# Holy crap! No more Dio? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 15, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416 "2011-09-15T18:01:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416/221 "2011-09-16T03:47:59Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Roll call of the Fallen… **Collounsbury, Reeder, Aldebaran, Dio** … Don’t forget **Satan**! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416/222 "2011-09-16T03:51:54Z")
The interest and entertainment value of this SDMB is diminished without Dio. That said, I can see why the mods made the choice they did. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416/223 "2011-09-16T03:57:03Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > To the contrary, like newspaperman Finley Peter Dunne, Dio’s mission was to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable. Everybody lies on one side or the other of that line as he drew it, so it is not surprising if he ruffled at least half the feathers around here. Well, the infertility thread, at least, was not about comforting the afflicted. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416/224 "2011-09-16T03:58:54Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > That said, I can see why the mods made the choice they did. The mods didn’t really make a choice; Dio did. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416/225 "2011-09-16T04:00:17Z")
Sing with me, brothers and sisters. Tom Petty didn’t know he was writing about **Dio** when he wrote this: > [@](#): > > Well I won’t back down > No I won’t back down > You can stand me up at the gates of hell > But I won’t back down > > No I’ll stand my ground, won’t be turned around > And I’ll keep this world from draggin me down > gonna stand my ground > … and I won’t back down I agreed with about 99% of his arguments. But I don’t particularly care if I’m right or wrong about any given thing, and I care even less about what someone else thinks about whether I’m right or wrong. **Dio** cared too much. It was all too important to give ground on. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416/226 "2011-09-16T04:01:16Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > The board will seem different, that’s for sure. For some reason I really kind of liked **Dio** , and found that I had no trouble separating the wheat from the chaff when it came to his posts. I’ve felt from time to time that he spent far too much time on this board considering he’s married and has three (I think) children. I doubt that he’ll find other boards as compelling as this one, with perhaps the result that he’ll begin to spend more time with his family and to develop more rewarding interests. > > Speaking from personal experience, this place can really get a grip on you if you’re an argumentative type of person (:p) and it can be hard to pull yourself away to do other things that in reality would be more rewarding. Hopefully **Dio** will now be able to live a life centered more upon his family and the world outside this board, and I think he’ll be a better person and have a happier life if he does. > > The bottom line though is that I’m sad he’s gone. A huge element of the board’s personality and a fair amount of well-expressed knowledge has been lost and that’s gonna take some getting used to. A commendable epitaph, with which I agree entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416/227 "2011-09-16T04:02:17Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > The mods didn’t really make a choice; Dio did. Nonsense. Both sides had choices to make. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416/228 "2011-09-16T04:20:37Z")
BRAVO! I can’t believe TPTB finally had enough of him, but I’m glad to see the end to his posting here. I can’t begin to count the number of threads he ruined for me as a reader. Not as the OP, but just an interested reader. Most people don’t register on my radar screen out here, but he did, and too often. And before someone comes in and tells me I didn’t like his politics or his opinions, don’t waste your time. I didn’t study Dio enough to be able to feel educated about his politics or opinions. I remember a few things about him that he seemed to work into a post whenever possible, but Dio was not someone who rubbed me the wrong way because I thought he was wrong all the time. He simply rubbed me the wrong way because of his posting style, his continual overtaking of threads, his word-game posts that added nothing more to a thread than to infuriate people and his enjoyment at doing so. He did this all the while getting the approval from TPTB - even though Dio continually approached the “line” (of good taste, of being a jerk, or actual rules violations), he rarely crossed it. My feeling on that is and always has been “rubbish”. This has been long overdue, and like him or not, agree with him or not, he was someone that many people felt he received different/preferential treatment from TPTB. I was one of those people. Given that partial list from TubaDiva in her OP on the subject, I think it’s pretty clear that the perception that there were different rules for him than for most other posters out here was easy to understand. Those were his latest warnings. How many more did he deserve and not get? How many more did he have in total? It doesn’t matter anymore. He’s gone. He earned it. From my limited POV, he added far less than he added to the board. I, for one, will not miss him. