My second and already final post. Ahhhh, the sadness of it all.
Welp, this is interesting. I’m looking at a post called “any wankers out there?” or something similar in MPSIMS. Many of the replies were relatively amusing I thought, compared to some of some of the other posts I’ve seen on these boards in the past. Lo and behold, Arnold Winkelried has decided it’s “beneath” the SDMB to carry on such a discussion and has closed it.
Now, to be sure, I fully understand the need for moderators, in case discussions get insulting, or rude, or otherwise out of control, but come on, killing a thread because he thinks “we’re capable of a more thought-provoking thread than that at the SDMB”? Smells like elitism to me. I thought everybody was welcome here? Or is there a required level of real-life application that has to go into each and every question posed on these boards? Is the SDMB only for intelligentsia and people with PhDs? Or are all welcome?
IS or IS NOT the particular forum in question called “MPSIMS… Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share. For general chatter, great thoughts, etc.”? Welp, a masturbation survey certainly strikes me as mundane & pointless, even if it isn’t exactly a “great thought”. But I can think of quite a few other threads I’ve seen that were much more pointless and far less entertaining than joking about masturbation. Apparently Mr. Winkelried doesn’t agree and this discussion didn’t meet with his standards, therefore it’s dead.
And, yes, I know the difference between censorship and moderation. You have blurred the line, IMHO, and there are other threads ATM that are more pointless and unintelligent, and I will be looking to see if they get closed by you in the near future as well. For example, I noticed a thread earlier involving “Middle-eastern jokes”. I wasn’t aware that racism & regionalism were staples of IMDB humor. Silly silly me.
[caveat]
For the record, I know this thread was killed right after my first post to SDMB. That’s not what has me all riled up, so before y’all start thinking “geez, this guy sure is pissed about being stepped on” no, that’s not the case at all. I know Mr. Winkelried probably wouldn’t target anyone specifically. That’s not the point. My point is that, apparently, SDMB moderators feel that they are here to decide what we, as readers, find interesting and amusing. Along this vein, they feel it’s their right to force us to post only topics that they approve of (or, at least, Mr. Winkelried does… others may also). So, that being said, I will not be frequenting SDMB anymore. Not because the posts are offensive, or inane, or unintelligent, or for any other reason than the singular fact that I’ve seen a moderator kill a message because it wasn’t “intellegent enough”, in his opinion. That’s pitiful and elitist and I don’t wish to be a member of this kind of community.
Best of luck to all,
Stork