There is a dedicated community on this website for Flat Earth [FE] stuff:
https://scored.co/c/flatearthresearch/new
There is no need for FE here on conspiracies IMO. If people want to explore FE they can easily seek it there or elsewhere on the internet.
My position: FE doesn't belong here. I believe the proponents of FE are ruining any chance this forum has to gain a larger following. They are time wasters and trolls who reject logical and reasonable rebuttable of their assertions. If someone disproves their idea they say it's lies and fakery without justification or evidence. If it's tiresome for me it must be annoying for others too, and perhaps it is dissuading lurkers from taking the leap and interacting here. No one should have to spend time wading through FE madness if they didn't seek it out.
My position wont change through argument. That's not what this post is about. I want to know:
Do individual, regular users on Conspiracies support banning FE posts and "discussion" from this forum?
If this motion of mine passes, the FE users would be allowed to stay, but submissions they make claiming the Earth is flat would be removed and result in a 3 day ban.
Comments arguing for FE would be removed too, if they are reported or I see them.
A note on the side bar would be added, making it clear that FE is banned here, and a link to the scored/communities FE community provided.
I think that's fair.
Since voting is easily manipulated, the way we'll decide is this:
Reply below, a top level comment, with either a YAY or NAY
YAY= I want FE banned
NAY= I want FE allowed
1 vote per user
Caveats:
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Any top level comment without a clear YAY or NAY at the beginning of the comment will be removed.
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YAYS or NAYS as a reply to a top level comment will not count and will be removed.
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Provide justification, opinions or suggestions about all this along with your vote, if you like, but place it on a separate line below your YAY or NAY.
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Replying to users is fine too, as long as you yourself have also made a top level comment with a yay or nay.
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If a top level comment is edited, the edit history will be checked and the comment may not count or may be removed.
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We have about 100 regular users/contributors, my estimate, so I hope everyone replies with a YAY or NAY. We'll give it plenty of time to ensure everyone sees this post.
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Upvotes or Downvotes on comments or on this post will be completely ignored
We're counting YAYs or NAYs from individual users only.
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Top level comments without a clear YAY or NAY will be removed.
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Duplicate YAYs or NAYS will be removed.
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Handshake account YAYs or NAYs are welcome, but they will be scrutinized and possibly ignored if they seem like sock-puppets, regardless of how they are voting. This is to ensure the minimum of vote manipulation.
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Older accounts with little to no history - or where their last comment was several months or years ago - will also be scrutinized and may not count.
I reserve the right to edit this post based on interactions and suggestions below. I may not have thought of everything. Edits will be labelled and placed at the end of this text.
EDIT
Vote over
Minus sock-puppet accounts it's 61 Nay, 44 Yay.
Most of the nays are casual, non-contributing users banging on about censorship and free speech who don't give a damn about quality content nor FE. I encourage those users to engage with FE instead of ignoring it. If you did that you would probably come to regret voting to allow it in this forum.
NAY
You can't ban certain topics just because you think they're dumb (I think FE is dumb too). Because then what's next, banning anti-covid narrative topics? Banning something else? Banning topics is what liberals do and it's almost always an effort to hide some kind of truth. It's easy enough to debunk FEers, so if they want to show they're dumb, let them. I'm fine with limiting spam, like for example a FEer can only make 1 FE post a day.
Edit: I know you will include a link to an FE board, but despite that it will still be censorship. FEers should be allowed to discuss their conspiracy theory just like all the other people with their moronic conspiracies. I support any conspiracy subject being discussed here (reminder that porn, spam, pedophilia, snuff, etc. are not conspiracy subjects when posted plainly, so no I obviously don't support those being advocated).
This is not a red v blue thing. Get outside of that box. People on both sides know FE is retarded. Deeply Religious and Atheists alike know FE is retarded. The only non-FE people who put up this fight for FE people is Free Speech absolutists - yet where is the Free Speech absolutist defense of the spammers, groomers, con-artists, CRT people, etc when they get removed from this website? What about their free speech? FE is toxic to a conspiracy forum, just like a 40 year groomer is cancer to a forum for young children.
Spam is when you make multiple posts within a short time frame with the exact same subject, with little to no variation. As such that is bad for any board. It's not a subject but an action, therefore removing spam is not a violation of free speech, especially if you keep at least one topic around.
Groomers is a term most people can't properly define, and if they try, it always comes with bias. For example I think church and especially Sunday school are notorious grooming locations with pastors and priests being the groomer. Obviously theists would disagree. But how exactly does grooming work on an internet forum? Can you even groom adults? As such, I assume we all adults here and can therefore look out for ourselves and make our own decisions. So as long as the "groomer" is among adults and not targeting children, I will defend their right to free speech, even speech I don't like.
Con-artist can be another tricky term. The typical definition implies intent and knowledge that they are lying in order to gain an advantage over someone. How can you do that on an internet forum? The main way is through malicious or advertiser links, in which case yes those should be removed. But should the person still be allowed to talk about his super awesome product? Sure, if it's in the right forum. Obviously this conspiracy board isn't the right place to discuss such a thing, so con-artists in that way shouldn't be allowed. Is FE a con? Some people think so, including this ex-FEer. However I am indeed here defending their right to free speech, as long as they don't link to any products or encourage donations or anything like that.
Critical Race Theory is free speech and I support their right to say it, even though I disagree with them.