[Imc] Offensive Post

[Paul Riismandel]

Yes, the post is moronic and obviously intended only to get a rise out of
people. There's no way it could be qualified as a sincere expression, at
least in my opinion.  I've seen posts that I personally think are stupid but
where it seems at least that someone is trying to express something that at
least that person is serious about.  In this case I think someone is just
trying to get people riled up, no more, no less.

In this case I think the "off-topic posts" clause of our website use policy
is most appropriate:
a.. Off-Topic Posts - this is perhaps the most difficult category of
inappropriate posts to judge, since the IMC Newswire intends to be a forum
that is open to a broad range of topics and ideas. Nonetheless there are
posts that are baldly and clearly inappropriate, whose purpose seems clearly
to be other than informing, educating or adding to a public discourse. In
the worst cases their appearance on the IMC Newswire may indeed discourage
other visitors from using the site. Isolated posts are typically not
problematic, and so the problem of off-topic posts is usually related to
flooding or spamming. Therefore the frequency of off-topic posts of a
particular type should be considered when deciding whether to hide them.

I would not be opposed to hiding this particular post under this clause.
However, although there does seem to be a pattern developing, because the
person does not use a consistent psuedonym or e-mail address I am not yet
comfortable hiding or grouping all posts that appear to be from this person.

I do want to be clear, however, that I do not advocate hiding this post
because it is offensive (although it is to me).  When expressed by someone
who believes ideas that I find offensive, then their expression can
nonetheless spark dialogue, even if it's not with that person.  But, in this
case there is belief behind it except the apparent desire to incite people,
and that is truly not the purpose of the IMC website, which is why I think
it's would be OK to hide it.

I would also prefer hear from others.

--Paul

---- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Lehman" <rebelmike at earthlink.net>
To: "imc" <imc at lists.groogroo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2002 11:14 PM
Subject: [Imc] Offensive Post


> We have had a complaint, posted as a comment, from a UCIMC website user
> about this post:
> <http://www.ucimc.org/front.php3?article_id=5819&group=webcast .
>
> This was apaprently posted by someone who has been a repetitive poster
> of flame-baiting amterial of different kinds in the last few weeks on
> the website. Their posts are usually characterized by the use of all
> caps, a very limited command of grammar and spelling, and a general
> attitude that seems to imply a lack of concern for the feelings of
> others. Certainly today's posting falls into this category. Although the
> same person uses a variety of names, he has most frequently identified
> as "DANNY".
>
> I referred the complainant to our website use policy. There really isn't
> much that can be done about a single post of this nature. However, we do
> have provisions that deal with repeated behavior of this kind. Although
> a number of different pseudonymns are used, the posts all share the
> traits I mentioned above, making them rather obviously the work of one
> person.
>
> I personally find this to be a repugnant and pointless post, but am
> leery to let my personal feelings stretch to accomodate hiding this post
> without a more collective judgement about it. What do others think?
> Should it be hidden? Should we pursue a more general ban on this person,
> due to the observed pattern of behavior?
> Mike Lehman
>
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