Over the past couple of years, a number of users here have expressed to me, both publicly and privately, that they feel that banhammer recently falls far too readily upon expressions of political opinion, namely anything that is not strictly politically correct.

While expressions of actual racism, sexism, and the like are clearly against the forum rules and should indeed face moderation, creating an environment where only one side of the political aisle is allowed to speak and exist is not conducive to a sustainable forum environment, especially when activity is already low; more than one long term user has called it quits in recent months because of this.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it should be open season, the existing rules against hateful conduct that have stood for decades should still be adhered to, I am simply passing on a concern here that quite a few members have relayed to me.

I believe that as far as politics on this site is concerned: Keep it to the “Politics Discussion” threads. That way if you do choose share something problematic, the ban can stay confined to Political forums and not become a site-wide ban. However you choose to take it outside of the political forums, then I believe the rules as they stand are fair enough. Can’t think of many instances where a ban wasn’t warranted due to sharing some genuinely problematic political points.

I haven't been following political discussions very closely, but I think every single time I've seen bans in political contexts here, they've been deserved. Sometimes the bans have come a bit easily, but even then they've definitely been deserved. Obviously I must have missed a ton of bans, so it's possible there's some undeserved bans there too, but based on what I've seen, I have little reason to suspect that to be the case.

I reckon the issue is that people don't want to be entirely civil about their opinions, because people tend to not be entirely civil when discussing politics. If that's the case, the real question would be whether some leeway should be allowed even if in practice it means racism, sexism etc. My moral stance is absolutely not and people should learn to be civil even in disagreement, but my pragmatic side isn't so sure - people are what they are, and trying to fight it too hard also has a cost.

This can be moved to the politics section if appropriate, wasn't sure which section it would be best suited to.

Also, for the record, I raise this not as advocating for any particular political stance, but as a site health issue. 

The rules clearly state "Racist, sexist, hateful, toxic, or otherwise demeaning comments will not be tolerated."

We've banned only three people this year, only one of them permanently, for comments that weren't trolling or flaming over console war BS. One has a long history of making homophobic, transphobic, and racist comments, and is skating on thin ice. Another was permanently banned for a long history of racist comments. One was given a five-day ban for multiple transphobic comments. We don't need that garbage on this forum. We're not Era, so we let a lot of stuff slide when we really shouldn't, but some things are so egregious that we have no choice but to take action, especially with repeat offenders.

It's really not that difficult to keep that hateful BS to one's self. As I like to say, it's easier to not do a thing than it is to do that thing. Yet it still amazes me how grown people simply can't seem to help themselves and act like an asshole. But if someone can't abide by the rules, well, there's the door. We'll personally usher them out of the door ourselves if we have to. If others don't like that a couple of people have been given the boot, either temporarily or permanently, for a history of bigoted commentary, well, they're free to leave as well if that's their choice. If a forum can't thrive without allowing open bigots to post bigoted comments, then so be it.

Off-topic, but I wish politicians were like this instead of trying to make a career out of it. I guess that would make them people in politics rather than politicians though.

I think a lot of the mods here have decided that anything that doesn't tow the party line is a bannable offense when it comes to race, identity, sexual orientation, nationality, and gender identity.

For example: I'm sure I'll get banned for saying these things but...

Sex and Gender are the same thing. You cannot change your gender or sex. If you want to live life as if you were another gender go ahead. Everyone should be able to live their lives however they want so long as they aren't harming others. Men participating in Women's sports is flat out cheating, just the same as steroid use is cheating. Many decisions regarding gender identity should wait until after you turn 18. Transgender people are factually wrong about their gender, but also having a psychologist try to convince them that they are the gender they were born as usually just results in suicide or depression. So for that reason I am in favor of "Gender Affirming Care". If someone needs to live their life as the opposite gender in order to be happy and not kill themselves, then that's fine by me. At the same time, though, nobody should be forced to use anyone's preferred pronouns. Everyone has a right to reality and forcing people to deny reality in order to satisfy someone else is beyond ridiculous. I'm an Athiest and I see being forced to use someone's preferred pronouns as just as much of an insult as being forced to pray at a company meeting.

