Posted on 08/19/2022 1:51:08 PM PDT by Magnatron
Okay, let's chat, Mods...
There seems to be our own version of shadow banning going on here at Free Republic. It's not acceptable on Twitter, and it sure as heck shouldn't be acceptable here of all places.
I've noticed several times where topics get mysteriously deleted. Not some -- as a mod might disagree with one -- but the whole slate gets wiped. When topics are deleted, the posts are no longer bumped into categories that people follow -- in other words, shadow banned. A recent example for me was this post:
The post was tagged with the topics Culture/Society and Miscellaneous. Some nitwit added keywords notnews. Shortly after that, the topics were deleted and the post essentially disappeared.
The story was actually news, but I didn't flag it as such because it was a CNN article.
I've seen this happen several times on different news stories, some not on sources such as CNN. I've heard from others on this board that they have experienced the same thing. For a discussion board -- and for topics that are not violent, harmful, or insulting -- this is really unacceptable, and it really should stop. We have a great filter already in place here at Free Republic. It's called free will. If someone doesn't like the post, simply move on and don't read it. We really don't need mods doing the same thing we complain about in leftist social media.
That's my piece. It's getting a bit tiresome. I'd be interested to hear how many others have seen this happen, or simply call for me to get zotted. I've been here a long time and a lot has run off my back over the years, but we shouldn't aspire to being speech fascists here. There's plenty of that outside of these walls to contend with.
Rant over. Go ahead and call the kitties. It'll be interesting how long this post is allowed to stay up...
IBTZ
That article is still there.
Isn’t there a way to bring this up to the moderators privately?
Were the threads removed all on one topic or was it random topics?
I don’t know of anyone with less popular posts or positions than mine and the mods don’t zap me without good reason.
Was the posting a duplicate, those get deleted...
I don’t see what’s wrong with the post or the thread. Nothing seems to be ‘zotted’.
Good grief.
Get a life.
It would be interesting to see what the criteria is to recruit moderators.
Luke Knox, Florida International University football player and brother of NFL’s Dawson Knox, dies at 22
8/19/2022, 11:31:53 AM · 1 of 38
Magnatron
Looks like it has 38 replies.............
It's only listed as Miscellaneous now which is what Magnatron is talking about.
99.999% of the time its a duplicate news article. I have noticed the mods at times do not always write a reason though which leads to threads like this.
Except when it comes to things like Covid. During the big Covid hysteria there were so many duplicate threads I was ready to suggested the site be renamed Covid Republic.
I smell ozone
I actually added back Miscellaneous. It was wiped, too.
I think he’s complaining that the topics were changed/removed. But anybody can do that, can’t they? (I’ve had jokesters add topics or keywords to my threads.)
> It’s not acceptable on Twitter, and it sure as heck shouldn’t be acceptable here of all places. <
I respectfully disagree. Twitter is so big that it’s essentially a public utility. It is also a near-monopoly. That status brings with it a certain responsibility.
That description certainly doesn’t apply to Free Republic. So it is an error to compare the two, or expect that they behave the same.
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