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Culture War Roundup for the week of March 23, 2026

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Your objection seems to be that people are allowed to say things you don't like.

We give a lot of leeway, but not infinite leeway. People can say they don't like Jews or they think ZOG rules the world. People can be dismissive about someone being killed.

"Lol glad he's dead" would probably have gotten a ban,. but expressing an opinion like "This is not a big deal" would not.

We try to be consistent and principled. We don't claim to be perfect.

Your objection seems to be that people are allowed to say things you don't like.

Is this not the fundamental nature of all objections? If I liked something (or otherwise thought it was a good thing) I wouldn't be objecting to it would I? I feel like the reasoning behind my objections warrant more consideration than you are currently giving it.

Is this not the fundamental nature of all objections?

To moderation? No, half of it is "People are allowed to say things I don't like" and half of it is "You won't allow me to say anything I like."

I am sure you do feel like your objections are legitimate and completely unlike the objections of everyone else we have to brush off because we won't moderate to their precise specifications (i.e., "allow speech I like and disallow speech I don't like").

I am sure you do feel like your objections are legitimate and completely unlike the objections of everyone else

...And I am sure you feel completely justified in dismissing my objections out of hand. Please try to understand that I am trying to help here. If you genuinely want this place to be a "place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases" you ought to be conscious of what I am trying to tell you. Again...

Whether you as a moderator believe that an exemption exists is only superficially relevant to whether such an exemption is perceived as existing.

What do you propose?

I don't have any specific action items at this time, but again I am trying to avoid publicly naming names. What I am trying to do is get you to understand that users like @FiveHourMarathon are not just pulling their conclusions out of their ass the way you seem to have implied and as such you should be engaging with them, rather than snidely dismissing them.

I'm not asking for names, but if your objection is "I have a list of names of users I think get away with saying things other users cannot, " yes, I am going to dismiss your objections. If your objection is "I think people are allowed to say things about some groups of people that they cannot say about other groups," I am going to dismiss your objections. We've heard it, we've heard it many times, and whenever I make the mistake of asking for specifics, specific is what I get - not any kind of systematic bias, but some thread or poster in particular that grinds the complainer's gears.

You've already made multiple, objectively false claims about past discourse here. When I asked you "Where are all the people who were dehumanizing Charlie Kirk on the Motte?" you tell me that's not the point. The point is you "perceive " something something. Well, okay then. What are we supposed to do about that?

We are obviously capable of entertaining the possibility that we are biased or make bad calls sometimes. But I would require a very high level of evidence to be convinced of the very broad accusation you are making. Otherwise, yes, I dismiss it as "I would like moderation to be fine-tuned to my precise preferences."