The Things That Will (And Will Not) Get You Punished on GameFAQs

FINALLY - After ten days of delay, the full details behind the temporary suspension of Yours Truly are now known. The process itself took a full seventeen days to work out - compared to the site's own internal target of 24 hours, or 1 business day. Excellent job! You would think that a system that seems to be so overburdened would not waste additional time targeting personal opinions. Reports of long-delayed mod responses to disputes appear more common than ever. We suppose that when it comes to moderations, the staff has been biting off more than it can chew.

Apologies in advance to our moderator friends who rely on the pictures to follow along - after the extremely long wait, we barely had enough time to see the other moderations on record before they disappeared entirely. If you're unfamiliar with this process, it's due to a bad way that the system is set up - it whites other board functionality entirely, meaning users cannot even see any of their additional moderated messages or accusations against them until the admin finally shows up ten days later. But we eventually got the text! So here's the rundown:

Message 1!

"Do LGBT groups endorse candidates? "Second-class citizens" should have the same rights. This is a free speech issue."

This message is in response to a topic about rescinding the Johnson Amendment, which has not really ever been enforced in practice. Is this not a message in support of equality? Is it not the definition of equality to let any group endorse whoever they want? We thought so too. But this is the kind of message that will get you suspended on Gamefaqs!

The "second-class citizens" reference - follow me on this - is clearly in quotes so as to mock the concept, not literally call anyone a second-class citizen. This is obvious to anyone with simple reading comprehension, but these are Gamefaqs mods we're talking about.

As usual, you can see the entire message within the topic because our stalker quoted the "dangerous," suspension-worthy message without any consequences. (See what I did there, mods? "Dangerous" in this context is not to be taken literally...nevermind, you'll catch on). Yes, even though quoting a violation is against the terms of use, you will never see this actually enforced. This approach only confirms the notion that messages are taken down solely to punish the original user for their views, because it's not treated like a violation at all when anyone else quotes it. That's because it's usually not a violation in the first place.

Message 2!

We all know why they're there. It's not talent. Europe is in decline.

This one was declared offensive - and it's a twofer! Not only did I say that Europe was in decline, I said that their leaders were not elected for talent and were instead chosen to be identity politics placeholders. We think the current failures of the continent speak for themselves, don't you? Well, we guess that'll have to do on Gamefaqs, because they'll punish you if you try to speak for it.

As someone who has privilege though, owning an entire small blog on the internet, maybe it is appropriate to feel sorry for these European leaders. The poor, marginalized, persecuted, discriminated politicians who only get to run entire countries (into the ground). Meanwhile here I am, not even allowed to make a negative statement against them on an internet message board lest it offend the precious feelings of LGBT activists. They sure have a tough life. Man do I have it easy.

And again, you can see the message in full because it was quoted once more, and mods are nothing if not inconsistent. We mentioned last time about the message from a month prior to all this, where Yours Truly got in trouble not for quoting someone, but just for posting in a topic where the topic title was something the mod disagreed with...as the topic itself remained up. So really, nobody can say this is just because the mods try their best and it's simply a massive coincidence that only our messages get taken down every time. They can sure seem to find and remove quotes when it's their least favorite users, including for BS reasons like "you posted in the wrong topic."

By the way, before we ramble further, it's worth another reminder that it won't hurt our feelings if moderators disagree with any of these opinions, and want to debate them on the Politics board like normal people. But to say that these messages are a high priority for censorship that need to be removed from the boards within half an hour? Wow. Would any moderators like some money? I will pay you to get a life.

All said and done, that's 15 karma lost. Here's where the stream dried up for a few days, as we took a little break from the site and planned to restart this wonderful blog. But we aren't done just yet!

Upon lurking and hearing that suspensions dropped left and right over the July 4 weekend, we began to wonder who was covering for the usual mods that holiday weekend and why they were doing such a terrible job. The best thing to do would be to ask Twitter's favorite lead mod, Error1355!

