Demoralizing nonwingers on other boards [View All]

[cactusrose]

I've posted in some detail on the Media forum about how the moderators on AARP are biased in favor of far-right posters and let them get away with blatant violations of TOS while arbitrarily zapping posts of non-wingers. When non-wingers post, one never knows if the post is going to be zapped or not. It's very demoralizing.

I've also posted on that thread about concerns that I and others have that this is a part of a much wider campaign by the far-right to control what is said and read in a lot of cyberspace. A single company that provides the moderation services for a number of boards - especially a number of large boards like AARP and AOL - is in a position to dictate what gets posted and read in a lot of cyberspace.

This is an update of the situation. I felt it's more appropriate to general discussion than the media thread where it's being discussed who is behind this.

The situation has eased a little since so many non-wingers have been raising heck about it. (Are we allowed to say hell on here? Only wingers are allowed to say that on AARP. Non-wingers get our posts zapped entirely for typing "hell" or even "he!!" or any other variation.) The moderators are still zapping posts of non-wingers who don't violate TOS, but not as frequently as before. However, as a long-time poster on that board, I can tell you that the administration easing up a little in the face of multiple complaints is a temporary thing, and as soon as non-wingers ease up, the moderators will be back to zapping a lot of posts.

Wingers still are getting away with violating TOS though the moderators are censoring a few of their very worst posts because of the pressure of the non-wingers. Though they still aren't enforcing TOS on them.

Being kicked off the board for the slightest thing or just because some winger moderator feels like it is still hanging over the heads of the non-winger posters. But we continue to fight back. We know our chances are better if we continue to fight than if we do nothing. The administration kicking off 3 non-wingers as an example to keep the others in line backfired.

As I said, the moderation is still uneven and unfair overall. Our best chance is when a lot of us band together on particular threads about the unfair moderation and keep making waves. But the wingers are very much aware that they are privileged on the AARP board. I want to share what one winger bragged on one of those threads:

http://community.aarp.org/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=rp-issues&msg=32023.141

"We dont get booted from this board. Your buds do."

This particular winger poster - who goes by the handle of oklawildcat and claims to have made a fortune wildcatting oil - is one of the worst offenders. Even though multiple non-wingers have complained multiple times about him, the most the administration ever does is to censor a few of his posts when they get too outrageously bad and there are too many complaints. People who complain are told he's been warned, but that they should not engage him.

http://community.aarp.org/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=rp-issues&msg=32023.181


"off topic for just a minute....I wonder how the moderators came up with the idea of making the attacked responsible for the behavior of the attacker....interesting concept...I've also received correspondence telling me that they've been "repeatedly warned" (which apparently simply rolls off their back like water) but that I need to step away from the issue so they will in turn stop being/doing whatever.....seems sort of warped to me....maybe the inmates really ARE running the asylum.

"now, on point, from pp3:"

""are you really as dum as a box of rocks""

Abusers and their enablers always are claiming that it's the fault of the people being attacked that they're abused.

Sometimes when they moderators are forced to censor the post of a winger, they will retaliate by censoring a post of the non-winger who complained or any non-winger. They don't always do this (some of the moderators are less bad than the others), but often they do.