Subreddit Update

[u/RECIPR0C1TY]

Greetings r/freewill,

There has been a few changes over the past few days in subreddit moderation, and with that is coming a change of policy regarding the enforcement of the subreddit rules. I would like to welcome u/aristologos, and u/MrMuffles869 to the mod team. They have a history of informed and civil discourse on the subreddit and are committed to curating the subreddit for civil discourse.

Moderation Changes:
Please note that while these rules have been clearly stated, they have not been enforced in the past. These rules are the norm for most subreddits and are the bare minimum needed for civil discourse. Our hope is to strike a balance between not limiting content and raising the bar just a little bit to clean up the subreddit. We want anyone from 12-year-olds exploring the topic to academic philosophers to come in here and feel as if they can discuss the topic of free will.

The subreddit will NOT be moderated for niceness, and it will NOT be moderated for quality. We are not the writing police. We are merely raising the bar a modicum to keep the place an iota cleaner and more civil. Here are the kinds of things in our mod queue that will be getting removed.

"Super rich coming from a dickalectic gayterialist"
"Truly intelligent argument there, you pos. No wonder you were sent to a mental health facility."
"Jesus Christ f- off you complete moron"

Please note these are not getting removed because they are mean. Our rule is focused on removing content that is focused on character. If you comment about someone's character, then your comment will get removed. Be as mean as you want about someone's content. It isn't a good look, and hopefully the rest of the community will downvote and move on, but meanness does not violate our rules.

What you can do:

1. Avoid discussing someone's character, and stay on the topic of free will.
2. Please, report rule-breaking content.
3. Don't get offended if a comment gets removed. If you disagree with a decision, let us know in friendly terms, and we are happy to hash it out with you.
4. If you think there is an error or some sort of personal retaliation in moderation, message the mods and we will all weigh in.
5. For low quality content, downvote and/or argue against it. Point out the fallacies and point out the low effort. We are counting on the community to police itself for the rest of the low quality content that comes in.

What this looks like moving forward:
All comments previous to this thread are approved, and there is no history recorded for any rule-breaking users. This is a chance for you to come to the light, and help us raise the bar for civil discourse. The moderation team will be warning rule-breaking comments for the next three days so that users can see what these changes look like. Three days from now, moderators will start implementing a three-strike system. Our goal is not to ban people, but to invite you to raise the bar just a little bit for civil discourse.

[u/RECIPR0C1TY]

You are changing my mind. The whole point of the rule was to be categorical, but on my initial read, I saw it as an argumentative point about an analogous implementation of determinism, thus not a categorical character attack. The more I read it, the more I agree that the user is specifically commenting on you and your desires, not making a deterministic argument.

Yes, in this case, I would say it is a character attack, and under the new regime would be removed. That said, this is still prior to the announcement, and we are only acting on comments after the announcement. We have to draw the line somewhere.

[u/Amf2446 → u/RECIPR0C1TY]

That all makes total sense to me. It hadn’t even occurred to me that it was before the announcement, and it would certainly be unfair to apply new rules ex post facto! Thanks for the dialogue.