YA sensitive issue question

[pendell]

I direct your attention to this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=172845).

When I first saw it, I figured it would be locked down just as soon as Smee showed up. But clearly that's not the case. Moderators have been in the thread and have participated. Individual paragraphs have been scrubbed, but the thread itself remains open.

Obviously, I don't understand the forum rules well enough. Is the thread acceptable because it doesn't address real-world religion? Because it's addressing in-universe religion in the SF genre, and questioning whether it isn't overdone or badly used?

Incidentally, I have no problem or complaint about the thread being open. I'm just allergic to warnings and infractions, and in addition to the stickied rules at the top of every forum I watch the moderator's actions so I know *in practice* what works and what doesn't as well as *in theory*. I ask to further my own better participation.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Rockphed]

I haven't posted in the thread so much because I think it is a lock waiting to happen, but rather because I am fairly confident that I could not talk about the issue without pulling my own feelings too far into the open for the board rules.

[Tirian]

I would note that a mod has participated in the discussion in that thread. That certainly isn't to say that it is open season, just that there would seem to be some tolerance for discussion about Jedis and Bene Gesserit as long as you don't drift too far into the real world inspirations for those fictional organizations. My experience has also been that having a thread locked from under you does not automatically imply that you will receive an infraction for contributing to that thread, provided that you are adhering to the letter or spirit of the rules and otherwise participating in good faith.

At the same time it seems like it would be a very good strategy to stay away from a thread if your personal judgment is that you don't think you can contribute to it without crossing that line even if you see others apparently "getting away with it". (And it should probably go without saying that "In before the lock!" posts are always inappropriate as being non-contributory and backseat modding.)

[Roland St. Jude]

...Is the thread acceptable because it doesn't address real-world religion? Because it's addressing in-universe religion in the SF genre...?Sheriff of Moddingham: Yes. The Forum Rules distinction is between real world religion (not allowed) and fictional religion (allowed). That thread has great potential to stray into the not allowed area, but on the face of it, it's about fictional religion. As long as it stays that way, it's fine.

If it was directly about real world religion, it would be locked outright. But as it's about an allowed topic, it can stay open as long as the Mods for that section feel that it's sufficiently in acceptable territory and not too much effort to keep that way.

Just to clarify, no one receives Warnings or Infractions just for being in a thread that gets locked. But on the flip side, the fact that the thread is open or posted in by a mod doesn't validate any rules violations that might occur. Everyone is always responsible for the content of their own posts.