# Coldfire -- Not a warning my eye. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 9, 2003, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008 "2003-12-09T20:22:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**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 10, 2003, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008/83 "2003-12-10T04:54:46Z")
> [@](#): > > The “center” of the board, if we took everyone’s political spectrum and found the median individual, is to the left. Thus, you have to go pretty far off the liberal deep end to get pitted, and usually have to be doing something else pretty bad (like plagiarism) to get the full force of the board’s ire. You could probably dance around the board celebrating Communism and never get pitted, but posters are routinely pitted on the whiff of a hint that they don’t fall 100% in line with the gay rights agenda, for instance. Um, **Rex**? There is a newbie right now being raked over the coals for his unabashed orgasms over Lenin and Marx. But yeah, it’s a LEFTIST board! The horror! We all know that **december** was really banned for being a RIGHT WINGER! Give it up already. ---
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008/84 "2003-12-10T04:55:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lynn Bodoni \* > \*\*Well, actually, no. I recall at least a couple of posters DID get pitted and eventually banned for doing just that. Their only reason for posting seemed to be furthering an agenda, which is against the rules. \*\* Well, the example that was in my head was **Chumpsky** , whose Communist agenda went unfettered until it was discovered that his particular brand of Communism didn’t respect _intellectual_ property either, such that 90% of his posts were straight plagiarism. At any rate, I wasn’t thinking of bias in the mods and admins, who IMHO tend to be mostly even-handed (though I’ve personally been less than thrilled with **David B** in the past, he’s the exception.) I was saying that I think the board _membership_ has an overall slant to the left if one considers the median position rather than the extremes. ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008/85 "2003-12-10T04:56:29Z")
So, agree with **margin** ’s screams of misogynist to those who dare disagree with her, and I’m **Andy** ’s cheerleader, but those who kiss up to **margin** with their “You go girl, for telling that big mean guy what a doodyhead he is.” are absolutely correct? Pot? Is there a Pot in the house? We’ve got a phone call from a Kettle over here. And how creative, telling me that because I think **margin** is a whiny little idiot who cannot recognize an objective fact when it is shoved down her throat and who hides behind the word ‘misogynist’ because she could never keep up with a real debate, I must hate my vagina? Where the hell do some of you come up with that horse shit? The fact that **margin** is a whiny little idiot has no bearing whatsoever on my set of genitals or how I like them (which, by the way, I’m quite happy with the factory installed parts). Oh, and **Guinastasia** , did you have something of value to add to this thread or are you going to continue to post unoriginal and childish two-line drive by style? Cause if you really want to do those quick shots, you’re going to have to be much more witty for them to be effective. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008/86 "2003-12-10T05:01:58Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by DavidByron \* > \*\* How can you all live with treatment like that? Get yourself a free board somewhere else. You don’t have to put up with crap like that._\* Sounds good! You head out first, we’ll be right behind you. ---
**Author:** ![Chavardz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@Chavardz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chavardz)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008/87 "2003-12-10T05:07:10Z")
Two mods, one revered ex-mod and an administrator now? Maybe Cecil will pop by. ---
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008/88 "2003-12-10T05:10:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*Um, **Rex**? There is a newbie right now being raked over the coals for his unabashed orgasms over Lenin and Marx. > But yeah, it’s a LEFTIST board! The horror! We all know that **december** was really banned for being a RIGHT WINGER! > > Give it up already. \*\* My observation had diddly-squat to do with bannings, I was talking about the board’s median political leaning and used pittings as an example to show that, at least on some hot-button issues, the board has a default position on the left of center. I assume **december** was banned for constantly using inflammatory thread titles that came a hair from trolling, and I’m sure everyone (myself included) was tired of his accusations of anti-Semitism at anyone who disagreed with an Israeli policy. But I stayed the hell out of that ban-discussion thread, figuring hot heads would rule the day and precipitate worse to come, so I can’t really take an informed position on that action, and see no reason to go back in that lion’s den when it’s irrelevant to my point. If we threw a topic out there in GD or IMHO as a test case to see what responses we got, a position with a clear left-right dichotomy in the positions one might hold, my money would be on having more leftist replies than right-wing replies. Even if the number of out-spoken Dems and GOP’ers balances, there are still the socialists/Greens on the left side, and the “moderates” who are primarily left-center. I think the scales tip to the left, when all’s said and done. As this is a message board fueled by a column in an alternative newspaper, this ought not be so surprising, and so long as the mods maintain their neutrality then I don’t think it hurts anything to just acknowledge the leftist slant to this board’s membership, a claim which is clearly obvious on its face. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008/89 "2003-12-10T05:19:42Z")
