Personally speaking, I haven't seen any particularly ban-worthy behaviour on either Hector or MFreitas' part. The airy dismissal by MFreitas of the "race in Batman" discussion (which, incidentally, had been moribund for 4 days) was ill-advised, but Haus' initial response was, IMO, way over the top. Indeed, it was a pretty egregious example of the sort of "angry or abusive responses" over which Haus himself started this thread ...
There's been a few more unfortunate and/or provocative comments made by various parties in the argy-bargy since (and yes the "blackface act" was a bizarre misjudgment), and now it seems to be turning into a bit of a pile-on.
Don't really want to be the "can't we all just get along" guy (look what it got wildstallion), but can it be kept open as an option?
If we're voting, I don't support a ban or any further censure on HectorLima, MFreitas or Haus. Each of them has provided worthwhile contributions to the board up to now; this episode has seen an unfortunate escalation of emotion, hopefully temporary.
Regarding the "quality of discussion" on Barbelith, I can only comment on the Comics board, coz that's all I read here. The Grant Morrison's Batman topic has gone on for over 40 pages, with most of the discussion being nerdy plot/metacomic speculation - it's par for the course isn't it? It's a GM comic - he invites this kind of thing.
I come to Barbelith because the standard of discussion is high, about better quality comics, from contributors who are generally a better class of nerd! Don't know what one does to keep the standard of discussion "high", that being so subjective and all. My own tastes happen to include in this instance avid interest in the "magical negro" discussion, as well as interest in MFreitas' Black Glove speculation. I guess the only thing that keeps discussion going along is whether people are interested enough to continue to post ...
And speaking of which, I note Epic Scrabulous' comment above regarding new members not posting. Gotta say I'm a long-term reader, rare poster. (This thread must have just got up my goat.) I would posit the theory that the standard of discussion is so high here that it's a little daunting to just wade in ... Maybe that keeps out a lot of the thoughtless or trolly types, but also some of the more timid but potentially worthwhile members? Anyway, things usually balance out and add up to a generally enjoyable reading experience. Hope it can get back to that soon! |
