Diane, thanks!
That is without a doubt the best analogy for the SDMB I ever heard.
Tupperware party. Frickin’ brilliant!
–John
Well, I certainly struck gold on my first trip to the BBQ…I must admit, I agree completely with the “if you don’t like it, get the hell out” side. Why would you stick around only to bitch and whine??
Well, I see that we’ve lost SingleDad, one of the bright lights here, because he could no longer endure this bullshit. Before that it was MrKnowItAll, and before that it was Pickman’s model, who I also sorely miss. Polycarp has left because he was “too busy”, but is thankfully posting on Opal’s board.
There are others as well, who I can’t think of right know, because I am so fucking mad my hands are shaking.
A hearty 'fuck you" to all the assholes that keep picking on this like a scab.
Go fuck yourselves, you morons! If you don’t like it here, get the fuck out! We don’t need you. We don’t want you.
I’d rather deal with a dozen trolls than one of you.
If any of you cretins want to take me on in a flame war, I’ll be right here, assholes.
Maybe we can clear this up with one simple question: Cactus Rose, why do you spend time on this board if you don’t like the people who run it, the way it is run, or the people who post in it?
Eagles may soar free and proud, but weasels never get sucked into jet engines.
Um Wally dear…when did SingleDad bow out? This is the first I have heard and I was chatting with him last night 
See the Sic Transit Gloria thread, tech.http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum5/HTML/000931.html
Slythe, why do you assume that my criticism means that I don’t like the people who run SDMB, the way it is run, and the people who post in it?
I DO very much like the people who post here. I DO think, that, overall, this is a well-run board. Ed has seemed (to me) to be two different people in his posts, however. I could like the Ed who warned us that other papers have ditched their message boards, but not the Ed who responded to criticism with such heavy-handed warnings and defensiveness.
I admit to vanity in thinking that my post, which was supposed to sound light-hearted (yeah, it missed, big-time) might get Ed to change his behavior. After reading his outright lie/wonderfully sarcastic post :rolleyes: about conspiring with kellibelli this morning, though, these grandiose delusions are long gone.
I think there are two camps here - those who fear the board will disintegrate because Ed will piss off enough posters to make the board non-viable from the Reader’s standpoint, and those who think the board will disintegrate because the bitchers/whiners/complainers will piss off enough posters to make the board non-viable. Both camps want the SDMB to continue. I want the SDMB to continue. We just differ in our opinions of which force acting on the board is the most destructive.
Since I no longer believe Ed cares at all about what the members think, I see no point in continuing to point out that his posts have no clothes.
- A rose by any other name would still have thorns -
Does this mean that you will now stop posting your inane maronic natterings?
Because it’s over. Just shut the fuck up about it. Contribute something worhwhile or get lost.
I’m so pissed off I can’t even spell moronic.
What a maron!
Wally, Jodih, Diane…you rock. I am at your service. Can I buy you a drink, polish your earrings, etc.? (Well, not Wally w/ the earring thing, and he’s still hungover from the strip-bar debauch, so the drink’s iffy too.)
I take Esprix’s point, but there is still the issue of the host’s responsibility to provide a reasonably comfortable venue for everybody. For this party, that may be low on touchy-feely–though there are exceptions–and pretty freewheeling in atmosphere.
Okay. I’m a relative newcomer and don’t know all the backhistory and past dramas. BUT as a fairly regular poster, I’ve gotten tired and impatient with the entrenched grudges.
Continuing the tupperware party analogy, is it so hard to understand that other guests would get fed up with insistent nitpicking criticism of the host? Or other guest(s)?
My reaction was, and remains, “if you ain’t having fun, then leave”. There are plenty of parties around. There’s no holy crusade to impose your will on the gathering. State your opinion, but if the party changes character then take a polite farewell and cruise for something more suited to your tastes. You can always check back, y’know.
This isn’t a slam against criticisms or suggestions to improve the party. Trouble is, bitch-slapping, fighting and scraping off scabs are NOT positive–for anyone.
Just my opinion…I thought Ed’s posts were hilarious. Even at the oft-invoked “higher standard”, he was remarkably mild–and apt. As a hopeless SD junkie, I sure as hell don’t want Ed, the admins or the mods to turn into twitchy, paranoid PC wimps.
Sheesh, invite a buncha bright (if slightly socipathic) eccentrics to a party and next thing they’re bitch-slapping the host and clogging access to the bar.
Veb
All personal feelings aside…
This serves very well as a counterbalance to Diane’s analogy, because it is * bar none the most fucked up analogy I’ve ever read* outside a Phaedrus thread.
His posts have no clothes? What the hell? Is there a post dress code? Should my post in Great Debates wear a tux?
–John
What behavior? Demonstrating that he has a sense of humor? The nerve!
Here’s a thought:
If some of the psychodrama on this board bothers you, don’t read it.
If you are a long-time poster and all the whiners are making you crazy, don’t leave - stop reading their posts or the threads that bug you.
If you are going to do nothing but bitch about the way things are run, don’t leave - stop reading the posts or threads that bug you.
I, for one, did not read any but one thread about Melin, and that was enough for me. I avoided reading any of the Ed Zotti threads for the same reason, but since I don’t have my guts in a knot over the situation, I can read them without getting pissed.
I mean, really, people - we’re all adults (well, most of us are, and most of us act like we are). You don’t need to whine, and you don’t need to leave - you just need to be more selective about the things you read. We all have the power not to do things as much as we have the power to.
My $0.02, mostly because I hate to see anyone go away mad.
Esprix
Ask the Gay Guy! (or, if you prefer the Jesusfied version, Asketh the damn Priest Guy!)
“Never assume a malicious intent when stupidity will explain just as well.”
CACTUS ROSE says:
This will never, ever happen. Ever. Because the vast majority of those of us who post here like how the board is run and even (gasp!) like Ed, razor-edge and all. So if any of the bitchers, moaners, whiners, and complainers are just sticking around out of fear the Board will crash and burn if they leave, let me put your fears to rest. It won’t. So don’t let that stop you from going. You’ve done enough. Really.
This at least has a grain of truth to it. Heck, that’s why SingleDad left. Unfortunately, I’m rapidly reaching the conclusion that the only real solution is for Ed to stop being as tolerant and nice as he has been, and to start giving the gripers the heave-ho firmly and early. I know he doesn’t want to, but this tempest-in-a-teapot, quasi-legal threats being thrown around, this-board-is-run-by-assholes bullshit is coming up far to often. It’s disruptive and it’s counterproductive to the good of the board.
Y’know, I’ll be damned if I see any indicate by Whiners, Inc. that they give a shit whether the board continues or not. It’s administered and moderated by fascists (apparently) and I think some people would be thoroughly satisfied if it tanked. If these people wanted the Board to continue and be a positive place, they wouldn’t be such repeatedly negative, vindictive rat-bastards themselves. (And is this strong language for me? Hell, yes. I’m as mad about this as Wally is – not this contremps in particular, but that we just can’t leave this shit alone.)
No, we just differ as to whether the role of “whiner about how the board is run” is really a role that is necessary to the continuation of this forum. You think Ed is destroying his own board? Permit me to disagree with you forcefully.
Jodi
Fiat Justitia
Hiya Veb,
How about you buy me a rum and Pepsi instead of the beer and I’ll buy the next round. 
Pardon me while I burst into flames.
Now that we are in the pit Dippy/Troll3/FAKEAyesha.
DNFTT
It apparently has nothing else to do today.