Recently, on a politics forum, I posed questions concerning Kavanaugh and Ford. The forum had a conservative bent. I asked simple questions stating the 2 high schools Georgetown Prep and Holton Arms were 7.1 miles apart. Therefore, when and where did they meet, how often did their social circles intersect, did any of their friends’ date, did they date a friend of each other’s, did her grades drop precipitously after alleged event, and so on.
For this I was called a liberal Troll. Trolling of course was against the forum rules and so I was suspended.
The suggestion of looking for context was considered liberal trolling as opposed to objective evaluation of evidence. To each their own.
However, given the actions of Google, Facebook, You Tube and Twitter. How objective are the censors or partisans. The tech companies admit their bias but say it does not impact their users. Our host has complained of bias by said companies on his show.
The host of a forum has the right and perhaps even the obligation to set rules of engagement. There are moderators given the responsibility to enforce those rules. However, all of the forums that are established to exchange political viewpoints should be champions of free speech and function as a public square. Similar to tech platforms. What is the remedy when they lose their objectivity and become biased in the enforcement of their rules? What is the remedy when those that disagree with you can silence you?
Looking at Kavanaugh and how far partisans go, are the forums promoting intellectual exchange or are they fiefdoms where nonobjective biased personalities get to assassinate ideas they disagree with.
I am a liberal Troll on one forum and a Trumpster on this one. What is sad is that a person with a different perspective can on a whim silence anybody, Like Google, Twitter or Facebook.
They last place you would expect that is on a platform with a conservative free speech proponent as a sponsor. To the host, I only ask for a fair process.
What safeguards do the forums use to make sure the moderators are not acting with a bias?