Jojo, so, if you have good information, the rules don’t apply to you?
When did the rule change to “Don’t be a jerk, unless somebody deserves it?”
It should have been done much sooner but late is better than never.
No Guin, what I’m saying is that middle eastern society is so alien to 99% of the people who post here that it takes a bit of harsh-sounding language to make people understand what’s going on over there.
People who live in western christian dominated culture all share certain similar values and belief systems. People from middle eastern countries have different values and belief systems.
They behead people all the time in Saudi and most people over there don’t even think there’s anything wrong with that. There’s a huge gulf in understanding between western culture and middle-eastern culture.
In order to bridge that gap it’s sometimes necessary to talk straight from the hip. Collounsbury’s reasoning and language seems harsh to us but he was merely reflecting the way many people think in the middle east.
As such, Collounsbury served as an important conduit between western culture and middle eastern culture since he had a foot in both camps and the intelligence to comment on it.
DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN.
Loopus,
If someone deserves it then you’re not being a jerk by highlighting their ignorance.
It kind of depends on where you draw the line between the importance of fighting ignorance, and the need for civility. I have no idea where that line should be drawn…I trust that the administration did what had to be done, but that doesnt mean that I enjoy it…
Jojo wrote:
Ignorance of what, Jojo? Your pet issues? Or may I rip you a few new assholes for your ignorance of logical fallacies, and watch you react with greatful praise?
Sadly, that’s not true. When Collounsbury first became active, he and I were very often in the same GD threads, and usually on the same side. Our interests and POVs were complementary, and I found his more detailed knowledge about certain areas both interesting and informative.
But I stopped reading Coll’s posts and generally shied away from getting involved with threads in which he was active about a year ago, for a simple reason – it was getting unpleasant to read them. I was never an object of his scorn, but that didn’t make it much more palatable.
If I am representative, his diatribes not only affected those who incurred his wrath, but people who otherwise would have learned something from him, had it been written in a better form.
Sua
So are you attacking these three people??? or is this a joke i don’t get???
Sua,
I accept he was rude (probably too rude) and I agree he does seem to have been exceptionally rude recently which is why I said I think he should e mail Lynn with a promise to tone his rhetoric down a touch. And rejoin.
Maybe this banning will be a sufficient rebuke to him?
I think he’s due one chance for all the ignorance he’s disspelled (I’ve certainly learnt a lot).
I will miss him. I haven’t been very active recently, so I have apparently missed the many warnings and aditional fallout. He always seemed to me both very knowledgable and sincerely interested in sharing that knowledge with those who were curious. And I nver found his style to be unnecessarily abrasive . . .
but that probably just says something about me.
Fare well, Collounsbury.
A sufficient rebuke? He was warned several times. You make it sound like this would be the first wake-up call he had been given.
If you are ignorant about the Middle East, and I am ignorant about the protocols of basic civility, we are merely both ignorant.
I’ll say. It never bothered me, either, but rules is rules. Hell, if it wasn’t for the dual Collounsbury and Mundi attack on me when I first joined (ahh, Ayn Rand…), I wouldn’t be the ignoramus I am today. At least my mistakes are more varied and interesting. 
**
Somehow, I can’t really picture C doing this. It’s a shame really, as I suspect C will end up missing the SDMB as much as many SDMB poster’s will miss C.
I have to agree with most of JoJo’s sentiments. But, as lots of people have already remarked, his banning was unfortunate, not unforseeable.
I also have to sympathsize with some of his basic frustration. It is frustrating to go over the same basic ground over and over again only to have a new thread pop up a week later with some of the same nonsense – often being spouted by some of the same posters. There are inevitably arguments in Mid-East/Islam threads that are the rhetorical equivalent of Jason. You blow them full of holes and chop them to tiny bits only to see them resurected as good as new in the next thread.
The SDMB probably will be more civil without him, but it won’t be more interesting or more informative.
I find Tamerlane sufficiently interesting and informative.
Personally I never had a run-in with Collounsbury, but I did follow the recent thread in which some people felt he got ‘special’ treatment as he skirted the edge of the ‘don’t be a jerk’ rule.
He was a jerk many times, and finally got called on it.
As someone pointed out at the time, all we had were his words to judge him by, and as many have acknowledged his knowledge and insight of the Middle East, many as well acknowledged his abrasive manner.
Libertarian,
You seem to be firmly in the “Ban Coll” camp. Did he perchance call you a “drooling idiot” or something one time maybe?
Hey he insulted me too, I don’t let it get to me. Maybe you are overly sensitive?
Actually, if anything, his abrasive style would make it harder to take him seriously, because it’s very off-putting.
Shouting at people and calling them stupid isn’t likely to get them on your side.
You know, the whole fly-honey-vinegar thing?