Start by unbanning everyone you’ve banned in the last 24 hours and then maybe a conversation about moving forward can happen.

Add additional moderators, and seek community input before adding new rules.

Have a moderator team that doesn't institute odd topic bans over personal events or circumstances.

For example, if I was a mod here: A car driver tried to kill me. I also read that many motorists can be violent and that cars are controversial. This doesn't mean that as a mod that I'd limit posts around it.

I don’t mean this to be a dig, but I do think at least one more active moderator would be a good idea. I sympathize with the reasoning behind the temporary moratorium on bike related posts and I agree that the toxicity surrounding the issue is a problem, but I also sympathize with people who are upset and I think that having a team of moderators make decisions about stuff like that goes over a lot easier. It lends a degree of consensus to what at the moment is not an inherently transparent or democratized decision making process.

Trying not to be hostile: Don’t be a tyrant and promise not to do so in future.

In 2000, Saparmurat Niyazov was advised to quite smoking by his Doctor. Being the president of a dictatorship, he banned smoking outright in the country of Turkmenistan. Don’t be Saparmurat Nayazov - post and let post* in spite of what is happening in your daily life.

*especially something so basic as bicycle themed posts. We’re not talking about neo-nazi how-to literature or legit Kanye quotes. We’re talking bicycles.

The fact of the matter is that street safety is a contentious topic no matter where you go. Vulnerable road users are growing in number and visibility, and are understandably frustrated with the status quo of car dominated planning which makes everything more dangerous for them. Putting a ban on discussing this is not going to help that whatsoever.

If you’re seeing uncivil things happening in the comments, and you think it’s overwhelming to moderate it all alone, that’s a clear sign that you need to expand the moderation team, not that the (very relevant) topic shouldn’t be allowed at all.

Also, this exact scenario has played out in discussion forums since the beginning of the internet. Mod institute rule changes based on his or her own personal preferences, gets negative feedback, then offers to listen to the community to make things better without actually changing the rule or apologizing.

At this point I have no faith in you as a moderator, and believe you view yourself as the "owner" of this sub. In order to allow for healthy discussion, there needs to be accountability through diversity of moderation. Without additional mods here, I'll be sticking to /r/camberville

My tone is entirely civil when noting that your takeaway from the events of the last twelve hours just sort of demonstrates that you are not fit to be a mod - let alone the only mod in a community without any posted rules or guidelines. Based on what's being written (and quickly deleted) here and elsewhere, people are less upset about their ability to speak on the specific (entirely pertinent) topic of bicycling and more concerned about the idea that one single power-tripping mod believes that they should be allowed to dictate what the community can and cannot discuss and how on the basis of their how their day is going.

You've behaved like something of a petty tyrant. You've made unilateral decisions without first either setting any reasonable/appropriate expectations or guidelines (community rules) or engaging the community for stakeholder feedback before making said decisions. When dissent has been raised in the forum (some of it obnoxious/toxic, most of it perfectly levelheaded and direct), you've responded by simply muting and/or banning members.

It's not about the issue of bikes. It's about the fact that you are not r/CambridgeMA**.** You are a mod. If this sub is meant to be an open and engaging resource for folks in and around Cambridge community to connect with each other about topics relevant to life in the city, it needs to better reflect the input of the actual users and not just be subject to the whims of one single middle-aged guy who may or may not have had a bad encounter with another single person who happened to be riding a bike.

Establish and publish rules and guidelines after allowing stakeholders/members of the community to contribute to their development in a meaningful way.

Add at least 2-3 other mods and consider turning the keys over.

You can't even spell diminish right in this statement, lol.

This isn’t a useful critique

Add additional moderators.

Unban any accounts that were removed (but didn't violate say, the reddit code of conduct).

Realize that moderators have a responsibility above and beyond that of a normal user and consider using alt accounts if you have to post about personal issues into the future (if it's something contentious at least, I'm not trying to chase you off, please don't think I'm insinuating you shouldn't post at all)

Good ideas. Thanks for sharing them.

I'm not trying to be argumentative here, but it's worrisome that you're continuing to remove cycling related posts. Are you also banning the people who make them?

Seriously, asking for recommendations about where to ride a bike in Cambridge is not a hostile post or an attack.

Don’t let members of the DSA bully you or the way you moderate. They’ve grown accustomed to having the loudest voice in online local forums.