...It went about as well as we thought it would. Error responded with random beeping noises. Shortly afterwards - wouldn't you know - another three messages were moderated from many days earlier. A totally unknown moderator with perfect timing, who will remain nameless, decided to go through active message history and remove additional opinions he disliked! All three ended up being no karma loss, which is an odd thing to do when someone's in an active suspension. Indications that the "violations" within were so flimsy, they would normally not be taken down - but why not add to the violation count just to make the number appear bigger and suggest harsher treatment?

Message 3!

"Charter schools are better with turnover and constant reform, constant improvement and innovation, much like democracy. Meanwhile the public schools get more money and stagnate, because corrupt unions retain corrupt workers and make them unfireable. The 19th century top-down public union model has failed."

Hot damn! The eyes of impressionable 13 year olds everywhere were spared. What would we have done without swift moderator action?

We are to believe that these are messages the userbase marks, and not mods combing through one's history for violations. But either way, honestly I don't know which way is sadder.

Message 4!

"Sandra Bland would still be around today if she valued her own life. Everybody here did."

This is probably the nicest way I could've put it, hence the nkl.

Message 5!

The whole thing's here - all you need to know is that no-go zones are not a PC term.

Long story short, don't ever suggest that Europe is in decline on Gamefaqs. This part has gone on long enough. As for what you CAN say, more after the page break!

The idea of "offensive" moderations, in our humble opinion, is frequently abused by those with power to remove political opinions that they disagree with. After all, anyone can say they are offended at something, and it happens every day. Those who have mod connections get what they want, while those who don't are dismissed as kooks. It's really all just a way by those in power to police and remove wrongthink, as defined by the clique.

I myself am "offended" by many of the messages below, but I don't whine and expect the moderators to silence them. I disagree and I debate. Often, I get moderated for it for reasons like "arguing that a liberal policy failed is antagonistic." That's their standard, when it comes to conservatives. Keep that in mind, as we look at some non-antagonistic messages picked up from our time lurking that WON'T get you moderated on Gamefaqs!

"Serious question: Why do Republicans want to kill sick people so badly?"..."They don't want to kill sick people, they want to kill poor people, even the healthy ones."

Topic: "Who's the villain in the Trump - Kim Jung Un fued? I honestly can't tell who I'm suppose to boo. It's like I can't tell who's clearly the biggest jackass"

"North Korea hasn't started wars with other countries these past couple of decades. North Korea isn't going to take healthcare away from Millions of Americans. America's biggest threat are Trump and the GOP, who will do far more damage to millions of Americans than NK, ISIS and Al Qaida could ever manage to achieve, combined..." 

"I'm dead serious that we just need to shove the Right into a block of Southern states and let them cede and form their own nation. They will die off in a few generations...These aren't people, they are animals."

"It's kind of astonishing how easy it is to manipulate right-wing savages. Literally just tell them anything they want to hear, and they'll gather around and bray like the herd animals in agreement."

"The two greatest threats to America are: Corporations And the rise of fascism...Both of which the GOP LOVE to death."

On Mitch McConnell: "f*** off, you old Yertle lookin' b****...McConnell is utterly slimy and will do whatever it takes to f*** a black man's legacy over... I will be celebrating the day old age kills this piece of s***."

On a Trump speech: "Turns out when fascism came to America it didn't even really bother trying to hide itself...This s*** is practically identical to what you see on legit Nazi sites...literally white supremacist propaganda...f*** America!"

On Charlie Gard: "The child must die...Experimental treatments are dangerous because they can lead to super powers...By trying to get a happy ending that will never happen, the parents are harming their child...The parents should not be allowed to needlessly extend this child's suffering. To do so is essentially child abuse...It's totally the state's right to make a call against child abuse...Americans could have made millions off of this if the child could have been brought here to die...Honestly American idiots in this topic can eat s***, f*** you and your vulture con artists for exploiting foreigners...it'd be more merciful to let him go now before he can experience fear, sadness and loneliness...f*** off with your crocodile tears and your agenda tc...The parents are being incredibly selfish...To be blunt, there is no utility in keeping the child alive...I would choose death."

