It's about time things changed on this MB.

About This Message Board
1

I am just going to establish that I am glad to see an attempt to make the atmosphere around here different. I find this place any more much too filled with complete assholes who think that they are entitled to be jerks to other posters and (most especially) to the moderators and/or administrators, mostly because of the flimsy excuse that they have paid their $15 (or $7.48) and are thus entitled. They act like the Powers That Be are supposed to SERVE them, get all pissy if they don’t get their way, and generally act about like the worst of the adolescent students I get in my classrooms.

This has made this Board a much less enjoyable place any more. I rarely bother with Great Debates, because the invective in there is both juvenile and predictable (Republicans are stupid morons! Oh yeah, well Democrats eat shit!). General Questions is rarely filled with anything interesting any more. I spend more time in the Game Room, mostly talking about soccer, or in the Cafe, talking about Tolkein or about Star Trek. Boring stuff, really.

So I hope the new changes DO drive out some people. I hope that the place begins to spiffy up a bit. I hope that the juvenile delinquents go shuffle off to Buffalo, and that we get some new blood in here that behaves like they can disagree in a civil fashion, and is interested in fascinating stuff.

Just my two cents worth.

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Then leave.

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What are the changes?

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My two cents:

This board used to be (and still is) a place where a lot of cool, and sometimes crazy people get together to discuss all kinds of topics. What drew me to the board was it’s willingness to breach sometimes taboo topics, and the sheer candor and bald honesty on display. Sometimes this presents itself in crude or vulgar ways, but we’re all adults here.

What has bothered me most about the changes in the board recently (and by recently I mean over the last couple of years) are the growing number of posters, including yourself, DSYoung, who refuse to challenge or question the staff when they make absolutely boneheaded, stupid, or ignorant moves for the sake of “not rocking the boat” (or some similarly brown-nosing attitude).

On the one hand, it’s just a message board, so I don’t see why we need all these rules. On the other hand, it’s just a message board, so I don’t see why we need to worry about rocking the boat.

I complain a lot about the way this board is run precisely because I enjoy hanging out here and I’m of the “squeaky wheel” camp when it comes to enacting change. I don’t expect that a message board devoted, of all things, to fighting ignorance should have a problem with that mindset.

I have left, and refuse to pay my membership to something so poorly run. But I don’t feel I’m entitled to anything. I just hope that eventually someone with some common sense, and an smattering of business acumen and customer service expertise will eventually take the reigns.

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I’ve reported the OP, not because I’m a delicate flower that feels insulted, but because I think this is the sort of thread that people may be confused about under the new rules.

If this were in the pit, would DSYoungEsq’s use of ‘assholes’ and general tone be against the new rules? Or, is this the sort of thread the should go in the pit, where you can make general complaints about fellow posters, but not attack one in particular?

Any thoughts from a passing mod or admin would be appreciated.

Thanks.

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In the interim, what are your thoughts on my passing gas?

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Is the second part of this statement actually true? Is there an age requirement for posting? I’ve always assumed that most posters were teenage boys.

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{Bolding mine}
I friggin’ hate this usage. It’s much less enjoyable any more? What does that even MEAN? How about “It’s not enjoyable any longer,” or maybe, “I’m not enjoying myself any more”? These words do not fit together the way you are using them.

Regarding the sentiments of your OP (which is in the wrong forum) - yes, the riffraff we’ll attract from the internet will be much better than the long-term posters that are falling away. That’s a guaranteed win.

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maybe it’s because I’ve been gone for a bit but I can’t tell if this post was meant to be sarcastic or not…

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I find the attempts to make General Questions an authoritative source are a bit heavyhanded, as are things like not allowing users to include a link to their web page in their sigs (something that was allowed for years and does not violate any written policies).

But they’re just minor issues and haven’t really hurt anything.

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Moving thread from IMHO to ATMB.

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So, the OP is still hoping for a mod slot, I see.

Hope you don’t get it. You wouldn’t make a good one.

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Aren’t these things still allowed under the new scheme?

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I’m amused that you think the new rules will change that.

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As I said in my thread asking about the coming changes, I think having the Pit, where staff can be tarred and feathered and where a pretense of free speech is allowed, is one of the things that give people here a sense that this place is cut from a different cloth than the rest of the internet and gives people more sense of an edgy community. Without it this place probably won’t die, but it’ll be a lot less interesting and distinct from the thousands of others out there with “Marquess of Queensberry” rule sets.

