# Be afraid, be very afraid **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 19, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750 "2010-12-19T20:56:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750/21 "2010-12-20T00:18:33Z")
Martyrdom is so fucking boring. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750/22 "2010-12-20T00:21:58Z")
[QUOTE=DianaG] I never have before, but I just gathered them up and told each of them their life stories, mostly to annoy prr, whose “people who love their pets are crazy” shit is getting tiresome [/QUOTE] And I suppose this doesn’t qualify as an open admission of trolling me, ether? Just checking. That’s giving an answer that reflects the opposite of her true feelings, but done “mostly to annoy” another poster. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750/23 "2010-12-20T00:25:37Z")
**PRR** , you are not helping your cause here. Hell, you’re making me regret posting what I did. If you want the warning retracted, then this would be a good time to stop “helping”. If you just want to raise some hell…well…whatever floats your boat. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750/24 "2010-12-20T00:31:10Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > If you just want to raise some hell…well…whatever floats your boat. Nah, what I want is some Mod telling me how \*\*Czarcasm \*\*was acting in an official capacity, how he had issued an instruction at all, much less a clear one, and while I’m at it, how **DianaG** ’s admission is not a textbook case of trolling. Also, of course, a pony. Thanks for your comment earlier, btw. Thought it big of you to recognize a principle, even if you and I have tangled in the past. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750/25 "2010-12-20T00:51:32Z")
I have to say that I expect a moderator to be explicit when acting as a moderator. If you’re not going to say you’re acting as a mod, at least call out what rule is being violated. I didn’t see either one of those in Czarcasm’s post. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750/26 "2010-12-20T01:05:15Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > Oh, please. [and blah blah blah]. Let me guess: you’re a pet-owner, right? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750/27 "2010-12-20T01:10:58Z")
Here’s how I see this one, and I haven’t heard from the two mods who were involved: either **Czarcasm** should have made it clear he was moderating if he was acting in an official capacity, and/or **Ellen Cherry** should have given a warning for being a jerk instead of ignoring mod instructions. Either way, we’d end up with the same result: a warning for **pseudotriton ruber ruber** for some obnoxious comments that are not excused by “it’s just my opinion.” **pseudotriton ruber ruber** , you’ve been here a long time and this is not the first time you’ve been moderated for this kind of behavior. Nobody should need detailed explanation of why your comments about oral sex on pets were jerkish, and even if **DianaG** ’s post counted as trolling (which it doesn’t in my opinion), it wouldn’t be an excuse for yours. You know what the rules are. You’re leading me to the conclusion that you are being rude to other posters intentionally and then trying to nitpick your way out of it when the staff calls you on it. If so, it’s not going to last very long. If that’s not your intention, I think you should take a breather before posting on a topic that gets your goat, and think about how your words might come across to another person. You’re intelligent enough that you can avoid these kinds of misunderstanding if you want to. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750/28 "2010-12-20T02:21:08Z")
Is it Sunday again already? ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750/29 "2010-12-20T03:17:31Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > Let me guess: you’re a pet-owner, right? I am, although I’m also someone who thinks people who talk to their pets like they can understand them are nutty as fruitcakes, so I’m not sure what that tells you. ---
**Author:** ![Library\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cab0a1/32.png) [@Library\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Library_Boy)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750/30 "2010-12-20T03:42:38Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > I am, although I’m also someone who thinks people who talk to their pets like they can understand them are nutty as fruitcakes, so I’m not sure what that tells you. That you need to enunciate better. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750/31 "2010-12-20T03:52:42Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > to disagree with a moderator when he is NOT acting as a moderator, nor is he issuing official warnings. > > In this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=589867), \*\*Czarcasm \*\* busts in and informs me that my request to have all personal remarks hijacking in the OP belong in a Pit thread should result in MY starting a Pit thread that I have zero interest in starting. I “burst in”? Where did you get the idea that I need _your_ permission to intervene when a thread in a forum _I_ moderate starts getting out of hand? Your multiple posts in that thread were, in my opinion, inflaming the situation, so I _tried_ to diffuse the situation by suggesting that you move that part that caused you to post over and over again to the pit. No, I didn’t make an official proclamation and decided to take the informal route for the sake of someone who has been posting here for a long time, and for that I apologize-but then again, you used to be able to take a hint without too much prodding. [QUOTE=pseudotriton ruber ruber] I’ll start what I fucken well feel like starting, kay? [/QUOTE] Speaking not as a moderator at this point, but as someone who has truly enjoyed your posts over the years, I’ve got to ask-what the hell is wrong? ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750/32 "2010-12-20T04:18:07Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I apologize But the warning still stands, right? If I knew you were moderating, I would have responded differently, most likely. That’s what this ATMB thread is about–I feel like you suckered me into giving you back what you were giving me, as a poster, and then the big reveal: you were wearing your Mod cape the whole time–ha ha ha on me!! So I made a little fun of \*\*Kyla \*\*, but it was nowhere near a Pit-level mocking–as I said, she asked us to tell her if she was nuts, and I thought she was, and I told her so. I’m amazed that if you felt so strongly that the decorum was getting out of hand, you let **Diana** troll me as she did, blatantly, openly admitting that she was saying shit she didn’t believe, just to annoy me. You let things get out of hand, IMO, when you (or someone) decided that your post was so obviously an official warning that I needed to be given a hard time for giving you a little backtalk. Far better to ask me to tone it down, no mod warning given, or ask me and \*\*Diana \*\*to get into whatever crap we want to in in the Pit but not to hijack the current thread (\*\*Gfactor \*\*is especially good at doing this in a light-hearted but firm tone.) That probably would have gotten the result you wanted. So that’s what happened (in that thread). In a larger sense, I’ve found this place to be declining as a community in general over the past few years. Maybe that accounts for my increased rudeness. Or maybe its the change in my meds, I don’t know. Probably I’m just getting old and cranky. I do appreciate the attempt to treat me with civility and kindness towards the end of your post–probably I could apply some of that tone to my own posts. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750/33 "2010-12-20T05:28:21Z")
Where’s **Liberal** and his checkbook when you need him? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750/34 "2010-12-20T05:43:33Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Where’s **Liberal** and his checkbook when you need him? What ? You can’t afford to remain a charter member ? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750/35 "2010-12-20T05:47:50Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > One more point. Anytime I feel one of my threads are getting shitted, should I report it ? Actually, a good number of threads seem to get derailed by threadshitters but up till now I didn’t realize that there might be a rule against it. When someone threadshits in one of my threads, I typically call them out\* on it as soon as I notice it. If they continue argue with me about it I report it and move on. Normally a mod will tell them to knock it off. _Usually something along the lines of "If you don’t like tattoos_\* that’s fine, go start your own thread, don’t shit all over mine" \*\*I don’t know what it is about tattoo threads, but for some reason people who don’t like tattoos just can’t seem to keep their opinions to themselves about them. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750/36 "2010-12-20T06:53:55Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > What do you say when your girlfriend asks you if those pants make her ass look big? Well, if she asked on an anonymous board I’d tell her “sure, they do”. The SDMB is not the place for hugs and kisses. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750/37 "2010-12-20T06:55:23Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > What ? > > You can’t afford to remain a charter member ? Nah, it’s a joke referring to when \*\*Liberal \*\*offered to pay **PRR** money to leave the board ( **PRR** left for awhile, but then came back saying he and **Liberal** worked it out to where he could come back–but as for whether he got the money or not is something that was never answered). ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750/38 "2010-12-20T07:36:05Z")
While I agree that **Czarcasm** ’s response read more like a suggestion than an “official moderator commandment” or whatever… **Czarcasm** ’s response was polite, and **pseudotriton ruber ruber** ’s response was quite rude. Should have been warned for being a jerk, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750/39 "2010-12-20T07:44:35Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > In fairness, I think **PRR** has a point here. \*\* Czarcasm\*\* did not indicate that he was acting as a mod, nor did he issue an unambiguous instruction > > \ > > Sorry, but this warning can’t stand. It’s based on a violation of a non-existent moderator instruction. Perhaps it could have been issued on other grounds, but as issued, it’s bogus. > > It is not fair for a poster to have to guess whether a mod is acting as a mod or not, and if so, whether an enforceable “instruction” has been given. Those things should be made explicit. > > Bad call by **Ellen Cherry,** and the warning should be retracted. Yep, i agree with this. And nor do i think, as some have suggested, that the warning should simply be changed from “Disobeying Mod instructions” to “Threadshitting.” If a mod can’t do their job right the first time, they shouldn’t get a do-over. A simply admonition to stop threadshitting would have been sufficient anyway; it didn’t need a formal warning. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > I have to say that I expect a moderator to be explicit when acting as a moderator. If you’re not going to say you’re acting as a mod, at least call out what rule is being violated. I didn’t see either one of those in Czarcasm’s post. Not only that, but we’ve been told on multiple occasions, by moderators and admins, that they will make very clear when they are acting as moderators, so that there is no confusion. It simply didn’t happen in this case. That’s not the end of the world; everyone makes mistakes. But **Czarcasm** ’s oversight shouldn’t result in a formal warning for the OP of this thread. I have to concur with **Oakminster** though, **prr** : your ongoing performance in this thread makes you more and more difficult to defend. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750/40 "2010-12-20T07:54:36Z")
This isn’t like a US criminal trial; you don’t get the charges dropped on a technicality. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/be-afraid-be-very-afraid/564750.md?page=3)