I realize that it’s been made abundantly clear in this thread and elsewhere that this is Ed’s board and he gets to do what he wants. I’m cool with that. But I think the key word in this whole situation is ‘hypocritical’. Correct me if I’m wrong, but as far back as I remember it, if any other board member tried to pimp their warez anywhere in a thread, they were given a mod warning to cease and desist upon pain of banning. If it’s on the rule books that marketing/plugging merch is a bannable offense, it’s a glaring double standard, and it should be carefully revisited (which is not to say I think that this would be a good idea). If it’s not on the rule books (anymore?), I’ve got an ecommerce site that I’d like to direct your attention to…
This in addition to the other points brought up up-thread (fitting in with the SDMB ‘atmosphere’, possible lack of expert interest/support, too ‘special interest’, redundant in relation to ‘Cafe Society’, etc., etc.) makes it seem like a hastily done, ill-advised action.
Marley23 and FarmerChick were absolutely right in pointing out I misread Marley’s response re. the three forumshitting threads shut down – I’d misapplied the reference to the Game Room forum instead of the Barn House forum – and with it goes some of my ammo that enforcement of the rules has been selective. I can’t believe I was so obtuse and continued to pursue that error.
I still feel, though, that when it comes to threads critical of some aspect of SD board organization or administration, it probably behooves the mods to err on the side of caution and to go ahead and let the Dopers have their say. I see no shortage of threads critical of various political candidates, to pick but one category of popular subjects, and there’s been scant effort to shut down redundancies there. So when one or more mods goes on a Monty Python Sir Lancelot-style berserker campaign against threads critical of Zotti’s vanity forum, it looks bad and smacks of abuse of power, toadying to authority, and so forth.
Way, way upthread (page 9), a couple of posts argued that the Barn House forum isn’t really such a big deal or so bad because it doesn’t cost us anything, in terms of time or money, to ignore it or scroll past it. IMO this is a spurious argument. If the makers of Viagra managed to buy space on the Washington monument to hang an ad, it wouldn’t cost us citizens any money [the converse would be true, actually] or time, but it would still be an odious eyesore and an erosion of our collective public space and dignity and integrity as a nation. Bottom line, that vanity forum sticks out like a sore thumb and annoys many or most of us every time we see it. Its style, organization and very existence flies in the face of the standards and precedents previously established on this board. Its continued existence (and enthusiastic defense by the mods) is an affront to common sense and good taste and further erodes the community goodwill, trust and amity built up amongst our little virtual community.
We Dopers should unite behind a Do Not Feed the Troll Forum [is that the correct lingo?] policy and refuse to contribute to it. I hope conspicuous shunning leads to the Barn House forum’s either being withdrawn or recast as a standard-format, non-book-pimping general house & garden/buildings & construction [or whatever] forum.
Oh, and FarmerChick, you can take your quisling enthusiasm for Zotti’s vanity forum and shove it where the moon don’t shine.
Threads aren’t being closed in the Barn House and warnings issued because dissent is being quashed. They’re in the wrong forum. If we were trying to squelch people voicing their dissatisfaction on this topic, this thread would have been closed as well.
While I can’t recall any specific threads within the Game Room itself, there have been numerous complaints (one thread in ATMB as I recall as well as a smattering of posts here and there) about the forum. It was hardly added without dissent or concern. These complaints came from multiple users, though I would not say that the reaction was comparable to the Barn House reaction. The complaints included “Why do sports and games need their own forum?” type posts as well as “Sports should not be included with games” type posts. Nobody was warned as the complaints were not repeatedly aired within the forum itself.
Threads aren’t being closed in the Barn House and warnings issued because dissent is being quashed. They’re in the wrong forum. If we were trying to squelch people voicing their dissatisfaction on this topic, this thread would have been closed as well.
QUOTE]
No. Different forum. To close this thread you virtually have to close the Pit.
Jesus Christ! I love the SDMB as much as anyone, but it’s not a freaking national monument. It’s not even part of the public space. It’s a private, commercial space dedicated to promoting a column and series of books. Is it really an affront to our collective dignity that it is also used to promote a book by the prominant long-time editor of those works? Really?
And does it count as Godwinization when someone gets called a quisling just for disagreeing with a poster?
Personally, I like anything that helps promote the boards, the Straight Dope, or Cecil Adams.