Honestly I think the abuse of power should not be tolerated. We need to demand a new moderator team for this subreddit.

You have shown very clearly that this small amount of power is too much for you to handle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDUhINW3SPs
edit: holy crap reddit still doesn't have thumbnailing for youtube vids lmao, it's "A Tale as Old as Time"

>>A person threatened me while I was walking around my neighborhood today. People are inherently toxic. As such, all discussion that revolves around, or even tangentially refers to, a human will be banned.

No, the insults do not illustrate why you did what you did.

My suggestion is for you to relinquish control of this sub or shut it down so another one can be created in its place.

I think the time for civility has passed. You need to go away.

Step down and seek out moderators with the integrity, maturity, and time to moderate properly and transparently.

You’ve done too much damage in the last 24 hours to ever recover your reputation as a Moderator in the eyes of many of the most active members of this community. For example, you already asked for feedback and then banned or muted anyone who critiqued you.

This is “too little too late” damage control.

You’re not going to ban them too?

/u/iheijoushin shared their message to you and was far more generous with you and you muted them.

You need to step down. Why are you suddenly OK with people critiquing you? Personally, I think it’s because you showed your true colors and are afraid of losing the keys to your castle because /r/camberville is trying to be the community you never cared enough to moderate except arbitrarily and for your own benefit.

Do you really want to change? Start by unbanning everyone from the last 24 hours. You are clearly incapable of having power over others but that’s one hell of a good start. But the fact your making excuses for what is transparently a decision you made because of a personal issue points to how you just need to go.

Despite “being bombarded”, you still can’t be wrong. Step down.

The steps I've taken are temporary until I've sorted through the ideas and a path forward is determined.

My thoughts:

While I don't t think this was a good moderation decision, I think I do somewhat understand the reasoning behind it. I am pretty much in favor of a rapid roll out of a complete network of bicycle infrastructure as rapidly as possible, removing whatever minimum amount of parking is necessary to achieve that. But, even as a supporter, many of these bicycle related posts are very repetitive. People supporting the change bring up the same points they brought up last time a similar change was rolled out; opponents trot out the same objections, which are then disputed in the same way. I feel like I could write a computer program to have these conversations for me.

On top of that, many times these discussions get sort of nasty. Like, even though I think the status quo is bad, I recognize that many people have adapted to it in various ways and it probably has some upsides for some one. There's no need to castigate some one because they prefer to drive for some trip or another. And it's not like the other side of the debate is any better; its a lot of useless "Some one using mode of transportation X did something bad once!". This being the Internet, some one will always read a post in the worst possible way, and they are the most likely one to reply.

So, those are the reasons I can imagine for implementing this policy. I think trying to justify it with an anecdote about an expectorating cyclist was not a very good explanation, however personally enraging that might have been.

Now, why I don't think it is a very good policy: Changes to the roads and infrastructure more broadly are news. Its important for people to, firstly, be aware of the specific changes. And I suppose if this is a discussion site, to have the option to discuss them.

That said, I'm not sure what is the best way to have a less repetitive and mean discussion. Maybe a weekly or bi-weekly mega-thread?

Thank you for your feedback. I look forward to coming up with a solution to some of the concerns on the sub over the next several days.

Thank you for your feedback. I look forward to coming up with a solution to some of the concerns on the sub over the next several days.

Restoring on-topic posts about bicycling seems pretty uncomplicated to me.

Thank you for your feedback. I look forward to coming up with a solution to some of the concerns on the sub over the next several days.

I agree with some of what you're saying here. I look forward to coming up with a solution over the next several days.

Thank you for your feedback. I look forward to coming up with a solution to some of the concerns on the sub over the next several days.

Thank you for your feedback. I look forward to coming up with a solution to some of the concerns on the sub over the next several days.

That will happen when a better moderation and policy framework has been put in place.

/u/taylorhayward_boston you were spit on and that’s inexcusable behavior and I’m truly sorry that happened to you regardless if there was a reason. I’ve experienced my fair share of road rage and it is a truly awful experience. There’s a reason why spitting is considered assault.

But everything you’ve done in the last twelve hours is all on you. It speaks volumes about how you see your role here on /r/cambridgeMA, and to many, your idea of moderation is completely out of sync of what most of this community expects and from generally established Reddiquette.

Put simply, you have abused your power and done so arbitrarily and without transparency.