Next stop, mediocrity. But hey, maybe it will keep and attract more candy asses and get enough advertising dollars to keep an old hack at his job. Good luck with that.

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DSYoungEsq, you know from the other thread that i disagree with you about this. What’s more, it seems to me that your OP here really doesn’t make much sense, in terms of the board changes you seem to be hoping for.

In some ways, i agree with your points about GD and GQ. I sometimes open GQ and look at some of the questions and think, “Jesus Christ, a three-second Google search would have answered that.” And GD does at times demonstrate the sort of attitude that you describe, with thinly-veiled insults. The question, though, is whether the new rules are going to make any impact on that whatsoever.

I readily admit that i can be an asshole at times in the Pit, and i’m not shy about telling people what i think of them. But even in the Pit, i like to think i’ve made plenty of coherent and well-argued posts that contained no abuse at all. Also, for the most part i do try, when i’m posting forums like GQ and GD, to stay not only within the letter, but within the spirit of the rules there. It could be that i’m not always successful, but if i enter a GD thread, i try to restrict my responses to fairly carefully measured and rational ones. Similarly, in GQ, i try to avoid taking gratuitous potshots or making lame jokes. Again, i might not always be successful, but i think the rules for those forums are good ones, and i try to stick by them.

For your OP to make any sense, you have to assume that the people who are fucking up GD and GQ are the same as the ones who are opposed to the new Put rules. I’m not convinced that’s the case, and nor am i convinced that the changes we’ve seen recently will do anything to address your complaints. In fact, as others have suggested, it could be that it does more harm than god, as people who feel that they can’t let of steam in a specially-designated forum become even more likely to act like assholes in the other forums.

If i really believed that the problems you find with the rest of the board could be traced back somehow to the Pit; if i really believed that the flaming and the abuse that goes on in the Pit were some sort of cancer that lowers the tone of all the other forums; then i’d be on board with your position. But i don’t believe that, and i think that any problems in places like GD and GQ need to be addressed in those forums. The declawing of the Pit will surely make some people happy, but i don’t think it will improve much else around here.

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Ok. I’m having a problem with this post, and here is why:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7697044#post7697044

None of these provisions are new, and this thread was never in the Pit. I gave you a pass back in December over some snark in General Questions, and it appears you’re still at it. I’m trying to be fair here, and I’ve issued you no warning yet. Thing is, I’m having a lot of trouble seeing your side of it. Can you please explain to me how your post does not violate these provisions?

Gfactor
Moderator

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It’s not insulting to observe that someone appears to be hoping to become a moderator, which is the honest impression I’ve formed from reading multiple “Gee, the mods rock” posts from this poster over a period of time.

It’s also not insulting to observe that someone would not make a good mod. A person either possesses those qualities I consider desirable in a mod, or he does not. I might note that we currently have one of the longest threads in board history telling Ed Zotti he isn’t a good mod, either. Plenty of posts in that thread are a whole lot snarkier than my post here.

I did not call him any names. I haven’t tried to pick a fight with him. I haven’t stalked him. I’ve said it looks like he wants to be a mod, and I don’t think he’d be a good one. I’m pretty sure you know that if I wanted to insult him, I’d have done a better job of it.

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I’d agree with you if it was just the Pit that was at issue. But it’s not. The postings here in ATMB are often classic examples of the sort of attitude I think is making the place less enjoyable. The rule of the day in this forum tends to be snark, regularly aimed at the volunteers (note that word, please (and yes, I know that you, mhendo understand that’s what they are, but I’m asking those who are reading and may forget this to remember it!)) who offer their time and effort to try and make this place more enjoyable than it would be if there were no moderators or administrators. Often the attitude displayed seems to be an assertion that these volunteers OWE something to the posters here. The focus of such posters is “me, me, me, me!” Consideration for the others who use the forum seems to be an unimportant concern.

As I understand it, the changes going on here aren’t just designed for making the Pit a better place. They have as a general goal making the whole experience of this Message Board more enjoyable for those who inhabit it. For me, that’s a good thing, and I hope that the “management” are successful in accomplishing that.

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Agreed.

While it might or might not be, can you see how it might come off as being a jerk to volunteer that information, unsolicited as it was here? I think that’s the part that gives me the most trouble.

True.

Well, I’m not so sure about that, but I’m willing to accept your statement at face value.

I assume so.

Ok. That’s a sufficient explanation. Thank you counselor.

No warning issued. Case dismissed.