The Overlook Hotel

9:32 AM

@Divizna: Somebody is deliberately censoring my comment responding to the question posed to me at writing.stackexchange.com/posts/comments/107546, as if trying to hide the fact that I responded...

This is absolutely ridiculous.

Here is a summary of my response:

It is clear from the scientific evidence that there is no significant difference between boys and girls except for the genitals and facial features when they are young, and so all differences that are measured before puberty are almost entirely psychosocial in origin. Similarly, a large part of differences even after onset of puberty are still psychosocial. Scientific evidence is also clear that submitting to social pressure can actually cause physiological changes in brain structure!

The problematic speech patterns that do exist in the real world do not need to be portrayed in fiction if we wish to portray a better world. There is no logical reason to claim that we should not do so, because this question was about fiction rather than non-fiction.

Cody Gray

9:47 AM

@user21820 No, moderators regularly delete comments when the comments below an answer turn into a back-and-forth discussion. That's not what comments are for. This deletion is not "censorship", nor is it an attempt to hide the fact that you responded. In fact, a moderator posted a comment there pointing people who want to discuss further to the chat room. Clearly, you're not averse to using chat, so maybe you should try that?

Another solution, generally preferred over burying it in a chat room, is posting an answer to the question containing your own opinion. This way, you have [nearly] unlimited space to explain, elaborate, and defend your point of view. In addition, people can see it easily, and they can give feedback on it by voting.

In general, if you see that the comments under an answer have been purged, that either means: (A) they contained nothing of substance, (B) they had degenerated into pointless bickering (which isn't productive and shouldn't happen here, except maybe in chat, if you're really dedicated), or (C) they were getting unwieldy and should be posted instead as separate answers.

user21820

@CodyGray It is censorship when my responses were completely silenced. If the moderators had just moved my comments to chat instead of just rudely deleting them all, it would have been fine. They didn't. My responses came before the moderator came along.

forest

@user21820 They can't move it to chat after other comments have already been moved to chat.

The one and only option we have is to delete. You should be posting your comments in the chat room instead.

user21820

@forest That's false. The link to chat posted by the author of the answer is to this chat, not a "move-to-chat" generated link.

Cody Gray

That's actually still not censorship. It's moderation. If you want your voice to be heard, post it as an answer.

forest

Ah, OK.

user21820

9:54 AM

@CodyGray It's censorship when comments are selectively deleted.

forest

Comments are deleted for a variety of reasons. Why not ask a moderator to move them to chat so you can continue there?

Cody Gray

If comments are deleted because they break a site rule, that deletion is not censorship. You might need to look up the definition of censorship.

user21820

@CodyGray None of my comments broke site rules.

forest

They may have been chatty or simply unnecessary.

user21820

@forest They were not unnecessary. They were directly relevant to the post.

Cody Gray

9:57 AM

Based on your summary, they seem to have not been consistent with the purpose of comments. You do not appear to have been requesting clarification, making a suggestion on how to improve the post, or adding relevant information. You seem to have been expressing your own opinion, which belongs in an answer.

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forest

Whether or not your comments were scientifically correct, they're merely an aside, and potentially argumentative at that. They belong in their own answer. I'm not a Writing.SE mod, but each site sets its own rules as to how lenient they are with chatty or unnecessary comments. Some sites are very strict about keeping comments to a minimum. If you post it as an answer and it still gets deleted, that'd be different (answers have to be really bad to get deleted).

Cody Gray

Even sites that aren't strict about comments tend to get stricter when the comments begin to proliferate.

Comments are not a discussion forum. They're not a good place to post opinions.

user21820

11:03 AM

@CodyGray But my point is that other comments that are less relevant than mine were left there, whereas mine were removed.

Just look at them. Someone asks me an explicit question:

@user21820 What do you think is so terrible about males and females having different speech patterns? — user76284 Jan 11 at 19:26

Cody Gray

Do you think it's possible that the comments that continued to carry on the conversation past the point of being productive were, perhaps, the ones targeted for deletion?

user21820

@CodyGray There was one very antagonistic user, that was not me. I was always giving very nicely measured responses. If you want to see the kind of insult that was thrown at me, here is another example that also got deleted. I don't care that my civil response to that insult is deleted. I care that my comments prior to that that respond clearly with facts to the original comment was deleted whereas the useless ones by the antagonists were protected.

Furthermore, another comment that is completely an opinion was:

@user21820 the tabula rasa is a myth. Testosterone and estrogen exist, and they affect the brain (have been affecting the brain since the uterus) whether you like it or not. — RonJohn Jan 11 at 20:04

I responded basically to both:

2 hours ago, by user21820

It is clear from the scientific evidence that there is no significant difference between boys and girls except for the genitals and facial features when they are young, and so all differences that are measured before puberty are almost entirely psychosocial in origin. Similarly, a large part of differences even after onset of puberty are still psychosocial. Scientific evidence is also clear that submitting to social pressure can actually cause physiological changes in brain structure!

2 hours ago, by user21820

The problematic speech patterns that do exist in the real world do not need to be portrayed in fiction if we wish to portray a better world. There is no logical reason to claim that we should not do so, because this question was about fiction rather than non-fiction.

These got deleted. Then why keep the others?

Cody Gray

It seems like you linked me to an entirely different Q&A site.

user21820

@CodyGray You don't understand. This user has thrown insults at many people across many SE sites!

This is just one of many examples that you can surely find for yourself if you looked around or asked other moderators.

forest

Then you should flag their insults.

But what I'm reading here does not appear to be an insult.

Cody Gray

11:16 AM

Have you.... yes, that.

user21820

@forest The insult was there and got deleted!

That's what I said.

An insult got thrown at me of the same kind as the one I showed you.

forest

@user21820 Isn't that what you want? Would you prefer it not get deleted?

user21820

I didn't respond badly.

Cody Gray

I'm very puzzled about why the effect of sex hormones on the brain would be on-topic for Writing.SE.

user21820

@CodyGray What? That was brought up by someone else, and that's why I responded that it's not the case.

Cody Gray

11:18 AM

I see. So your complaint is that the mod did not do a very good job of cleaning up the comments?

user21820

Yes. Just move everything to chat (since he/she can) instead of selectively erasing my more relevant comments and leaving lousy ones there.

As if I couldn't respond!

It was a direct ping to me and my response to that was removed!

forest

Then you should flag the answer and request the comments be moved to chat, not come in here and complain that you're being censored. I doubt whoever deleted your comments is targeting you or your views specifically.

user21820

@forest I did not ping you.

I pinged the answerer because my comments got erased!

So I wanted the answerer to know what I said!

Anyway, I got to go.

Bye!

William Martens

4:23 PM

Hello, i just need to say thanks for this stacksite; it's great, and have helped me nay MANY times! thanks, and have a great day :)

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