You folks have got to be kidding. I’m left-of-center on most issues, but that doesn’t mean I can’t see **RexDart** ’s point: there is _definitely_ a liberal slant to the majority of posts on this board. It doesn’t bother me (much) because it generally aligns with my own views, but I can certainly acknowledge that it’s there. ---
**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 10, 2003, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008/90 "2003-12-10T05:25:35Z")
Well, **RexDart** , if you’re saying we tend to attract more of a lefty crowd, well, I’d agree with you. I thought you were saying though that the mods are obviously liberals and thus biased-which they were accused of when **december** was banned. My appology. (And I mean that-I’m not being sarcastic). That being said, I still see **SAL** as a sexist dick. Maybe not a misogynist, but I’m sick and tired of his inability to distinguish between a rational feminist and a crazy manhater. ---
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008/91 "2003-12-10T05:39:00Z")
God, this is fun. > [@](#): > > That feminists write longingly about a world without males says as much about them as that racists write about white people rising up to overthrow the international jewish conspiracy . ``` Uh, yeah. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008/92 "2003-12-10T05:53:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nametag \* > **Andy** , you remind me of a scene in _Starship Troopers_ – the book, not the movie. It’s a scene in boot camp – the drill sergeant marches in a recruit, accusing him of disobeying a direct order. The drill sergeant has a black eye, but doesn’t mention it, and nobody says anything about it. The recruit makes excuses, and insists on dragging things out – and that’s his right. But he finally yaks enough that it comes out that he hit the drill sergeant in the eye – a capital offense – and the recruit is hanged. Had he kept his mouth shut, he’d’ve gotten off with a few lashes (yeah, Heinlein’s a brute). Actually, the recruit in question would have “gotten off” with thirty days extra duty and a diet of bread and water. It was when he said he’d punched Zim that he was given ten lashes and a discharge. He was not hanged; the recruit who _was_ hanged was a deserter who disappeared early in the course, committed murder, and was subsequently arrested and executed. People who get details wrong are _so fucking annoying!!_ ---
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008/93 "2003-12-10T06:00:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\* > That being said, I still see **SAL** as a sexist dick. Maybe not a misogynist, but I’m sick and tired of his inability to distinguish between a rational feminist and a crazy manhater. \*\* I can somewhat see your point here, and I understand how this sort of crossed-wires communication could drive one batty. In light of your apology in good faith, I’ll reciprocate and apologize for being rather rough on you regarding your earlier post in this thread. As for **SAL** and the surrounding issues, I just think the problem ultimately lies with the ambiguity of labels. For instance, as a libertarian, I’d like a word that means “feminist principles that lie within the scope of a libertarian position.” Some principles do, but the postmodern deconstructionist stuff doesn’t, nor does alot of the retributive justice rhetoric. But I’m familiar with the writings of Simone de Beuvoir, she’s one of my favorite 20th century philsophers, and I find much of it agreeable. So with the simple label of “feminist” all that’s available, I can’t meaningfully say I’m pro- or anti-feminist. For every person that uses the word to mean something compatible with basic libertarian principles, there’s another who attaches 40 decades of garbage onto it from radical college professors, and this excess baggage makes the philosophy unendorseable by many. And I think there’s a big problem on this board with people reading an implied “all” into statements and then going “HAHA, generalization!” For instance, if someone suggested that people don’t eat dogs, and I replied that this view was somewhat Euro-centric and that people do eat dogs, would it be proper to read an implied qualifier into the statement, transforming the assertion into “(all) people eat dogs”? Surely not. I think it’s improper to assume that anyone not using the magical anti-generalization word “some”, a prophyalctic against the nitpickers around here, is automatically endorsing all other qualifiers. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008/94 "2003-12-10T06:03:49Z")