• You invited people to PM you with concerns then banned or muted them even when they were constructive.
• You’ve banned others for posting their disagreement with your decisions as a Mod even when they were not abusive.
• You’ve continued to lie and make excuses for the reasons you’ve lashed out at the community and some of its best contributors. We’ve all had a bad day, but instead of apologizing and making things right, you’ve continued your abuse of power and made frankly laughable excuses

All this is enough for you to have shown yourself unable to handle having power over others. It’s hard not to see this attempt at damage control as a means to hold onto power when there is now a credible alternative subreddit who is promising a fair and transparent moderation team.

But the last 24 hours is only the tip of the iceberg. This subreddit has suffered for years without an adequate Moderation Team, the reason for which I believe is illustrated by the last 24 hours and how you have chosen to conduct yourself: a person who is bad at wielding power, rarely wants to share it.

One doesn’t have to search hard to see complaints of a long Moderation backlog, or compare how posts at /r/boston are helpfully filtered by flair by the strong (albeit perhaps overly sarcastic) Mod Team. Here there’s not even any rules except for the ones you make up on the spot.

The fact is you don’t moderate /r/cambridgeMA and when you do so, it is self-serving, opaque/lacking community input, and arbitrary. As one of the few city employees here, I am not afraid to speak plainly and honestly even though you have shown to ban those for doing far less. I’ve helped countless people here publicly and privately here and on /r/boston with animal-related concerns. It’s your loss if you choose to add me to the long list of those you’ve banned because you lack the maturity and integrity to have the power you do.

TL;DR: I’ll say it again: **Step down. ** That is the only way to save face after years of barely moderating and then showing up only to abuse your power because of something shitty that happened to you outside of Reddit and your decision to turn around and hurt those you have power over. It’s just pathetic and just shows how far away you should be kept from any kind of power or responsibility since you are simply not up to the task.

Spare us all and don’t reply with your faux high road ‘I’m listening to all feedback’ bullshit. You fucked up and I’m far more interested in an apology and an unbanning of all those you abused while on your butthurt power trip*. Frankly, I think this is all an act to hold onto power…but prove us wrong and start to make things right.

*My empathy for your horrible experience being spit on has run dry watching you try desperately to hold onto power while refusing accountability or undoing the abuses you have done to this community. You took your pain and used it to hurt others and this community and that tells us all we need to know about the type of person you are.

I don’t believe you.

The right thing is apologizing, admitting your mistakes, and unbanning those you punished during your power trip.

Then and only then can this community determine if you have the right to rule over us without any accountability.

Add additional moderators. Do not institute a blanket ban without some feedback from the community.

> I look forward to coming up with a solution to some of the concerns on the sub over the next several days.

You don’t get it. We don’t want or trust you as a moderator. Why on Earth would we believe you’re suddenly going to hold yourself accountable next time? At least tell us what changed as you continue to not accept responsbility and deny wrongdoing. Why are you now asking for feedback and not banning people when they do?

You need to apologize and unban people. Full stop. This shouldn’t be something you need to think over.

It’s clear the most active members of this community no longer trust you. So why will we be at all interested in the rules you alone make after not moderating consistently for years and showing up just to abuse your power? Try and see this from our perspective.

Your comment should be:

> I’m am sorry to this community. I let my emotions get the better of me and ask you give me the opportunity to make things right and make our community better. I will be unbanning everyone who did not violate Reddit’s TOS. And while I’m not ready to step down as the sole moderator, I will be soon accepting applications for a moderation team to assist me with creating new community guidelines allow for more active and consistent moderation of /r/CambridgeMA going forward.

We all make mistakes. We all have moments where we would do things differently next time and what happened to you can be legitimately traumatizing. But you have yet to admit any fault or take accountability so you really cannot be trusted to do better next time.

the solution is making someone else a moderator and removing yourself as one

The moderating over the past 24 hours was to limit the flood of toxic posts so a civil discussion could be had over the next few days regarding how to move the sub forward. Everyone who's been banned will have their banning reconsidered if they want to be part of the solution.

When a new plan is rolled out over the next several days, all the ideas I've heard will be considered with the intention of 1) diminishing the toxicity in general, 2) making it clear what the rules of the sub are, and 3) providing resources for more timely moderation of questions, concerns and abuse.
I get that people are frustrated, but I also see a world outside of Reddit, Facebook, etc. that's becoming more and more contentious due to unbridled social media. It's no secret that social media creates division, and while my reaction to it has created more division still in the short term, my hope is that the long term benefit to Cambridge, and the sub will be made apparent.

