Magistrate Debate Thread

[LestaT]

For all applicants.

Which has been your favourite appeal and why?

So far none.

To all applicants,

What do you think is the best quality that a Magistrate should have that would help him do his job in a better and more efficient way?

Honesty and integrity.

[Aikanár]

What is your stance towards this thread and the discussion going within it?

[Nyxos]

What is your stance towards this thread and the discussion going within it?

Nationalism is a notion that should've stayed in the 20th century, and as for the ToS part, insulting a country is fair game, hell, people insult the French and France and get away with it every day and you don't hear a single French member whining about it (well, one is right now, but I promise it won't happen again, unless someone else brings it up ).

It's a matter of comprehending the ToS and it's implication, some things get lost in translation.

[Okmin]

What is your stance towards this thread and the discussion going within it?

First of all it's the Balkans. Well, Greece/Macedonia, but still way too much nationalism going on. The whole Macedonia name thing makes about as much sense to me as if half the American states started arguing about who has the right to be called Louisiana.

As for my attitude towards the actual thread, it's all a matter of interpreting words' intended meanings instead of whatever definition (or in this case translation) is convenient, which apparently isn't getting through to the appellant. Like Nyxos said, lost in translation.

[Genius of the Restoration]

As someone who's been participating in one of the Mudpit threads that is presented as an example, I must say that I'm surprised Ferrets has been so patient. I've seen only two things that were against the ToS while I've been looking at the thread and both were by members who'd identify with the 'Greek' side of the argument. I'm concerned that some of those participating in the commentary thread presume that countries should be covered by the ToS. It seems obvious to me, and others have explained in the thread, why that'd be a load of bollocks. I posted that country ≠ people in the Moderation Commmentary Thread when another member from the Mudpit thread wanted to change the ToS to include states. I don't imagine that this will ever happen. Penalising people for saying "China should stop being a bully" isn't conducive to the sort of free speech that benefits a debate board.

[m_1512]

What is your stance towards this thread and the discussion going within it?

Well, that's one issue made pretty big. I'll try my best to answer each point.

Retarded Nationalist

The post in question,

retarded thanks very polite and really mature so if they are called " Makedonians" the others are also " Makedonians " not Greekmacedonias" or " Bulgarianmacedonians"

If you look through the jumble of random words, there seems to be little sense in the post itself. No mention of any person, or any reference to a previous post. Cannot be called a personal insult towards anyone.

Bollocks

Afaik, bollocks is an English colloquil term meaning 'rubbish' or 'nonsense'. And the bollocks was in response to the below quote.

All in ALL leave greek ancient history and civilization standards
out of ones tension to self indetify himself

Again, no proof of being directed as a personal insult towards any member.

Hysterical

This one, I fail to understand how this can be a ToS violation. The post in question,

again you offending people because they dont agree with you.
everybody knows that Greece unofficially fought that war and many Greeks died so stop being hysterical and dont loose your British temper

Hysterical isn't a swear word or offensive language. The discussion was like any other strong debate. And I also observe that the 'British temper' remark wasn't reported whereas 'hysterical' was. I don't see any violation in the above post too.

Paranoia

Paranoia means a 'thought process or thoughts influenced by fear or anxiety'. Why this was interpreted as violation is beyond me. No violation here too.

Spam-Troll fest

Well, such fests are bound to occur sooner or later. However, unless such posts contain personal insults and like, it is the moderator's discretion to act. And they will act when things go out of bounds.

Reverse Psychology

This is the post referred.

If so, than majority of Greeks here are extreme nationalists.

You are insulting all Macedonians all day long, and if someone do the reverse he is automatically "irrendentism/extremism to me...."

The post again contains no personal insults. Seems more like a case of 'sensitive to criticisms'. Members have full liberty to criticize posts, and arguments.

GYROS vs. KEBAB

The post in question.

This just in! Turkey has declared war on Israel, all Arab nations, Greece and Armenia for not recognizing that Gyro/Shawarma is in reality Doner... They had it coming for not recognizing that the food was Turkish in origin

The post had basically no sense at all. One cannot just infract someone for saying, 'your food was invented by us'.

