It's time to set some things straight and to provide clarity. So, this message is going to be as frank and clear as possible. It's time for the general TFP populace to WAKE UP!
I've seen a disturbing trend around here in some people's posts that has gone beyond the point where I just roll my eyes and now I'm actually getting pretty annoyed at it. So, that's what I'm here for – to wake you up.
What are you waking up from? The world of speculation, and paranoia, and doubt. It's time to leave that place, WAKE UP, and come back to where the other half of TFP resides: the world of rational thought, sensible understanding, and trust in leadership.
It's no longer funny how many times I've seen comments to the effect of "if I post something negative I might get banned.” Think about this for a second. Just sit, and think. Release yourself from your need to fight "The Establishment" and think rationally. Do you think we expect everyone to agree with each other? Or even to agree with us? Think about this. If we wanted everyone to always agree with each other, would we have created a Tilted Politics section? If we wanted everyone to agree with each other would we have created a Tilted Philosophy section? If we expected everyone to agree with each other, would we have mods with political views ranging from far left to far right?
Next time you think you're going to be banned for saying something negative, head on over into Tilted Politics. Look at all the disagreement in there and then look at how many of them don't have "banned" underneath their name.
Do you think I, and other mods, got to be where we are by blindly agreeing with the way the site is run? Of course not! When we saw something we thought could be better we did something POSITIVE about it! We took action and we let our voices be heard! We conversed with site leadership in private and courteous ways when we had an issue with something, and we realized that it's not worth it to get upset if, after providing our courteous thoughts, they are not agreed with.
PEOPLE HAVE NEVER BEEN AND WILL NEVER BE BANNED FOR SIMPLY DISAGREEING!
What you have to realize - and accept - is you do not know everything. In fact, 90% of the time someone is banned I'd venture to say no matter how much you think you know, you have no clue why they were banned. You don't know how many times they were graciously not given official warnings when a post had to be edited or removed. You don't know how many PM's were sent back and forth in an effort to help them fix their ways. And you don't know what kinds of rude things may have been said in those PM's that may have led up to their banning. Sometimes people are incapable of accepting a polite request or recommendation and, instead, lash out.
But still, there are those people who, looking back on their posts, seem to have done nothing wrong, or maybe only borderline comments. This is yet another place where the rational realization that you don't know the whole story comes into play. Almost all the time, if a post warrants a banning, it's deleted. So, you'll almost NEVER find the post that caused a person's banning. Not to mention the seemingly “innocent” rookies that are found to be banned members returning to cause trouble because they can't move on. On top of it, why in the world would we ban new members mercilessly just for asking questions? That's a *great* way to build membership
But, if you're processing thoughts in the world of paranoia and of the "evil Establishment" then it's pretty easy to conclude that we ban people "because we feel like it." It's easy to not think about how that makes no sense to do and to not think that maybe you don't know the whole story.
So, I'll say it again:
YOU WILL NOT BE BANNED FOR DISAGREEING OR BEING CONTROVERSIAL!
If you don't like how something is being done or the direction something is headed in, use PM's to communicate that! Don't lash out in threads or in journals – that's counter-productive. Send us a calm and courteous PM explaining your thoughts and supporting your thoughts with the reasoning behind them. Provide evidence if you will. If you think a moderator was wrong in something, don't respond to their PM rudely, and if you can't work it out, PM an admin about it.
Still, what one must ultimately acknowledge here is that while you may disagree, and while you may present your disagreement in a private and courteous fashion, this is not your site and it is not a democracy. So, don't be upset just because all of your disagreements and suggestions you may PM us with aren't agreed with.
You have a choice to make. You can either continue to live your TFP existence in fear, in which case I'd recommend that you just leave because you're not going to enjoy your time here anymore anyway, or you can realize that just because you don't understand why someone was banned, that does not mean they were banned unjustly.
Almost all of the mods here started out as rookies at one point or another. We were all regular users like you. We want *more* friends and we want *more* members for TFP. Why the hell would we ban people just because they disagreed with us? If we all did that, there would be no users left! Hell, some mods would ban other mods even! So, let's WAKE UP and stop being paranoid. I believe you all have common sense and are capable of posting reasonably, and if you step over the line, we'll let you know, and then you'll know what not to do in the future.
YOU WON'T BE BANNED JUST FOR DISAGREEING.