The question of political / conspiracy theory content

[Laird]

Well I think one of the options Jim offered was pretty fair if possible to implement - a private invitation forum for politics. So it doesn't get seen unless people ask to be invited to see the topics?

Is this feasible? I ask b/c it would affect how I vote.

thanks!

Sci

Unfortunately it doesn't look possible to me - but please don't take my word for it, I'm new to the MyBB world, so I'm perfectly willing to be corrected if folks discover that it is, after all possible. I searched the plugins for "invitation" here: https://community.mybb.com/mods.php and came up with nothing, but maybe I'm missing something.

It certainly is possible to:

1. Hide (sub)forums from non-logged in members.
   
2. Hide the posts in (sub)forums from the "Unread posts" list.
   

Would that be enough to satisfy those who don't want to view or engage with CT/political threads? We could perhaps have a forum for each, with each forum hidden from non-logged in members and with the posts of each hidden from the "Unread posts" list (but not from the "New posts" and "Today's posts" lists, because this apparently isn't possible with MyBB - but again, I could be wrong).

[Laird]

My understanding is that the remaining Skeptiko forums do not support CT or political content (except perhaps for the Shows forum if/when Alex discusses such topics on his podcast). Perhaps, though, David could clarify for us.

This from David on Skeptiko seems pretty definitive:

Alex would like to prune out the political stuff

Unfortunately it doesn't look possible to me - but please don't take my word for it, I'm new to the MyBB world, so I'm perfectly willing to be corrected if folks discover that it is, after all possible.

Does this help:
https://ukvapers.org/Thread-Mybb-create-private-area

All I want is some area in the MyBB forum were only a few selected people have access to view and post .... away from the general forum members?
...
For each subforum, you can set the permissions that the various usergroups have (can view, can post etc)

See this part of the manual...

http://docs.mybb.com/Admin_CP_Forum_Mana...ermissions

http://docs.mybb.com/images/e/e4/ACP_Forum_Add.png

[Laird]

Does this help:
https://ukvapers.org/Thread-Mybb-create-private-area

No. It doesn't describe an "invitational" forum, only forums with restricted permissions (e.g. logged-in-members only), which we already know is possible.

Following up on your quote:

See this part of the manual...

http://docs.mybb.com/Admin_CP_Forum_Mana...ermissions

http://docs.mybb.com/images/e/e4/ACP_Forum_Add.png

These two links give me 404s.

This from David on Skeptiko seems pretty definitive:

How can you possibly divorce CTs like 9/11 or Pizzagate from politics? Good luck to those that stick at Skeptiko and have to figure that one out without getting booted in this new era of uber sensibility. Apparently, only malf knows how to word "This is BS" in a way that doesn't set off Alex's seek and ban program.

[Laird]

How can you possibly divorce CTs like 9/11 or Pizzagate from politics? Good luck to those that stick at Skeptiko and have to figure that one out without getting booted in this new era of uber sensibility. Apparently, only malf knows how to word "This is BS" in a way that doesn't set off Alex's seek and ban program.

Actually, Malf was temporarily banned (his account set to "requires activation email"). He had to communicate with Alex via email to have his account restored. This was in the (paraphrased) "Global warming: are sea levels rising?" thread.

I
Actually, Malf was temporarily banned (his account set to "requires activation email"). He had to communicate with Alex via email to have his account restored. This was in the (paraphrased) "Global warming: are sea levels rising?" thread.

I meant during this week's 'purge' (the one that got most of us banned). When Alex implied that the new Skeptiko=Pizzagate podcast, malf quoted him directly and said "So scurrilous rumour with a tangentially related interview that doesn't support the rumour?". Hilariously, Alex didn't seem to notice that malf criticized both the topic and the podcast, which is exactly the excuse that he used to ban a few people (I will exclude myself, since telling him to seek help that would allow him to solve the unfinished issues in his life may have been too much to ask from a person that was acting irrationally ATM).

[Laird]

I meant during this week's 'purge' (the one that got most of us banned). When Alex implied that the new Skeptiko=Pizzagate podcast, malf quoted him directly and said "So scurrilous rumour with a tangentially related interview that doesn't support the rumour?". Hilariously, Alex didn't seem to notice that malf criticized both the topic and the podcast, which is exactly the excuse that he used to ban a few people (I will exclude myself, since telling him to seek help that would allow him to solve the unfinished issues in his life may have been too much to ask from a person that was acting irrationally ATM).

Fair enough. I don't know what saved Malf that time. But yes, Alex is behaving... strangely. And pointing him to "unfinished issues in his life" may well have been... impolitic!

I worded it better back then, made allusion to people going down rabbit holes and that "no religion was worth losing your mind over it" (a reference to the year-long streak of Christian podcasts and especially the one that implied that atheists are secret satanists). But, it was blunt enough that another user took notice of the risk immediately. Which doesn't surprise me, since he managed to PMO by mocking Dante's reply as "silly" and responding to a couple by copy pasting something along the lines of "I want a smaller forum" without responding to any of their arguments.

[Laird]

Yeah, the Christ mythicism advocacy is not very well thought out. Satanism, though, is IMO a real phenomenon - accusing all atheists of it is a bit beyond the pale though (not that I listened to that podcast). I vaguely remember your post, but if you feel like linking, go right ahead!