

The longtime rule on Metafilter has been that when someone posts a comment that breaks the guidelines and that comment gets deleted, any subsequent comments that directly responded to it must also be deleted because those comments "don't make sense" and won't read as part of a cohesive thread for posterity/contributes to "noise."



I am proposing that we replace the above practice with a new practice that de-centers bigotry and re-centers the emotional labor that Mefites do to fight back against bigotry.



The new practice would involve the moderators deleting the guideline-breaking comment(s) and replacing it with a mod note that acknowledges the deletion and a brief description of why it was deleted. One example might be: [Comment deleted. If this thread isn't about a topic or subculture that you have a lot of familiarity, please consider skipping this one in lieu of leaving dismissive or bigoted comments.]



And then allow any comments that had already been posted (comments that push back against the now-deleted comment) to stand.



What qualifies as a push back comment, you ask?



"F*ck you" is not a push back comment.



"White people have been writing songs about banalities for decades but as soon as a black queer artist does it of course everyone from the peanut gallery has to chime in" (h/t JimBennett) is a push back comment and should be allowed to stand.



Why? Because this is a community that has already demonstrated that it needs to hear those comments. Because the community can and should learn from those comments; and because many of those comments are the direct result of emotional labor from Mefites who don't identity as white, cisgender, non-disabled or heteronormative.



I am not the first person to suggest this. It was discussed within the last year at the time of the first PoC thread, while the site's racist issues were coming to a head. Some Mefites who identify as PoC, non-white and/or racialized commented around that time that they felt that when their comments were deleted, the emotional labor they'd put into writing their comment was deleted along with it.



I fail to see the benefit in deleting comments that, with great power and insight, push back against the racist and sexist microaggressions that still pop up across Metafilter. We are at least intelligent enough to assume that if a moderator has commented that they've deleted one or a few comments for bigoted content, the subsequent comments where people are pushing back are obviously in response to the comment that was deleted. We certainly don't need to preserve the crappy comments that break the guidelines, but we should preserve and prioritize the wisdom and acumen of Mefites who argue back in response. They're doing important work on Metafilter - important work that is also emotional labor done without compensation. The least we can do is allow these comments to stand and act as a teaching moment for the rest of the community.



I understand that in the case of the Frank Ocean thread (I screenshot the comments so that they were preserved, but will hold back on sharing them initially), having the first comment in the thread be a push-back comment doesn't set a "perfect tone" for the thread. But not every thread is going to be tidy. If it's going to be untidy, the exception should be made for comments that wake everyone up.



I want to open it up to the community for discussion. I don't assume everyone is in agreement with me, but it's a valid concern that warrants discussion.

In light of the deletion of a Metafilter comment that pushed back against a racist comment in the Frank Ocean thread, I am requesting that the community discuss the benefits of allowing "push back" comments to stand - especially when those comments are insightful, enlightening and challenge other Mefites to be better members of the community.