One thing about the march yesterday I was at

[SHRED]

I didn't see one misspelled sign.

[Brother Buzz]

1. LOL, She Who Must Be Obeyed made the same comment when she returned last night

[Ms. Toad]

2. I'm sure there were plenty.

I wish people would stop pretending that only Republicans misspell things.

I'm sure I could also find misspellings even just in the headings in GD (there are currently two that I caught in a quick scan, other than intentional misspellings to make a point) or in any thread with a sufficient number of posts (I opened a 50-post thread, skimmed it, and found 4 spelling/grammar/punctuation errors).

Aside from anything else (cultural linguistic differences, educational or intelligence elitism, etc.), there are people who cannot spell becuase of dyslexia or other disablities. Fixating on spelling as a sign of political affiliation makes us exclusive, rather than inclusive, because people with poor spelling or grammar hesitate to join and/or open their mouths once they are here for fear of being lambasted as a troll.

[TrekLuver]

3. It's just a joke...we all misspell things and personally my spelling has gotten very bad

over the years with all the auto correct on everything.

[Ms. Toad]

5. Having served two terms on MIRT, it actually isn't.

I wish it was just a joke - but called it out because of my experience here (generally) and more specifically on MIRT a few years ago.

It is one of the factors that MIRT uses to justify booting people it believes are trolls. (Along with low post count, and expressions concern [e.g. about the possiblity that Trump might win the election])

Before I served on MIRT, I was aware of the bias - but I could more easily ignore it. It was more challenging on MIRT because people who believe such things seem to self-select to participate in MIRT. I ended up spending far more time online than I anticipated, because the only way to prevent the few people online from acting on factors I don't belive are legitimate is to be online before they were booted. (Not everyone on MIRT feels that way, but there were enough during both terms I served to mean that a number of potentially valuable contributors who might lessen the echo chamber effect were booted even before we had a chance to see what they had to add.)

[TrekLuver]

6. I don't know what Mirt is but people should be booted because there are concrete facts and posts

that show they are a troll and nothing else. Since I don't hold it against people if they misspell I'll still take it as a joke...but I see why you are sensitive to it.

[Ms. Toad]

8. MIRT is the team on DU that is empowered to permanently remove

posters with fewer than 100 posts if it decides they are a troll.

A lot of what MIRT does really makes this place much more pleasant. There are some really vile regulars who are booted very, very quickly - often before they get a post off, because they have very recognizable posting styles (and they come back - sometimes multiple times a day). There are also posters who clearly don't belong based on the comments they are making. It is worth volunteering to serve a term or two just to see what most of us don't see - and to help make this place more pleasant for all of us. The term ends at the end of the month, so they'll be looking for new members soon. (Here's the last new team announcement; recruiting is done in the same forum)

The objective standard for removal is that they joined, intending to disrupt. What troubled me were the folks who stray just a tad away from the party line, and who are booted just because of prejudices about what a real Democrat is like - and who (from MIRT) happens to be online at the time they post something "suspicious."

[TrekLuver]

9. I agree...they shouldn't be too quick to boot because someone strays from what they feel is

the line. We need everyone we can and I know for a FACT that some people were booted that shouldn't of been because I'm one of them LOL.

Imagine my surprise when I was banned...me who is down for the cause..who marches, who calls. Whatever...I try to be on my best behaviour here...I end up not responding to a lot of posts because of this. Actually we are probably breaking rules right now by even talking about this LOL.

[Ms. Toad]

10. I'm just explaining why we need to stop using spelling as a stand-in

for political affiliation - we really do need to expand our tent, not narrow it by making people feel stupid or unwelcome.

Talking about MIRT is closer to the edge, but I'm not complaining about site moderation - I'm sharing my experience on MIRT and encouraging you (and anyone else reading this) to volunteer for a term to see what goes on in that little behind the scenes window.

[SHRED]

4. I seriously didn't see one.

[kairos12]

7. No morans present.

[central scrutinizer]

11. Same here except for one sign made by a little kid.