You just don’t get it Geof, not everything should be viewed through the prism of politics and that thread was a prime example, it’s not about others seeing the world in a different way to me, sometimes it’s just the way it is. 
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They are an affront to freedom of speech M.Apples. You can argue that people can post their thoughts elsewhere, but that does not make it any less an attempt at censorship, because it remains an attempt to control what other people can and cannot say within a particular thread - so for example somebody with a different view is prevented from responding there and then.
People just have to be less proprietorial about their pet subjects. accept that ‘it takes all sorts’, that people will make jokes, take threads in surprising directions, etc. That’s all part of the fun!
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But aren’t you doing the exact same thing?
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Rather easily I would have thought - one could simply start with the way the game has been treated over the last 100 years given that the FA banned the women’s game on their pitches in 1921 despite it being nearly as popular as the mens game at the time, through to the lack of an open top parade for the Lionesses.
FWIW (I have no interest in footie at all) I’m in the camp that thinks that thread should have been kept free of politics but the general feeling was that we should allow people to discuss whatever they wish without being proscriptive (except where content might be prohibited by law, for example).
I also think the ‘no personal comments’ rule is vital - surely we’ve all seen how nasty social media anonymity makes some people?
Here, we can still have grown-up discussion without that sort of childish name-calling.
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But it happens in the lounge discussing people where they have no access
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And it’s happening more ‘at the drop of a hat’ - another symptom, I think, of people becoming too proprietorial about the site.
What’s the Lounge?
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I agree but as I said policing it is difficult - comments are not split neatly into the polite and the screamingly insulting, where is the line to be drawn? - and how to best resolve the issue without having at least one, possibly both posters taking their ball home?
Detrimental comment in the lounge should be avoided, if for the sole reason that the user in question might find themselves with access one day.
Hi Geof,
What a fortunate ancestry 
.
It sounds like you would consider yourself more of a (re)immigrant than an expat.
Hope you’re able to stay cool where you are!
Best regards,
Pamela
What is the lounge
Like Fight Club, the first rule of the lounge is… 
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I sympathise!
I was asked to moderate another site (that uses the same software platform) - and I refused !
But here’s something that will interest you and @graham Billy: when I registered on that site, the photo I used originally on this site (not the one I use now) was inserted without me uploading it. So our photos (and other data?) must be stored across the platform, not just for this forum…
A forum category where threads are only visible to users with “Trust level 3” or above - basically the most regular users and contributors to the site.
There’s no secret masonic handshake to get in, any user who uses and contributes to the site regularly will get promoted to TL3 and the rules to get TL3 are transparent (see here)
Many Internet forums have something similar.
It’s actually not used that much - don’t worry we’re not all slagging off regular users behind their backs 
Currently there are 74 TL3 users, if you are curious you can see who they are on the badges page (look for those granted “Regular”).
Indeed Pamela. I think whether your children (or other close family) are here in France or back in your country of origin is a big influence on how you see yourself -and where you will end up.
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You keep asking this as if you are missing some big secret, perhaps because people keep joking about it, a quick search of “discourse the lounge” or something would likely have helped. Here’s Discourse themselves explaining it in a tweet. A standard, and rarely used function of Discourse where a category ‘the lounge’ is created and only available to users of Trust Level 3 or above, so the most dedicated long term members. Every discourse forum has it built in. The idea being that only regular long term users who are logged in can access it, and so anything that is not necessarily wanted to be publicly seen by all whether logged in or not, is put there. I’ve never seen any forum I’ve been involved with that uses Discourse actually use ‘The Lounge’ in any real way as it rather defeats the object of an open forum, but for example one forum I am on uses The Lounge as a space for investors. Disclosures that the business may not want public yet are posted in The Lounge for just that group to see.
I have found that on Stack (which uses different software) but not on Discourse based fora.
Why? Surely you are not seriously advocating that threads need to stay within tight parameters ? And that posters should only post positively ?
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Are you saying we cannot have one positive thread?
@Lizzie1 - if you are not happy with the way the site is run please DM either @james or myself. @billybutcher kindly helps out with the ‘admin’ side of moderation but James and I make all final calls. So please direct your comments at one of us. I hope this has cleared things up for you.
Thanks.
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