Banned from UKHippy, our side of the story.

Last weekend, we have been banned from UKHippy for reasons that we believe to be unjust. As the moderators have taken the opportunity to post their side of the story on the UKHippy forums, we would like to take this opportunity to post our side of the story here.

UKHippy is a free online community with a lot of great members talking freely about virtually all aspects of life. Indeed, open discussion is encouraged in a statement that was on the front page of UKHippy: “people can join in and talk openly and explicitly about absolutely any subject they desire.” (This weekend, the statement was replaced with: “At UK HIPPY, we invite discussion on almost every subject under the sun.”)

Unfortunately, having a completely free and unrestricted discussion on the Internet is an illusion. To stop trolls, flamewars, racism and similar evils, a forum needs to be moderated. As the name suggests, the moderator’s task is to temper excessive and extreme behaviour and thus allow a pleasant and productive debate. To enable moderators to do this, they are given almost God-like powers on a forum: the powers to lock, ban and censor.

Moderators, however, are not Gods, they are humans. And being humans, moderators are not always right. They might at times make partial decisions. They might lock threads that others feel shouldn’t have been locked, they might remove messages that others feel shouldn’t have been removed and they might ban users that others feel shouldn’t have been banned. Of course, all that can be asked from a moderator is to do the best he or she can, and all that can be offered to a moderator is appreciation and respect. Appreciation for the time and effort the moderator invests, and respect for the fact that the moderator’s decision is final.

Respect, in our view, does not equal unchallenged acceptance. A moderator’s decision may be final, but that doesn’t mean it cannot be discussed or even questioned. While it’s the moderator’s task to temper extreme and excessive behaviour, it is up to each and every member of the community to maintain a nice and open atmosphere. Therefore, it is of vital importance that each and every member has the opportunity to discuss and debate anything that influences the atmosphere of the forum, and that includes the moderator’s decisions. In the words of John Stuart Mill: “However unwillingly a person who has a strong opinion may admit the possibility that his opinion may be false, he ought to be moved by the consideration that however true it may be, if it is not fully, frequently, and fearlessly discussed, it will be held as a dead dogma, not a living truth.”

Sadly, we have been banned for just that. We have been banned for discussing, in a civil manner, the moderator’s actions. And we have been banned for suggesting an open discussion about moderation policy. Sadly, it seems that not “absolutely any subject” may be discussed on UKHippy.

The moderators of UKHippy have argued that they do not have time to discuss or explain their actions. This argument does not apply, since we do not ask of them to invest any more time in these discussions than they would in any other discussion. Although we do personally feel a moderator’s job goes beyond locking threads and banning members, and includes offering a motivation for their actions when asked, we find ourselves unable to make this point as this very debate has been locked, censored and banned from UKhippy.

Prior to our banishment, one of us, a senior moderator was demoted shortly after disagreeing with one of the admins of UKHippy on the tone with which forum members should be approached. The admin used the phrase “get the fucking message” when addressing a member. The demotion was without prior warning and without a given explanation.

Note that we have, up to this point, not challenged our bans. We have not contacted the UKHippy admins by email or by Private Message and have in fact been discouraged to do so. Also, no warning was given by the moderators or the admins prior to our ban to inform us our conduct was considered to be out of line, and, for two of us, no reason for the bans were given at the time.

Since being banned, we have been represented on the UKHippy forum as ‘twats’. The admins have seen fit threatening to close the entire forum down, and blaming us for driving them to it. So, we have been made into scapegoats before the entire community, who are, for the larger part, entirely left in the dark about the exact circumstances and people involved.

Please feel free to discuss this statement in the comments. Please keep this discussion civil.

Regards,

Chalck, Velvet and Anusha