Personally, I’m truly sorry to see him go. The board has lost a very valuable contributor.
Still, I can’t feel surprised that this happened.
You know, I can’t recall disagreeing with Coll on a single thing, but I’m still not sorry to see him go. I have to ask, is Middle East knowledge so precious to you people? There are plenty of books out there that impart knowledge on the Middle East, and they are rarely insulting to the reader.
I don’t know much about his personal background, but he often struck me as very similar to those frustrated liberal arts majors I would sometimes encounter in China and Taiwan, continually smirking at the folks back home and their “ignorance” of his (usually his) pet region, while at the same time hating his surroundings out there in Asia and loathing himself for not being able to adjust to (perhaps “lower himself” to) getting an ordinary job and a prosaic life back in his native country.
In other words, I think Collounsbury had massive chronic culture shock and took his frustrations out on the board, almost daring the SDMB to ban him.
Anyway, as a former expatriate, that’s my take on it.
I’ll miss him.
I thought he added a lot to the boards.
I never even noticed if he was knowledgable about the Middle East-if only because I found his posts so off-putting I often skimmed past them. I found it hard to read what he posted-it was rather insulting and annoying.
It was too hard to take what he said seriously.
Attn: everyone, especially the moderators.
I have no idea who this Collounsbury, but I get the impression from this thread that theres alot of dissent on the issue of his banning.
I realize that this will get heated, and i’m not advocating for reinstatement of said member, but I think this thread should be in Great Debates. Perhaps it’s not a cosmic event, but it’s certainly cosmic relative to the SDMB. Think of it as taking the case to the supreme court. The moderators and the administrators are the panel of judges and we are thousands lawyers on each side. It is not our board, but we are what make it lively.
arl I had forgotten that Col was part of that thread. Wow–brings back some memories.
I don’t think either one of us crossed the line that time, but maybe that’s because you opened your fucking eyes. 
**
No, leave it right here in the BBQ Pit. . . . He would have wanted it this way.
Anyway, Harmonix, read the forum descriptions. A thread like this absolutely does not belong in GD.
Actually, I think there has been less dissent on this case than on most “Big Name[sup]Tm[/sup]” bannings. Several folks, including myself, have expressed their regret that he will no longer be among us. I don’t recall anybody saying that the banning was unjust. Heck, I don’t think anybody has even called a mod “nazi” yet. It hardly seems like a banning thread at all.
Harmonix, complaint threads about the administration belong in the pit by default.
Well I for one think all mods are nazis…They may look harmless, riding around on those stupid little italian scooters, with all the mirrors, and listening to the Who all the time, but their facists I tell you…
Rockers Rule!
Well, you’re partially right. It’s not jerkish, in and of itself, to highlight ignorance. However, there are rude ways and polite ways of highlighting ignorance:
Polite: “Your beliefs are mistaken. Here’s why: [insert reasons]”
Rude: “Your fucking beliefs are mistaken, you drooling idiot. Here’s fucking why: [insert reasons mixed with expletives and insults]”
I can understand that the fight against ignorance can get frustrating, but, on this board anyway, that’s never an excuse to be a jerk. There are plenty of people on this board who highlight and attempt to eradicate the ignorance of others again and again who hardly ever fly off the handle or dish out insults.
Oh, goody. Let’s turn every banning into a 3-ring circus, with all the members of the SDMB holding a big rowdy debate over each one. Yeah, that’ll raise the tenor of the board.
Look: Collounsbury knew the score. He has had FAR more chances than any other user on this board. He’s come perilously close to being banned before, and he knew it. He chose to continue on his normal path, and it finally caught up to him.
If there’s anyone on this board who does NOT deserve another chance, it’s Collounsbury.
Yes, he knew a lot about the middle east. Whoop-de-do. If everyone on this board who had an expert level of knowledge behaved like Collounsbury did when people had the audacity to have an opinion about their chosen field, the whole thing would collapse. Or turn into Usenet. And that would be a shame.
