Oof 
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Nope.
Nope.
Yebbo yes.
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35 posts were split to a new topic: COVID-19 exposure notification apps privacy concerns (GAEN API / COVID Alert SA)
There’s layers of nuance to such a seemingly simple question. Specifically when you ask “all that”.
Did we need the initial 21-day lockdown? Absolutely yes.
Did it end up being necessary to extend the lockdown because it turns out our country no longer has the resources or expertise to rapidly ramp up testing and intensive care facilities? Also yes.
Did we need to ban cigarette sales for so long? No!
Did we need to ban alcohol sales for so long? No!
There were several middle grounds / compromises that were completely untested during this whole debacle.
Could we have temporarily raised the “sin taxes” significantly rather than completely ban sales? One academic paper says yes.
Should government have unbanned cigarettes with alcohol? Absolutely yes. The continued ban of cigarette sales just made no sense whatsoever.
Could government have allowed restaurants to serve alcohol while sales were banned for home consumption? Possibly. Unfortunately there are establishments that would take the piss, but it would arguably have been useful to at least test this for two weeks.
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Anyone that’s not convinced in the virus, I’ve never had less respect for any group of people that you. Talk to me again when you’ve also lost a family member to the virus!!
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Yea I agree here people that say its “just a flu” need to wake up and see that its not!
What grinds me every day is people just thinking this thing is a joke. I go to the store some person is right on my ass I move forward to keep my distance they move again. I more once more they do the same I take them on and I am seen as rude ! WTF. (This happened to me a few days ago.)
People not understanding how to use a mask properly. When you tell them “Hi sorry your nose of not covered " I got asked " Are you a Doctor ?”
Idk sometimes I dont understand humans
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I am sorry for your loss 
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While I share your frustration, it is important that we attack one another’s ideas and not person.
For clarity: I use the word “attack” in the academic/debate sense. Nothing wrong with attacking argument with argument in a respectful way with the goal of increasing mutual knowledge/understanding.
I also appreciate that most people don’t like any kind of fighting, online or off, so I’m in two minds about whether to continue to stoke debate. I don’t want people to feel chased off because I happen to like a good debate 
.
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OT: This has to be the most popular topic I ever created… 
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laughs in threadkiller
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Hey y’all
I’ve been messaged privately by folks who didn’t like the personal attacks that came out of this most recent debate, and so I believe this is something that needs to be addressed from a moderation standpoint.
One of the many things I love about MEW is that we’re an incredibly diverse group people brought together by our shared love of gaming.
It is wonderful to be able to discuss gaming and non-gaming related stuff among a group of friends where you know you can assume good faith.
I’m really hoping that when we disagree and debate charged issues that we can extend that same good faith to one another.
Having a place on the Internet to have such discussions is basically unheard of nowadays. Everyone keeps to their own echo chamber, and so we all grow divided. Focusing on the small things where we differ, instead of the big things that unite us.
However, I also recognise that there are some topics that have become so charged that a constructive discussion just becomes impossible. People quickly divide themselves into two camps and all good faith goes out the window.
I don’t care if we disagree about religion, politics, climate change, vaccines, the shape of the earth, COVID-19, or whether Bobby Kotick is overpaid… so long as we do so civilly.
That said, the MEW community is more important to me than any one topic.
If you’ll indulge a brief anecdote: I’ve actually had a throw-down fight with a very good friend of mine not because of the COVID-related point he was arguing, but because of the way he was arguing the point. That kind of debate is not a debate, but a fight, and is completely pointless because you’re not actually dealing with the meat of the issue. Fortunately, we are very good IRL friends and managed to get to the other side of the fight without hating each other. Had it been anyone but a close friend, though, such a fight would probably have been a very destructive.
One inflammatory issue must not be allowed to wreck the relationships on this forum.
So I’m asking that from now on we all consider very carefully how we engage with this topic. Be careful about making off-hand jokes in the heat of a debate. Always, always stick to the point being discussed and don’t conflate two points of view, or a point of view with an identity.
Part of the problem with discourse since the 2010s is for some reason holding one opinion gets you lumped in with a “camp”.
What I’m trying to say is that we—MEW—contain multitudes. And that is a wonderful thing that I will fight very hard to protect.
There are many discussions in this topic that I think have been extremely valuable, like the questions about the privacy/security of the COVID Alert SA app and the GAEN API, and I don’t want to shut that down.
Hence this appeal. Please, please keep it civil in this topic. If I’ve overstepped the bounds, let me know so that I don’t do it again either.
If needs be, we’ll close this topic, but ideally I wouldn’t want to.
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Wow I miss a lot on days when I go visit clients.
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That was quite a post @SIGSTART
MEW is a great community and when debates happen on the forum regardless of what it is it should still be seen as a debate and never an attack.
I don’t feel that closing this tread will change anything as COVID-19 is here and that’s not going to change. This forum to me is a home yes not everyone will agree with everything but that’s what makes MEW an amazing community to be apart.
COVID-19 as a topic has affected each person in many different ways that is what makes this such a hectic and heavy topic on the forum but I feel being mindful that debates are debates and never attacks on people.
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Ai… China never ceases to amaze.
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'Rona, she ain’t done just yet.
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President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump test positive for Covid-19
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You beat me to it!
(Also I hope you know where that gif is from if not we need to talk)
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Is it bad I burst out laughing?
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I suspect a lot of people did
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