I removed it because PJW is an entirely politiccal commentator, it was flagged, and I didn’t want that topic turning into a flashpoint for stuff .
Maybe a bad decision? But the point is there was no way that topic wasn’t going to end up breaking this brand new rule (as people may very legitimately question if people like him are controlled opposition etc, and the question of not identifying certain groups who exert pressure in politics and media), and I was trying to avoid that becoming a problem.
Sorry but that’s bullshit, the last new rule that was drastic was “no advertising” in October 2014, then I limited no free readings until you have been on 3 months in May 2015 to prevent abusers having a literal rotating door to cause problems, then come back on and glean more e-mails, dates of birth, whatever (which was actually happening at that time).
My policy has always been to restrict actual RULE making to something that has proven to be a problem so often that a firm line needs to be drawn lest it keep turning into argument.
The post-2016 election change was really just the EXISTING rule on derailments, preventing working threads (on political goals, but not exclusively) not be derailed by really hostile argumentation.
So, have your working topic, people cannot derail it by saying “you cain’t have that you jdhgr-phobic whatever.”
Claidheam (especially) ran a time-consuming consultation and discovered at that time, that even though there was argumentation going on, that the majority of people don’t want censorship, hence, this post, which we then enforced: https://forum.becomealivinggod.com/t/politics-magick-public-etiquette-and-forum-rules/8735
I thought that worked rather well and was quite surprised when Timothy began Unlisting topics, beginning with one that had an actual mention of violence in (which was legit) on March 19th, then moving to the Islamic Expansion topic June 9th, then he Unlisted the Trump War Room on 24th August.
When I observed this on the 27th and asked why. and also asked why he hadn’t mentioned this to me, he told me no more political topics, that contain political premises/names of politicians etc., right in the title.
I then proposed closing all older topics that were basically the same as the ones he had done (many of which had Trump or similar in their titles, or discussed recent events like the Syria airstrikes as connected to WW3) but which had just not gained traction.
I did this because closing something just because it’s very successful and active was kinda lame, especially because new members would find the (now rule-breaking) older threads, and since people go easily 90% by precedent, would post in these, instead, in good faith - and get in trouble. there was an evident hunger on here to have politcal-type magickal chat and treating topics unevenly seemed like an unwise way to handle this.
The threads Timothy Unlisted were not doing anything different to the other ones, they were just older and had not taken off, whereas the ones he Unlisted were very lively and routinely at the top of the forum.
So that’s why a lot of topics went at once, you either have a rule or you do not.
I’m stating this to answer questions and dispel misperceptions.
I cannot answer for Timothy as to his motiivations for Unlistings past the 1st one that contained thinly veiled mention of violence, and will not attempt to, I am solely answering where there is a factual component I am also aware of and involved with in some way.
I will finally comment that Unlisting a thread kind of kills it slowly, the Islamic Expansion topic was no longer visible to anyone except those who took part in it, and that also meant that what will actually happen is newer people with the same interests/concerns will simply make new topics to replace it.
(make agreements with spirits to protect your divination and make sure they can keep them if you plan that since they also have spirits to hide knowledge and information)
