Topic: The Israel thread is in the bin.

[BER]

Not a good look shutting down the conversation once the genocidal war crimes start happening.

[stevieG786]

I do hope it gets reinstated. the genocide needs highlighting

[John C]

Not a good look shutting down the conversation once the genocidal war crimes start happening.

We apologise for the really poor service, particularly after you'd made an enormous amount of effort to contribute to the discussion.

[Egyptian36]

I appreciate it's not easy for the mods and can't argue with the reasons you are the ones running the forum but the timing is just wrong and if it gets opened again it's hard not to question why it's was locked during the genocide. Like what BER said what happened not a good look at all.

[Sudden Death Draft Loser]

I have my opinion on what's happening, but this isn't the thread for it.

It's a shame, but I think the Israel thread has to either stay locked or be for news only.

Things are far too heated (I'm raging) for there to be any chance of it staying civil.

[liversaint]

Some people really don’t have a clue how RAWK works.

I didn’t post in the thread, but read it, learned a lot from both sides. It became evident it was on borrowed time even though moderated very lightly, but self restraint became less and less. Shame as some great informative posts has been lost.

[Titi Camara]

Not a good look shutting down the conversation once the genocidal war crimes start happening.

I appreciate it's not easy for the mods and can't argue with the reasons you are the ones running the forum but the timing is just wrong and if it gets opened again it's hard not to question why it's was locked during the genocide. Like what BER said what happened not a good look at all.

Some of these comments are unbelievable. The reason for it being locked and removed has been given, that you are unwilling or incapable of reading it is on you. To suggest other motives is beyond the fucking pale.

For those incapable of reading the fucking thread.....

There was something truly awful posted in there which most of you won’t have seen because Alan dealt with it quickly. The poster has been banned.

[JerseyKloppite]

I appreciate it's not easy for the mods and can't argue with the reasons you are the ones running the forum but the timing is just wrong and if it gets opened again it's hard not to question why it's was locked during the genocide. Like what BER said what happened not a good look at all.

This is beyond ridiculous and is a hugely offensive suggestion to make towards those who run the site and make very difficult decisions about what is or should be posted here.

If you genuinely have such a low view of RAWK and the moderation team that you’d entertain the thought for a second that the timing of the closure was to clamp down on open discussion about genocide, you should rethink whether to post here at all.

This is a football forum. I take on board all of the comments about why to many posters it’s more than that, but that is what RAWK is at heart and is the reason that it was set up, and the primary purpose of the number of moderators, commentators, scribes etc volunteer their time for nothing to help run it. It it not necessarily the best forum for complex geopolitical or religious discussions. It’s not the BBC or Twitter. If something is too difficult to moderate because of the behaviour of certain posters, the option is there to simply close the thread. That doesn’t mean we don’t think it’s important, it’s because we think it’s too important to be subject to offensive or misleading shite.

[SP]

And the posts worth keeping have not been lost, they are merely vacationing whilst I wrestle with a particularly nasty tangle of maven dependencies that is doing a great job of wrecking my week…

[Alan_X]

The Fog of War by Sir Lonsdale Augustus Hale, is a 1986 book in which he describes "the state of ignorance in which commanders frequently find themselves as regards the real strength and position, not only of their foes, but also of their friends."

Any thread about Israel/Palestine will stay closed because too many people are stating with certainty things that are probably unclear to the participants on the ground because it coincides with their own preconceived beliefs.

Reports from Hamas and from the IDF both should be read with caution until there is some independent verification. And that verification may take time. The modern information space is full of unreliable or questionable sources and that has been made worse since Musk took over Twitter.

Unless there’s a change of heart in the moderation team you will have to find your own reliable sources of information.

I’m busy with work today but will PM some of the posters above to address specific concerns at the weekend.