At its core, although it may be hard to see in all of this, the wellbeing of people although the city is my primary goal.

Be accountable. Stop making excuses. Do better.

The “toxic” posts were a scenario entirely of your own making. You continue to just dig yourself deeper.

> At its core, although it may be hard to see in all of this, maintaining my total control over this subreddit, escaping accountability and responsibility, and not losing members to /r/Camberville is my primary goal.

Fixed that for you. Prove me wrong.

Thank you for your feedback. Sometimes solutions to problems take time. Thanks for being patient.

This is just sad.

The bans were put in place to limit toxic posts while a new path forward is created.

[deleted]

Your toxicity meter is broken.

You blanket banned anyone that mentioned bikes. That had everything to do with your personal position and opinions and nothing to do with effectively moderating the sub.

>Everyone who's been banned will have their banning reconsidered if they want to be part of the solution.

Don't reconsider. Immediately reverse all bans. Appoint new moderators. Step down.

You created a rule based on something that happened to you OUTSIDE the sub. And now you're trying to solve a problem that wouldn't have existed in the first place if you hadn't done that.

Thank you for your feedback.

My pleasure. I hope you consider it seriously.

Thank you for your feedback.

You created the toxicity by banning all posts about cycling because a cyclist spit on you.

Meanwhile, you ignored your moderation duties for years, including plenty of pretty toxic posts on this and other topics. Dat moderation backlog…

But no! Someone outside of Reddit does something bad so now the people you have power over get punished! Yes, this is a normal and totally healthy reaction. You also banned many people who were respectful but challenged your arbitrary decision even when you asked them for feedback… It’s only healthy, right?

Your lack of self-awareness is only matched by how totally unqualified you are to have power over anyone else. You cannot even control yourself.

[deleted]

I was part of the initial wave of permanent bans on this sub after publicly disagreeing with this rule.

I few minutes ago, I was (seemingly?) unbanned and “temporarily muted” on this sub. Please let me know if this post is visible as I am unsure what the mechanics of a mute are.

Receipt: https://ibb.co/pxKcspt

I look forward to discussing a path forward towards restoring a degree of trust in the moderation of this community.

That said, until at he abuse of power demonstrated here in the last day has been meaningfully addressed, I will be remaining unsubscribed and will work to contribute to r/camberville

As things stand currently, I believe that the mod here should work with the community to onboard a mod team in line with the ethos of Cambridge and then gracefully step down.

Edit: Mechanics of a mute: https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205269739

I can see this comment. Thanks for sharing the messages.

Are you sure that yours isn't? Reading these posts as someone who has no idea what's going on or what the conflict is seems surreal.

Yeah, your responses continue to illustrate that you just don't get it/appreciate the fact that this is a problem of your own design. It's not on everyone else to demonstrate to you that they want to be part of whatever sort of solution it is that you imagine yourself being at the center of... appoint new mods and step back.

Context is important then, isn’t it?

Allow posts about cycling

Or maybe it's worth stepping out of your shoes and seeing whether your high intensity flame war would make sense to an outsider? Because I don't know that it would.

Once a moderation framework that limits toxicity around controversial subjects is in place the subject will be available to discuss.

My post wasn’t toxic. It was a poll. In the past 12 hours, you’ve been the most toxic person here

You want advice, here’s mine. The community at large has clearly lost faith in you to be a good moderator. Conduct a search, select a new top mod, and step down

I’m happy to summarize: this sub, which has 17,000 members, only has one moderator. That moderator made a new rule based on an interaction he had outside of the sub (according to his own explanation), and has removed posts and outright banned people based on that rule. People are upset about it.

Unfortunately I needed to stem the flow of the many bike related posts as they were coming in and the net was wide.

As with the other post, thank you for your feedback.

Is it possible than answering these comments in the first person is part of the problem here? that you are moderating this sub on your own and are really badly in need of some advice and assistance? You need to hear other voices, other concerns and not be making decisions that affect so many others on your own.

Please run a program to transfer responsibility to at least three other moderators with the patience, EQ and organizational skills to run a small subreddit like this.

resigning would be a good solution.

