Poly: I don’t know if you are a Terry Pratchett fan, but I just finished with one of his books, Interesting Times. In there is a character, a barbarian, who takes things rather literally. So when he comes upon a guard who says, “I’d rather die than fail my emperor!” the barbarian kills him on the spot. A teacher who has come along for the ride tries to explain the idea of a metaphor, but it never quite gets through.
On a slightly (but maybe not much) more serious note, over on Fido there was a lawyer who continually threatened to sue people whenever they disagreed with her (she was a, shall we say, interesting case – she tried at one point to get in to the Waco compound while the FBI had it surrounded). Mostly people backed down because they didn’t want to be the target of a lawsuit. Finally, the then-moderator of the Politics conference (my predecessor there) stood up to her and told people that if she sued them, he would defend them (he was an attorney as well – last I heard, he made judge). Strangely, she stopped showing up on the Politics conference…
Oh, who cares?? I mean really. Nickrz questions Sue’s motivations, Melin questions Nickrz’s motivations, Melin questions Ed’s motivations, everyone responds, everyone gets mad. Nickrz offered an apology, which Sue graciously accepted. Can’t we hammer the coffin lid on this?
And if someone threatens to sue you over something as trivial as all this, tell them to have at it. Then give me a call and I’ll defend you for free. Attorneys who use their education to unjustifiably threaten or harass laypeople deserve to have their heads handed to them. (And, no, I am not talking about Melin, who to my knowledge has never done any such thing.)
Melin: Not to appear taking sides here, but your suggestion - even if properly prefaced - that
doesn’t seem optimally conducive to more “harmonious” relations. Apologies were offered, even if not spontaneously :), and I believe that was one step in the right direction.
My main goal in starting this thread (in the GD Forum) was to provoke an exchange of ideas and opinions (debate was a poor choice of word), giving both parties an occasion to vent as well as to praise. Kind of clearing the air and… accentuate the positive (as the song goes). Of course, many of the opinions expressed were already known, but it did give other members the chance to speak out for the first time on the subject, and to administrators and moderators the chance to elaborate on how they see their role.
Hopefully, the discussion will continue along those lines.
Yes Cyb it was racist, it was also badly masked profanity which is not the kind of club a fellow as beloved as yourself is wise to leave hanging around (there are folks more TOS happy than myself). but hey the fact that you don’t get it is unsuprising.
Hey, hey, hey!! This is the BBQ pit, so I guess it’s pointless to ask people to play nice. But wasn’t there an agreement to leave this who-should-or-did-apologize-for-impugnating-whom-and-why crap behind and start fresh? Can’t you people find something new to bitch about? I’ll start: Bruce has a potty mouth and DavidB is a shitty air hockey player.
Jill
Drats. I had really hoped emotions would have cooled down by now, so that I could walk away from this without stirring anyone back up.
[[Newsflash (Part 1): Ed & Nickrz apologized.]]
I believe this was largely due to the persistent efforts of Melin, who is a friend of mine. You may question her methods. You may question her motives. For my part, I was, and still am, moved that she went this far out on a limb for me to correct a perceived injustice. Moved, but not surprised. You see, she’s done this kind of thing for a number of other posters, who know who they are. I am impressed with her willingness to stick up for what she believes in, even when it is not popular.
[[Newsflash (Part 2): I accepted.]]
I had truly hoped this would all die down, and am somewhat puzzled by the number of posters after the fact just putting in their 2¢. What’s really perplexing, though, is that some people are deliberately cranking up the heat, naming names, pointing fingers, and dragging this out, while nominally saying “Geez, such a little thing to make such a big fuss over.”
[[Newsflash (Part 3): Police on scene say “Nothing more to see here, folks. Move along. Go on home.”]]
Omni-not, I’m sorry your thread got moved to the Pit, and hijacked to cover what was already dealt with elsewhere. You’ve raised some good points, although maybe the timing could have been better, but that’s strictly MHO. I don’t know why the management is as touchy as they seem to be about feedback. I think we all know this is not a democracy, but, because we care about this place, offer our opinions about changes we would like to see. But I care about this place because there is an incredible diversity of knowledge and perspectives represented. There are some truly nice, caring people here, and when that gets overwhelming, some pretty caustic wit to balance it out. And this board lets one person be all of the above, which is liberating, when in our real lives, we have all those expectations to meet.
Sue from El Paso
Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.
Ha! I can whip your ass any day, FIT! At least as long as you don’t flash me or lunge across the table or something bizarre like that. Hell, even then I bet I could beat you! Nyah!
Glad to see you’re still making friends wherever you go, Cyberian. Hey, isn’t it about time for you to start fulminating again about how Jews are conspiring to undermine Christianity. Because, you know, not all of us are sleeping …
Since no one gets paid for handling these message boards lets just let the Administrators administrate and the monitors monitor. 'kay?
I mean, I like me, but if I had the commands to wipe people off of the board and keep them off, man oh man would I have fun! So, I would not make a good monitor. Best to leave things alone or you might just wind up with a monitor like me. Hell, if I were a monitor, I’d probably even suspend me from the boards!
I’m sure your explosive post is more accurate in assumption than fact. How are they doing this? It would appear that Christians do a better job of that than anyone else.
“All rising to a great place is by a winding stair.” F.Bacon
Yo, John John! “Yuck Fou” is the masked profanity. If you’re going to deny that you’re masking profanity, at least do a better job of masking it in the first place.
Monty, if you’re ever in NY you must try Yuck Fou’s specialties. I think you would like, sum dum gy, wy su dum and plick soup. If that is not to your liking you might want to try, won hun lo, or sum yun gy. Don’t forget the fortune cookie
“All rising to a great place is by a winding stair.” F.Bacon
