In this approach, you concede a need to at least occasionally intervene in a particular kind of dispute such as banning the white supremacists
Another problem with this is what does one mean by “white supremacists”? The definition used by the people who most advocate banning them tends to include anyone who believes in certain statements about the differences between races that are almost certainly true. For example, how race correlates with IQ. This is especially a problem for a forum that wants to be “rational”.
Yeah. Two decisions must be made: Do I want to ban ideology X? Is comment Y an example of ideology X?
So even if you could somehow reach a consensus about which ideologies are banned and which are not, users will continue their wars by arguing whether given comment is an example (or a “dog whistle” for) one of the banned ideologies. If you interpret it too literally, everything you banned will come back, only the users will avoid using certain keywords, sometimes openly mocking the moderation system. Interpreting it otherwise will force you to express opinions on thousand topics, and any decision will seem biased in favor of some side.
Sorry for the downvote (because I’m guessing you weren’t trying to needlessly debate the specific example you mention), but it seems pretty obvious that any ‘formal’ policy (i.e. ‘laws’) will create an opportunity for ‘lawyering’, e.g. arguing about the definition of specific formal terms.
Another problem with this is what does one mean by “white supremacists”? The definition used by the people who most advocate banning them tends to include anyone who believes in certain statements about the differences between races that are almost certainly true. For example, how race correlates with IQ. This is especially a problem for a forum that wants to be “rational”.
Yeah. Two decisions must be made: Do I want to ban ideology X? Is comment Y an example of ideology X?
So even if you could somehow reach a consensus about which ideologies are banned and which are not, users will continue their wars by arguing whether given comment is an example (or a “dog whistle” for) one of the banned ideologies. If you interpret it too literally, everything you banned will come back, only the users will avoid using certain keywords, sometimes openly mocking the moderation system. Interpreting it otherwise will force you to express opinions on thousand topics, and any decision will seem biased in favor of some side.
Sorry for the downvote (because I’m guessing you weren’t trying to needlessly debate the specific example you mention), but it seems pretty obvious that any ‘formal’ policy (i.e. ‘laws’) will create an opportunity for ‘lawyering’, e.g. arguing about the definition of specific formal terms.