Code of Conduct Changes - Do better at least for optics

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Sarah_GGG wrote:

Another key factor we discussed at length regarding this change is the effect these kinds of topics have on our staff.

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Sarah_GGG wrote:

Forum and game moderation is no easy task

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Sarah_GGG wrote:

Forum and game moderation is no easy task

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Sarah_GGG wrote:

Forum and game moderation is no easy task

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Sarah_GGG wrote:

really horrible chat and forum postings

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Sarah_GGG wrote:

We hope to significantly reduce the strain on our staff for the benefit of their mental well-being.

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鬼殺し wrote:

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DalaiLama wrote:

Like Dominus casting the exiles out of Theopolis for offending his strict sensibilities, GGG is exiling the free thinkers from OT. We will find another path.

Balderdash, K. Implying those who stay or are comfortable with the new regulation aren't free thinkers.

No such implication was made. GGG's preannounced purge of free thinking does not mean some free thinkers will not remain.

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鬼殺し wrote:

You know better than that. And you know that there's a huge fucking gap between 'free thinking' and 'free speaking' in terms of a forum.

People imagine that they understand each other, yet much of what we think is hidden behind barriers. Without free speech, there can be no real freedom of thought or effective communication.

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鬼殺し wrote:

We do not need to know each others' stances on religion and politics to interact here even on some pretty deep, meaningful levels.

"some" - Meaning that many deep interesting conversational topics are verboten. Things that technically qualify as small talk would still be allowed. Facebook level discussion of personal experiences would probably still be allowed.

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鬼殺し wrote:

And if you disagree, then I'd suggest you review your idea of deep and meaningful, because

"If your opinion is different than mine , then your opinion must be wrong and you should adjust it because..." is what I hear from your comment.

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鬼殺し wrote:

the controversies of religion and politics are barely a gateway to 'free thinking'. If anything, they are temporal,

temporal adjective (1)
tem·​po·​ral | \ ˈtem-p(ə-)rəl How to pronounce temporal (audio) \
Definition of temporal
(Entry 1 of 3)
1a : of or relating to time as opposed to eternity
b : of or relating to earthly life
c : lay or secular rather than clerical or sacred : civil lords temporal

Religion is the opposite of temporal. Its primary concern is of things not of this Earth, of things eternal. It does have application (in the eyes of adherants) to life on this Earth and how it should be lived, which is where the conflicts come in. Perhaps you meant to use another word instead of temporal?

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鬼殺し wrote:

facile topics convenient for sowing division and conflict, a shortcut to a facsimile of free thinking that precludes the idea of maybe everyone's right, and maybe everyone's wrong. Maybe we have no idea. THAT is the start of free thinking, not choosing a side and going to hypothetical war over it.

The start of free thinking? Grasping at "I think therefore I am?"

Maybe we have no idea? That is exactly the mindset that precluded any advance in science for thousands of years. Is science perfect and without flaws? Of course not. Our scientific understanding is always changing and occasionally being overturned. It provides us with a model of the world that far more useful than "maybe we have no idea". That we are discussing this topic across the world is proof of that.

So why didn't the Aztecs, the ancient Chinese, the Persians, the Egyptians, the Babylonians or any of other earlier civilizations not reach the levels of science we have? I'll answer that for you - a societal belief that "maybe everyone's right, and maybe everyone's wrong" .

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鬼殺し wrote:

In fact, were it an attack on free thinking, they wouldn't be excising discussion of certain topics regardless of the position. They'd be pushing one side or another.

Is one side free thinking, and the other not? Unless this is the case, your assumption makes no sense. If both (or many sides) involve free thinking, then the only way to hinder them is to silence them, since there is no "opposite" position to take.

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鬼殺し wrote:

Far left, far right, fundamentalist this or moderate that...they just don't want to see *any* of that discussed personally here. I checked to see if the book thread might be problematic, and was reassured that in and of itself it is not. And what better way to stymie free thinking than to regulate something like reading and discussion thereof? That's oppression 101. And did they? No.

Not yet. Depending on what books are brought up, we could very well see a difference.

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鬼殺し wrote:

You have neither the right nor the authority to equate this regulation with 'an attack on free thinking'.

You've assumed a right is necessary to recognize something. Pattern recognition is part of human intelligence. As writer and philosopher George Santayana said "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." We've seen where censorship leads.

