Just a friendly reminder folks. We do have rules here. While we generally take a hands-off approach to moderation as to not influence the type of content posted, there are certain behaviors and actions that will result in a ban.
If a moderator needs to intervene and call you out in a thread, assume that one or more of the rules have been violated and either myself or Ty are giving you a second chance. This is not the opportunity to debate or spar with the moderator. Doing so will eliminate any goodwill we are offering and the penalties will be applied.
Promoting or describing how to commit any illegal act such as vandalism, fraud, illegal weapons modification, the purchase of illegal drugs, etc.
Posting pornography.
Calling for violent revolution against the government.
A repeated pattern of disrespecting the forum culture.
A repeated pattern of anti-social behavior.
A repeated pattern of repeatedly insulting site, community members, or the staff.
Having been suspended multiple times for any of the 7 and 3 day ban rules.
Spamming for another website or trying to sell some product. You are of course allowed to post links to other sites, and you are even allowed to make threads about products you are selling, but you are not allowed to use this site as an advertising platform.
3 Day Suspension
Flaming (all people involved in the flame war will get the same suspension, whether they started it or not - if someone starts flaming or insulting you, report them instead of responding).
Uncivilized behavior (a pattern of rudeness or name-calling).
Derailing a thread to argue about anything (the difference between “argument” and “debate” should be intuitively understood).
Posting “gore” directly (this includes mutilated bodies, suicide victims, people with their heads blown off, aborted fetuses and mutilated animals, etc. “Gore” content can be used with the blur function or linked to, but with an explicit warning.
Anti-social behavior.
Engaging and arguing with an anti-social or uncivilized poster, instead of reporting them (if a certain number of users report an account, they will be blocked from posting - the only response you should make to an anti-social poster is to encourage others to report their account).
Posting obvious bait threads.
Continued poor quality posting.
7 Day Suspension
Commenting on a thread without having read it. Claiming to have read the thread but not understood it will generally not be considered an acceptable excuse.
Posting hardcore pornography.
Attempting to cleverly avoid the no violence rule by making posts that are “technically” not illegal (“I hope x illegal act does/doesn’t happen to x person,” “x person deserves x illegal act,” etc.) This includes posting meme images of specific individuals being murdered.
Linking to sites which allow for illegal downloads, including torrent sites.
NOTE: None of these suspensions or bans can be appealed.
NOTE II: Though this is intended to be a comprehensive list, it is possible to be suspended or banned for reasons which are not on this list.
All posts on Political Bullpen are the responsibility of the individual poster and not the administration of Political Bullpen, pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 230
@TWR sources were posted. Stop flaming the thread. If you aren’t going to refute what’s being claimed and sourced then don’t call people out. If you want to analyze and breakdown why each sourced claim is not accurate, go for it. Simply proclaiming something isn’t true doesn’t make it so.
We have said it a million times. Here’s a million and one…banter, sarcasm, tongue-in-cheek responses are fine because they are harmless and often times thought provoking. So too is heated debate as long as it doesn’t keep crossing the line of personal attacks.
Constantly accusing people of being liars, trolls, nazis, spreading “conspiracy nut bs” or whatever else is crossing the line. I know I don’t appreciate being called a liar and neither does anyone else. When you do that the people here who are friendly with one another are going to back each other up. Continually flaming and baiting to generate more extreme responses isn’t helpful. If that’s not what your intention is…that’s how it’s coming across. I already had to spend some time cleaning this thread up and I have been monitoring each post.
Now I’m done. Everyone in this thread should read this btw.
Well I don’t believe I’ve ever called you a liar, a nazi, conspiracy nut or any of the above.
In some cases however they are accurate descriptive terms.
What else are you supposed to call a lie? A Nazi/neo Nazi, or conspiracy nut BS?
Seriously Tyfoon I’m’ not throwing rocks at you here but how is is a site that is predicated on “free speech for conservatives” protects that kind of speech and then clamps down when it is called out for what it is?
No personal disrespect intended here but again, some consistency would be appreciated.
@TWR - merging this here as it had no place in a thread not related to the OP. Please also read the OP regarding interacting with moderators out in the threads. If it’s a burning issue, please message us and take it private.
I want to clear up a few things - and this is for the benefit of everyone.
This is a free speech site. It’s not just for conservatives and never has been. It’s for anyone that wishes to share and discuss their political views without much restriction. As long as the site rules that I have re-posted in the OP are followed then anyone is free to post what they want.
If it is a fellow member of this site, you are to address them by their username or any other type of friendly and well-accepted nickname (pal, buddy, bud, guy, gal, friend-o, etc).
If you disagree with someone or something then explain why. That’s a generally well-accepted rule of having a conversation . If something is false, then provide a source to back up your claim. If they have also provided a source - we now have a debate! WooHoo!
