[chelllman]

I don't understand how you have the time or energy to come up with such an impressive amount of word vomit for that which could be condensed down to about 1-2 sentences.
I'm rarely this critical, but your lengthy essays are the very definition of talking a lot, but saying very little.

However, to address what you've said, our community would be significantly smaller if we tolerated harassment, racism, sexism, etc.  The number of people that want to be in to this community, have fun, and not be toxic is significantly larger than those that want to be "turds in the punch bowl" like Fanta.  More importantly, allowing harassment, racism, sexism, etc. would de-facto mean that we condone such behavior.  If it ever got to the point where we as a community decided that such things are okay, then that would be my cue to leave the community.

As an admin, I feel the disrespectful tone in your post does yourself, your position, and the community you represent a disservice. I don't think insulting people's writing styles or dismissing them offhand is particularly productive for a layman, but in your shoes you are setting a poor example of vitriol and negativity for the people over which you administrate. I recall a thread about this topic recently, and I think if you spend some time considering what the people of prophunt had to say it might do you some good, and help you uphold the expectations that come with your place. Remember, you can always be better, no matter who you are, so I want to give you this positive message: Be better!

But as an individual, I agree that the important issue of racism and sexism in our gaming community is not something to be taken lightly, and should never be condoned. Silence is, after all, no better than cooperation. To reiterate what I already said, I don't think people with undesirable mindsets should be allowed in our community, rather that we should be mindful of our tone when making our condemnations. And we should hold these violations dear to our heart, as a reminder of what not to be, and how to rise above hate.

I think you misunderstood the meaning of what I said.   Superfluous language makes your point muddled, your arguments would be much clearer with less verbose language.   If you go through my previous posts you'll find that I am a very firm believer in protecting the members of this community.  Let me explain exactly why what you said doesn't work:

How does one resolve a dispute? By declaring the righteousness of one party, and pigeonholing another? Would it not be better to meet unhelpful criticisms with invitation for elaboration? Rather than be silenced and forgotten, these voices should be directly addressed, conversed with in the open and made to understand their harmful ways of thinking. When confronted with these voices, would it not be best to prove them wrong in their convictions by clearing their haze of emotion and negativity with open-minded logic and reasoning rather than excluding them from the conversation altogether?

The last thing we want is to debate people with racist, sexist, transphobic, or otherwise hateful messages on our forums.  Here's why: by debating them, you are giving them a platform to spew their hateful speech.  Should they be talk to, debated with, and challenged as you said? Yes, but not on our public forums.  By tolerating that kind of hateful speech even under the guise of debate to hopefully change them, you are exposing the community to their hateful views.  Even more importantly, you're entire idea relies on people faithfully listening and trying to understand how their views are wrong.  Unfortunately, humans are more often than not going to double down on their ideas when challenges.  Even more of a problem is that some people will intentionally troll and abuse the community under the guise of "I'm just having a debate about my views!" so that they can attack other groups of people.