It’s generally not a good idea to say ‘yea don’t talk about that’ when there’s nothing inherently toxic about bikes, only the people who may ride them. If you want to limit toxic comments, I’m all for that, but banning a topic of conversation outright will only make people more upset then if you try to foster a conversation about it. I know you’re upset over the biker spitting in your face, and that’s fine and understandable, but there is no need to apply rules on the subreddit based off who has wronged you

You are fucking pathetic.

Yeah, a single mod, or even a sub with one dominant mod, isn't ideal. That said, maybe there's a good argument to be made that the great bicycle wars need a ceasefire? This is clearly a really serious topic to some, but to others it seems like a bizarre over-the-top caricature of activism.

I don’t know, maybe actually moderate impartially and not be a shitty driver?

This is step 0.

This is great news. Thank you for sharing.

Let us hope that others who have been similarly banned for appropriately expressing themselves are similarly allowed back.

I remain skeptical of our singular Mod who so far has not apologized, accepted any responsibility, or shown even a modicum of self-awareness. Even as he works along the edges to undo the damage he has wrought, he should still step down.

[deleted]

How is the concept of cycling controversial? Bikes are about as controversial as coffee, deciduous trees and the color orange. Controversial discourse can occur over any topic.

I’d suggest you read the room (and the clear distribution of karma). This is an important issue to the majority of active users.

If you believe that most of the active users are an “over the top caricature of activism” then perhaps you should make your own subreddit where you can ban your neighbors and live in a happy safe space with no stated rules and a singular and totally arbitrary moderator who only shows up to moderate when they are angry about something.

You can have one or the other. Not both. Never both.

Does this guy even have a reason for being a tyrant? Like did a cyclist kill his dad or something? Or was he worried about "spam" even though I assume all the bike posts were legit?

r/CambridgeMA2

r/CambridgeMASS

WALLE People are allowed though

True politician bs answer

booooo! 👎

😭a cyclist was mean to you? Thoughts and prayers!

Taking responsibility and apologizing doesn't take any time at all.

now mate, please explain how bicycles are controversial. no one's ever been killed by a bicycle itself. i'd get angry about cars if i were you, because they're hella controversial.

also please unban the people, that's not cool

Lmao just accept that you're a shit moderator lol

It's crazy how they allow moderators like you to even be a mod lol

This seems like the toxic kind of response that's at issue. I agree with your observation that the room seems to want to engage in this toxicity, which is kind of a better argument against your point than for it. We're talking about bicycles here folks. Maybe a little perspective is in order.

Doubling down on a bad decision and trying to rationalize it is an interesting move.

> Don’t let members of the DSA bully you

See a therapist for your clinical paranoia.

How can bicycling even be controversial lmao

It shouldn't be, but there have been personal attacks on members of the community with differing opinions on the topic.

It's a hot topic among many in the area and when they hear a differing opinion things can go downhill fast. It's unfortunate, but it's become common on the internet and has lead to a lot of the division we've seen in the U.S. at large.

He's looking for a bike rider with 6 fingers on his right hand.

You were just given a multitude of solutions.

Which part do you disagree?

Why do you think there was such a high influx of bike posts?

There are many who feel strongly about biking, bike culture, and the freedom of expression on social media. They were protest posts. I get it, and they weren't helping the discussion of next steps.

Should all topics that even have the scent of politics be banned?

A few things need to be answered. And I'm giving you a chance right here to better explain and clarify your thinking.

What type of discussion were you hoping for?

Why did you share the story of a biker spitting on you?

Most importantly. Why did a biker spitting on you mean bike related posts had to be banned from the sub?

There's a threshold. It's no secret that social media has caused a lot of discord and instability across the country, so much so that other countries have been actively leveraging it to create divisions here. Divisions between races, genders, political ideologies, etc. The concept of divide and conquer is as old as time and we're heading deeper and deeper down that hill.

It isn't the things that are obviously evil that trip up a society, it's issues on the cusp of "right or wrong". For the right reasons, people stand firmly behind what they believe to be the best for society, and when they see someone who is threatening to undermine progress towards the realization of their belief fighting can occur. Insults, hostility. Often time the result of the perpetual fighting is war which is typically worse than the original issues that created it. People know war is hell but can find themselves caught up in one for "the right reasons". Progress can be made without it.

Cambridge is arguably one of the most knowledgeable cities on earth. I don't want us to get sucked in by our baser nature. I think to some extent I was and now I'm attempting to put things in place where that kind of mistake will be limited in the future. If the world starts to crumble as a result of social media feuds I don't want CambridgeMA to be remembered as part of the problem. That's the goal.

