This thread is closed [an actual new thread]

[Ian Kelly]

On Tue, Oct 2, 2018 at 4:50 AM Rhodri James <rhodri at kynesim.co.uk> wrote:
>
> On what grounds are you suppressing debate?  It is exactly and precisely
> not irrelevant to Python, since it's discussing a Python-specific change
> to known and understood computing terminology, and frankly the statement
> "Continued considerate posts will be discarded" is outrageous.

To be fair, it went four days without any posts before being closed,
so I'd say it was already dead at that point anyway.

> I have been unimpressed with the moderation team for some weeks now, but
> this is just not acceptable.

Note I'm not expressing an opinion on any specific decision by the
moderators, but I for one would like to welcome the more proactive
moderation being employed recently. This group, which was originally
unmoderated, at one time had a reputation for having a respectful and
welcoming community. To my experience, that has not been the case for
years now. Self-policing is no longer working when the self-appointed
police are among the greatest offenders, at the ready to declare
somebody a troll and therefore fair game at the slightest
disagreement. The archives contain piles upon pile of centithreads of
inane bickering on topics like "what is a variable, precisely" that
are no different than arguing about the number of angels that can
dance on the head of a pin. And while I haven't actually done it yet,
I can't count on one hand the number of times I've been disgusted by
the toxic tone so prevalent here and nearly unsubscribed.

Whether or not you think the moderators are doing a good job, there's
no doubt in my mind that moderation is sorely needed here and long
overdue.