I Am Here To State (about Ed's treatment in the SDMB Proposal Thread)

I am here simply to state that the level of insult and vitriol directed at Ed in the Proposal thread astounded me.

Agree.

Also, just tell me where to send money. I don’t care about any extra bells or whistles. I just want this board to stay alive for as long as possible.

And I know I’m not alone.

Agreed! Heaven forbid that we should spend a modest sum on something really good, right?

I agree. The hostility seemed bizarre. Why are these people posting here if they hate it so much?

If something you love changes in a way you hate, you still love it, but hate what it became.

Not trying to sound philosophical, but I think that’s what it boils down to. I’ve certainly experienced that more than once myself. It’s a horrible feeling - thinking that it would be better if the whole thing just died away instead of continuing in this obviously “wrong” state, even if many people are happy with it.

Also, if you don’t care about something, you usually don’t take the effort of posting about it. (Trolls are an obvious exception, though they do care - about trolling.)

Finishing with a fitting quote:

“But that was just it – hate was exactly the right word. Hate is a force of attraction. Hate is just love with its back turned.”

Terry Pratchett

Hear, hear, bobot. I’ve been appalled and perplexed by the vitriol.

Most of the criticism boiled down to, “We could attract more people like me if the mods just cracked down on the people who are not like me”.

I didn’t follow that thread because I had a feeling it wouldn’t go well. I’m sorry that was the case, and am disappointed at the treatment of Ed who is one of the key people in keeping this place going. Not warranted.

Just tell me where to send my subscription money.

It’s all part of the “my way or the highway” mentality that seems very pervasive these days. It is most obvious in politics, which has become hopelessly polarized, but it extends to most other things as well. Too many people seem incapable of tolerating an opinion that is contrary to their own without flying into some kind of rage.

This site is never going to become something that everyone deems to be ideal. That’s good, because it shouldn’t! It should be a place where we can hash out opposing ideas and opinions and emerge richer for having had the experience. Once we all think alike, there is no more debate.

I think it is less about tolerating contrary opinions and more about tolerating assholes with little to no self-control. Civil discourse fails when one side decides that the other side is not worth being civil to.

These people claim to value freedom of speech. But they have a selective belief in it.

They feel they should be free to talk about how some women are hot and some women are cunts. And they should be free to complain about what’s wrong with black people and why they deserve whatever happens to them.

But these same people will complain about how other people are allowed to call them deplorables and say mean things about Donald Trump. The board shouldn’t let that happen.

I have no interest in attracting more people like that to this board.

I don’t care too much why they’re critical; I care how they’re critical. The hatred and contempt toward Ed was sickening. (Maybe I should make that" is sickening," as it’s ongoing in the Pit.)

The thread title was insufficiently descriptive. I’ve added the parenthetical.

RickJay
Moderator

Whereas the amount of hero worship on show for someone who has no time for this place when he doesn’t need it, astounded me. Which is all I’ll say outside the Pit thread.

Helpful, @RickJay , thanks.

The hate there is out of line. Disagree if you want to, but be civil about it.

Yeah, that was pretty sickening. No matter how upset you are about the site, it is being run as a labor of love. If it’s not for you, no problem. There’s lots of places on the web to meet all kinds of different needs. But slamming the people who created this place and are in the position to make things better was grossly disrespectful and is just going to hasten the demise of the site. There really isn’t a good business reason to keep the site running. It seems to be losing money itself and there’s not really any marketing benefit for the parent company. Heaping hate on the one person who is keeping the corporation from killing the site seems like a deliberate action to get the site shut down.

Ed doesn’t run this site.

cite?

All those unmerged double user names are my cite.

I’m sure he’s instrumental in keeping the site from being killed. I’m sure the corporate accountants look at the 0 or negative revenue number from the SDMB and recommend it should be shutdown. Some people in the organization have to speak up to prevent that from happening. Insulting those people who are speaking up for the site is going to seriously diminish their motivation to keep it going.