Originally Posted by Dovster
You are right. It would be disgraceful to have a candidate banned by his opponent.
However, I tend to agree with Cholula -- that no candidate should be banned by any moderator without Randy's approval. Let's face it, it would be too easy for a non-candidate moderator to silence a candidate he does not support.
If I recall correctly, last year Randy put the "no ban without approval" rule into effect. I hope he will repeat that decision this year.
This is part of the reason why I abstained. I am fine with the rest of the motion, but
if TalkBoard makes a recommendation that touches moderation issues I would have preferred the other wording - that no candidate should be banned by anyone other than Randy or at least a senior moderator.
However, since I respect the rules here, I have to find No. 4 - while I think that it is at least a step in the right direction - inconsistent with the "TalkBoard cannot get involved with anything that even remotely has to do with moderation" "rule", which I personally still abide to, even though I disagree that this is the best approach. That is the other part of the reason why I abstained.
On the other hand, I welcome the fact that a precedent has been set now within the TalkBoard that, depending on the circumstances (i.e., if it involves TalkBoard elections), TalkBoard
can make recommendations even if the issue touches moderation. Thanks to the 5 members who voted in favor of this motion for setting this precedent.