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. If the board is being spammed by particular users drowning out all other discussion that's one thing but to ban talking about the topic is not something I could support and frankly am surprised others here support.
If we are so convinced round earth is true what good would it do to corral the people who believe otherwise in one place? Isn't the point of this open discussion to change minds? What about lurkers, who make up most traffic on the internet? If they're interested in learning more about flat earth and they go to the echo chamber aren't they more likely to become "misguided"?
I'm having trouble understanding the logic here besides thinking flat earthers are annoying which does not represent justification to ban the topic
what good would it do to corral the people who believe otherwise in one place?
The same good that (for society) that's achieved by locking up criminals or the criminally insane in one place. Or by removing CRT from schools and the work place and putting it in it's own CRT box where people can go and see it if they want, but no one else is forced to sit through it or even come across it randomly and be tempted into engaging with it. Any attention encourages FE, positive or negative.
When the idea is to find truth, removing the ability to speak on a certain topic is counterintuitive. And why do you have such an extreme reaction to flat earth (it can't be spoken of because it might encourage people to explore the idea!)?
Your examples miss the point of this specific issue and instead focus on the question I posed in general, without addressing the more nuanced questions posed directly after. Removing people who've committed violence is done to protect society from reoffense. If you are likening that to this particular situation, you're essentially taking on the viewpoint that speech is violence and dangerous.
Similarly with CRT the issue with that is not the idea itself (as it would be outcompeted in a marketplace of ideas since it is a flawed one) but rather the use of an institution to force CRT on people as truth and compelling what is "right" to speak and the way in which you must speak about it. I would argue that type of institutionalized forcing of "rightthink" is very similar to what is being proposed now, albeit through the implementation of a blacklist as opposed to a whitelist
lies are told through speech. Not all speech is conducive to truth. some actively seeks to guide you away from truth. FE is a perfect example of this. You are defending th ability of people to come on here and try and stifle truth and mislead people.
It's a complete lie. There has not merit whatsoever. it's not a conspiracy theory or fact. It's mind rot, metal illness. Read the rest of the thread for many other examples of why it doesn't belong here. Your passionate defense of free speech is very nice and all but completely misplaced. What you are defending in this instance is a group of peoples ability to only tell lies and mislead others and waste their time and energy. there is zero truth down the FE road. I may actually save some people from loosing their minds by stifling this bullshit.
Yes I am arguing for that. With freedom comes danger and the need for people to take responsibility for themselves. In an open forum the truth will win even with liars pushing their own agenda. Giving someone the power to decide what can and can't be spoken about because something is "fact" sets an incredibly dangerous precedent