Should the validity of posts be blindly accepted without question? Should posts of a political nature be welcomed in the absence of any actual conspiracy?

If a post is irrelevant in the context of this sub, there are plenty other subs to which it could be posted. We'll get it out of our system at the appropriate time, while giving posts the appropriate amount of scrutiny.

This is a place for discussion. A dissenting opinion is not inherently incorrect.

The best argument to your point would be to address the few posts made here that were brigaded to the frontpage. They were upvoted more than some of the most interesting content on this sub and in no way reflected the views of this sub's user base. It was scary, as the posts served to detract from the credibility of the sub.

While it doesn't bring anything to the table to question whether something is a conspiracy, it helps to keep irrelevant content out, which does a lot to improve the credibility of the sub.

Asking where the conspiracy is isn't necessarily a dismissal of the post either. What if someone genuinely doesn't understand and wants the OP to elaborate?

I understand what you're saying, but I think differently. With the amount of disinformation increasing, I think the importance of constructive scrutiny increases in kind.

Or by asking where the conspiracy is, the one posing the question is seeking intelligence.

Yes there is a deliberate effort being made to dumb down this sub. That is why people question posts.

Yup, I completely understand your frustration in seeing the phrase but asking questions is a great way to identify posts aimed at discrediting this sub. There have been many calls for censorship on this sub. Rather than limit the scope of conversation or accidentally delete valid information that may be seen as controversial, I find it more constructive to question posters and let them fall on their own swords.

I'd be in support of a bot that just observed and addressed suspect posts as opposed to deleting/censoring posts.

Then again...a bot that observes everything and isolates suspicious targets and puts them on watchlists based on keywords is the exact function of the NSA. Maybe we could have a r/conspiracy bake sale or start a GoFundMe to raise money to hire them to consult on this sub.

On second thought, I'll start my own sub...

...with blackjack...and hookers!

You know what, forget the sub.

Should the validity of posts be blindly accepted without question? Should posts of a political nature be welcomed in the absence of any actual conspiracy?

Anyone who doesn't see conspiracy in politics is blind.

If a post is irrelevant in the context of this sub

Who are you or anyone else but the mods to decide what is or isn't relevant?

while giving posts the appropriate amount of scrutiny.

This is precisely the point. Everything needs scrutiny.

Everything.

This is a conspiracy sub. I'm not advocating for the removal of political posts, or any posts for that matter. Censorship is wrong. This is however a sub specifically for conspiracies and there are other subs devoted to more political content that lacks that conspiracy vibe.

The argument that irrelevant posts are down voted or good posts are up voted isn't as valid as it may have been a year ago or more. We've seen fake news voted to the top of r/all as a result of brigading a couple times in just the past few weeks. Those actions don't reflect the views of this sub's typical user base.

I agree with you that people who don't see conspiracies in politics (however small), probably aren't looking hard enough at all. I agree that posts shouldn't be deleted for lacking a conspiracy element. The part where we differ is that I no longer believe that relying on votes to distinguish good posts from bad is an entirely safe method of information validation.

As for who I am to question any of this?

I'm no one. That's the whole point of an anonymous user name. I have really enjoyed reading what people think on this sub the past few years. I've noticed a trend towards more dem vs. repub posts since a bit before election time and they have made a point to let us know that they are here to stay.

Tldr would be, I agree with you on all but one point.

How dare people want conspiracy posts in a conspiracy sub.

Yes, you do.

How is this a conspiracy?

No, seriously. This is just a whiny post that spams the sub with bullshit! Just one more nonsense to downvote so I don't have to see it anymore.

If said this before: if it's not a conspiracy, it should not be posted here! So yes I will call out any post that is blatantly not a conspiracy. If you wanna post off-topic stuff, start a new sub

on the contrary -- i recognize the users who post here most or have interesting ideas or who present something new. when those people post, i perk up and look closer. so despite being anonymous, people DO care what other people on this sub think.

just because you don't care that I think off-topic posts don't belong here, doesn't mean nobody does.

If there's thousands of people like me, that means people DO care what I think haha. that goes directly against what you said before.

You mean thousands of people who are actually here to read about conspiracies and don't like seeing off topic posts all the time? Is it possible that you are in minority here, then?

In the time you've spent whining about how much you hate the users of this sub, you could have been contributing to discussions about conspiracies

Take your own advice.

Take your own advice.