If you entered the USA illegally as an adult of your own accord and do not have a valid asylum claim you should be deported without delay. If you overstayed your visa and do not have a valid asylum claim, you should be deported without delay. Immigration whether legal or illegal depresses wages by increasing the pool of job-seekers. Everyone should be paid a fair wage with reasonable working conditions. What often happens with immigration is that everyone is paid the same but the job conditions and wages do not keep up with modern standards. When you have 35 people applying for one job instead of 5 you can afford to have that job be the same pay rate for 30 years and have the working conditions and pace of the job slowly grow worse over the years. 

I want to make another thread on the topic of how the Democratic party has been throwing elections by putting candidates with extreme views on immigration and gender identity on the ballot in red states. The problem is that like the mods on this site, nothing other than the party line is tolerated. But I'll save that for if I don't get banned.

Why do people feel the need to make homophobic, transphobic, and racist comments is beyond me. Like, how do you live and think like that.

That sentence goes against itself. Where is it clearly stated what it means to be toxic? Or demeaning? Who gets to decide that? Ultimately, instead of having a set of objective rules that can be followed (Like don't call people the N word), vgchartz has a bunch of rules that are so loosely defined that any mod can apply them however they like. Vgchartz has had a problem with banning long-term members over poorly defined rules for years now. This rule in particular should be written as follows...

Racist and Sexist comments will not be tolerated. Ad hominem attacks will not be tolerated. What is racist and sexist is clearly defined. Racism is the idea that one race of people is better than another race and/or that one race should be treated differently than another race. Sexism is the idea that one sex is better than another sex and/or that one sex should be treated differently than another sex. Any comment that professes or argues that a race or sex is better than another race or sex will not be tolerated. Any comments treating others differently on the basis of race/sex (instead of personal merit) or advocating for such treatment will not be tolerated. Such treatment is known as discrimination. Ad hominem, short for argumentum ad hominem, is a rhetorical tactic of attacking the character, motive, or some other attribute of the person making an argument rather than the substance of the argument itself. This avoids genuine debate by creating a diversion often using a totally irrelevant, but often highly charged attribute of the opponent's character or background.

The rules against trolling, flaming, and console wars are just as ambiguous. vgchartz' entire forum rules need to be rewritten in an objective and fair manner. Until that happens moderators will continue to ban people over ill-defined rules. 

Here's a great example: Let's say someone genuinely doesn't like rap music. Under the current rules they would be banned for making too many anti-rap statements or trying to argue that rap isn't music (It absolutely is music!!!). Under the rules proposed above they wouldn't be banned just for that. Why not? Because liking or disliking a certain genre of music has nothing to do with whether or not one race is better than another and is not discriminatory towards race. 

I'll be somewhat shocked if you get banned for this. There's some controversial stuff there as well, but you have presented your argument in a reasonable manner. If you just cut it to "Sex and Gender are the same thing." without further explanation, I wouldn't be surprised to see you get banned, but with all this? Shocked, I tell you.

I'm not afraid to say I my stance of rap is between hate and kind of tolerating it, or that I don't think it's even clear why most rap is considered music. Some rap is clearly music, but for some rap, it definitely feels like a stretch. All rap I've heard definitely sounds like either music or a related but distinct art form though. But I don't go saying all this again and again, because it doesn't seem like a discussion that's likely to do much more than waste everyone's time (including my time in particular). I believe if you just adhere to the general rule of not being a dick, you'll be fine here regardless of your beliefs. Obviously that includes being mindful of minorities as well.

Ideologically I feel some connection to ResetEra, but I wouldn't go there due to the moderation policy, where it seems that unless you are up to date with the Approved Truth and act in accordance with it, you are likely to get banned sooner or later if you ever comment about anything meaningful, regardless of your intentions or whether you tried to be mindful of others. I'd be fearful commenting anything there, but I'm not here, because it feels like if I treat others with respect and have good reasoning for my stance, I'll be OK.