Hey everyone,
I appreciate the passion and engagement in this discussion. It’s great to see community members expressing their perspectives on how we shape our shared space here on the forum.
The report feature has been used more than average in this thread. And if I were to delete all of the posts that have been reported here, this thread would be almost empty. I don’t want to abuse my power as a moderator to do this, as I would consider it censorship. I could lock the thread, but that wouldn’t solve the problem. My gut feeling is that the report feature is being used more and more when people want a quick way to shut down a discussion without realizing the consequences. As a moderator I can delete and hide posts, or lock the entire thread, or even delete all posts in the thread completely. But none of these actions would advance the discussion at its root.
That said, I would like to take a moment to remind everyone of the core principles that make our community a welcoming and supportive place. It’s natural to have strong opinions on an issue like this, and disagreement is fine, even healthy, when expressed respectfully. From my personal perspective, the conversation has so far stayed within the bounds of our Etiquette Guidelines, and I appreciate that. However, I can see that the tone is heating up, and I encourage everyone to take a step back and make sure that we’re focusing on the topic at hand rather than each other.
After all, this community thrives when we work together. Let’s keep the discussion open, constructive, and solution-oriented and be respectful.
Thanks for your cooperation, and let’s keep mapping (and discussing) together!