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416/229 "2011-09-16T04:36:59Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Much the same was said about **Collounsbury** at the time, yet the board has managed to struggle along without him. Yes, and the board has fought less ignorance since then, due to the withdrawal of Collounsbury’s specialist knowledge. > [@echo6160](#): > > And about those “potential” contributions… 😕 What could they really have been? It’s not like he was the only clean source of water in an arid desert. Fer chris’sake it’s the internet! There’s plenty of smart people around here. … > You know that saying “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.” Well guess what? \*\*Dio \*\*almost \*always \*said it wrong. Our ability to fight ignorance on certain topics has been diminished. Dio had detailed knowledge of the scholarly literature on early Christianity, buttressed by fluency in ancient Greek. The board’s mission is advanced by substance more than style. > [@Marley23](#): > > [This post in particular](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=14254736#post14254736). [I mod-noted him for it here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14254784&postcount=63). In combination with these other two warnings, ([#1](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=14097926#post14097926) and [#2](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=14219440#post14219440)), the staff became convinced that he was not going to improve his behavior. > > ETA: I see **TubaDiva** just posted to address this, and a couple of us, including me, spoke to **Diogenes the Cynic** about the situation he was in following the suspension. Thankfully, Dio didn’t make a habit of challenging every mod admonition or warning. But these seem to be warnings about excessive snark[1] , not direct insults. Hey, the DNBAJ rule is broad, deep and well conceived. But I oppose this particular application. [1] Though there was the Sep 4 “F—head” incident. That was a direct insult. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416/230 "2011-09-16T04:38:38Z")
Man. I hoped he’d shape up, not ship out. ---
**Author:** ![Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crown_Prince_of_Irony)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416/231 "2011-09-16T04:41:29Z")
He was warned last month that his posting privileges were under discussion (in the second thread TubaDiva linked) and so it’s not surprising that he was shown the door when it happened again. Overall, I feel it was a proper call (I won’t say a _good_ call, but proper). While I thought Dio certainly kept everyone on their toes, and will be missed by many, he did establish a recent pattern of behavior over the last couple of years, of making every thread his personal Pit thread, without much regard for forum rules, polite discourse, or peoples’ feelings. I don’t recall that he was quite this… aggressively insensitive several years ago (I could be wrong, as my attendance here has gone in fits and starts over the years). I concur with **Starving Artist** (did I just say that out loud?), in that I hope Dio will find something that gives him more pleasure than the Dope. While these boards can be a very special little corner of the interwebs, it can be a bit hard to disconnect yourself from - now that disconnection has been done for him, I wish him all the best. Here’s to hoping he doesn’t call anyone a [bad word redacted] while discussing the weather in line at the supermarket. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416/232 "2011-09-16T04:47:27Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Hell, he labeled _himself_ an “expert”… I always considered his user title a mild form of trolling. Coupled with his posting style, I’m surprised TPTB didn’t also. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416/233 "2011-09-16T04:48:32Z")
He may have been a nice guy but he also made a habit of personally attacking posters outside of the pit, disingenuously presenting his opinions as fact, repeating the same tired rant instead of addressing opposing viewpoints, and ignoring the rules of the board. It was way overdue. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416/234 "2011-09-16T04:48:35Z")
My God. I don’t want to feel sorry for the guy, but contributing over **57,000** (!!!) posts to a website to have them say they don’t want you anymore? Regardless of whether he deserved it or not, that’s gotta be heartbreaking. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416/235 "2011-09-16T04:55:25Z")
I agree with whoever said the line about smacking around ignorant christians. His knowledge of biblical languages and biblical scholarship was far greater than mine and provided me with many interesting posts. On other subjects and threads, I simply ignored him and it worked great; I highly recommend this method. (I’m not shedding a tear for him, because dude, it’s a messageboard, but I’m not cheering either because I don’t see it as some great event and anyway my pom poms are in storage.) ---
