I was sorry the earlier thread about Tomndeb being a “weasly *****” was closed down by the mod, because as you may remember I had decided a couple of weeks ago to fuck off SDMB, largely because of the constant personal dislike and hostility towards me by Tomndeb.
But to my surprise, I found that my subscription still runs until April, so I might as well get my money’s worth until then. If I am correctly informed by Tomndeb in his previous answer to me, Straight Dope does not work like some other sites that automatically charge your credit card for a renewal unless you tell them otherwise.
I think the word “weasly” was appropriate because Tom is always very careful to be calm and apparently impartial and reasonable. This makes it very difficult to give a precise cite. He is is careful in that respect. It is only when you add up all the condescending smartass comments he makes to those the does not like that you start to see how “impartial” he really is. Such as the time I pointed out that homosexuality is condemned by the Catholic Church as an “objective moral evil”. In his answer, he so kindly (and consdescendingly) regretted that I had not been better instructed about mortal and venial sins in my 13 years of Roman Catholic education.
The subtext to this comment, of course, is that I am the ignoramus who does not know what he is talking about and Tomndeb does.
Or the time he kept after me for the ridiculous technicality that I had mentioned in passing to someone that atheism was a capital crime at one time in England. He harassed me over half a dozen messages because in fact atheism was a form of heresy and it was heresy was punishable by death. As if that made a rat’s ass of difference to my original statement, in the context of my posting, which was simply that people like me could be executed for their refusal to believe, in the past.
Reminds me of the law professor who asked what was the difference between incest, fornication and adultery and was told by a student “I dunno, they all feel the same to me!” May I submit that being executed for your religious opinions feels very much the same no matter what the legal nit-picks?
So anyhow, I have decided that to run away would be to let people like Tomndeb win. If he wants to ban me he can, but I will continue to post until he does.
Thank you so very much for sharing this with us. Best of luck in your future endeavors, wherever they take you. Have a nice trip. Write if you find work.
I’m always a little surprised at these anti-TnD threads, because I’m about as strongly atheist as it is possible to be - tho not evangelical about my disbelief. Yet I have never noted anything in the least bit offensive in anything written by TnD.
And just so’s you don’t think I’m some mild mannered, unprovokable sweetheart, there are a couple of posters whom I essentially ignore because of their philosophical and political positions and how they express them. Just never found anything offensive about TnD, his views, or his posting style.
Valteron(whom I have no prior awareness of and will not miss) appears to criticize TnD of “nitpicking.” I think that when discussing matters such as religion there is a significant advantage to being as precise as possible. There are so many opportunities to differ over countless aspects of religion, that it is tremendously important to agree as to definitions, facts, and such. That is the only way a non-believer can communicate meaningfully with a believer. Generalities simply allow the believer to fall back on his “beliefs” as to what he considers “truths” - terms that are essentially meaningless to me unless closely defined.
(Similarly, in your law school analogy, there are HUGE potential distinctions between the various manners of fucking. If folks desire to communicate meaningfully, I think it important that they agree on what they are talking about.)
I don’t see that you’ve done anything banworthy. You were certainly correct that the nitpicks didn’t make a bit of difference to the context of your posts. Posters nitpick. No getting around it. They nitpick about tiny factual details, grammar, spelling, you name it. We’re all a bunch of nerdy-ass pedants who think we’re better than everybody else. Nitpickery comes with the territory.
What you’re failing to do here is draw a distinction between tomndebb the mod, and tomndebb the poster. I doubt he was wielding the modstick when he was nitpicking your posts. If he was, he was clearly out of line. If he was not specifically acting in his capacity as a Moderator at the time, you should suck it up and grow a thicker skin. Otherwise, this is not the place for you.
Take home message: unless specifically acting as a Mod, all Mods should be treated as regular posters. This is the default setting.
Say what? How in the world is the relatively polite OP anything like “suicide-by-admin?”
In other words, I should be able to Pit any or all moderators, using the most volatile language, coarsest insults, and flaming invective, and as long as my post actually has substance, I would have absolutely no fear of being banned.
Actually, I’d really like it if he were to buy a parrot. 'Cause he’s got a lot of pets anyway. Then I could hear tales of his parrot, and see pictures, instead of damnable kitty pictures all the time.
In response to the OP, you may have a point, but as Liberal says, it’s his choice if he wants to be a little condescending. I’ve noticed it too…but it’s done cleverly enough that one doesn’t notice.
Indeed. In fact, I fully intend to renew my subscription, because not to do so would let people like Tomndebb win…er, something.
So, just letting y’all know, Tomndebb can ban me if he wants, but I too will continue to post until he does, at which point I’ll probably stop. Er, posting.
Wow. tomndebb is really climbing the ranks of the Mod pit list, but he’s doing so with the lamest of pittings. What next? I pit tomndebb because he frowned in the same room with a kitten in it?
Presumably, since it’s God, this would be a painless death - so I have to ask, is it a good thing or a bad thing, considering the problem with abandoned and feral cats in populated areas?
[Grumpy Old Man]Back in my day a mod like manhattan would tell you to fuck yourself if you asked a dumb question in GQ or would threaten to ban you if posted in the wrong forum AND WE LIKED IT!
Nowadays they pit someone just for nitpicking and being condescending in GD. Buncha wussies.
[/Grumpy Old Man]
