"Strict No Politics Rule"

[CptHowdy87]

https://forum.blu-ray.com/faq.php?fa...forumrulesfull

You are only allowed to discuss religion and politics when it is the main topic of a specific movie. Keep in mind that all people are different and have different beliefs, so be respectful to each other. Stay on topic and make sure what you say is directly related to the movie.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...=177430&page=6

This is the thread for the movie Cobra I posted in. I've re-posted an edited version of my previous post which got deleted.

Here is the original post:

I never really liked this movie and I love cheesy 80s action movies like this. Commando is honestly one of my favorite movies. I hadn't seen it in years and thought I'd re-watch it again thinking maybe I just need to be in the right mood for it. Sorry, but it's really terrible.

Cobra seems like a mish mash of Dirty Harry, Death Wish and even somewhat draws inspiration from the Night Stalker murders committed by Richard Ramirez just a year or 2 before. The villains and their motives are so poorly realized though. Who are they and what is their goal? They're apparently a group of anarchists called the New World. The criminal at the beginning was not said to be in any way connected with the New World and no other crimes that are referenced in the movie are attributed to them other than the Night Slasher murders. If this is a group of people then why is it just the one guy going out committing these murders? Shouldn't they all be committing all different acts of crime all over the city? We get no big speech from their leader about what their cause is. It's all too vague and underdeveloped and ultimately very unsatisfying because it's a great concept that's been executed well in other movies.

This Regan era right-wing fantasy wants to make some sort of half assed statement about the rising crime rate and soft judges that let these crooks back on the street but again it's a poorly realized and executed plot point. I'm just gonna copy and paste the 'Stupid Political Content' part of the Ruthless 80s Review of this movie:

"As with the Death Wish series, Cobra is nothing more than the Right’s answer to liberal judges and excessive gun control. Only if cops are given free reign (no Miranda with these tough guys) will we ever hope to put a dent in the rising crime rate. Sly even has a monologue (appropriately monosyllabic and monotone) where he talks about how he throws the criminals in jail and the judges let ’em out. And because those at the top have no desire to fight crime, terrorist groups are allowed to organize, take hostages, kill decent men and women everywhere, and turn our country into a wasteland. How all of this was supposed to occur with Herr Reagan at the helm and a Third Reich-style Justice Department is beyond me, but I’m guessing it has to do with the fact that bearded, pot-smoking liberals have all the power and tough-on-crime hard-liners are forced to cower in fear in their back rooms and forest retreats."

It takes itself too seriously. It's not fun enough. Sly's not likable enough. The action isn't anything special and most of all this movie was clearly BUTCHERED by the MPAA. Every single kill is a cut-away. I challenge anyone to show me a single frame of this movie with so much as a drop of blood. Also, the 80s soundtrack was f'ing hideous. Terrible song choices.

Perhaps the only thing I liked about the movie was Bryan Thompson as the Night Slasher. He is one seriously scary looking dude. If Arnie had have been busy with another project at the time then he would've been perfect as the T-800 in The Terminator (which funnily enough he was in as one of the punks at the beginning).

The political parts of my post were about the movie. It wasn't intended to be provocative or antagonistic in any way. If anything I thought even right-wing folks would've gotten a laugh out of the Ruthless 80s Reviews part that I copied from that site. The politics in Cobra were in fact the main topic of the movie and that's what I was discussing and was in adherence to the rules of this site.

Why then was my post deleted and why I was given a 3 day ban?

[CptHowdy87]

So do admins or mods even read anything from the feedback forum?

It's a pretty simple question really. What I posted was not against the rules of the site, the mod who deleted my post and banned me for 3 days incorrectly quoted the rules as saying that there's a "Strict No Politics" rule on this site which is NOT what it says in the rules. It's not a big deal and it's not like a 3 day ban was the end of the world or anything but mods should only be enforcing the actual rules of the site and not just making it up as they go along. They clearly didn't like my post but that's not a valid reason for deleting it and banning me. I'd think admins would want to know about any moderators dereliction of duty so they can act on it. Is it ok for mods to just delete posts they don't like even if they're not against the rules?

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by CptHowdy87

So do admins or mods even read anything from the feedback forum?

It's a pretty simple question really. What I posted was not against the rules of the site, the mod who deleted my post and banned me for 3 days incorrectly quoted the rules as saying that there's a "Strict No Politics" rule on this site which is NOT what it says in the rules. It's not a big deal and it's not like a 3 day ban was the end of the world or anything but mods should only be enforcing the actual rules of the site and not just making it up as they go along. They clearly didn't like my post but that's not a valid reason for deleting it and banning me. I'd think admins would want to know about any moderators dereliction of duty so they can act on it. Is it ok for mods to just delete posts they don't like even if they're not against the rules?

Hi there . The rule you quote allows for discussion of political or religious posts when they are the main topic of a film. Politics are not the main theme in Cobra and your posts interjected politics into the mix. Once the subject of REAL politics is introduced, members will stop discussing the movie itself and just engage in a neverending political debate.

Politics and religion are very divisive subjects and that is why the site only allows their discussion in a very limited basis. I am not the mod who moderated your post and I do not know if you had been warned about political postings in the past?

It’s a judgement call as to whether suspend or warn, but the removal of the post adheres to the spirit of the forum rules. As passionate as you are about your political opinion there are many who feel the opposite. The moderation follows the directives of the administrators and I personally agree with the rules in place. There are many sites where religion and politics can be freely discussed .

[CptHowdy87]

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

Hi there . The rule you quote allows for discussion of political or religious posts when they are the main topic of a film. Politics are not the main theme in Cobra and your posts interjected politics into the mix. Once the subject of REAL politics is introduced, members will stop discussing the movie itself and just engage in a neverending political debate.

They are actually. Are you sure you've actually seen Cobra?

Politics and religion are very divisive subjects and that is why the site only allows their discussion in a very limited basis. I am not the mod who moderated your post and I do not know if you had been warned about political postings in the past?

I haven't been warned about it in the past because I hadn't brought up politics in any movies up until that point.

It’s a judgement call as to whether suspend or warn, but the removal of the post adheres to the spirit of the forum rules.

Well, it clearly doesn't for the reason I pointed out. The rules say nothing about a "Strict No Politics Rule" which was what the moderator attached to the message that showed up when I tried to make another post.

Like I said, I wasn't trying to be antagonistic or provocative. The political part of my post was taken from someone else's review (Ruthless 80s Reviews) which was just making light of the politics in the movie which I thought even right-wing folks would've found funny. I just thought others would find it funny and that it would make a good talking point. It wasn't meant to be inflammatory at all.

Politics were in fact the main theme of Cobra, but that aside, I don't understand why a mod couldn't have simply edited the political parts of my post out, which were entirely contained to one paragraph, and why I was then banned for 3 days. No warning, no PM telling me why the post was first deleted. It's just a ridiculous way to have gone about it and they didn't have the humility to reply to either this thread or the post I since made in the Cobra thread probably because they realized they were in the wrong on this situation.

As passionate as you are about your political opinion there are many who feel the opposite. The moderation follows the directives of the administrators and I personally agree with the rules in place. There are many sites where religion and politics can be freely discussed .

I'm not at all actually which tells me you're missing the entire point here. The political part of my post was a cut and paste of a review from a comedy website. I'll concede that I mostly stay out of politics and that obviously a lot of people take these political issues much more seriously than I do. I just thought the politics in Cobra were so over the top and absurd that even right-wing folks would've found the review funny and accurate. Apparently that's not the case, so I guess I'll just leave out anything even remotely political from my posts from now on.