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skeptical_lurker comments on Open Thread, Jun. 22 - Jun. 28, 2015 - Less Wrong
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If someone on LW mentions taking part in seriously illegal activities (in all jurisdictions), am I morally obliged to contact the police/site admin? I don't think the person in question is going to hurt anyone directly.
Speaking of which, who is the site mod? Vladmeir someone?
EDIT: I think I misunderstood and the situation isn't bad enough to need reporting to anyone. He was only worrying about whether he wanted to do certain things, rather than actually doing them.
I hope not (though your morality is your morality, of course). Bringing in the cops into an online discussion is very VERY rarely a proper thing to do, IMHO.
This was a very serious matter - I would not have considered calling the police for most things.
NancyLebovitz is the newest moderator at present.... and I believe the only really active one at least in day-to-day operations. Viliam_Bur was previously in that role but he backed off in January due to other time commitments.
There is a moderator list here
I didn't see the post I believe you're referring to before the author redacted it, but for me the line would be real danger to other people, which you say you don't think is the case. It any case, it would be best to go through the mods first. A pseudonymous post recounting deeds in (perhaps) unspecified places and times isn't something the police can work with. Also, summoning the police is not to be done lightly, for once summoned, no power can banish them whence they came.
I have thought about it, and contacting the police straight away would only be the right thing to do if there was some imminent danger. I probably wouldn't have mentioned it, except that it was the sort of thing which can pose an indirect threat or lead to behaviour which does hurt other people.
Anyway, it appears I got the wrong impression anyway, and he was only obsessing over the hypothetical possibility of doing things, rather than actually doing them. So this is one of the times when its good that I didn't impulsivly do the first thing that popped into my head and instead stopped to think about it.
I saw the post; it was a mix-up.
You may or may not be legally obligated (although this obligation is not realistically enforceable by law); as for morally obligated, it depends upon the nature of the act. There is imperfect overlap between things defended by law and by morality. If we're talking piracy or jaywalking or buying modafinil on the black market, you may be overexerting your civic powers here, and your conscience can relax. If the matter at hand involves violence, and you can expect to save some people through your report, then maybe it's better to get involved. For all matters in-between, both approaches may be valid in certain proportions, so apply common sense.
It was a misunderstanding, but for the record, what I thought was going on was far worse than buying modafinil, or any other illicit substance, and sort of indirectly involves violence.
A site mod theoretically has IP addresses that allow him to pick the right country when reporting to the police. As a result it makes sense to report to a mod.
If you would contact the police and then they contact the side mod, things can get more messy when the mod doesn't reply fast enough.