So Atheist Republic voted no to reinstate me after an admin removed me with no cause and no actual rule violation. Now let me preface this first by saying that this is not a “butthurt” post and I actually think AR is a great organization and love many of Armin’s videos. This blog is about the heavy handed moderation of atheist FB groups that allow their mods to mute/boot people they are having discussions with and falsely accuse them of breaking rules when they don’t understand your argument. This is a growing trend I have see not just in AR on FB but in a few groups. I was muted once in an atheist group just for asking an admin for evidence for their claim. Other people on my FB page have told me they have been removed from atheist groups for dare questioning a mod on a controversial topic. This all lends to what I call #atheistdogma. That isn’t that atheist as a group have dogma, no…it is the approach some atheist take that will do anything to promote their views even to the extend of denying logic and actual physical evidence provide to them. This I do realize isn’t all atheist and many atheist are amazing in their argumentation and debate skill…but that is because they took the time to learn the arguments. Learn a little about logic…and especially about philosophy.
Now in regards to AR granted their rules are set up so admins can remove for any reason they want, but if that is the case…why why bother having rules? Should just say “Don’t do anything to piss of mods and you can stick around.”
After some time passed I was told because I had screen shot on my personal FB page that I had up AFTER they removed me which I said I would remove of course if allowed back in that they would not allow me back in. I was told leaving it up would hurt my chances of getting back in (by Mod Chizzy who has been communicative and informative so I do appreciate her help in all this), but I wanted to see if their admins processed the ability to moderate fairly and say “If you remove your post we will allow you back in” as that is what would have been fair remedy.
Think about this, a group that:
1) Can remove anyone seeming for any reason.
2) Expects people who are no longer in the group to follow the rules of a group they are not even in?
AR on FB is getting a very bad reputation for this and I wanted to see first hand why (Which is why I started posted in there in the first place).
I am in 40+ FB groups there is no shortage of atheist groups which are much more active than the handful of views/comments I get on a post on AR. I wonder why? They want an echo chamber of memes and nothing of substance. It is a shame as I think AR is a good organization and Armin has been polite and helpful so this is nothing towards AR as an organization…but anytime you have a group of mods on FB that use mute/boot to control a conversation that have no guidelines then you end up with unfair moderation.
Now I don’t believe for a second that any of this had to really do with my tone, my post, or my screenshot. This was about my message that many atheist continually put out misinformation and refuse to be acknowledge they could be wrong. Not about their theological beliefs, but about the philosophy involved in regards to the topic. So many have been spoon fed idioms and catch phrases that they really don’t even know how to justify their atheism. (I will be writing a blog entry on that eventually on how an atheist can easily justify their position to a theist).
As a comparator in the Great Debate Community moderators are always fair and specific guidelines to follow before removal of someone. We allow open and honest dialog on topics and admins can not remove someone that they are currently having a discussion with as that shows bias.
Since G+ groups are terminating April 2nd we will be migrating to our FB group so please let everyone know.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/316566528789201/
