I was on vacation for most of the time that our new friend, Buzz, joined us here at TNB. I was not able to keep up with all of the goings on with him, but got a few glimpses. It was pretty obvious from the start that he was only here to “push buttons” (aka “being a jerk”). As with any other such visitor, I like to give them a fair chance to actually prove me wrong and contribute substantively and productively to discussions. I encourage everyone else here to also avoid attacks and name-calling of such a visitor in order to provide that fair chance. Immediately provoking asshole behavior can get in the way of a fair assessment, even if we are pretty sure of his intentions.
In the end, the question always becomes, “do we tolerate the nonsense or do we ban them?” Many here would just like to immediately ban anyone that presents themselves as a Trump supporter, assuming they will simply be a troll. To be fair, in our experience, it’s a fairly good assumption at this point. Some don’t want to ever ban these people because they enjoy batting them around and don’t mind the mud-slinging back and forth. Others don’t want to ban them because they believe their entire goal is to get banned and run back to their clan and claim it’s proof that we’re fascist and just want an echo chamber, and they don’t want to give them that satisfaction.
My personal thought is and always has been that we give anyone and everyone a chance to show that they sincerely want to just have a substantive, civil dialogue. That’s what this site is and always has been about. I will not ban anyone, no matter their viewpoints, if they adhere to that simple concept. But if/when it becomes abundantly clear that your entire purpose here is to simply throw bombs and run away, then you have no place here. I’m tired of that type of political discourse that we find pretty much everywhere else. It’s why we created this site. We strive to be better. Sometimes we fail when bullshit gets to the best of us, but that doesn’t mean we can’t regroup and renew our purpose and principles.
I gave Buzz a fair chance to prove his worthiness to be here and he essentially told me to “F off”…not directly, but that’s how I interpreted his final response to me. So, yes, I banned him (and his multiple aliases). Whether he’ll find a way to pop up again, who knows? But it’s easy to push a button and get rid of whatever new version he manages to get through, so it’ll just be a waste of his time.
That said, as I have always done before, to prove that our banning people here has nothing to do with banning “viewpoints” or that we want to maintain an “echo chamber”, I once again extend an open invitation to anyone (including Buzz) to submit an article as a guest contributor on any topic that they would like to discuss. The only rule is that the article has to be original, substantive, and civil. This allows anyone to put forth their viewpoints and any supporting evidence on any topic they seem confident about, and I will be happy to prominently feature it on TNB for the world to see. Oddly, very few of our critics have ever taken me up on that offer.
Now, a message to our lovable, pants-less, beer-drinking community member:
While I understand the urge to mock the Trumpists and publicly humiliate them, I’d rather it not be done here in an effort to maintain our goal of having a place that strives for better…a place that attempts, as hard as it is, to remain tolerant and civil to each other while engaging in substantive discussions. I realize that sometimes it’s just not possible with some visitors. In such cases, I’d ask that you simply block these people and carry on. Please rest assured that we are watching them and will take care of them after providing a fair chance to conform to our community standards of engagement. Before long, if they are a just a troll, they will make that abundantly clear without any cajoling from anyone else. I would especially request that you not create fake accounts that impersonate others. This will only lead to others doing it (including the trolls impersonating any of us) and we’ll just have a mess on our hands. The only way to handle that is to simply ban anyone caught doing it becuase before long it’s just too cumbersome to constantly try to figure out who is really who.
Anyway, hope that clears up a few things…carry on, fellow TNBers…