Inflammatory Topics? In other words controversial? How about Wraeclast itself? Is that inflammatory/controversial? The poem (The Wanderer) from which GGG found Wraeclast's name is considered controversial - for its potential religious and non-religious themes.

Oft him anhaga are gebideð,
metudes miltse,
þeah þe he modcearig
geond lagulade
longe sceolde
hreran mid hondum
hrimcealde sæ
wadan wræclastas.
Wyrd bið ful aræd!


"Another difficult question has been what, exactly, the wanderer has been learning. Bradley, not surprisingly, views The Wanderer solely as a Christian poem"

"not every scholar has seen this poem as simply Christian sermonizing, the product of a thoroughly Christianized culture. W.W. Lawrence has argued against the separation of the poem into Christian and Pagan elements, believing that the poem was the work of a recently converted people: "

http://homepages.bw.edu/~uncover/Beth_translation_project.htm

http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=text&id=Wdr

Under the new GGG policy, such discussion would be forbidden. We can still talk about the weather though.

To have freedom of speech at the top of Qomolangma, do we have to be there ?

There are very few options in NZ due to pesky immigration laws. It is a circle jerk: you need to be hired to get a work permit, employers cannot hire you without a permit. It is done on purpose. They don't want foreigners there.

I couldn't care less but ...

Here is where it becomes my problem.

There are people working for GGG that anywhere else could not get hired, but GGG is stuck and beggars can't be choosers.

[Removed by Support]

Again, beggars can't be choosers. :(

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pneuma wrote:

[Removed by Support]

If you're a fan of censorship instead of discussion, then maybe you shouldn't be a part of any online communities.

Listen here child, these rules have nothing to do with censorship. Banning an entire subject isn't censorship, if they banned certain political/religious views and allowed others, that would be censorship. Even the definition of the word explains this;

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The suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.

It's cute that this thread is still going.

I got detained for about 11 hours in Hong Kong the other day. It was only a day trip to meet up with an old buddy passing through on his way from Germany back to the States, but I chose the wrong time to enter from Taiwan. Immigration didn't release me until about 15 minutes before boarding for my return flight. It was really something.

Anyway...

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鬼殺し wrote:

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aggromagnet wrote:

It's cute that this thread is still going.

I got detained for about 11 hours in Hong Kong the other day. It was only a day trip to meet up with an old buddy passing through on his way from Germany back to the States, but I chose the wrong time to enter from Taiwan. Immigration didn't release me until about 15 minutes before boarding for my return flight. It was really something.

Anyway...

That the thread is still going is the ultimate rebuke to the paranoia that TencentGGG is suddenly just Tencent, or that New Zealand is suddenly China.

I'm amazed you went to Hong Kong recently. Do you not have nets, exile? Did you not Googles to see what's going on there?

Fun fact: China recently blacklisted several more Australian news sites, threw in WaPo and the guardian for extra chili burn. Wikipedia's been blocked since May. NYT and Reuters have been banned for ages.

BTW, people: that is censorship.

Well, it was planned a good month or so before all the recent madness started. I am not Taiwanese and also wasn't traveling with my Taiwanese wife, so I didn't really think anything of it. I actually passed through Hong Kong several times in 2014 and stayed in Central for 3 days the last time they were protesting. Didn't have any issues at all then.

I think I just caught the wrong agent while trying to make my way out of the airport this time around lol. The only question she asked me was why I was traveling to Hong Kong from Taiwan, and before I even finished answering she had already called a supervisor over to pull me aside.

It was pretty surreal.

My comment was censored and now makes no sense! It looks like I am repeating inappropriately.

There was nothing political or even controversial in it, for the record. What I said everyone that plays this game already knows.

Well I've finally readjusted my life to living post "ALL HAIL PRESIDENT TRUMP". Oh wait, I haven't had a problem with that EVER! Especially because there is this thread which has been even more amusing.

Seriously, I believe that our lives have been improved! Thank you GGG! I hope that we all can eventually come to that conclusion.

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鬼殺し wrote:

but I think, deep down, you know what TencentGGG mean when they say 'inflammatory topics' will not be acceptable.

I never doubted it for a second. I don't question that GGG's stated intent for doing so is honest, either.

Life goes on.