What type of discussion were you hoping for?

A: How the animosity on and off of reddit, specifically in Cambridge can be lowered among groups who don't necessarily agree with one another on different topics.
Why did you share the story of a biker spitting on you?

A: As an example of how bad things have become between two groups I've seen regularly argue in an unproductive way on here, bicyclists and those who prefer other types of transportation, like cars.
Most importantly. Why did a biker spitting on you mean bike related posts had to be banned from the sub?

A: This was a temporary ban (see the original post, "Taking a break from bike related posts") while a plan was figured out as to how best to handle the tribal mentality that was witnessing spilling out of local forums, like CambridgeMA into the world outside of Reddit.

Ah! Like one of those “good, fast, cheap. Choose 2” charts!

Spoiler: They didn't

Ty for the comment techbro. Your voice has been silenced for too long.

Stick that solution up your ass mate

If you're such a shitty driver that it drove [sic] someone to spit on you, I suggest that as well as stepping down as a moderator you also take a driver's ed class. Or just stop driving, even better.

Thank you for your feedback.

Sounds like this subs mod is a little bitch

And I thought my city’s sub was bad sometimes. Turns out we got it pretty damn good after seeing this mod.

>dEmInIsH tHe ToXiCiTy ArOuNd ThE pRo AnD aNtI bIKe DeBaTe

mission failed, we'll get'em next time

They're ignoring all the useful critique, why would you waste time in giving more?

Please just level with everyone: you don't like bike lane expansion and are annoyed that you're in the minority on this sub and in Cambridge.

I don't have strong opinions on it, I'm not a civil engineer. Apparently some here do have strong opinions and I would like for people to be able to talk them through in a constructive way, without the name-calling, etc. that I've been seeing.

All this talk of toxicity and you don’t realize you’re a part of it. Yikes

You should step down as mod. And you should go for a bike ride.

Sorry, I'm just trying to understand the intensity of the conflict. Is that toxic? If telling some people that they might be losing their bearings in an argument is toxic, I don't know really how to apply a reality check. The trouble is that I haven't heard any actual argument of substance about this stuff. It's just some kind of bicycle identity group with whom some of us don't feel kinship. Maybe if you could help us understand why this is such a motivating aspect of your identity, we'd get it. I use a bicycle to commute for part of the year. The bike lanes are dramatically better now than 10 years ago, when none of them existed at all. Seems good?

Brigading. Duh.

The conflict is not actually about cycling, it's about how the sub is moderated. Banning people for voicing dissent to a rule that was arbitrarily added, deleting posts about it, deleting and shutting down the comment section, is not a good way to run a discussion forum. People are rightfully upset about that. Once the sub is properly managed I'd be happy to talk to you about infrastructure and traffic safety issues.

>Sometimes solutions to problems take time.

And sometimes all it takes is banning everyone who disagrees with you.

If those were your intentions, then your strategy is flawed. Jumping in an calling folks toxic is indeed not “just trying to understand the intensity of the conflict,” nor is it an effective strategy for discovering the nuance of a situation.

This thing got buried, but your post just put a huge smile on my face. Thank you for that, len

Better moderation in place dude you are the mod.

Wait a sec, now calling out toxicity is toxic? Come on. I think you just don't want to hear any dissent. If there's nuance here somewhere, I'm not hearing it. The toxicity I replied to was a bunch of sarcasm and snide for no purpose. People genuinely don't understand why there is so much bicycle anger. I myself am deeply upset about climate issues, but I know who my enemy is on that. They're not for the most part my fellow Cantabrigians.

You are the only one making personal attacks by banning active members and making a simple discussion into a one way conversation if you wanted to be less toxic you should have banned everyone mentioning cars.

If those were your intentions, then your strategy is flawed.

I don't get what the example guy did wrong.

Edit: haha you blocked me so I couldn't read ur comment or respond, what did I do to you? Don't be childish.

He banned smoking tobacco in his country because of his own personal feelings towards tobacco that day. Imagine having smoked your entire life and suddenly going cold turkey. Now imagine a country where 3/5 people went cold turkey all at the same time.

Can you see why making a decision like that is wrong? A decision that affects everyone (ban on smoking, ban on free discussion) is more dramatic and selfish than just taking care of yourself (quitting smoking without banning smoking for your whole country/not commenting on posts that make you upset)?