Hey! TomnDeb! Hey!

[XT]

@elucidator

As compared to the ones who were shocked! shocked! at my relentless parade of content-free postings, being, in total, as of that moment, two.

Shocked? From the guy who coined the phrase ‘Tighty Righties, SHIELDS UP!’?? Well, I suppose it was shocking, in the same way that seeing the sun rise in the east and set in the west is shocking.

I have to say that I was a bit taken aback by your whineage on this issue, however, though as I said earlier, I chalk that up to the fact that the mods have taken a mostly hands off approach where you are concerned. I suppose if one has been getting a free pass all along, that even such a mild spank that you received would come as a shock, and one might take umbrage…especially if the one in question was a bit, um, spoiled shall we say, by his historical treatment.

This is a little disappointing. Curiousity, mostly, to see the breakdown of Dopers who clutched their pearls and fainted dead away at the scorching epithet “Free Market Mouseketeers”.

Seriously…how long have you been a poster on this board? The mods, afaik, NEVER discuss these things (at least not with us mere mortals…perhaps they include someone of your stature in their inter-mod conversations normally). They aren’t going to give you a list of posters that took exception to your little light hearted witticism, and it’s pretty silly for you to not only bring this up but them to follow up with this statement as well. If you want to know who ratted you out (or whatever…no idea what the mods received on this), then you’ll have to ask the individual posters or lurkers in the thread. Maybe some of them will PM (in my experience, the mods frown on discussing reporting in thread…just a friendly FYI, since you didn’t seem to know the first part) you to explain why they felt compelled to flag your post for mod attention.

@tomndebb

Just as elucidator’s implications that my heavy jackboots on his neck are threatening his very spirit, (or whatever his accusation is), seem overblown, your claim that I am backpedalling seems odd.

You seem to be implying that perhaps your justified mod non-warning might have been excessive…or something. If I’m misreading you then you have my apologies.

Having received some not-going-to-be-divulged number of Reports regarding his post that I quoted and then reviewing the other posts on that page of that thread, I noted that his crack was inappropriate and also noted that the general tone of the thread could use some improvement. Both of those statements are in the actual post quoted at the beginning of this thread.

Yes they were, and I fully agreed with them (and still do), and even with your presumably 'luci inspired spanking of similar weight given to me for my padawan crack, even though afaiwc it was about on par with the much used ‘tighty right’ phrase (which I have to admit I think is funny as hell…especially when looked at a certain way). But ok, you spanked us equally…all is good and right with the universe. No hard feelings on my part, and even concede it was justified in my case. However, my feeling in this thread is that you are subtly back peddling wrt 'luci, and I find that dismaying. Perhaps I’m just misreading you, however. It just seems like a lot of explanation for something as simple as the fact that you are the mod, and we are the posters, and it’s your job to maintain order while not stifling discussion to a greater degree than is necessary to maintain the former…and if a poster has a problem with that, then it’s tough titty. Go post on a board either with no modding, or one that is inconsistently modded (which, IMHO, is worse).

Allowing such content free posts has more to do with allowing them to fade into background noise than permitting anyone to get away with anything. (I am always amused by the complaints that the staff is favoring one view or another, given that the posts cover the whole spectrum of views and the occasional objections are brought by posters from the entire spectrum of views (generally from posters whose views are in opposition, of course).

In general I agree. I don’t think there is a large (political) bias as far as the modding and issuing of warnings (official and unofficial) goes. Of course, it’s going to all be about which comments effect which people. I don’t think this is a left/right bias issue, here, more one of popularity and license (or at least the perception of popularity and license effecting mod decisions). ‘luci is obviously popular both with the board poster community and with the staff, and he’s given extra license (IMHO) because of that fact. Hell, even I like him, and generally find his comments to be fact free, but satisfying in the same way as a sugary snack can be satisfying. But some of his insults have achieved almost institutional use on this board. That’s cool, as far as it goes, since we all use broad based insults to belittle our political opponents (‘tighty righty’, ‘left wing loony’, ‘CT nutball’, ‘truther’, tea bagger’, ‘eco-fascist’, etc etc…the list goes on and on). It’s all part of the game we play here. Of course, who gets stung by the above non-exhaustive list of insulting terms is going to depend on where one is on a given issue, and which of those groups one might be a part of.

Bottom line, IMHO, is it’s YOUR job (you and your fellow mods) to make the call on this sort of thing, perhaps to tersely explain your reasoning, then to tell the poster asking that the call has been made, issue is over. PM you if you want to discuss it further. Period. Finito. Thanks for playing, here is your ceramic dog and your copy of Straight Dope, the board game, exit is over there…

-XT

[tomndebb]

@xtisme

You seem to be implying that perhaps your justified mod non-warning might have been excessive…or something.

I would have thought that I was indicating pretty clearly, although not explicitly, that I found his response to be a bit of an overreaction.

[XT]

Oh, I have no doubts as to your (or my own) opinion concerning HIS reaction…I’m just unclear whether you consider your own to still be justified, if that’s the right term. Certainly he doesn’t think it was, and equally certainly others in this thread have their doubts, which is why I was a bit concerned by what seemed to be a re-thinking on your part of your original non-warning in the thread linked in the thread.

-XT

[elucidator]

Merciful Og, XT, what else can you want? Here I stand, ragged and humiliated, spurned from every door, crushed beneath the iron boot of the Dreaded One, an object of derision and mockery, peed on by curs and newbies.

Shirley, that is enough?

[XT]

Ah, 'luci…I love you, man. But don’t call me Shirley.

-XT

[VarlosZ]

**tom **is an excellent moderator, and his posts in the linked thread were, as usual, appropriate and measured. Most mods do a fine job but could be easily replaced by any of a hundred frequent posters. A few mods could make everything run more smoothly if they quit. **tom **is one of a very small number who would really be missed; if you pay close attention, he actually moderates with a very light hand, and he keeps GD running as amicably as can be expected – the degree of difficulty for that forum is quite high.

(This pat-on-the-back has been brought to you by the Society for the Prevention of Mod Burnout.)

[VinylTurnip]

That’s not his back, and that isn’t patting.

[Irishman]

xtisme said:

Perhaps I’m just misreading you, however. It just seems like a lot of explanation for something as simple as the fact that you are the mod, and we are the posters, and it’s your job to maintain order while not stifling discussion to a greater degree than is necessary to maintain the former…and if a poster has a problem with that, then it’s tough titty. Go post on a board either with no modding, or one that is inconsistently modded (which, IMHO, is worse).

I find it amusing and puzzling to see this posted in one thread and in another thread following that practice I see complaints that the mods are unfair and won’t even listen to criticism and can’t defend their actions because they won’t respond.

I didn’t read anything in tomndebb’s posts to indicate he felt he had done anything wrong or that he was backing off in any way on his chastisement of elucidator and the rest of that thread. He correctly notes that his “mod non-warning” is a non-warning, and gives it the level of attention it deserves - moderator action to stem the fuel and moderate the tone of the thread before it goes off the rails. “You’re not cited yet, and comply so we can keep it that way.”

[VarlosZ]

@VinylTurnip

That’s not his back, and that isn’t patting.

I find myself unable to respond, as I’m not sure just how facetious you’re being.