I’m not a mod and there was a lot more context in the thread. I didn’t look at any other history, but as a user I’d’ve ignored it and moved on. I also disagree with your stance and I have to separate my dislike of what you have to say with whether I think it crosses a line, but also making sure I’m not erring too far the other way.

At the end of the day, you were arguing in favor of a fascist policy and it’s not at all clear from the context I saw that you argued in good faith. I can see why a mod might make that call, but permanent ban is not one I’d’ve made. But also I can’t see how many other reports folks have made. I don’t know how many times they’ve been borderline and decided not to act.

Mods aren’t just enforcers of civility, they are curators of a social space. I have frequently supported mod actions that others saw as capricious or uneven just because someone was a big asshole in a space and I thought they made everything a worse place to hang out. In fact, on those occasions it was generally someone I’d blocked myself already.

So if you are frequently an argumentative asshole in that space, I’d have banned. If you were just having a bad day, I’d have let it go with at most a cooldown. But if I modded a large board where people are frequently contentious and I had a large backlog and I didn’t recognize you, there’s every chance I’d have glanced at that thread, wanted to keep everything calm and happy, and booted the person arguing pro-fasc talking points out of caution and mistrust.

I’m trying to give both sides a little grace here. I’ve never been a mod. I have no idea what it’s like. But I do support folks curating a space they think people will enjoy discussion and reading, and in the fediverse there are plenty of other places to go or you could start a new one of your own. You have infinite options and have been booted from one. Because the scope of a ban is limited in a way it wouldn’t be in a non-federated platform, I’m giving more leeway to the mods here.

Which comes back to my original point. You got removed from one space. That’s society warning you that you’re stepping into that gray area. That’s okay. Being opinionated and disagreeing with the zeitgeist are things I respect. I am not afraid to register my own disagreement, but I do it and take my downvotes and move on. I don’t stick around and argue the point when clearly folks aren’t having it. I made the point to readers who might not have a dog in the fight that it’s okay to disagree and in the end those are the only people you’re ever going to reach. You’re not going to argue me into agreeing DEI needs to be abolished, though I’d here arguments about how you’d do it better if you had a more cogent and novel than the fascist “do nothing and everything will be fine.” You’re not disagreeing to win me over, you’re disagreeing to not let the group-think go unchallenged. So you challenge it and move on, and I think you avoid bans and prevent an echo chamber.

Normally I’d try to edit this down in size as I’m sure I rambled a bit, but I don’t have time. FWIW I haven’t downvoted you because I don’t think you’ve been an asshole here, even if I disagree with you. Good luck, mate.

This is the crux of the matter. Actual nazis don’t engage in good faith, and so it is harder to get people to trust in your good faith when actual nazis have all the power. The lines have been drawn for us, whether we act like it or not. If you’re able to pick your battles so well that you never engage with bad actors and you’re able to find common ground, that’s amazing. But you can’t go around expecting everyone to have an appetite for going out on a limb to split hairs with you, when many more people are more focused on protecting themselves from bad faith arguments.