Topic: "How many years in prison? Day 1: George W Bush...Hanged for war crimes...Lifetime in prison...Life in prison. Same with Obama, Bush and every single 20th century president minus MAYBE Carter. Also, Andrew Jackson, Adams (but not Quincy Adams), and Lincoln...1 year in prison for incompetence. Death penalty for Cheney...the same punishment as Saddam, they can keep each other company in hell...Life in prison for war crimes...(They're against execution of serial killers. They're fine with execution of Republicans.) ^But they're the same thing...Life without parole or death penalty...Life in prison for lying about Bin Laden and Iraq...Should be forced to do gladiator fights against other members of his administration"

"the right-wing is full of gaping, rancid, pungent s***... they only see trump as a vehicle to force their oppressive version of christian sharia...It's been known for a while that these people have no principles and would happily and willfully betray their country if it meant spiting liberals. "

"Trump could literally walk into the Capitol building and murder people in full view of the House, and not a single Republican would vote for impeachment. Republicans have zero loyalty to the United States..."

On an Islamic death penalty for blasphemy: "This is the kind of thing the religious right wants to bring to America but with Christianity and Islam reversed... I hate religion so much."

Topic: "New favorite phrase - Vichy Republican...It's a perfect way to describe Republicans who support Trump no matter what - their support for him comes before America, before our military, before their own party, and even before their families...It comes before their very souls."

"'Evangelical pastor Rodney Howard-Browne led a prayer circle alongside his wife Adonica in the White House and then shared the image on Facebook' Who's next? The KKK?"

"These people are up there with flat earthers and people who deny climate change. It's surprising that there isn't a movement among them to deny gravity. Kind of a shame that there isn't; it would be nice if a few hundred thousand of them had faith that God would send angels to keep them from falling and decided to test this idea""

"a massive amount of the republican base are either elderly voters who vote republican and fat Americans stuck to electric scooters living in a trailer park in the middle of fly over America and if they take healthcare these people will get f***ed the hardest...If they repeal it it's not gonna affect me as much, I'm young and in great shape. But the old doughey out of shape mass of ignorance that makes up Trump voters? Oh hoho here comes the pain baby, and I hope you morons realized what you got yourselves into this time."

"It's Hillary's fault that I'm dirty trailer trash. Signed, the inbreds of America."

"GOP is the only enemy. They're legislative terrorists."

Topic: "What % of republicans are liars, scoundrels, and just evil vile scum?" Top result: "100% because they knowingly belong to a party that stands for those things. Guilty by association.  If you belong to a party where your leader and his cronies tell dozens of lies every day, try to take away rights, take away things that help the 99%, are pro-racist / pro-sexist / anti-LGBT people, then you're just as guilty as them, even if you don't share some of those beliefs. You knowingly support evil, thus making you evil, a part of the problem, etc. The Republican Party is evil and anti-humane...an evil corrupt political party full of slime-pots"

"In terms of elected officials, 100%. I voted 90% though, when taking into account all Americans." -former mod

"100%. Republicans are the scum of the Earth"

"They DO NOT believe in free speech. Or democracy. Or the constitution. They USE them to get their views in and gain power...and once they get power they have no problem on going like "f*** free speech/democracy/the constitution"

"Pretty much every friggin Oklahoman politician needs to get hit by a bus..."

"I'm really not a fan of representative democracy in principle."

"you are a trumpanzee so your opinion is actually pretty useless."

"f*** the republican terrorist party."

"I'm sure he'll be appealing to all the dirty rural trash that wants the country to be led by rednecks idiots."

Against paying for kids on life support: "Pump the kid full of weed and may opioids/whiskey for as long as they have and let nature take its course. I'd give that deal to anyone, opoiods, whiskey, and weed are all relatively cheap."