Collounsbury was a terrible influence around here. When he was actively posting, the abuse level in Great Debates as a whole would climb as all his little sycophants started emulating him. When he would go away for a while, the board would actually be pleasant again.
People like Collounsbury are the worst thing to have on a board like this. The trolls and sock puppets are annoying, but they don’t chase away good, thoughtful posters. Collounsbury did.
Sorry, I don’t think I made myself clear. I was proposing a debate in the general sense. All but one here has stated Collounsbury was a long-lived valuable member to this board. I ask, does he or any other long-lived valuable member by virtue of their seniority or other characteristics, deserve special consideration in relation to the rules? In that sense I do not see it was a complaint against the administration, but rather a great question, if only in regards to the SDMB.
on a tangent, I realize the rules are created in order to keep the masses in line. but I am the first to say sometimes the rule simply should not apply to some people. I.E One of my best friends in High School failed practically every class his junior and senior year. All of them were AP courses and he got a 5 on nearly every single test. Why should the normal rules of grading apply to him? It’s obvious he learned the material, it’s obvious he was vastly intellectualy superior to those around him, and it’s obvious he deserved straight A’s. It’s rather a personal matter for me I should say because I love my friends so, and it’s his crappy ass grades that have kept him out of the top notch universities that he is obviously qualified for.
perhaps a new thread?
Oh, piss off, Sam. It’s been a very long time since there’s been a “So-and-so got banned!” thread in the Pit, and if anybody is deserving of a little comment in such circumstances, it’s Collounsbury. The guy was simultaneously a well-armed fighter of ignorance and an obvious jerk. I don’t think any SDMB regular has ever displayed both qualities in so obvious a fashion. So excuse the fuck out of the rest of us if we mourn his passing while simultaneously acknowledging the end of his abuse, eh?
Harmonix, forgive me if I fail to feel sorry for your friend.
Perhaps he should not have been in AP classes then. That being said, yes, he should have failed and yes, the rules should apply to him.
WHY did your friend fail? Nobody “deserves” good grades. One earns them. Obviously, your friend wasn’t working for anything if he failed everything. :rolleyes:
As for top universities, would it kill him to attend a community college for two years and then transfer?
Hmm? A debate point?
I don’t recall this happening. (Of course, I’m not sure who his sycophants were, but I don’t recall a lot of “Me too, fuck you” pile-ons.)
Coll knew he was going to get banned and he chose to maintain his acerbic style in spite of that knowledge. I think he brought enough information to the board that his departure will be a loss, but it is certainly true that he displayed rather more hostility than was necessary. (Even appealing to the icon of Cecil’s irascibility does not come close to the vituperative nature of some of Coll’s posts.)
I’ll miss his knowledge and his wit, but I see no point in asking him to come back and “change” or asking other posters to tolerate his demeanor because he possessed knowledge.
A comment on your friend, and by extension on Collounsbury as well: just because you have the potential to make a contribution or make good grades doesn’t mean much if you can’t get off your ass/get off your high horse and actually do it. I don’t want to raise a personal issue with you, but if your friend can’t be bothered to actually do the coursework he would rapidly flunk out of any top notch or even halfway decent university.
It’s tragic, sorry, but there it is.
“Manners maketh man”
Actually, minty, he reminds me of Satan.
Although Satan was never as knowledgable in depth on any single topic as Coll was on the Middle East.
But both were long term posters who added a lot to the board on occation, but, arguably, subtracted more than they added, could be bitingly funny and very charming, were given plenty of opportunity to back down and chose not to take them.
Harmonix, the rules apply to everyone - especially simple social rules like “don’t be a jerk”. And your friend doesn’t apply himself and - irregardless of how bright he is - doesn’t deserve a place in a top notch university when there are plenty of bright people out there who did bother to pass their high school classes. Imagine being the hard-working bright person not accepted to Princeton because they took your merely bright but not hardworking slacker friend. I know this is hard to imagine at what I’m assuming is your age (high school or shortly out of it), but there are no shortages of people as bright as your friend waiting to fill the enrollment of top universities.