Any concerns about the site's policies, or additional resources you wish to provide to us for consideration will still be welcomed, but we ask that it be kept to an informational level.
More data for all concerned to ignore. At the informational level, of course.
Less than 14% of the entire population represents at least 23% of those fatality shot by police in 2018-19. I say 'at least' because a portion of those ~200 unknown deaths each year may have also been black.
Contrast this with the number of peace officers intentionally killed in the line of duty (less than 50) set against the total number of employed peace officers in 2018. That's .007% of the working peace officers 'assassinated,' as you're inclined to describe it.
[snip]
Also, I see that lancer was the last person to edit this post; it was stripped of exposition - stealthily and without accountability - to adhere to the admin's current hard-line stance on political opinions. That, to my mind, amounts to censorship. It also stands in the face of what's been discussed here about deleting posts versus infracting them, a courtesy that was extended to TheOnlyOne but apparently withdrawn from me.
At this point I think it would be beneficial for all involved if lancer recused himself from this thread. If it requires continued moderation I'm sure there is someone demonstrably less biased who is up to the task.
Though, for the sake of fairness, I know some mafia communities are moving away from that term for obvious reasons.
"This is how we've always done it" has never been a strong argument against social evolution, even (or maybe especially) when it comes to linguistics. There was a period of time not too long ago when the N-word wasn't just a racial epithet, it was the norm. Is my accusation petty? Maybe. Does it still stand in the face of MTGS' hypothetical stance on inclusion? Absolutely. We shouldn't expect new players to come to these boards and invest time into research to prove for themselves that this place isn't inherently racist. If I were a person of color, and I saw lancer's post, I would probably leave for greener pastures and never return. That's not good for the community, and it's not good for generating ad revenue. Time for the site owners to step up and take notice.
Given that lynch is a word with very heavy racial overtones, and that we're currently suffering from societal issues around extrajudicial killings, it doesn't strike me that this is acceptable discourse. Perhaps there is some context that I'm unaware of; it doesn't matter. This was discovered by way of a site admin's profile and viewing their most recent posts, and if there's something buried in that thread to explain it, I don't see how any casual observer would bother to sift through ~5,000 posts for an explanation. I wouldn't hesitate to report a random poster for using such language, I certainly don't see how the site owners can lay claim to promoting a 'neutral' atmosphere here at MTGS when even their own admins exercise poor judgment in conversation.
Given the discourse that has already transpired in this very thread (for whatever that's worth), it would only serve to validate the impression that MTGS has an alt-right bias if shadowlancerx were allowed to maintain their current level of power and authority. I respectfully urge that the wolf be removed from the sheep. Thank you.
The virus is more under control than it looks. Cases are way up in the US, but deaths are way down. This new wave is far less lethal than previous waves, which is good. It's not all hopeless.
(if you don't believe, google Covid Cases. Use the google chart set to United States and switch between cases and deaths to see the difference)
I have hope that this will start to end soon. Up here in Ontario Canada we're moving into Stage 3 of our reopening. My store is already open a few days a week.
Really? 'cause it looks to me like my daily news feed is packed with fresh articles about hospitals being dangerously over-crowded with new cases. The mortality rate isn't about to nosedive when we run out of beds, or equipment... again. Our curve is higher than it's ever been before, and some state governors *cough*Georgia*cough* are preventing individual cities or counties from mandating mask-wearing. California opened up for less than month before everything had to shut back down again. The combination of permeable state borders, science deniers, and utter lack of guidance from the very top (to say nothing of the outright lies) means that we're going to be stuck in a dangerous loop for many more months to come, if not years.
I saw your recent post regarding unacceptable behavior on the forums, and I have some followup questions:
Where do you, as a moderation staff, draw the line between political discourse and sociological discourse? The former you clearly believe belongs elsewhere (despite the fact that MTGS is not an island, nor does it exist apart from the larger Magic community), but social issues affect us all - even here, and whether we want them to or not. We simply cannot ignore that posters here are human beings, not digital abstractions, and there are real life issues that also affect us as Magic players. Yet it seems as though the mods are content to enforce a set of rules that would treat us otherwise. Why is that?