On abortion: "Okey dokey, here's the thing: the mother is in control of her body. The fetus is taking nutrients, and permanently altering her brain chemistry...by taking nutrients and altering the mother brain chemistry, the fetus is legally committing assault"

"He should be impeached. Hes a d***head and never should have won the election. Everyone who voted for him is a tasteless a****** or an idiot who didnt know they were gettong absolutely conned. Theres really no argument to that. If you voted for trump you apply to one of those two categories. Period."

This is the kind of environment that you will see on the Politics board every single day and, naturally, people who call you terrorist, inbred, trailer park trash who deserve to die will tend to mark your messages and attempt to totally silence you if you don't agree 100 percent with them.

We are to believe that all these messages are made in good faith. We see every single day that this is the acceptable level of discourse on the Politics board. But when we act responsibly and actually focuses on the issues themselves, avoiding personal attack, our messages are singled out for moderation? I would challenge anyone to explain how my charter school message is censor-worthy and more antagonistic than any of these messages.

Casual namecalling is expected on board 261, and so is casual bigotry ("I hate religion..." and plenty more anti-Semitism where that came from). Have the terms changed? Are we accepting offensive messages now? Nope, just hateful messages that mods agree with.

I would welcome uniform treatment of everybody. If liberals were moderated as much as conservatives on that board, they would not be able to operate. They would be calling for an end to the offensive rule on day 1.

As for me, I'm a human being with my own opinions and nobody has to guess where I stand. Either mods would uniformly censor everything "offensive" the same way, OR they can get out of this business altogether and consistently allow political opinions of all backgrounds. That's true free speech and equal treatment, and I'd welcome it because the place has nowhere to go but up.

The way I see it, we will have true equality when everyone has the opportunity to be as hateful (or not) as they want. You'll know we get there when the board actually reflects the overall population: 3/4ths "Christian/anti-gay h8 messages" to answer a 2-3 percent LGBT population hating them back from the corner. Not just 100 percent hatred for religion on the board, as it currently stands. I'll even settle for just 2/3rds when it comes to the Christian H8 messages! That's more than fair.

Modest proposals aside, we'll close this out with one more observation. Shortly before our suspension, we had the opportunity to participate in a topic called "Healing the Bitter Political Divide." Just as a further demonstration of what kindhearted softies we are, we bent over backwards to accommodate our stalker account. In previous days, we were told that he had started demanding that we have a debate with him along with other demands. We decided to stop ignoring him, we were all ready to start the debate, and we were willing to give him every single thing he wanted.

At the last minute, when we proposed to start the debate within that very topic, he refused and said that now he wanted a photo from us before he would debate. This is naturally a deal-sinker, because these trolling accounts have a lifelong dream of getting their hands on photos and personal stuff so they can photoshop a pony dick into the mouths.

We continued to press for the debate on all his previous terms, and correctly noted that it was entirely his refusal to participate that was holding it up. I was ready to go. But at the same time that he pretended he wanted a debate, he was calling me a terrorist in other topics while he worked to find a mod friend to silence me. At the same time I was suspended in an attempt to silence my account, one of the final responses in the topic was a surreal display of head-in-sand liberalism, calling me a stereotypical Republican who refused to compromise on anything. When I was willing to give the guy 100 percent what he wanted. You can't make this stuff up.

If the creator of that topic would like to know my answer on how to heal the divide, after all the attacks and account targeting I went through for the past two weeks: you cannot heal anything when the other side refuses to stop kicking and scratching. You cannot drag people back to the ideological big boys table against their will when they chose to leave it long ago, and refuse to return to it to this day. You cannot heal any divide when the people who are responsible for it in the first place want it to stay that way.

We are dealing with authoritarian, pro-censorship forces who refuse to tolerate dissenting opinions - and it's not going to get any better until they learn to grow up and accept responsibility for their bad behavior.