Important news regarding moderation team....

[EarlessOldMan]

I wish, really wish, I could say that is true but reality is quite the opposite. I did not want to go there but I need to make sure the situation is clear. This is part of one of the moderators wrote after I said I would not do as they said (they other two fully concurred):

"You are a pure narcissist if you can’t see the position you put us in. The rules apply to everyone else except You. You have the nerve to call Trump names that are more fitting for names that describe you and your behavior. While you are an expert in Audio Science. You are not an expert in how to run the largest economy and military in the world. You are the person who has no clue and you sir are completely out of your league and depth pretending otherwise because you have created this echo chamber now. You clearly have Trump Derangement Syndrome and serious anger issues. Maybe seek therapy."

Anyone want my job?

Wait.You're the one who has "serious anger issues"?

 

[blueone]

It should be possible to discuss the efficacy and desirability of something like tariffs without having the discussion descend into politics. It should be possible to state facts about the matter (because there are such facts) and identify policy preferences without taking political sides. And it should certainly be possible to engage in discussions on these topics in respectful ways.

But we live in a world where people cannot discuss, say, vaccines without descending into something very nearly approaching interpersonal violence.

Yeah, ASR should be the equivalent of noise-cancelling headphones.

 

[EJ3]

wow some background story there. Methinks this is worse than if DACs has a sound signature debacle (which I'm in favor of DACs has different sound but that is another topic)

I want my DAC to not have a "sound signature". But who knows, maybe there is one with a sound signature that someone likes. They should have that choice, I think.
But we should know which ones don't (so we can choose among them for looks or features) and those that like a certain sound signature can choose among the ones that we did not put in the subset of ones that don't have a sound signature. When I EQ things, it will sound different but that will be my sound signature, in my room(s).
I'll start with "no sound signature" as the base & adjust to taste.

 

[PristineSound]

I wish, really wish, I could say that is true but reality is quite the opposite. I did not want to go there but I need to make sure the situation is clear. This is part of one of the moderators wrote after I said I would not do as they said (they other two fully concurred):

"You are a pure narcissist if you can’t see the position you put us in. The rules apply to everyone else except You. You have the nerve to call Trump names that are more fitting for names that describe you and your behavior. While you are an expert in Audio Science. You are not an expert in how to run the largest economy and military in the world. You are the person who has no clue and you sir are completely out of your league and depth pretending otherwise because you have created this echo chamber now. You clearly have Trump Derangement Syndrome and serious anger issues. Maybe seek therapy."

Anyone want my job?

Well, despite the fact that it's already pretty evident, but this clearly just confirmed their political views and affiliations; and explains why instead of enforcing forum policies when certain members post "MAGA," or antagonizes an entire country's population who has nothing to do with their government in a demeaning way, they just let them slide. . .or worse, they slam the like button.

Sorry, these moderators are not impartial and do not moderate fairly when members dabbles into politics. They pick and choose which posts to enforce policies that suit their political views. I experienced this first hand as I've mentioned earlier.

Perhaps the result of this fallout is not such a bad thing after all, perhaps take this opportunity to find new moderators who are committed to fairness, balance and impartiality.

 

[EarlessOldMan]

Yeah, ASR should be the equivalent of noise-cancelling headphones.

Well, I wish that we could do that.

 

[ExUnoPlura]

Just as we can actively critique the mystification of audio equipment and audibility, it might be useful to allow for discussion points that invoke problems with the audio equipment supply chain. The moderation rules would need to require a focus on ideas like the impact of tariffs on supply chains, rare earth elements in production, and even that promoting international policy that avoids harming our enjoyment of this hobby/business is in our best interest. We certainly saw that previously in the issue of lawfare over negative reviews. So I think it is unavoidable to touch on the edges of politics, but the moderation rules should reflect that the edges are exactly that…

 

[fatoldgit]

So I think it is unavoidable to touch on the edges of politics, but the moderation rules should reflect that the edges are exactly that…

I am active on a couple of well known IT news sites that have forums and they have the same rules.

Where politics and IT intersect then it is ok to discuss politics..although I will add threads that include political discussion will inevitably include non-economic political posts to highlight the broader picture.

I can 100% say that the IT people active on these IT forums support a specific political view and that having worked in IT for a long time (including in the US for 15 years), this political view point mirrors my real life experience.