Do the MTGS site owners believe that black lives matter? If so, why have they not come out and addressed the issue directly, instead of skirting it by repeating that political discourse is heavily discouraged? If they believe that black lives matter, they should be able to say so unequivocally, either through some general announcement or asking the mods to sticky a declaration to that effect. Or are the site owners content to passively encourage systemic racism with their silence on the matter? Is there some other reason why they won't follow Wizard's lead on this topic?
What about you, Bob? Do you believe that black lives matter? If the site owners asked you to say or do something that you personally believed to be morally reprehensible, would you comply, or would you step down as site admin?
Also, I see that lancer was the last person to edit this post; it was stripped of exposition - stealthily and without accountability - to adhere to the admin's current hard-line stance on political opinions. That, to my mind, amounts to censorship. It also stands in the face of what's been discussed here about deleting posts versus infracting them, a courtesy that was extended to TheOnlyOne but apparently withdrawn from me.
At this point I think it would be beneficial for all involved if lancer recused himself from this thread. If it requires continued moderation I'm sure there is someone demonstrably less biased who is up to the task.
"This is how we've always done it" has never been a strong argument against social evolution, even (or maybe especially) when it comes to linguistics. There was a period of time not too long ago when the N-word wasn't just a racial epithet, it was the norm. Is my accusation petty? Maybe. Does it still stand in the face of MTGS' hypothetical stance on inclusion? Absolutely. We shouldn't expect new players to come to these boards and invest time into research to prove for themselves that this place isn't inherently racist. If I were a person of color, and I saw lancer's post, I would probably leave for greener pastures and never return. That's not good for the community, and it's not good for generating ad revenue. Time for the site owners to step up and take notice.
Is there a way that we can connect or converse more directly with the site owners? I would like to know why your site admins seem to think it's okay to casually use the word 'lynch' in the current political climate. See this post: https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/community-forums/mafia/817898-voldemorts-throne-room-mafia-game-over-town-win?comment=4901
Given that lynch is a word with very heavy racial overtones, and that we're currently suffering from societal issues around extrajudicial killings, it doesn't strike me that this is acceptable discourse. Perhaps there is some context that I'm unaware of; it doesn't matter. This was discovered by way of a site admin's profile and viewing their most recent posts, and if there's something buried in that thread to explain it, I don't see how any casual observer would bother to sift through ~5,000 posts for an explanation. I wouldn't hesitate to report a random poster for using such language, I certainly don't see how the site owners can lay claim to promoting a 'neutral' atmosphere here at MTGS when even their own admins exercise poor judgment in conversation.
Given the discourse that has already transpired in this very thread (for whatever that's worth), it would only serve to validate the impression that MTGS has an alt-right bias if shadowlancerx were allowed to maintain their current level of power and authority. I respectfully urge that the wolf be removed from the sheep. Thank you.
Really? 'cause it looks to me like my daily news feed is packed with fresh articles about hospitals being dangerously over-crowded with new cases. The mortality rate isn't about to nosedive when we run out of beds, or equipment... again. Our curve is higher than it's ever been before, and some state governors *cough*Georgia*cough* are preventing individual cities or counties from mandating mask-wearing. California opened up for less than month before everything had to shut back down again. The combination of permeable state borders, science deniers, and utter lack of guidance from the very top (to say nothing of the outright lies) means that we're going to be stuck in a dangerous loop for many more months to come, if not years.
Where do you, as a moderation staff, draw the line between political discourse and sociological discourse? The former you clearly believe belongs elsewhere (despite the fact that MTGS is not an island, nor does it exist apart from the larger Magic community), but social issues affect us all - even here, and whether we want them to or not. We simply cannot ignore that posters here are human beings, not digital abstractions, and there are real life issues that also affect us as Magic players. Yet it seems as though the mods are content to enforce a set of rules that would treat us otherwise. Why is that?
Do the MTGS site owners believe that black lives matter? If so, why have they not come out and addressed the issue directly, instead of skirting it by repeating that political discourse is heavily discouraged? If they believe that black lives matter, they should be able to say so unequivocally, either through some general announcement or asking the mods to sticky a declaration to that effect. Or are the site owners content to passively encourage systemic racism with their silence on the matter? Is there some other reason why they won't follow Wizard's lead on this topic?
What about you, Bob? Do you believe that black lives matter? If the site owners asked you to say or do something that you personally believed to be morally reprehensible, would you comply, or would you step down as site admin?