My thoughts on the moderation system and why i troll.

I have been a member here for about 3 years now and the moderation of this site has always been something people have complained about.
Over the last year I believe it has gotten worse. Especially with the added option where just anybody can report topics, which wouldn't be so bad, except it takes one report to immediately delete the topic.
Now I understand this is not my website to make decisions, but I do not think those decisions should be given to just anybody either. Personally I have always seen this site as a place to say whatever you want without being censored, whether it be controversial opinions, or even nonsense trolling.
Much of society is censored and I will never know why, because if you do not like something, you can simply not look at it. I understand the issue with harassment, but see that as different than free speech, because with free speech you do not have to participate, but with harassment you are targeted.
There are many controversial topics on this site, which are bound to offend some people. I know I have asked some questions myself which have upset reporters and I legitimately was curious about what others thought but never got to find out.
Another complaint I read is trolling. I find much of the trolling here to be entertaining and I do not see much reason to be bothered about it unless the troll starts harassing someone. This could be simply fixed with a block feature like they have on facebook.
As I have admitted before I like to troll at times too. I always admit when asked about my trolling because 99% of the time I am serious on here so I do like to keep a good reputation or else I would not receive good responces from others because most of the time I really do like serious feedback, but I enjoy a good joke too.
A lot of the troll questions I have asked are usually based off another user who keeps asking something obvious and gets angry about my feedback. For example it was me who posted the short lived "baby experiment" topic which was my way of expressing how ridiculous some people sound.
I replied to the fake post as myself to begin a fake argument which I hoped would get through to drug moms and the character in the post was based off a mix of certain posts here as well as a girl I know in real life who actually wanted to experiment with different drugs to see how the babies would turn out. The point is I know there really are people out there like that.
I'm sure some people wont take me seriously when I admit to creating characters but that's ok. I do it for humor as well as to express how absurd people really are because often I base their comments and topics off of real people, another example is Hamid is based off a mix between a guy on the internet who kept harassing me for money to move here, as well as a pervy middle eastern man at my local gas station who makes sexual comments to all the girls that come in his store.
Anyways this was a few topics in one but I am interested in what other people think. I do wish people did not feel the need to censor what they do not like because there are very few places in the world, online or off, that truly have free speech, even though they claim to.

-Bugs

Voting Results
64% Normal
Based on 39 votes (25 yes)
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Comments ( 12 )
  • green_boogers

    Ever since the old system of moderation was abandoned, I think IIN has operated on a lower plane. It's too bad, but still entertaining.

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    • It really did. They would even usually approve a good troll story if it was creative. Too many people lack a sense of humor and like to hit the report button if the topic hurt their feelings.

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  • RoseIsabella

    All hail Bugs, a mighty troll from the days of yore!
    *makes a grand gesture and toasts with a chalice if mead*

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  • Shackleford96

    I couldn't agree more. I STILL fucking HATE the new moderation system.

    Alas, there's no amount of complaining or anything else I know to do that would get it back to good... It's disappointing, because people like us knew what it was like before and want to see this site live up to it's potential. It doesn't anymore though. It just doesn't.

    Yet, even knowing that, for some unbeknownst reason, I'm still here. I still want to believe, even if I don't anymore.

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    • disthing

      We're the long suffering disenfranchised IIN veterans of old :(

      We need some kind of union to fight our cause.

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      • Shackleford96

        Indeed we do, brother

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  • disthing

    I generally think troll posts are as bad for the site as the crappy moderation system.

    I don't think they contribute anything. They just lead to us having to sift through more shit posts to get to a question of any merit. Very few are ever funny (to me, anyway :/).

    I'm not against witty or tongue-in-cheek commenting, though. Or joke characters, necessarily (providing the joke is funny and doesn't go on too long).

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  • slings_and_arrows

    My troll posts always get through. But peeps cant tell whether im trolling or not.

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    • Most my trolling has been completely absurd characters telling exaggerated stories based off fucked up topics that actually do happen in real life. I'm not really trying to fool anybody but I think it is important to not only find humor in those things but point out how absurd people can truly be.

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  • Shrunk

    All sites end up like this... they totally reformatted Yahoo Answers so it's impossible to troll, even removing usernames from posts, and no more avatars. I haven't used it since. Internet without trolls is fucking boring! People seem to think trolling is synonymous with abuse/"cyber bullying" or whatever, when really it's more of a sense of humor.

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    • poon__jabber

      Yeah, I think also what happens is when somebody says something trollish as a light hearted thing, the tone is not taken as light hearted but serious and they can get pissy. It can be good to add a "lol" or a smiley face or something if you mean it in a light hearted way.

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  • FishBoJimEr

    Maybe you're just an asshole?

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