Direct offense

The post was a strong argument by I could not find any personal offense/insults made towards any member. ToS covers personal insults towards members, but says nothing about criticism towards nations.

typical Greek

They did answer, but since you didn't like the answer, you ignored them. That's almost typically Greek these days, isn't it? Ignoring your own faults and blaming others.

That was in no way any personal insult towards a member. It was more of criticism towards a general way of thinking.

pitty Greek

People never cease to amaze me at just how low and petty they can get.

The member was simply commenting on some people. There are no names taken, and certainly no mention of 'petty Greeks'.

morons

Right so slavomacedonian is fine but Greek macedonian isn't? That's open, raw, moronic hypocrisy.

No violations. Simply because no one was called a moron, but the sentence was about hypocrisy.

pitty BS

God damn I just cannot get my head around just how PETTY this BS all is.

For once, didn't anyone there think that the person was referring to the spamming, or the discussion itself. But as it is, it was assumed that he was insulting someone. No violation.

mockery

I get dibs on renaming the Dakota's.

There was a similar discussion about the PH&A forums too. Mocking is not in the ToS. And the member was just trying to make a witty comment. No insults or violations.

acting like a jerk

True. The only way for Greece to continue this comic name theatre is to constantly act like a jerk and block Macedonian entrance in any organisation where it can, while it can. Other than that Macedonia have no reason to continue with this humiliating negotiations with a country like Greece.

It is criticism towards a goverment and it's policies, which a member is free to do. Otherwise, free speech has no meaning at all.


Not to mention that Tribunal is used for appeals and not for discussing other's cases, as Ishan rightly said.



I hope my answers were sufficient.

[Leonidas The Lion]

Why should I vote for you and not abstain? I want an honest answer not what you think I and everybody else want to hear.

[m_1512]

Why should I vote for you and not abstain? I want an honest answer not what you think I and everybody else want to hear.

I would take a bit liberty to quote a cheeky phrase from a Harry Potter book.

"Try us, why don't you?"

1. I do not have prior experience in this role. But, how do I get it without getting a single chance?

2. There is no way you can tell that I'll be a bad magistrate, without me even trying. Saying that would seem a bit biased.

3. If I indeed do a bad job, you can freely call for my resignation.


I hope the answers were satisfactory. And apologize for the cheek.

[Genius of the Restoration]

If you want to abstain, be my guest. If it were me, and I really didn't like any of the candidates, I'd vote for the lesser evil. Abstaining would never cross my mind. You can abstain in protest all you like, but someone will be elected anyway so you might as well try to elect someone who's better than another.

That said, I'm not going to sell myself any further than I already have by answering the other questions in this thread. If you're contemplating abstaining after reading those answers, I don't see the point.

[Nyxos]

Why should I vote for you and not abstain? I want an honest answer not what you think I and everybody else want to hear.

By abstaining you let others decide who gets to be a Magistrate, which is a position that affects you as a moderator. I would have no issues reversing an infraction you or any other moderator gave if I believed it was wrongly given, I wouldn't play safe and agree with moderation all the time. I would like to believe I am fair and unbiased, especially towards the Mudpit / TD posters (usually the ones that appeal the most it seems) since I almost never visit either of those sections of TWC.

My understanding of the ToS is pretty good considering it's written in my first language (well, I have two first languages so that helps ) and it seems that understanding the ToS is a pretty big part of the job, especially considering quite a few members do not.

[Okmin]

Why should I vote for you and not abstain? I want an honest answer not what you think I and everybody else want to hear.

Why should you vote for me instead of abstain? Not me instead of the other candidates...

Well, if you abstain you might as well not have voted. Sure, if a lot of people abstain that sends a message of what everyone thinks of the candidates overall, but someone still gets elected. I heard they organized a boycott of the last election in Yemen after they kicked out their president. Makes a point of what you think of the next guy, but does nothing to help get the guy you want elected. Vote for the lesser evil and you might help stop the greater evil.

Also you're a moderator and ex-Magistrate, so you know much better than most people who would be good at the job. Abstaining would be a waste of a very well informed vote.