Vague moderation terms proliferate rather than settle disputes

Evidence

Categorical terms like “sexually explicit” or “vulgar or obscene” do not close down contestation, they proliferate it: what counts as explicit? vulgar to whom? All the caveats and clarifications in the world cannot make assessment any clearer; in truth, they merely multiply the blurry lines that must be anticipated now and adjudicated later. This is an exhausting and unwinnable game to play for those who moderate these platforms, as every rule immediately appears restrictive to some and lax to others, or appears either too finicky to follow or too blunt to do justice to the range of human aims to which questionable content is put. — Tarleton Gillespie, Custodians of the Internet, 235

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that qualifying language doesn’t sharpen rules but multiplies the blurry lines — each caveat creating new edges to adjudicate — is a genuinely counterintuitive linguistic insight that generalizes to law, contracts, and policy design.
• XREF: connects to: Hate speech rules defy clean policy because of diverse legitimate contexts — Tarleton Gillespie, Custodians of the Internet: Platforms,…, 190; Rules without concrete instances are meaningless hindrances — Burton, Steven J, An Introduction to Law and Legal…, 148; Vagueness itself functions as an instrument of domination — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 114 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Vague definitions in policy guidance enable prejudice-driven implementation. #exemplifies (0.85) — A. Hussain, N. Meer, Framing Muslim Integration, 405
• Vague ideological slogans can mask rather than resolve real political contradictions #corroborates (0.85) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2766
• Incomprehensible terms force users into uninformed agreement #expands (0.82) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 310
• Vagueness itself functions as an instrument of domination #expands (0.80) — Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment, 114
• Deliberate opaqueness in dispute resolution discourages parties from litigating to judgment. #qualifies (0.80) — Lisa Bernestein, Opting out of the Legal System, 88
• Rules without concrete instances are meaningless hindrances #corroborates (0.78) — Burton, Steven J, An Introduction to Law and Legal…, 148
• General vague norms give way to specific rules as communities lose shared meanings. #qualifies (0.75) — Frederick Schauer, Formalism, 27