Not to derail a track wreck in progress, but I just wanted to say that I caught **Coldfire** ’s point right away. **SAL** , you’re a dick. Unofficially. **Coldy** threw on his Moderator Cap[sup]TM[/sup] long enough to announce that the thread was closed. ---
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008/95 "2003-12-10T06:09:20Z")
> [@](#): > > And I think there’s a big problem on this board with people reading an implied “all” into statements and then going “HAHA, generalization!” Problem is, this was in fact pointed out to SAL over and over again. It became apparent that he really did believe that feminists in general wanted a “Final Solution.” ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008/96 "2003-12-10T06:19:46Z")
> [@](#): > > That being said, I still see SAL as a sexist dick. Maybe not a misogynist, but I’m sick and tired of his inability to distinguish between a rational feminist and a crazy manhater. He’s balls on right about **margin** being an irrational and constant ‘victim’. You wanna go ahead and call me sexist for saying that about margin and feminists like her? ---
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008/97 "2003-12-10T06:35:43Z")
Feminists like me being the ones who kicked you off the Ms. boards for lying when you agreed to their TOS? You’d be funny if you didn’t reveal yourself so clearly every time you bitch and moan. ---
**Author:** ![Nightime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Nightime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightime)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008/98 "2003-12-10T06:43:03Z")
On one hand, it was a good thing to post the statistics. If a guy had started a thread called “Companies hate males” and said “I wanted to write a report on a male CEO, but every company I went to had a female!”, even with pristine intentions, I would expect someone to post a cite that the majority of CEO’s are male. There is no problem with that part. But on the other hand, there was no need to accuse the OP of trying to be a victim. It was a good-natured OP and mostly a joke. I don’t think Andy is misogynist, so much as he is hypersensitive to females claiming to be victims in areas he feels males are the real victims. I don’t think he hates women - I think he is scared, and hurt, that many women want to get rid of men (in his opinion). Since he’s got a cool user name, I won’t hold it against him, but he should apologize to Slainte for accusing her of bad intentions, when he could have just posted the statistics and acknowledged that she was just joking. ---
**Author:** ![Nightime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Nightime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightime)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008/99 "2003-12-10T06:45:38Z")
Oh, and Coldfire was right on. Andy doesn’t seem like a bad guy, but if he continues to post valid cites and statistics, and then combine them with unwarranted attacks, he will get in trouble. ---
**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008/100 "2003-12-10T06:48:31Z")
I don’t wanna bring drama from another board here, but can I get a clarification? No offense intended, but **catsix** , are you a woman, by which I mean a _biological_ woman? I feel really stupid asking that, but I don’t know you well enough to know your gender, and around _here_ one never can tell, I don’t frequent the more chatty boards here enough to know personal details. AFAIK from discussions elsewhere on the 'net, the only thing that’ll get you kicked off the Ms. boards is being a male masquerading as female, since they’re a no-males board, right? But at any rate, I gather those boards are really prone to toss around the “mysogny” accusation even at women, so it wouldn’t surprise me either way. ---
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008/101 "2003-12-10T06:49:26Z")
**Nightime** did you _bother_ reading the linked thread in the original thread where he accused feminists of wanting a “Final Solution” about men? I’m sorry, but I just don’t see the humor in that kind of Godwinism. ---
**Author:** ![margin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@margin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/margin)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008/102 "2003-12-10T06:58:45Z")
> [@](#): > > AFAIK from discussions elsewhere on the 'net, the only thing that’ll get you kicked off the Ms. boards is being a male masquerading as female, since they’re a\*\* no-males board, \*\*right? God, that ought to be funny. After all, everyone knows that to be feminist means you want stuff to be segregated. It’s a ‘no trolls’ feminist board. The TOS states that in order to post you state that you are a feminist or sympathic to feminism. > [@](#): > > But at any rate, I gather those boards are really prone to toss around the “mysogny” accusation even at women, so it wouldn’t surprise me either way Beats me. But catsix isn’t a feminist, so she lied when she clicked on the “I agree” button when she joined up. **Shodan** and **David Byron** also did the same thing, got found out and banned. I gotta love the idea of somebody saying that the MS. boards are female only. My, my, my. That’s worthy of Christina Hoff-Summers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coldfire-not-a-warning-my-eye/218008.md?page=6)