please assume good faiths on users

[Zomac]

In the past few days, my account was suspended. I've never made spam, vandalism or troll so I was curious about the reason. Based on my post log, it resulted from a thread, in which a user said that 今日 sounds unnatural in Cantonese, and I suggested that it would be unnatural if we said 今日 in "把握時機, 就在今天" (Grab your opportunity today) and "今天天氣慶烚烚, 床上淫聲呵呵呵".

The latter one is a vulgar Cantonese rhythm expression, saying "today it's hot, we heard lots of moans on a bed". The word "moan" seemed to trigger the moderator to think that this is an obscenity that led to account suspension.

I agree that moderation is needed to avoid extremism and vandalism, but the moderation here seems to become paternalistic and a little bit obsessed to clean, while failing to communicate with users so that these kinds of problems can be avoided in the future.

Not long after I joined this forum, I posted a feed to suggest that there was a typo mistake in a "Rule" in the Chinese corner sub-forum, the feed was instantly deleted. Few weeks later, I started another post about the China Daily's report titled "Pure blood Han Vanishes", the post was deleted because it is said to be a discussion that "wastes time". Several grammar-, usage-related posts also vanished without knowing "why" during the first few days I came here.

I'm not arguing over paternalism and fight for the right to post - These may sound too far in a privately run forum. I do understand that owners have all rights to ask users to take it or leave. While I assume good faiths on these moderation actions, perhaps it's time for moderators to get back respect and good faiths on users too.

P.S. Don't get me wrong, Roddy, what I mean is that a forum is built by both moderators and users. It's free for users, but their sweats in writing builds up what you can earn from Google Adsense.

Nice work in the past 7 years and hope that it will continue to have another 7 years.

Good luck.

[roddy]

And also on admins . . .

Your post generated complaints - its very rare that happens. I couldn't see any reason for using that particular example, so the post went, you got a temporary suspension and an email about it. You'd have been back in minutes if you'd responded to the email.

As for the racial purity topic - you can take those elsewhere. I don't think you responded to that pm either. The status message would have been better posted as a language topic, and when you reposted it as a status message again I don't think it was removed a second time - it was hardly a big deal.

Frankly if you don't like the moderation, there are many other forums to choose from. The site is free for users, run on limited time, and has been doing pretty darned well for seven years.

[skylee]

I do understand that owners have all rights to ask users to take it or leave.

Very well said.

I found that particular "moan" sentence offensive, but I didn't complain as it is one of those 抬抬手就過去了 things, and you seemed to be having fun.

I do think that if you are not happy perhaps you should not waste your time here.

[mcgau]

Discussion on vulgar expressions like the disputed one are almost unavoidable when discussing Cantonese. If the example contained a swear word such as f--k, it would be reasonable to ask before make a post, but it's obviously not in this case.

In Hong Kong, the statue of David was once declared obscene, so I wouldn't feel surprised to see Skylee's moral justification on the word "moan", but it relies on the common sense of moderator to decide an appropriate reaction on those complaints. When the use of a word "moan" can lead a user into being banned and asked to leave, common sense has gone.

That said, I do agree that the OP shouldn't waste time anymore. In douban.com, members in several translation-related groups speak English, understand grammar-related problems well and the best of all, have more "common sense" in judging what is offensive and what's not.

It'd be helpful to recommend alternative forums to go for those who can't adapt to a monstary environment.

[doraemon]

I do think this forum tends to be quite strict on what members can post, but I really don't think that's a bad thing. I think it is very edifying and can make a person more cultivated. I've been to some other forums where members constantly bicker with and insult one another but that rarely ever happens here. Nobody cusses here either.

Sometimes after I read the other forums I tend to be fixed in a belligerent and uncouth sort of mode but when I browse through this forum afterwards it immediately snaps me back into being courteous, respectful and polite to others.

[realmayo]

Several grammar-, usage-related posts also vanished without knowing "why" during the first few days I came here.

I don't know if this is relevant in your case, but there's a tendency among first-time Chinese posters here -- to whom we should all no doubt be very grateful for their time, effort and inclination to be helpful -- to misunderstand the level of the initial discussion taking place and respond to, say, an intermediate-level discussion about pronunciation with generalisations that would be more suited to an introduction for complete beginners who hadn't yet heard about, say, tones or characters. It's tricky because one doesn't want to criticise people who want to help, so these contributions just get ignored, and I guess there are people out there in China who think we're an ungrateful bunch.

Then again there are an awful number of times in China that I mention that I've been studying reading & writing for a few years and I get told that all Chinese characters are beautiful and rich and are pictures whose every part contributes to the meaning of the said character....

[jbradfor]

I'm just glad there is no "personals" section.

I don't know how good a job Roddy is doing, as most of us don't see the details, but I think most discussions are polite. Even some of the "bad" ones pale compared to some other places.

[mcgau]

I don't know how good a job Roddy is doing, as most of us don't see the details, but I think most discussions are polite. Even some of the "bad" ones pale compared to some other places.

I agree. What I wish is that if I made anything "offensive", people would just let me know rather than writing 小报告. It's an internet forum. Keep it away from those office politics tricks, because, as jbradfor said, people here are polite and reasonable. B)

[gougou]

people would just let me know rather than writing 小报告

Most of the time, that is exactly what happens (so if nobody told you that they were offended by you, more likely than not it is because you didn't do anything offensive).

The report feature actually is rarely needed; it's not like we have to sift through 200 reports every day...