Shamima Begum wins right to return to UK
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/16/shamima-begum-wins-right-to-return-to-uk
www.resetera.com
Some really uncomfortable things happened in this thread when it came to moderation and staff participation. Full disclosure, I participated in the meta discussion. I encourage everyone to look through the thread to get the full picture.
Things start out typically for any subject about the criminality of a minor and Muslims on Era: They are given much more severe judgment by posters than any white people who joined an extremist group especially if they.
But then things take a turn. Windrunner, a moderator, comes in, saying that while she's sympathetic to Begum and the death of her children, she believes that Begum deserves to be imprisoned her entire life. This is in spite of Begum joining ISIS at 15, lacking a direct connection to any crime committed that would warrant such a sentence. All on top of the rape and grooming that she experienced.
At this point, people began taking issue with this stance — as you'd hope they would — calling it unacceptable, especially given that someone with a similar stance was banned for a month on the first page. First is Lord of Ostia, who asks why someone who was so abused deserved a life sentence. Windrunner's response? "Okay, dude" Lord of Ostia then mentions their history as a victim of grooming and abuse, which I would argue gives us a better perspective on Begum's situation.Posters are then seemingly allowed to openly advocate for Begum receiving life imprisonment.
This is when the bans began. First is Baki, who called out Windrunner's post. The ban reason mentions both concern trolling (without clarifying how) and a history of dismissing sexual misconduct, which is neither relevant and something I could not personally verify. The conversation continues, with Lord of Ostia making a comment that Windrunner has left the conversation, only for Windrunner to return. I suggest reading the page from here on out as it's a one-two-three of bans for "hostility" that are immediately called into question by users.
It's then that Poodlestrike puts up a staff post, which basically states that advocating for a harsh punishment is fair game, but openly discussing such a suspect series of bans is not. He tells people to discuss moderation issues privately, which I suspect will be ignored, as anyone who has tried to appeal a ban decision can testify. Let's not forget the Ketkat Incident where hell had to be raised for the situation to be addressed.
Despite the staff post, people continue to raise objections, causing Poodlestrike to direct public discussion to the upkeeping Asian Era discussion. I and others find this unfair, as it would dilute that discussion's topic and only kick the can down the road. We also see some people interested in the Asian Era meeting expressing doubt on the staff's actions.
Redcrayon then comes in and starts trying to make gammon (a term used against right-wing British people) a hateful term. Personally, their argument reminds me of when TERFs try to say TERF is a slur. At this point, it's obvious the mods have lost control of the situation as no one else is catching a ban despite, I would argue, the conversation being more "hostile" than the posts that kicked off this debacle. Some choice posts calling out the inconsistencies: 1 2
Windrunner returns with a post to elaborate their thoughts. In response, users Timm and Ketkat question the authenticity of Windrunner's latest post, pointing out contradictions between this post and previous ones. The thread is immediately closed as having gone off-topic.
So Era, that's what happened. I wanted to give this situation the light of the day for people who weren't just in the thread. It's seriously making me question the impartiality of mods, and if they practice what they preach when it's them being pushed on. Have things gotten better since trans era had to revolt?
Free Lord of Ostia, Free Baki, Free Salty_Josh, ban me if speaking truth to power.
Special thanks to my editor on their work here.