I received a response from TubaDiva regarding this matter, and I have to say that the terms are quite reasonable IMHO. I’m both surprised by the rational policy from a semi-corporate entity, and not surprised by the fairness that comes from such a group of people that have spent countless hours in a forum dedicated to both fighting ignorance and doing the right thing. Kudos.
I kinda think it’s a bit of a shame that overt praise for the people that make this site function, is tantamount to being a sycophant in some peoples eyes. Appreciation for the Mods is I think a given, but it’s just not talked about.
Thanks Mods.
Because of your facilitation, I now know the best way to pan-fry seminal fluid, what happens when aircraft land on my treadmill, and for that I will never, ever burning your dog.
As **Vinyl Turnip **alluded to, this is really some sort of middling satire, right? Don’t get me wrong. I love this place and the vast majority of mods and rules it contains, but I for one would claim that a message board is primarily defined by the general awesomeness of its members.
And, for what it’s worth, the Straight Dope is definitely the awesome-est place on the interwebz. I can honestly say I have found no better place for fun, productive, and enlightening discussion. But, and here I will repeat myself and claim that while the mods here certainly are fair and just, enforcing rules from an administration that is rarely wrong, and generally self-correcting even when it is, the core reason the SDMB is so wonderful is the posters. It’s all about the posters. While this may seem over the top, in my experience, the average doper is a paragon of wit and social grace, whose every post is a delight. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but when I post something in a thread, I honestly feel ashamed at times, knowing that my contributions pail in comparison to the average genius here.
Of course, it goes without saying that intellect in a vacuum is meaningless. What also always amazes me is the fluid grace of how posters defend their ideas here. No matter how passionately a poster advances his or her cause, on the dope one will never find any goal-post pushing, strawman-making, or scotsman-kilting. There is no ad hominem flaming, arguments from anecdote, arguments from authority, and, (it almost feels silly to even type this because of how obvious it is), there is never, never, any woo. Really, considering the density of erudite yet urbane discussion on this board, I am constantly surprised that our fight to eradicate ignorance is taking longer than we thought.
In the end however, it’s not just about the general doper’s intellect. The social factors are the grease that makes our collective hamsters spin. Never have I found a board that is so friendly and so adept at calmly dealing with the peculiarities and peccadilloes of Joe Q. Public. Through all the pleasant discussion here, nobody ever picks nits, (at least not un-warranted), nobody ever is rude or overly judgmental, and certainly nobody ever posts any tired memes in some pathetic attempt at humor. You know, with the internet being what it is, I was worried at first that this board would be full of awkward weirdos, but I have never been so relieved to be wrong.
I guess, what I’m trying to saying with all this is… thank you. Everything; every post, every mod, ever poster, all the way down to the newest July 2012 arrival, is wonderful. Thank you for making this board the internet paradise it truly is, a place of which one cannot conceive any better. For giving me a place online which I can fit in and say I’m proud to be a doper… thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!!
This is a great board, and IMO you’re a really good guy, so can you pass me some of what you’re having there? I like optimism, but damn, you left out entire forums, let alone prolific posters that violate most of your statements daily.
Not trying to be a downer, but reversing most of your statements would result in a few, if not many, accurate descriptions of actual posts.
I love this place too, but let’s not deify it dude. It makes for unrealistic growth goals.
I feel lucky. This is the first message board I ever belonged to. Quite frankly, I didn’t even know what a message board was before I stumbled across this place.
Having nothing to compare this place to, I figured all boards were pretty much like this one.
You can imagine my surprise when I started to browse other message boards and you would see idiots posting shit like “First!” “Second!” “Third biatches!!”
So yeah, 10 years and this place is still doing me just fine.
I think the fact that so many people do take the time to criticize the mods is evidence of the good job that they generally do. Bear with me on this.
If the mods truly did a shitty job and made the board a bad one, people would just quit posting here. Most unhappy people simply walk away rather than complain. The mods have allowed this board to be, IMO, the premier message board for discussion on the intertubes.
So, when something controversial does happen, we have a vested interest in seeing a desired outcome, so we start threads and put some heart and soul into our arguments.
Bottom line to mods: Calling you an asshole simply means we care and appreciate the job that you do.
Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to say ‘all posters’. A select few, like me, are awesome though.
Yeah, wait until you’ve been here a few years, after the optimism-choking epiphany that the world is generally worse than you thought slams in to your quivering brain, leaving it an almost lifeless husk. There is such a thing as learning too much for one’s own good.
