[Yuki Maru Hoshi]

I 100% agree with Ammi (particularly the first post). Welcome to 2017.

Our institutions are being stretched to their limits as far as freedom of speech and democracy is concerned and more and more pressure are being put on them to do more than they are able. The same thing happening to our institutions is what has happened to TiBB.

Democracy itself in particular is being tested by the introduction of the internet. It used to take months if not years to create movements. Now they are created in minutes. Fires can be created through social media and sites like these just as fast as they are being snuffed out. No question, our very definition of culture and what we call "society" is being tested.

There's not much the mods can to "regulate" this... especially if our own governments can't even control the spread. Media outlets (left or right) try to "suppress" these ideas or movements they see as a threat to their perceived vision of our culture and all it does is create more fires to be put out.

Simply put, if the mods increase moderation, it will only create more fires that can be fanned. The definition of hate speech is still considered blurred in our society, partly due to varying sensitivity levels, partly ignorance. Either way until there's a stricter consensus (personally I think we're seeing a cultural death), then the mods will find that half the community disagrees with almost all their decisions on these case(s).

Your solution is either ignore their acct/comments or to let them live with their reality. The fact that people will sit there though for hours and hours and argue with them their way of things is what fuels their resolve. Maybe go on a politics diet (lol) and give yourself maybe one of those really toxic excursions into a dark thread once a week or something if you're really just craving the intellectual stimulation... (I tried that though, but just quit entirely )

For me, the point of posting lost it's decomping purpose after our election(s). It's bad enough we have to endure this presidency at home, that I have to read it on TiBB and everywhere else. Everything in the US right now is "Trump intolerance Trump hate Trump liars Trump fake news Trump Trump Trump". I read and listen (dropped cable TV) the news everyday and I've been having smaller epiphanies here and there about what some of this means not only for our local community but for the country/world. I would have not gained those new understandings, nor spent by my time well, by sitting behind a computer screen arguing with someone I don't even know enough about to judge entirely objectively.

Anyway I used to post at TiBB to decomp, share some posts, make fun of housemates, talk about the mundane... but off-season, it's mainly SD traffic and that tension did start to trickle to other boards. There's few places online now I can genuinely say are not suffering from the same exact problems though political discussion seems to have spilled into every facet of life.

For now, internet trolls from all corners (including our "President") have hijacked our culture and we won't be able to take back control until we ourselves change and understand how we collectively and individually are fanning the flames. (Hint: Less gaslighting)