No one should be attacked for having thoughts and ideas that are different than others. Doing so is insulting, degrading, and restricts that person’s ability to speak freely. It’s anti-social behavior and won’t be tolerated in our community. If someone has ideas and opinions that you find morally repugnant, so what? I encounter views and ideas that I find disgusting on a minute-by-minute basis (Twitter cringe addiction). It’s how I interact with those views and ideas that keeps me from getting banned. It’s all in the approach. Being considerate and respectful goes alot further to open someone up to your way of thinking than ever will.
And again this is where we run into a huge problem with a total lack of consistency.
I’m regularly called everything in the book here but that never generates any moderator action.
In the last 24 hours I was even accused by another member of “stolen valor” a completely baseless lie.
No moderator action.
However when I call outright lies lies, ant antisemitism, and the promotion of the Neo Nazi/White Nationalist “views” for what they are, suddenly we have moderator action.
This is where we have a real problem with consistency.
As for the home for conservatives to speak freely? I never said that only conservatives were welcome here but that is exactly how the site was billed and advertised when we joined which is why so many of us came here.
I don’t really care either way but if it’s supposed to still be a site promoting free speech other than defamation and the promotion of illegal acts should still be generally the rule as well as not derailing threads.
Not long ago the moderators got us together and said no more of the derailing with conspiracy theories and even that seems to once again be just fine making it impossible to have anything remotely resembling an intelligent or fact based discussion.
Whatever the rules are supposed to be they need to be clear and enforcement needs to be consistent rather than arbitrary.
What it’s starting to look more and more like is that only certain opinions will be allowed and those members protected while others are targeted and either called out or outright banned.
Again, Speaking the truth should not be sanctionable and enforcement needs to be consistent otherwise there’s simply no way to even figure out what the actual rules are or how not to violate them.
If you want a smooth running forum that’s not simply an echo chamber for hate and conspiracies we do need some consistency.
My only issue is people spamming, trolling, and intentionally derailing threads. It’s extremely annoying when trying to have a decent conversation and the subject gets derailed altogether. Other than that I really don’t have a problem other then the regular passive aggressive trolls that intentionally try to piss everyone off here. Kind of defeats the purpose in which you are advocating for if such behaviour is tolerated. For the most part I am in agreement with you and I am trying my best not to resort to past behaviours but change for the better.
Sure it does. You aren’t privy to the messages we send to others. As a moderator, when I have to review a thread where the majority of it is you calling someone a liar - that doesn’t really help your claim of being a victim. You have no problems dishing it out, it seems.
That happened on the thread that started this conversation and I deleted that comment, as well as your response, in less that 10 mins of it being up.
We have moderator action for HOW you are doing it. It’s the HOW that is the issue. No one cares if you want to make your case. As I said earlier, go for it.
Our branding has always been free speech…not free speech for X group only. That wouldn’t exactly be free speech. I don’t like using the word conservative because it’s inaccurate. This site is definitely right leaning because free speech tends to have that effect. When feelings aren’t protected by moderation the leftists stay away… except for those who truly want to test and apply their ideas… and can take getting swarmed by responses that are counter to their views.
Speaking the truth is fine. Please do. Brow beating others and proclaiming to be the authority on what the truth is…is an entirely separate matter.
Backhanded comments like this aren’t really necessary but to your point, even the Founders acknowledged that free speech was incredibly messy but also incredibly important.
If you prefer a more moderated and sanitized environment to share your views then I suggest checking out Facebook.
Well - on that note we all would like to bring the flagging system back since we can’t be everywhere at all times. It’s hard on our end to keep up without the flags. The abuse of the flags got way out of hand. It might be a good idea to add a rule…if you abuse the flagging system you get a permanent ban. Maybe that would do it.
Let me just be clear. I’ve never claimed to be a victim and I’ve never called anything but a lie a lie or anyone but a liar a liar.
It doesn’t seem to be an issue here at all when I’m taking it but suddenly it becomes an issue when I dish it out in return to the same folks.
That is a lack of consistency.
As for your closing, you’re just making my point again Tyfoon. I wasn’t demanding any moderator action at all, I just asked that if there’s going to be any some consistency would be helpful.
Got it. Let me be clear. We are asking you to stop calling people liars. Maybe they are misinformed on something. Maybe you are incorrect. Maybe you just don’t like what they have to say. Maybe they are intentionally telling a lie. Either way, you are calling them out which sends the threads off the rails instantly because you just made it personal. See the problem?
Not everyone is lying about everything all the time.
This is certainly true which is why I don’t call every response a lie or every responder a liar.
We do have a few here however that are very consistent in posting same and no amount of facts showing their claims to be false will ever suffice so what do you call it?
. If something is false, then provide a source to back up your claim. If they have also provided a source - we now have a debate! WooHoo! 
