While it seems fairly well accepted that a lot of the posts here are propaganda, I haven't seen a single rebuttal or counterpoint to the any of the propaganda based on something that everyone can say is objectively true. Not saying this is necessary, but just pointing out that if anyone has criticisms of the propaganda, it isn't grounded in anything that I can actually use to tell it is propaganda. And that is a huge part of the problem for me as a moderator.
Here, I'm not trying to make your life as a moderator difficult, I realise it an absolute minefield to moderate this type of rubbish and that's exactly why it shouldn't even be in here.
I have at least 12 arguments I could make (rhetorical, logical, functional, philosophical, factual, moral etc etc) but to do so would be to engage with this nonsense, which I won't do, because it shouldn't be here.
And engaging with someone who is so (how to put it)... stubbornly Stockholm syndromed would be a waste of time.
Now if the general argument is that "this is politics, it doesn't have a place on the forum".
1) a lot of politics affects table tennis and
2) lots of forums have sections for off-topic interests and conversations
Just because lots of forums do it doesn't mean it's a good idea.
If political debate is generally forbidden in the TT topic threads then why entertain it at all?
The reason is because nobody at the top is even aware of the type of idealogical anti western content is in here because, let's face it, they're not reading it.
I'm not even reading it but you don't have to read it to disagree with its existence in a TT forum.
So a lot of this comes down to moderator policy and in the absence of hard rules on the subject and someone taking the responsibility for the consequences of such rules,
This is the problem created by having it in the first place
we just have to manage as best we can. Now if someone reported the posts for being antagonistic, non-inclusive etc. moderators can look at that. Even as dangerous propaganda with a factually based rebuttal that is also shared on the thread.
Finally, the forum has a broad but not absolute laissez faire policy. It also has a lot of history that tells you broadly what is in bounds. However, no two posters (and even in my experience, no two moderators) are going to see an issue quite the same way. Some people ardently try to get banned members that other posters find humorous.
So I am sure that you might find the band aid solution I came up with stupid. It might be, but it is the best I could do. The negative response to the posts is encouraging, but on subjective issues, I am not the site owner, and given the past, I far less often substitute my judgment for general thrust the broad laissez faire policy, especially in the absence of formal reports of posts.
I know you are working with what you've got and doing what you have to and please believe me, I appreciate all of that.
Nothing I wrote was aimed at you, it was a pot shot at the existence of something that actually annoys me. Every forum the world over has sections like these that are taken over by a few manics pushing nonsense that's unrelated to the mother forum.
People abuse these sections. If they want political debate, or an echo chamber, then they should keep it on such forums designed specifically for that purpose.
And if they just want to spread propaganda they should keep it on their own websites 🤷
There is absolutely no benefit to anyone (except propagandists) to have any of it here.
Anyway, I appreciate the main protagonists TT content in the other sections so I'll leave it at that!
