Chicolini, a long-standing and respected member of the WatchProSite community, sparked a lively discussion with his post featuring a unique Louis Moinet timepiece. While his intention was to share a beautiful watch, the accompanying commentary inadvertently touched upon sensitive topics, prompting a moderator's intervention. This article synthesizes the community's subsequent dialogue, offering insights into the delicate balance of free expression and forum guidelines within a passionate horological community.
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FROM CR (A MOD):
To My Friend Ed -- In no way is my intervention in this thread personal to you! For over 20 years, I've loved your posts, your ever-evolving collection, your warmth, and your good humor. You had no intention of starting a kerfuffle. I know that. I'm responding solely to an incompatibility between our "no politics" rule and a post that (unintentionally) went beyond any plausible "gray area" by highlighting both a highly controversial political initiative and a highly controversial politician. For context, I didn't discover this thread on my own. Another forum member (appropriately) texted me about it, in the same way that you (appropriately) requested in another thread several weeks ago that a photo in that thread be removed ("This photo is highly disturbing and I ask that it be removed"). As you said in the present thread, you mainly just wanted to share your beautiful watch. Apropos of that intended purpose, your Louis Moinet timepiece is spectacular and I hope it'll find its way into other future threads! I smiled when I saw it because it was timely for me. Just last September, I visited the Drake Well site and museum and spent 3 days in Oil City/Titusville learning about the rich history of the area. Your watch really speaks to that!
To Everyone -- A gentle reminder about a key WPS rule that helps keep our wonderful horological family functioning smoothly: "Discussions of politics, religion or ethnicity are not appropriate to this forum and should be avoided." Accordingly, I removed the political references from this thread (in ways that some might not like, I'm sure) and then locked it. I did my best to leave 100% of the horological content untouched. I apologize to both "sides" if I ruffled any feathers -- to those who think the thread should've been deleted entirely or that it took too long for a mod to intervene, and to those who think this intervention was too heavy-handed. More generally, I cherish our shared "no politics" rule -- a rule that applies equally to all of us -- and will not be shy about applying that rule regardless of whether that political content is intentional or unintentional, serious or "joking," overt or of the "nudge-nudge, wink-wink" type. This comes after participating in other watch forums where this same "no politics" rule exists but is rarely abided and inconsistently enforced. I have seen what happens there, time and time again, when politics is allowed to enter the fray even a little bit, typically as "humor" that appeals only to the poster's side of the political spectrum. Those threads devolve into either (a) an acrimonious "us-versus-them" cesspool (complete with long-lasting grudges!) or (b) a one-sided orgy in which people of the same political persuasion feed off of each other while those on the other side bite their tongues -- because they know the forum rules prevent them from responding authentically and in kind -- and hope a mod will finally step in to say, "Let's please shift our collective focus back to watches, our shared passion!"
Please PM me if you have questions, concerns, thoughts, disagreements, or agreements. I welcome dialogue with each and every one of you, and your valuable feedback helps me become a better moderator.
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Pumping for Fossil Fuels. I would love to show this to [redacted]! HAGWE!!!π
This message has been edited by CR on 2023-03-05 14:01:44 