Some constructive criticism

[devonin]

Oh, I agree, but the general fear is that this will become a "conspiracy" board, something devonin hates with a passion. He feels that such topics as the JFK, the Robert Kennedy, and MLK assassinations, 9/11, the moon landings, blah blah blah are not to be discussed even if researched facts are provided due to the potential fallout they could cause within the community.

I'm wondering how it is you think you can be justified to simply tell someone my motivations. Especially when you've gotten it pretty much entirely incorrect.

As regards the point you made here, I simply direct you to rules 4 and 5 of this forum, namely:

4/ You must back up your claims with evidence.

5/ Unfalsifiable claims are not allowed.

The problem with conspiracy theories is that they are necessarily unfalsifiable. If they could be proven or disproven, basically, they wouldn't be conspiracies. The hallmark of a conspiracy being that the truth is covered up. Theorize all you want about what might have actually been the case with regards to some event, but if you don't have actual facts to back up your claims, they belong in chit-chat and not critical thinking. That's all there is to it.

9/11 is specifically extra not-allowed simply because all of the evidence for the conspiracy has been thoroughly debunked, and all the evidence of the debunking has been thoroughly debunked, and the evidence for the debunking of the debunking etc etc ad nauseum. Too many people with highly questionable qualifications have made too many highly questionable claims on both sides for it to be a reasonable topic of discussion, all threads about it end up pointing to the same two sources both of which are highly suspect, so there's just a flat-out moratorium on 9/11 threads.

If that's a problem, make a 9/11 thread in chit-chat.

After browsing these boards for a bit now I've concluded that things are WAY too restricted. There have been some decent threads that've been locked for very poor reasons. I mean if somebody has a topic with reasonable validity backing it, it autta be allowed to be discussed.

Could you please PM me as to which decent threads you feel were locked for very poor reasons, so I can possibly shed some light onto the reason why those threads were locked? I think you'll find that the forum here isn't actually that restricted at all. There are just standards for topics. Many threads that get made here are more appropriately placed in chit-chat, and usually get moved. Some threads for various reasons some of which you may simply be unaware of, get locked.

I don't doubt that he has validity with his reasoning, but I still believe that the consequences of not allowing such debates are worse than the risk of transforming the boards.

I don't allow threads that violate the rules of the forum...if you feel your thread has been locked without actually violating a rule, let me know. If you feel a rule should be changed or removed or added, let me know. Don't just start tossing around scare-phrases like I'm some sort of big brother autocrat.

I'm going to split these posts off into another thread, since they are detracting from the actual discussion of the income tax.