It is not GAF's responsibility for people to use some common sense before posting. I do agree that a ban is not the appropriate first action, warnings or letting the user take in the responses they are getting would hopefully be enough.
The first sentence doesn't reflect what was many here state was going on, the second one is something hard to disagree with.
Its Bannon bro... though I do agree there is no need for such posts, most of the things he say and believe is common sense to be against. I know you are trying to use him as an example, but him and Trump are on the extreme side.
It isn't about Bannon, it's about arguments. From time to time you'd see posts like "I know that <insert some name> is a <insert insult>, but... could you link <video/text> where he says something showing that he is <what was said above>".
This is ridiculous. It is exactly the same biological "my kind vs your kind" mob vs mob think, that leads to racism and other isms.
They couldn't answer them or you just felt their answers weren't sufficient?
They couldn't answer.
I am confused as to why you think insiders go to big websites/forums if not for the active user base. We are not just talking about people who post in threads, but those who make quality threads. Those people give the content which bring people here, which in turn bring insiders here, which then bring more people here.
You are mixing different things here. I was talking about myself, stating that it was insider information that I was about (perhaps weekly reports as well) that I was after, moderation didn't matter to me.
Whether its mods who where bringing insider contents, I don't know, it's not something I'm arguing about.
It is not specifically about the people you mentioned, but the state of GAF is undeniable currently, the people I mentioned largely left.
People left, that's clear. Even those who were posting in threads about hardware and where quite apolitical are nowhere to be seen, which is rather puzzling.
It is perfectly okay to have an opinion, the issue is some people do not know why their opinion would net them a ban. Context matters and that guy that I responded to probably did not word his post well as you just stated you said the "same thing" as that guy without getting banned. Conversation is important, knowing how to engage in it is also very important.
There was a thread where junior member was banned for stating that black are better boxers.
It was racist, he was told. I asked for explanation why scientifically provable (I wasn't sure about boxing, but in light athletics among men black race is dominant for clear biological reasons) non-controversial statement is considered racist. My post was simply ignored.
I even recall a thread in which about some youtube guy stating something totally harmless in my books (don't remember neither his name, nor what the controversy was about, sorry), filled with explanations on what a motherfucker he was (no links, no citations, just statements) followed by some user stating "oh, I used to watch his videos, unsubscribing now", followed by me wondering "how come you watched all his videos, but needed people on the forum to figure he was some sort of nazi", followed by single user, who bothered arguing with basically dozens of actively dogpiling users, shouting out "
but he is liberal!".
If you go into a thread about a certain conversation, you must tone your post with that in mind. So, I wouldn't for example go into a thread about a model getting rape threats and leave a post saying "I don't like hairy legs" and leave expecting not to get dogpiled.
This is understandable.