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Moderation Policy

Great posts:
 

Focus on areas of agreement, even if expressing partial disagreement

Example: “I agree with Alice that China is a threat, but I’m not sure tariffs are the answer”
 

Explain your reasoning

Example: “Inflation is a problem because it reduces people’s purchasing power, especially those with fixed incomes”
 

Provide evidence

Example: “This policy is popular; here’s a poll showing that most people support it”
 

Engage with evidence provided by others

Example: “I read the poll you cited, but it asked the question in a misleading way. Here’s a different poll with more neutral wording”
 

Admit error or are open to changing views

Example: “Inflation is still high after several months. It looks like I was wrong that it would be transitory”
 

Not so great posts:
 

Contain logical fallacies (may be downvoted by moderators, which would push them toward the bottom of the page):
 

Ad hominem: 

Attacking the arguer rather than the argument

Example: “Bob is a Scientologist, so his views on economics must be wrong”
 

Argument from ignorance: 

Lack of evidence is not proof of falsehood

Example: “Alice can’t prove she’s innocent of the crime, so she must be guilty”
 

Overgeneralization: 

Making a conclusion based on limited/unrepresentative data. Also, false analogies

Example: “Several politicians have been convicted of corruption. Therefore, all politicians are corrupt”
 

Begging the question: 

Circular reasoning or otherwise assuming parts of the argument

Example: “Everybody loves Bob because he’s such a popular guy”
 

Confusing correlation with causation: 

Example: “Everyone who dies drinks water. Thus, water must cause death”
 

False dilemma: 

Wrongly assuming fewer options than exist in practice

Example: “Either you vote for my party, or you hate America” (assumes these are the only two possibilities)
 

Straw man: 

Arguing against something else than what is actually being claimed

Example: “Republican policies are bad because some taxation is necessary for government to function” (assumes the general Republican position is to abolish all taxes rather than just reduce them)
 

Moving the goalposts: 

Changing claims in the middle of an argument. Also, red herrings: bringing up an irrelevant detail to distract from the real argument

Example: “X won’t impact Y”(comment showing evidence that X impacts Y)“Okay but it’s not a big impact”(comment showing evidence that it’s a big impact)“Okay well actually this big impact is a good thing”
 

Whataboutism: 

Justifying something by accusing opponents of being just as bad

Example: “It’s OK for my party to be corrupt, because the other party is just as bad”
 

Argument from authority: 

Appealing to the opinion of an authority that is not trusted across the aisle

Example: “Rachel Maddow says that Trump was a bad president” or “Sean Hannity says that Biden is incompetent”
 

2. Make bad faith arguments (will be downvoted by moderators, and may be deleted altogether):
 

Hostility/rudeness/incivility:

Personal insults (not rising to the level of harassment), belligerent or overly sarcastic remarks, and accusations of bad motives or bad faith against other members. It’s important to note that this refers to style, not content

Example: “Alice is an idiot” or “Bob obviously hates poor people” or “Alice is a liar and she really just wants to screw over poor people”
 

Gratuitous tone:

Excessive profanity, all caps, rudeness to third parties, etc. It’s OK to discuss harsh language used by third parties (use-mention distinction) 

Example: “FUCK JOE BIDEN AND ALL HIS PINKO COMMIE LIBTARD SUPPORTERS”

Example of an acceptable post: “Wearing a shirt saying ‘fuck the draft’ should be protected by the First Amendment”
 

Citing questionable (e.g. fake news ) sources :

This is not simply news that is biased or that fact checkers dispute, but things that are demonstrably false

Example: Russian propaganda claiming that Ukraine is committing genocide, Chinese propaganda claiming COVID-19 was initially spread by US soldiers
 

Low effort/sarcastic comments: “lol”, “haha”, etc.
 

Memes and uninformative graphics
 

Violations (will be deleted):

Illegal content (copyright violations, libel, etc.)
Sexually explicit content
Graphic violence
Doxxing (disclosing private information of other members)
Threats / incitement / advocating violence or other criminal behavior
Harassment / bullying of other members, or advocating for such
Spam (“Click on this link and get rich quick!”) or other uninformative soliciting

Impersonation / misrepresentation of identity
 

If any comments have been deleted, they will be available in our deleted comment log (premium account required for access).

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