My point was more that I feel that this place is dying because of pacifism, and the fear of ~censorship.

Really? If anything this site is more alive in the last 6 months than 2 years. Tournents are back. Features are being added. The twitter account is alive and well.

Also I think it's pretty safe to say the mods have gotten over their fear of censorship.

I've been on this site for just over 6 years, mendax. I would say that the site is in no worse shape now than it was 6 years ago. If anything, the forum is better now that it used to be. The forum has always been home to terrible jokes (some of them mine), weird threads, ill-informed political debates (and some discussions about gameplay and site features), but what it now lacks is a lot of the angry, hate-filled bullshit and open mod-baiting that was an absolute curse at one time.

+1 for LessWrong. The world would be a better place if people read more of Eliezer's writing.

That being said, this is nowhere near his best.

Perhaps it's better now than it was - I haven't been around here nearly as long as you - but it is still incredibly toxic and unhealthy, and could be so much more.

If you think this site is toxic then you lack perspective.

So, mendax, what you're basically saying, if I understand correctly, is that you think the moderators should ban and silence a lot more people, a lot more regularly... yes?

We have a Twitter account?

@WebDiplomacy

I only know about Google Buzz and Google Plus:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/107707969097911044208/about
https://profiles.google.com/107707969097911044208/buzz

I've only been here 10 months or so, but I think things are improving. There were some people banned with good reason. I think that a couple of those bannings could have been handled differently/better, but they got us where we are today. People learn. Things change. Hopefully there is progress.

I think goldfinger0303's post when closing the latest thread was well done. It shows the community what isn't tolerated and explains why. It also contained an explanation for the addition of "degrading" to the forum policy.

Trolls see this. If trolling isn't free and fun, they move on to infest other places. That's a good thing.

Huh, apparently the Google Buzz account was linked to the Twitter account; I had forgotten.

@jamiet - yes.

The fundamental problem webDip has always had is that the sort of people who enjoy a pass time (some to the point of obsession) in which the main component is a prolonged heated argument filled with deception and blatant lies, don't always make for civalised forumites.

This can be controlled to a certain degree, but every time controls are tightened you will inevitably lose good people who make the site worth visiting along with the people who are just a waste of space.

Huh, didn't expect so much overlap with LessWrong and webDip.
mendax/☺ , are you regulars there as well? We once tried getting people for a LW game, but were short a couple..

@mendax:

That's interesting. Can you point to any specific users who you feel ought to have been sanctioned?

@Sherincall - I'm not really a member of the LW community, I just read it from time to time.

@Jamie - I'd rather not do so publicly, since last time I called for more moderation I got some shit in my indbox that I'd rather not deal with again, but I'm happy to PM you if you want.

Ok, do.