So I enter this thread to point out that Susanann did not quite say the stupid thing that ladyfoxfyre was trying to make it look like she said. What Susanann said was that one of the solutions to government debt would be to reduce government spending. This is a logical, rational statement, and something that is being said all over the country by a great many people, including some fairly big wigs in Congress. However ladyfoxfyre presents it as though Susanann had said the solution was to stop all government spending, which of course is idiotic on the face of it serves to further ladyfoxfyre’s OP, which is that Susanann is an idiot.
My response, which would have been my only post had no one else said anything, was:
This little bon mot brought an insulting response from Bosstone, which thereby led to a certain amount of back and forth between Bosstone and me. In each case my posts were in response to his/hers.
Then gonzomax comes in spouting his usual “People who don’t want to pay taxes are selfish” philosophy, which I then set about contesting.
Then ladyfoxfyre posts her response to my objection to the inaccurate way she characterized Susanann’s post, and in so doing insulted me in no uncertain terms and accused me of hijacking the thread and turning it into “The STARVING ARTIST SHOW”. At this point there were 86 posts to the thread, and my contribution was all of 6 posts and concerned a variety of subjects - all raised by other posters.
Then Guinastasia chimes in that I’m hijacking the thread and suggests that I start a thread about the deficit - a subject that only 2 or 3 of my 6 posts talked about.
I replied that as member in good standing of a public message board I was entitled to challenge remarks that I regarded as inaccurate or untrue and that if other posters were allowed to make off-topic comments in a thread, then I should be able to rebut them.
Still, in response to a polite request from PlainJain, I agreed to back out of the thread.
Which brings me now to the reason for this thread. For the offense of correcting ladyfoxfyre’s inaccurate recounting of Susanann’s post, and for responding to posts off-topic posts by Bosstone and gonzomax - and in the Pit, no less, where the rules are much more slack than in other forums and where wide-ranging disagreement has always defined the forum - I get the following highhanded, condescending warning from Miller:
I submit that not only was Miller’s behavior in addressing me this way highly unprofessional and unmoderatorly, but that at its base is the animus he has long held for me and made scant secret of.
Thus it’s my belief that my behavior in the linked thread fell far short of what is usually regarded as hijacking in that forum - especially since every single post was in response to something another poster (who had not and still have not gotten a warning for making off-topic posts) had said - and that the warning I received is not based upon normal standards of behavior in the Pit, but instead is the result of being reported by petulant posters whose little hatefest had been interrupted by the facts, and by a moderator who has long had it in for me.
Thus I ask that the warning I received by stricken from whatever records are kept in regard to poster behavior, and that Miller be instructed not to allow his personal animus to guide his moderating decisions. I think it would also serve the board in general if he were advised to deliver his moderating decisions in a more professional way, and perhaps with an explanation for why he is taking the action he is. The moderator’s role on this board is to keep posters in line and enforce the board’s rules. It is NOT to boss them around and behave like an exasperated parent, especially when there has been no real infraction, as was the case in that thread.
I have never been one to agitate against the moderators, nor against board rules, and I’ve only very rarely (maybe twice in my seven or eight years here) reported other posters as I figure the moderators have plenty on their plate to begin with and I’ve been reluctant to add to their burden. In short, apart from arguing vigorously with people over political matters, I’ve always tried to be a model poster and not make waves. So I’m not given to raise this kind of issue lightly, and I would not be doing so now had I not thought that Miller’s behavior was not only highhanded and unprofessional but based almost solely upon his personal dislike for me.
Thanks to TPTB for your consideration.