[2006alum]

Marty, please don't put words in my mouth. I didn't ask anyone to leave the board. My suggestion was that if someone thinks most people here are "useless" because all they want to do is "blame Trump for everything," then perhaps they could consider whether it's worth it to keep firing back, over and over, without any evidence that their rebuttals are successful in persuading others to their position. My impression is that those rebuttals have tended to inflame rather than inform, and at a certain point it has come to feel like one or two posters are mostly interesting in dragging and trolling rather than informing and engaging in a thoughtful debate. And I don't think that's just a left-right thing: there have been many informed takes by those who generally have more right-of-center views as well as left-of-center views. But none of those people has accused everyone else on this board of being "useless" Trump haters.

And let me make one thing clear: I have not acted in a moderator capacity regulating speech even once in this COVID-19 space. Unlike you, I haven't chided posters, docked warnings, or told posters they could be put on time out. So please do not accuse me infringing members' speech in a moderator capacity, because that is not what I'm doing. Since we've decided to let this go unmoderated apart from outright personal attacks, etc., I've stood down entirely as a moderator. I speak only as a poster, same as anyone, and I don't consider myself to have one ounce more authority than anyone else.

[2006alum]

Marty, please don't put words in my mouth. I didn't ask anyone to leave the board. My suggestion was that if someone thinks most people here are "useless" because all they want to do is "blame Trump for everything," then perhaps they could consider whether it's worth it to keep firing back, over and over, without any evidence that their rebuttals are successful in persuading others to their position. My impression is that those rebuttals have tended to inflame rather than inform, and at a certain point it has come to feel like one or two posters are mostly interesting in dragging and trolling rather than informing and engaging in a thoughtful debate. And I don't think that's just a left-right thing: there have been many informed takes by those who generally have more right-of-center views as well as left-of-center views. But none of those people has accused everyone else on this board of being "useless" Trump haters.

And let me make one thing clear: I have not acted in a moderator capacity regulating speech even once in this COVID-19 space. Unlike you, I haven't chided posters, docked warnings, or told posters they could be put on time out. So please do not accuse me infringing members' speech in a moderator capacity, because that is not what I'm doing. Since we've decided to let this go unmoderated apart from outright personal attacks, etc., I've stood down entirely as a moderator. I speak only as a poster, same as anyone, and I don't consider myself to have one ounce more authority than anyone else.