Petitions, Petitions...

PositronWildhawk OK, we all remember a much talked-about list, full of hatred, profanity and threat toward the good people of TheTopTens' community. A petition went out to get that list off the site for good, and it worked. A joyful moment for many of us, no denial.

Around the time that that list was at its peak of trolling activity, there were a few other lists which span from it. Not nearly as offensive, but some people here felt the need for that to go too, and again, they got the support that they needed to get that medley of misdemeanours removed too. So one would think after this, all is well.

But no, we haven't stopped there. A number of users are trying to make more and more of these petitions to get more and more lists deleted. And I think this is running out of order.

A list doesn't deserve to be on the site if it is offensive, but a bad list that is there for an appropriate debate, be it biased in some annoying person's favour or not, has a reason to be there for debate. For instance, I dislike the list of Worst Electronic Songs, twice remixed by its creator, but it has reason to be here. It's a subject for debate, and people can pitch in to change the list as they please, but not to eradicate the discussion from the community, as there is no reason to do so.

I can understand that some lists were controversial and personal to some, which can give a case for and a case against removal, but this applies to so few lists. But some people do it for attention.

If one has a persuasive and reasonable argument for taking the list down, one has good reason to raise the issue. If not, don't force the community and the administration in turn to get what you want by means of continuous pestering and luck. In making admin remove lists which you happen to dislike because you think it's silly or disagrees with you, not because it is negatively affecting how people feel in the community, what do you achieve? You're potentially taking away the right for others to discuss a topic, and is that not the point of TheTopTens? The knock-on effect would dramatically affect the activity here; imagine this site with minimal choice of list subjects, where one in 1000 of your lists is approved.

Admin aren't meant to serve your every desire, and nobody here has the right to pressure them into doing something pointless like I have described above. You don't own the site. You don't make the rules. You don't encourage people to believe that this is true, because you can't win. If you don't like a list that has a reason to be there, just accept how it is, and please, stop with this enormous cascade of pointless petitions. Three or so was previously enough, and enough is enough.

Comments

Definitely. The first one made sense, even though I wasn't a member at the time, I saw Petsounds (I believe he was the who started it, but I could be wrong) initial blog post and liked it, but that was truly offensive. many of the things petitioned aren't truly offensive, just controversial, or disagreed upon. - keycha1n

Ja, that was me. - PetSounds

I want all the Doritos list all gone because they messed up my MLG clan and can't even 420 blaze it. Plus no Darude Sandstorm was banter enough for xXxCoddingxXx. - visitor

And that's what most of them are based on, folks. - PositronWildhawk

Good job

- LeotheGangstacat - visitor

Nicely said, my friend. - PetSounds

I agree. For a list to be truly offensive, it has to be offensive enough. For example, there are lists like " Why Adventure Time Is Better Than Ebola". Sure, the title alone is stupid, but It could be a parody for all I know. We ( the users) aren't in charge ( admin is), but we are lucky that this website exists. Why? Because free speech, that's why! In China, the Internet in general is banned, they would be willing to be on this website, and voice their opinion. That's the beauty of free speech and America in general ( and other countries as well). One more thing, the "Most Overrated Countries" is more controversial than probably any other list out there ( I'm not encouraging a petition at all). - MusicalPony

Petitions are pointless, but I agree lists like those are inundated with racists. - Turkeyasylum

Well said. - Minecraftcrazy530