Aggressive modding in regional forums

I just want to post to agree with listermint above. The way the moderation of the mica thread in Donegal forum has been handled by mod muffler has been very disappointing. Since this topic has started to attract wider attention he has decided that he is not going to tolerate any form of balanced discussion. Effectively if you do not agree with "100% redress" you are not welcome.

He threadbanned me for questioning the reported size of the protest last week (one which I personally observed - and indeed put maths behind my estimation), yet it's alright for others to post wildly inflated crowd sizes. Once it agrees with the narrative he supports it's fine.

I see now he's added banned terms "McMansions" and "Blank Cheque" the best two terms to quickly summerise an unlimited uncosted scheme to rebuild one off houses, 40% of which are 175% the size of the average house. The use of these terms in thread was for that purpose, not to rise or goad.

I had suggested previously that someone else should moderate that particular thread, since the current mod was a partisan contributor. I think this suggestion should be looked at again. There are other legitimate points of view on this topic other than backing the protests without question and this should be heard if posters want to make that case - even if it makes uncomfortable reading for some.

Sorry but this is nothing but a witch hunt.

I've had to stop posting in that thread because of the constant trolling by MrMusician in particular.

Every 5 minutes he (and others) post baiting nonsense with the same old buzz words - McMansions, blank cheque etc. Constantly snidely suggesting that the victims of the Mica scandal are chancers just looking for a freebie payout from the government so they can benefit from free cash.

It has been explained over, and over, and over again that nobody wants a blank cheque. They just want to be made whole. Musician, Listermint and others have been told time and time again to stop using emotive terms like those above and yet they continue to ask the same questions, over and over and over in an attempt to get a rise from those suffering.

They will no doubt argue that their questions are valid, and some of they may have some substance. But the fact remains that these questions have either been answered, or simply can't be answered until more details emerge but these guys still love rolling out the same old stuff over and over along with the inevitable dose of victim blaming rolled in for fun.

I totally understand that this is a contentious issue, but there is I believe a thread in the Politics section that people can argue in til the cows come home. The thread in the Donegal subforum is naturally full of people facing bankruptcy and homelessness because of this issue and of course should be moderated with a more protective approach.

I've never understood why these folks come to the Donegal based discussion to stir the pot rather than stay in the Politics one.

Muffler is doing a good job in the face of relentless baiting and the only criticism I've had was that he didn't boot out these hateful trolls sooner.

How is the moderating fair in the thread of the the mod is only calling out the people who don't agree with 100% redress?

Also he is posting some of his own posts in bold as if they are a mod instruction.

It is time for him to either be a mod or a poster in that thread as he is taking it too personally.

The idea that anything other than full support is trolling is the core problem here. An echo chamber has been created, the modding is not balanced and I wouldn't even consider posting in that thread due to that.

At what point does an opposing argument become trolling?

I'd say when you repeatedly parrot the same few lines despite having been thoroughly disproved and refuted, time and time again. As one poster above alluded to, references to mcMansions and chancers looking for money are nothing more than derogatory terms that add nothing to any discussion - not a question of being pro or anti redress - clearly looking for nothing more than a rise out of people.

When posters come into a thread, post a load of nonsense, are disproved, then a week later come back and do the same thing with the same faulty arguments - how is that not trolling?

The blank cheques term has been pulled up and condemned by the mod on a number of occasions.

It was put on the banned list the other day because certain posters keep bringing it back up to get a rise out of the victims.

I haven't been abusive to you. I didn't specifically call you a troll. It happens throughout Boards where specific terms are banned. This is not a new thing.

No, but you did thank a post on this thread where they were called a troll.

unfortunate indeed. You do think there is trolling going on you're just smart enough not to name names.

I'd imagine the review is ongoing. For my part, I support the moderating in the forum. I don't see any targeted or relentless abuse but there you go.

Lol do people need safe spaces now? Stop getting all precious about being abused.

Lots of people have brought up the term blank cheque, or similar terms. The most recent incident was by Listermint. If LM has used the term before, then they're guilty of dragging it up again in full knowledge of the history of the thread. If they haven't, then they're only guilty of ignoring the arguments that went before.

If it's the former, then trolling is a fair description. If it's the latter, then the common sense thing would be to accept the warning from the mod who explained that it was banned due to previous issues.

I'm still waiting for an explanation of why you lovely wonderful nice people feel the need to beat down the victims of this scandal in their own back yard rather than in the politics section. Does it give you a sense of moral or intellectual superiority?