Funny; I thought it was dedicated to fighting ignorance, even if it evolved from a site promoting the column. And it is a de facto public forum and virtual community insofar as the bulk of the message board is geared to encouraging discussions of anything and everything – so yes, the Barn House forum is an odious affront to what has made the SD a great message board.
Normally, yes, of course. But I figured Godwin was suspended when the mod Marley23 snarked about panzers rolling in the Sudetenland. And I called FarmerChick a quisling not for disagreeing with me, but for posting an uncritical thread in the Barn House forum.
Me too, within reason. But lots of reasonable people are taking issue with the reasonableness of Zotti’s new vanity forum.
Yeaaaaah, but no. It doesn’t belong to us. I’m sorry to be the one to break it to you, but it doesn’t. You know that coffee shop you go to every morning and get your cup of extra whip half caff no foam soy cafe latte? The store doesn’t belong to you. You know that neighborhood organization you run to knit new kid gloves for the local prostitutes? That doesn’t belong to you. You know the job with Assfinger Inc. you’ve worked at tirelessly for a decade singlehandedly cornering the market in digital anal analysers? You guessed it. The business does not in any way, shape or form, belong to you!
The owners of the business can decide what they want to do with the business. Which is also why your “analogies” on previous pages fail horribly. I agree with all of them! The business can decide how the business wants to conduct business. And clearly they have. Zotti got a forum.
You, as a patron, get to do two, and only two things
To quote The Perfect Master, " Boys don’t get intimate with girls who are illiterate."
I’m a pretty paranoid guy and even I can’t see that this has anything to do with the upgrades. Jim, TubaDiva, Ed and the rest of the Admins have fought long and hard to try to get all of the upgrades going. When I buy software, I know it’ll have problems for a while. When I get a new piece of hardware, I know there’s a learning curve. Jim has been nothing but transparent in listing ALL of the issues he is working on- and asking for input from us on issues he’s not caught yet.
The upgrades are the upgrades. The new Forum doesn’t have a thing to do with them.
What may bug me the most is that I would likely be interested in participating in a forum on home repair/remodeling, but - rationally or otherwise - the launch and naming of this new forum leaves such a bad taste in my mouth I am refraining from doing so - at least at present.
It seems like in so much of society we have authority figures and commercial interests flat out lying to us, and doing whatever they feel they can get away with. Yes, I always realized these boards were far from a public forum. But I had foolishly thought that there was some degree of mutual respect between the posters and those in charge, and an appreciation for what both parties brought to the boards.
I am pretty jaded and tend to have pretty low expectations of just about everything - including this board. Just ratcheted my opinion down several notches for the administration to essentially say “Fuck you. We’re doing whatever the hell we want. And we’ll throw up disingenuous explanations while doing so.”
I don’t think for a second that I have any significant impact on these boards, or that my $15 will make any significant difference. But I had initially thought it would be worth continuing to pay up simply to support what I considered a worthwhile institution, especially in contrast to so much mediocrity (or worse) that I encounter. I’m not saying I’m going away, but I am reconsidering whether I wish to give any more money to this organization.
Let’s not fool ourselves. The monthly ad income per Doper who views ads will (should anyway) far exceed the palsey $14 a year for not seeing them. Plus the ability to post for free will increase traffic.
I still fail to see why some of you do not understand that the SDMB is not an ad venue for The Barn House, The Barn House is an ad venue for the SDMB and by extention to the column franchise itself.
And yes, the goddamned earth still rotates around the motherfucking sun, why won’t you listen to me about that as well?
And yet you still prattle on like the weasly guy whose breath smells of tuna and is always complaining about the air freshener who everyone wants to kick out of the carpool. I’ve seen some of you in the picture threads and I know it ain’t true but the mental image you are bringing up is an amalgamation of Milhouse VanHouton, Professor Frink, All Three Springfield Nerds, The Comic Book Guy and anyone else who has ever worn a retainer, huffed on an inhaler and gone into a panic attack because they were 3 minutes late taking their alergy pills.
FarmerChick - I’m glad I’m not the only one who sees some serious comprehension issues with what’s going on.
Um… no.
The new forum may be an affront to what, by your perception makes the SDMB a great message board. If so then you are certainly entitled to your opinion. But your perceptions have nothing to do with the other thousands of Dopers, some of whom may agree with you and some who may not. Your perception is no where near my reality.
If Ed’s trying to get more people on the SDMB, it’s going to fail once a newcomer opens this thread.
The reaction will be something along the lines of, “Hmm… another internet message board were people are arguing the like children over something stupid.”
