I just noticed that an entire contingent of refugees from another message board have mass migrated to SDMB all within a period of just a few days.
Is this a first for this board, or has this sort of thing happened before?
In 6 days their thread has grown to 10 pages. Several long-time Dopers have posted to welcome them (although one seemed not so welcoming, although ambiguously). I noticed that in all 10 pages, no Mod has posted to welcome them. Is that just not done in Cafe Society?
This is what happens when you don’t address immigration reform. I blame Obama.
Huh, interesting. I wonder if they’ll spread around the boards, or if they’re going to stick to their thread.
I wonder if there is an oath for board immigrants: Are they required to renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign board administrators and moderators and must also pledge to support and defend the rules, guidelines and etiquette of this message board?
Think of it more like assimilation.
Well, they seem to have some lingering vestigial interest in their old board, but only loathing and contempt for their admins and mods. They seem to have been caught up in a mass banning of sorts, and most are saying they won’t go back.
I don’t think anyone was banned. Their pet thread was apparently locked so they came here to continue the discussion. It also appears the thread over there is now reopened.
I’m one of the refugees. I stumbled upon this thread while looking for a different one and have to say we’ve appreciated how welcomed we were by most of the longtime members who posted in our newly created thread here. We originally started off looking to migrate because of the thread we all participated in elsewhere being locked and having the riot act read to us in the form of mod warnings which accused us of some things that never went on.
Those mod posts have since been deleted. The mod posts still remaining including the one pinned to the top of each page there contain some of those accusations which I’m sure if outsiders read them they’d think our thread really contained a bunch of misfits instead of what we really are which is people who like to snark on the shopping channels themselves and the hosts who are employed by them. Occasionally we like to discuss what former hosts are up to or major events that may be occurring in their lives like a spouse having cancer which discussion of has now been outlawed too.
Even though said hosts use social media as a part of their jobs any discussion of that is no longer allowed either. In the end the snark there will probably be snuffed out in it’s entirety. Some are trying to stick around but it’s hard when rules aren’t applied to every section that talks about different TV shows, channels and etc. there equally with some show sections given a lot more leeway then others.
What’s ironic is we all started off as refugees there too after TWoP shut it’s doors for good and while they had some heavy handed moderation over things that seemed pretty crazy the snark was never really clamped down on. I don’t think anyone ever imagined things could get to where they are now at the PTSNBN. Things started off there with the general rule of “Don’t be a dick” and to treat posting there like you were at someone’s home which we took to mean as respecting other members and their posts.
Now things have snowballed into the participants in that thread being treated like we’re 12yr olds who need to live in the corner wearing a dunce cap. This post turned out to be a hell of a lot longer then I intended it to be. Suffice to say we’re a loyal bunch as long as we’re comfortable enough to keep on carrying on with snark like grown ups and treated as such.
nm
I’m really not as nutty as my previous post probably makes it seem like I am. I get way to wordy at times though. Looking forward to exploring other parts of this board.
They should fit in just fine here then.
Feel free to snark away about TV shows, hosts, products, whatever.
Use care in addressing other board members. Check the rules, understand the BBQ Pit.
Not that I am boardist but I think they should stick to their own thread. Who knows what kind of posts those types could make? Just saying.
I think it’ll be a little like brave new world; some of them might wander out of the shopping channel thread only to recoil in horror when they come in contact with the savages.
I think it would be a nice idea to give the newcomers some sample thread starting topics for testing the waters. Perhaps:
And have you seen one of their meals? Who eats that kind of stuff??? Whenever they are cooking in CS, I can smell it all the way over the Elections forum.
Not to mention those crazy hats the men wear…
Yeah but surely they can’t eat in one of our threads!
ETA : Although I don’t care what they eat (or wear) in their thread.
There have been “board invasions” before, but I don’t recall anything of this scale, and IIRC, the previous invasions have been made up of people looking to push some sort of awful agenda such as white supremacy.
I don’t recall ever seeing dozens of newbies show up all at once to post in a single thread on an utterly innocuous topic.
Dont’ know if you’re being facetious, but in case you’re not:
Based on their posts in the shopping channel snark thread, I would guess that “those types” will make posts that are on-topic, enjoyable to read, and often insightful. Have you even read the thread? They’re not a bunch of morons, and their discussion of the problems over at the other board is interesting.
I’m personally enjoying the hell out of the newbies and their thread, and I hope they start participating in other areas. We could use some new blood.
They already have seen the worst and most disgusting that we have to offer, via links to various legendary and revolting threads. Provided by me, mostly. 
Like zoid said, the catalyst wasn’t a mass banning but a temporary thread closure. That said, there are several reasons why they are so dissatisfied with the other board, and a big one is that people are frequently banned with no warning or explanation, and over utterly trivial “offenses.” So banning did play into it, even though that wasn’t why they all showed up all at once.
Fellow traveller!
And of course it’s all a piss take.