**Author:** ![Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crown_Prince_of_Irony)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416/236 "2011-09-16T04:58:25Z")
> [@Cyberhwk](#): > > My God. I don’t want to feel sorry for the guy, but contributing over **57,000** (!!!) posts to a website to have them say they don’t want you anymore? Regardless of whether he deserved it or not, that’s gotta be heartbreaking. ☹ Wow, I just looked at his profile, and he averaged just shy of 18 posts per day for _9 years_! That’s at least a post per every hour he was awake - if I was on the Dope that often, and that consistently, my wife would have strangled me by now. I really do hope Dio finds something to fill whatever void the banning leaves. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416/237 "2011-09-16T05:04:42Z")
> [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](#): > > Wow, I just looked at his profile, and he averaged just shy of 18 posts per day for _9 years_! That’s at least a post per every hour he was awake - if I was on the Dope that often, and that consistently, my wife would have strangled me by now. > > I really do hope Dio finds something to fill whatever void the banning leaves. That’s why I posted earlier that I suspected he was really unhappy IRL. I’m also still surprised by all the people professing that he was an “expert” when it came to religion. He certainly knew about early Christianity than most and did a good job at coming across as authoritative, but considering the mistakes he made and the way when you followed his links you found on many threads he deliberately misrepresented things, I have little confidence in the idea that he was “an expert” as opposed to competence. Similarly, I’ve had more than a few people treat me like I’m an expert on Israel, the Middle East, or Islam, and while I know more than most on the dope, I think it would be ridiculous to call me an expert. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416/238 "2011-09-16T05:04:57Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Uh this certainly seems like a bad call. Bricker, Magellan, Shodan and Clothy are all as or more rigid than Dio, and aside from Bricker, none have as much valuable knowledge. He wasn’t banned simply for being rigid. > [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > To the contrary, like newspaperman Finley Peter Dunne, Dio’s mission was to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable. Except himself. > [@zoid](#): > > He may have been a nice guy but he also made a habit of personally attacking posters outside of the pit, disingenuously presenting his opinions as fact, repeating the same tired rant instead of addressing opposing viewpoints, and ignoring the rules of the board. > > It was way overdue. Amen. > [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > In over ten years here, I’ve never once complained about the moderators, but this is just a fucking stupid move. Yes, he refused to back down from a position once taken, but anyone with half a brain and a sense of humor could see it for what it was, schtick. Too bad these boards are populated with so many humorless pedantic morons who fell into his web so easily. Sorry, he did it with an intensity and tenacity that to me indicated it wasn’t just a schtick. > [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I like the way he still gets under people’s skin. Cheers mate. He used to bug me a lot, but he responded to a post of mine in the Pit in such an over-the-top contrary-to-reality way that afterwards I just couldn’t take **anything** he said seriously at all. > [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > I’m talking about people who post discredited cites that several posters will carefully and painstakingly take apart and show that they are false, only to have the offending poster repost the same cite later on. They are performing exactly the same behavior that got Diogenes banned, albeit with less profanity, the same profanity that one hears dozens of time a week in normal conversation. Posting discredited cites, however little they may be worth, is NOT against the user agreement. Using personal attacks and being a jerk are. It’s as simple as that. > [@](#): > > Congratulations on making the SDMB a much less interesting place to visit. I hope you’re proud of yourselves. Personally, I’m relieved. > [@Cliffy](#): > > I was always comforted that **Dio** was there, waging the battles I was too fried to wage. Sure, he was a jerk sometimes. Who wouldn’t be? But which came first: being an extremely spirited poster (to put it mildly), or being a jerk? ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416/239 "2011-09-16T05:25:02Z")
Why not just restrict his posting to The Pit? Seems like 95% of the bannable posts would have been fine there. The majority of reactions here seem to be saying “Wow, that’s terrible. Sure, he deserved it, and then some, but still just terrible…” That way he could have continued posting without running afoul of the rules. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416/240 "2011-09-16T05:35:18Z")
So, I was wondering, if a person gets banned, are they allowed to come back as another name? Not to continue trolling or whatever they were banned for, but like they learned their lesson, yada yada yada, and wants to come back and made a new name for himself. Or will he be banned if any mods find out its the same old guy? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-no-more-dio/596416.md?page=13)