a "baby with bathwater" dumping of the entire thing.

 

If I've called it accurately, this means there can be a "heckler's veto" of sorts when controversial subject matter surfaces. Don't like what's being discussed? Just recruit a couple buddies to fuss and cuss and insult participants. Sooner or later, an understandably annoyed moderator will can the whole thing.

[mottershead]

As for your "heckler's veto", the moderators aren't stupid, and most of them follow their forums fairly closely. While obvious "troll", and off-topic threads, are apt to get deleted in their entirety, most of the moderators delete individual posts rather than entire threads. If they repeatedly notice reasonable threads being trashed by hecklers following your strategy, I dare say the hecklers will sooner or later find themselves being banned from the forums.

[michael s.]

I appreciate your responding, Brian. Not sure whether you saw the thread we were discussing, but I summarized the sequence correctly.

 

On this occasion, my strong suspicion is that the "heckler's veto" I referred to happened as an unfortunate by-product of the nasty back-and-forth that followed the original post, rather than a cleverly conceived "strategy." The end result, sadly, was the same. [i saw some, perhaps most of the tit-for-tat, and believe me, it does not bear repeating.]

 

I certainly hope that those responsible did get -- or do get -- a stern warning. It would be well-deserved. And it would still be quite timely. Hopefully, you'll be able to check in with the forum moderator to ensure that happens.