The issue for this forum is even before the mods left that a politics forum would increase mods work load... so its 100% out of the question now given Amir is now all by himself.

Peter

 

[amirm]

No, I would not want your job. But I'm mystified why you're making it 100x more difficult than it needs to be by not excluding all political discussions.

Once more... ALL POLITICAL DISCUSSIONS ARE DISALLOWED. Me posting in a closed thread is not a discussion. No one is forced to read it. Only people upset are the ones who don't like the messages in it. No members got in trouble for reading it. No one got banned, reported or otherwise. So all the reasons that we have for disallowing political discussion are inapplicable here.

This is why I did not accept moderators complaint at face value. No work was created for them. Nobody else could copy me as they can't create closed threads.

 

[levimax]

Yes, it will change people's mind. It is also informative as evidenced by many compliments I have received about it. It is rare that one can so easily explain the flaws as put forward by the proponents.

Then why are you afraid of different points of view? Do as I say not as I do and then allow no dissent is not a great look. You undercut your moderation team and they reacted honorably. Of course it is your site and you can do as you please and of course people that agree with you will cheer you on but at the end of the day you have done exactly what you accuse others of doing i.e. caused unnessisary damage without doing any good.

 

[fatoldgit]

You undercut your moderation team and they reacted honorably.

Based on what I believe was a resignation post from one of the mods sent to Amir, I don't know if it was honorable.. seemed more like crapping their pants and throwing their toys out of the pram cause they have certain political beliefs.

Which is not how adults would discuss politics... but maybe US politics is so toxic now that we cant have adult discussions?

Peter

 

[EERecordist]

I wish, really wish, I could say that is true but reality is quite the opposite. I did not want to go there but I need to make sure the situation is clear. This is part of one of the moderators wrote after I said I would not do as they said (they other two fully concurred):

"You are a pure narcissist if you can’t see the position you put us in. The rules apply to everyone else except You. You have the nerve to call Trump names that are more fitting for names that describe you and your behavior. While you are an expert in Audio Science. You are not an expert in how to run the largest economy and military in the world. You are the person who has no clue and you sir are completely out of your league and depth pretending otherwise because you have created this echo chamber now. You clearly have Trump Derangement Syndrome and serious anger issues. Maybe seek therapy."

Anyone want my job?

I have observed similar behavior from an ASR moderator and as a result almost quit the forum entirely. Moderating a forum includes diplomatic communication as one would talk to a friend. Let's hope future moderators are more diplomatic. Active listening is a start. It is not the job of the moderator to "be right." It is the job of the moderator to facilitate a unique and valuable forum.

 

[Trdat]

No offense, but we are all failing to mention that this all started when there was a decision to "let people express themselves on the Ukraine war" I am not sure what the exact policy was however, even flags were allowed and there was a turning of a blind eye here and there, on probably very small things that still led to the rule of no politics being broken. Now, we are in the same mess.

Of course we can talk about tariffs and how it will effect the industry but not whether if the political decision making is wrong or right.

Perhaps Amir just got emotional and no one will hold that against him, we all do, we make mistakes we bring up incorrect table conversations at the dinner table maybe something to modern for a conservative table we are allowed to express ourselves but this is an audio forum and we need to move on and stick to a zero tolerance on politics. No one needs to know what the other persons belief systems are unless its subs or no subs, we can however discuss YouTube adverts and implications of add blocking but no politics and religion in a forum like this.

 

[Ken1951]

To me, the mods responding the way they did just confirms to me their political leanings in the way they have permitted right-leaning "jokes" and deleted any "not right-leaning" jokes. I have reported several offensive posts in the past and gotten slapped down in response in a very snarky manner.

 

[tomtoo]

Once more... ALL POLITICAL DISCUSSIONS ARE DISALLOWED. Me posting in a closed thread is not a discussion. No one is forced to read it. Only people upset are the ones who don't like the messages in it. No members got in trouble for reading it. No one got banned, reported or otherwise. So all the reasons that we have for disallowing political discussion are inapplicable here.

This is why I did not accept moderators complaint at face value. No work was created for them. Nobody else could copy me as they can't create closed threads.

If YOU make a rule YOU should follow it.

