As the Forum’s lead moderator, I’m posting this message, but it was written collaboratively by several moderators after a long discussion.
As a result of several comments on this post, as well as a pattern of antagonistic behavior, Phil Torres has been banned from the EA Forum for one year.
Our rules say that we discourage, and may delete, “unnecessary rudeness or offensiveness” and “behavior that interferes with good discourse”. Calling someone a jerk and swearing at them is unnecessarily rude, and interferes with good discourse.
After having seen the material shared by Phil and Sean (who sent us some additional material he didn’t want shared on the Forum), we think the claims in question are open to interpretation but clearly not deliberate lies.
For example, Sean said that Phil “has unfortunately misrepresented himself as working at CSER on various media (unclear if deliberate or not).” It’s evident from screenshots that Phil did list himself on Facebook and LinkedIn as working at CSER after he was no longer there. This is the kind of mistake that’s easy to make, but repeatedly saying someone has lied by pointing out the mistake is another example of unnecessary rudeness.
Of course, it’s understandable to have strong feelings if you believe someone is lying about you, but we expect Forum users to express strong feelings in a more productive way (“I think you’re mistaken about that, and here’s why”). Phil is sometimes more courteous, but we feel that his comments often fail to represent the culture we want to see on the Forum.
This ban is not related to Phil’s academic work. We appreciate having well-informed critics on the Forum; even criticism which seems overly harsh, or somewhat off-target, can generate good discussion (e.g. this post and this response to it). For another example, see this defense of some of Phil’s views.
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We encourage people to alert us to any other instances of name-calling, swearing at people, or unsubstantiated personal accusations. We aim to apply these rules consistently and proportionately to the frequency/extent of their violation.
In several milder cases, we’ve messaged people with private warnings; because this case led to a ban, we’re sharing this comment publicly. And on this post, I’ve issued a warning to Halstead for accusations that he hadn’t substantiated at the time he posted them, though he later shared satisfactory evidence with me.
People are still welcome to cross-post Phil’s work, quote him, argue for his points, and all the rest — but he won’t be permitted to post here himself until 12 May, 2022.
As the Forum’s lead moderator, I’m posting this message, but it was written collaboratively by several moderators after a long discussion.
As a result of several comments on this post, as well as a pattern of antagonistic behavior, Phil Torres has been banned from the EA Forum for one year.
Our rules say that we discourage, and may delete, “unnecessary rudeness or offensiveness” and “behavior that interferes with good discourse”. Calling someone a jerk and swearing at them is unnecessarily rude, and interferes with good discourse.
Phil also repeatedly accuses Sean of lying:
After having seen the material shared by Phil and Sean (who sent us some additional material he didn’t want shared on the Forum), we think the claims in question are open to interpretation but clearly not deliberate lies.
For example, Sean said that Phil “has unfortunately misrepresented himself as working at CSER on various media (unclear if deliberate or not).” It’s evident from screenshots that Phil did list himself on Facebook and LinkedIn as working at CSER after he was no longer there. This is the kind of mistake that’s easy to make, but repeatedly saying someone has lied by pointing out the mistake is another example of unnecessary rudeness.
Of course, it’s understandable to have strong feelings if you believe someone is lying about you, but we expect Forum users to express strong feelings in a more productive way (“I think you’re mistaken about that, and here’s why”). Phil is sometimes more courteous, but we feel that his comments often fail to represent the culture we want to see on the Forum.
This ban is not related to Phil’s academic work. We appreciate having well-informed critics on the Forum; even criticism which seems overly harsh, or somewhat off-target, can generate good discussion (e.g. this post and this response to it). For another example, see this defense of some of Phil’s views.
*****
We encourage people to alert us to any other instances of name-calling, swearing at people, or unsubstantiated personal accusations. We aim to apply these rules consistently and proportionately to the frequency/extent of their violation.
In several milder cases, we’ve messaged people with private warnings; because this case led to a ban, we’re sharing this comment publicly. And on this post, I’ve issued a warning to Halstead for accusations that he hadn’t substantiated at the time he posted them, though he later shared satisfactory evidence with me.
People are still welcome to cross-post Phil’s work, quote him, argue for his points, and all the rest — but he won’t be permitted to post here himself until 12 May, 2022.