Reply #2: There were THREE related posts locked:

[MiddleFingerMom]

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Actual dupe:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x9570155
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This was the second posting of the picture and question -- in The Lounge AFTER it had
been posted in GD.
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IMPORTANT: Notice the very first line of the in the "Message" section: (already posted
in GD).
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THIS post was locked as "flamebait" rather than a "dupe". There was absolutely no
controversy occurring within this thread -- the locked postswere complaining about
the locking of the GD post (and had been deleted long beforethis post was actually
locked). See my final post asking people NOT to comment onthe locking -- that I was
working within and trusted the system set up by DU.
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I hope that trust was not misplaced. I hope that I will not owe those people an apology.
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x9570177
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This post was started in The Lounge AFTER the other two, but prior to them getting locked.
I usually stay WAY away from GD because of all the ugliness I see there. I occasionally
dip in with a simple statement or, more often... a strong image. An overwhelming amount
of the responses have been positive. This is the first time anything I've said was pounced
upon like this post was -- and this statement is an expression of my surprise that this had
done so (and expression of delight that I had, not posted flamebait, but had created a buzz --
some of the participants of which were annoying "last-worders", but was mostly interesting).
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9698310&mesg_id=9698310
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This is the one that started it all. After I complained about the locking of this originally as
a "DUPE post", the mods came back and changed the lock reason to "FLAMEBAIT".
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I feel if they had really thought that they had a strong case of this being "flamebait", they
would used that initially -- and not chosen what certainly appears to have been an attempt
at avoiding that (the OTHER thread was actually LABELED as a "DUPE" in its very first line --
how could a "consensus" of mods have ALL missed that?) And if they were responding to alerts --
it is HIGHLY doubtful that any of those alerts were for "DUPE" reasons.
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There seemed to be just one MAIN dissenter -- and one man responding as he did does not make
a topic flamebait, I wouldn't think (otherwise, you've given a powerful tool to those who WOULD
shut down particular expressions). Especially not a man coming from the perspective he displayed --
he referred to Assange as "new jesus" which is what I think is an allusion to the RW calling Obama
"the LW New Messiah" -- which sounded like the scare/fear speech I've heard from RW pundits.
There IS legitimate andsignificant disagreement about this topic, but that's what these discussions
are all about, no?
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I think the mods, for whatever reason, rushed to judgment on this (ESPECIALLY since
they chose "DUPE" as the original reason). It is not flamebait, though it is admittedly
a highly controversial subject for some on this site. I hope that a few are not allowed
to shut down a thread via alerts simply because THEY disagree with it.
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Thanks for your consideration, Skinner. I, and most DU'ers, I would think, take this
very seriously.
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