What was the justification for tombstoning Touchdown?

[Pab Sungenis]

Who made that decision? And does this mean that we other gay posters here should live in fear?

[Skinner]

1. As you probably know, we don't normally discuss tombstoned members.

But I'll make an exception, because I think it might be helpful for people to know what the DU admins are doing.

In terms of posts deleted, Touchdown's record over the last few months was among the very worst here on DU. Last week I personally sent him a private message to discuss his behavior -- something which I have rarely done for any members in the past. I did so because I know that DU is a very contentious place, and I had hoped that by reaching out personally I might be able to make a difference. I am committed to doing what I can to heal the wounds around here, and in this effort I have begun (and will continue) to reach out to other people who are also getting into trouble.

I believe that the private message I sent him was respectful. I expressed my understanding that DU can be contentious and that the rules are sometimes difficult to follow, I indicated that he was a valued member of this community, and I asked him to think about his behavior and make an effort to improve. He replied and explained some concerns he had, and I did my best to respond to them.

Unfortunately, it seems that he was not interested in making the effort. And I'll be honest: just an effort really would have been enough. Instead, he carried on in a manner that appeared deliberately designed to disrupt. The final straw was when he posted about the private messages I sent him, but completely misrepresented the content and tone of the message -- even going so far as to put something in quotes that I never said.

I think it was abundantly clear that Touchdown -- for whatever reason -- had decided that DU was worth the effort.

DU has some serious problems right now, and the admins are committed to doing what we can to fix them. We believe that the vast majority of DUers -- including many DUers who are causing problems -- are capable of doing better, and we want to help them do so. We do not believe that we are going to "ban ourselves out" of our current civility problem. But we do believe that part of the solution is getting rid of people who just don't give a shit anymore. I am very sorry that Touchdown has been banned. But the choice was his.

[Pab Sungenis]

2. It's just very disconcerting the number of gay and gay friendly DU'ers who have been banned lately.

Touchdown and LostInVA are two that come to mind immediately.

The number of deleted messages can easily be traced back to what most of we in the GLBT forum believe is unnecessarily heavy-handed, if not outright homophobic, moderation by certain members of the current crop of moderators. We feel we've been under undue assault by the people whose job here at DU is to keep things civil, and resent that fact.

I for one hope that you will consider our concerns in the selection of the new moderators, and in making quite clear to them that anti-gay bias is not welcome here, especially in moderation.