 

[sonitus mirus]

I wish, really wish, I could say that is true but reality is quite the opposite. I did not want to go there but I need to make sure the situation is clear. This is part of one of the moderators wrote after I said I would not do as they said (they other two fully concurred):

"You are a pure narcissist if you can’t see the position you put us in. The rules apply to everyone else except You. You have the nerve to call Trump names that are more fitting for names that describe you and your behavior. While you are an expert in Audio Science. You are not an expert in how to run the largest economy and military in the world. You are the person who has no clue and you sir are completely out of your league and depth pretending otherwise because you have created this echo chamber now. You clearly have Trump Derangement Syndrome and serious anger issues. Maybe seek therapy."

Anyone want my job?

I appreciate that our community sometimes offers a brief timeout for new members so they can pause and regroup. Perhaps we could give our moderators a similar opportunity to step back and clear their minds after the recent disagreement so that everyone can move forward with a fresh perspective. Let's put disagreements aside and move forward.

 

[amirm]

Then why are you afraid of different points of view? Do as I say not as I do and then allow no dissent is not a great look. You undercut your moderation team and they reacted honorably.

No dissent? You are very wrong. I made a decision to allow discussion of tariffs to go on for specific reasons I mentioned: it directly impacts our hobby and what I do here. My dear moderator decided to close not one, but three such threads with the last one kind of chastising me for saying we could discuss the topic. Still, I bit my tongue and said nothing to him. He later told me he had to do it and I told him I disagree with his decision. Next thing I know I get a strongly worded three-mod letter saying they want to quit if I don't delete my closed thread and apologize.

I could deal with all of this if I thought for a moment, their stance was honorable. Instead, every point they tried to make re-enforced them doing this because they don't like the "political" stance I am talking. Not that there is any impact on the forum. Indeed, we hardly had any reports, and many people happy that they could have this discussion.

You undercut your moderation team and they reacted honorably.

There is no honor in closing a thread in which your manager has given explicit permission to exist. You bring your disagreement in private. Honor means you give the benefit of doubt to the site owner after all the years that he has protected your backs. And even made excuses on this very topic to defend you when someone asks why the threads were closed:

Let me show you what honor is in my book. After the above threads were closed, member sent me private message:

"Dear Amir:

Please see https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...iffs-on-chinese-electronics.9039/post-2272252 , where the moderator closed the thread IN ANTICIPATION of political replies. (There are no such replies.)

[redacted]

NO ONE in the replies has said anything political

What is the purpose of a discussion forum if pertinent discussions are PREEMPTIVELY shut down?

I should add: YOU YOURSELF REPLIED TO THE DISCUSSION THAT YOUR MODERATOR CLOSED.
See: https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...iffs-on-chinese-electronics.9039/post-2272227

Respectfully,"

My answer:

"The worry is that it is impossible to separate the discussion of tariffs from politics. After all, the only reason we have them is due to politics and who we elected as president. I lent my voice to those threads to show implicitly that these things could not possibly be more wrong. But I can't override the mods and let a tornado occur with members going after each other. Hopefully we all can find other outlets to express our dissatisfaction with what is going on."

I had the back of my moderators. They did not have mine...

 

[wwenze]

I appreciate that our community sometimes offers a brief timeout for new members so they can pause and regroup. Perhaps we could give our moderators a similar opportunity to step back and clear their minds after the recent disagreement so that everyone can move forward with a fresh perspective. Let's put disagreements aside and move forward.

Yea but it's the moderators that give others time out... and it's not like we left because of that

Plus, if I read this at face value it's more like they walked. Anyone can walk from any forum and join back anytime they wish.

 

[sonitus mirus]

Yea but it's the moderators that give others time out... and it's not like we left because of that

Plus, if I read this at face value it's more like they walked. Anyone can walk from any forum and join back anytime they wish.

Ok then, I want you (the moderators) back, please reconsider your decision to leave. Anyone else with me on that?

 

[restorer-john]

Then why are you afraid of different points of view? Do as I say not as I do and then allow no dissent is not a great look. You undercut your moderation team and they reacted honorably. Of course it is your site and you can do as you please and of course people that agree with you will cheer you on but at the end of the day you have done exactly what you accuse others of doing i.e. caused unnessisary damage without doing any good.

And then posting the contents of private communications to the entire membership??

 

[Stoutblock]