Politics on Tappedout
TappedOut forum
Posted on April 20, 2018, 5:30 a.m. by smackjack
I stumbled upon this deck: IMMIGRANTS NOT WELCOME!.
Do Tappedout have any policies when it comes to political "advertising"? Naming decks as political statements, and linking a bunch of political articles in the description seems shady to me. This, no matter what you political views are (left/right) should not be allowed on Tappedout. Thoughts?
If we'd caught that earlier I'd have removed for the link.... But alas, 2.5 years later I'm not sure there is much to do.
April 20, 2018 8:11 a.m.
Still, are there no guidelines for how politically charged (any direction) a deck can be? Isnt it kinda standard to not allow this type of things?
April 20, 2018 8:30 a.m.
I do not see it as much of an issue. TappedOut has a strangely calm community for an internet forum, and politically inspired decks are rare. Sure, you see the occasional "let's build a wall" defender deck, or "Let's make [Insert Tribe Here] Great Again" deck, but those hardly rise to the level of making a political statement. The truly awful ones, such as the one you posted, are ignored (notice how no one engages in discussion--there is only one reply telling the creator off). The remaining few political decks, where the creator is polite, are met with calm discussion.
Decks like that you posted, offensive responses to calm discussions, or decks that degenerate to base conversation (particularly if the original poster has decided to slug it out) should be purged. Otherwise, I think we do a fairly bang-up job at moderating ourselves.
April 20, 2018 9:10 a.m.
The poster has lost linking privs.
Very sorry to have not caught that one sooner. But YT seems to have taken care of the problem for us in terms of damage and all we're left with is a tasteless theme and if it was an attempt at something else I think it failed pretty terribly at least in terms of reaction.
April 20, 2018 9:26 a.m.
if I could upvote cdkimes comment I would.
If someone goes out of their way to make a "political/socially charged themed" deck it wasnt exactly by accident... I personally have never come across a deck that went all out with tons of articles and propaganda put into it... but the number one rules of the internet is "Dont feed the trolls."
But I do see lots of tittles like "Make Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded Great Again!" Or "Turn One Thoughtseize = Abortion" or that one floating around in the feature que lately about SJW triggers that are just clickbait methods to get people to look at their otherwise unoriginal deck list.... but sometimes the deck rules and i wouldnt have clicked on/Upvoted/Commented it without the name honestly. (Generally speaking.... i didnt upvote the deck this thread is talking about/highlighting)
April 20, 2018 9:36 a.m. Edited.
The problem has taken care of itself as it often does, I think it's just dumb to waste your energy on people like that, just ignore them.
April 20, 2018 11:58 a.m.
TrashWolf95 says... #10
I just think it's a bit silly since Magic is a fantasy card game that a lot of people play to escape the real world for a while, why would you want to bring you're real world political beliefs into this fantasy world?It makes no sense to me but meh I have no issue with what someone calls a deck it doesn't affect me in any way.
April 20, 2018 12:09 p.m.
Let's not needlessly censor the community here. As cdkime said we do a good job At moderating ourselves.
April 20, 2018 12:55 p.m.
I am personally against the idea of censorship. I think that everyone should be able to make something, even something that should never have been created in the first place. As a community we have the right to come together and say "No, this is not okay," and make it known that individuals that post provocative statements do not represent T/O as a whole, but the idea of someone being able to determine what is provocative enough to merit deletion or punishment of some sort makes me really, really, really nervous, I'm not going to lie. If there's a question of its having a provocative nature, it's probably in really bad taste to begin with, but I am not and never will be in favor of a group or an individual being in charge of what information is deemed appropriate for the public to see and removing content that is deemed inappropriate for the public to see. Even if it's done with the best of intentions, censorship is still censorship.
April 20, 2018 2:52 p.m.
TLDR; everyone can and should be able to ignore something. Might be hard to, but you can. A statement that was never allowed to be heard in the first place doesn't have that luxury. Don't make the mistake of assuming that a people's rights being taken away began with truths being taken away.
April 20, 2018 3:02 p.m.
Cipher001 at the risk of starting the very type of discussion this thread seeks to prevent, I disagree with your position that limiting conversation on TappedOut would be tantamount to censorship.
Everyone here knows, or should know, they have no right to "freedom of speech" when it comes to their posts on this website. At least in American jurisprudence, the First Amendment only provides protections from governmental interference with speech. As such, there is no reasonable expectation that TappedOut is a protected forum for any ideas you wish to spout.
This website is fairly limited in scope, dedicated specifically to the purpose of Magic the Gathering. There are more appropriate locations to discuss political views on the internet.
There are compelling reasons for limiting political speech on this site. Politics can bring out the worst in otherwise good people. There is compelling evidence from countless locals across the internet that an overly political atmosphere can cause the downfall of an otherwise happy forum community.
All that's to say, I think it is well within yeaGO's rights to limit what type of content is allowed on this site, and I would not begrudge such a decision.
That said, as I stated above, I do not think such a decision is necessary. Its rarely an issue, and we're all generally mature enough to ignore what little drivel rears its ugly head. Ultimately, I agree with your conclusion, just not the methodology by which you arrived there.
(Apologies for the legally-driven rant. I also am fully aware my extremely strict interpretation of freedom of speech is an unpopular one!)
April 20, 2018 3:33 p.m.
qft
A good portion of my non-MtG life is politics and this makes me chuckle in the silliest way. What a stupid way promote such garbage hahahaha.
MollyMab says... #2
It says something when the video he links too has been taken down from Youtube for hate speech.
I'm also vaguely amused he thinks of himself as some sort of Legacy genius, with his low quality "Black Sun" deck that he made up a bunch of imaginary archetypes it was supposedly good against.
April 20, 2018 7:14 a.m.