Unsupported accusations are throwaway silliness. That’s the point.
If I could support it, I’d go to the police. As would, to pick one example, Ms Ford. But for some reason you think her accusation against someone she seems to have never met is credible.
I’m confused. Are you making an accusation or are you not? Are you deliberately fabricating an accusation to make some sort of point (that still remains opaque to me)?
We obviously disagree about Ford, but that should go to another thread.
What a load of rubbish, to the point of being an abdication of duty. Frankly, trying to claim that there isn’t enough information to act upon in this case is an insult to our intelligence.
I know certain mods take pride in letting everything go in the pit but if there is absolutely no line that can be crossed then they should change the rules to actually say that.
Careful what you say folks, there is no line so better not to talk about yourself unless you are prepared to have your personal details used against you by certain characters.
And true to what I said in the pit thread I got in touch with a veteran’s outreach center and I will be delivering turkey dinners to housebound veterans on Thursday, and there’s a bunch of stuff upcoming for Christmas. And next time I go to my local yarn shop I’m gonig to ask the owner if she’d be willing to offer free classes and discounts on materials to service members and veterans, for those who want to learn a new hobby and socialize a bit.
And thank you, Margin, sharing your story here. I hope you get the help and healing that you deserve, not just as a combat veteran but as a decent person and an American citizen.
Why would anyone crack wise about “hey how was your time in the psych ward ?” à propos of nothing ? It’s a complete non-sequitur that wouldn’t work as an insult **unless **you knew that person has, in fact, been in a psych ward or at the very least acknowledge they have psych issues legit enough that it’d be a possibility (not that, sincerely, there is anything wrong or “weak” with that, anymore than going to get a plaster cast on a broken leg is - but **Shodan ** along with a sizable portion of the population evidently thinks it contemptible).
You used to frequently admonish posters who cursed in the pit because you said that let your children read over your shoulder and you often would also accuse posters who swore in the pit of being pedophiles. You brought your children and pedophilia into the discussion and only then did people start pushing back. I don’t think that is a fair point you are making.
As I understand the chain of events, it goes something like this:
-margin writes that Pit thread. In it, she describes being in a psych ward.
-Shodan is active in the Pit at the time of that thread, but doesn’t post in it.
-A few years later, he asks her if she has an actual diagnosis.
-Recently, Shodan asks her mockingly about her experiences being in the psych ward.
-When confronted with this awfulness, he posts a variety of things intended to imply that he says awful shit like this to everyone, so it doesn’t mean he knew about her experiences.
-When asked directly whether he knew, he refuses to answer.
It strains credulity, given that new information, to think that he really didn’t know. I hope Miller et al will look at that thread–and look at his non-denials–and reconsider.
Coming back to something here now that I’m more awake:
It isn’t evidence at all. It looked to me like another attack: someone who’s claiming that a person’s statements aren’t based on anything rational is likely to take the information that they have such a diagnosis as further reason to dismiss what they’re saying, no matter how little the information backs the claim that it should be dismissed.
That’s how margin took it:
and I want to back that that was an entirely reasonable way to take it.
I’m not saying it’s unreasonable of the mods to look at it and see a genuine question from someone with good intentions (though the current refusal to apologize rather argues against that); but that’s not the only plausible interpretation.
I understand your opinion, and accept that it’s a difficult call. But I disagree with the evaluation of the strength of the evidence. It’s not weak; it’s yet another in a long established pattern. To me, it’s a pretty clear cut case. At this point I’m not sure we have a consensus on what being a jerk is. Instances like this are making time spent here at SMDB less enjoyable for me, unfortunately.
The biggest complaint seems to be that Shodan knew it should have known about a posters background and therefore this insult was somehow off limits. Generally speaking, why? If we allow insults in the Pit, what is the line where the insult is too insulting? That doesn’t seem like a workable rule (excepting hate speech because there is a separate rule for that).
Should we expect that insults are all meant in jest, and if they are actually hurtful then they should be limited? That seems like a pretty nebulous standard. For those that think this item was beyond the pale, I challenge you to craft a rule (beyond don’t be a jerk) that would capture this item yet not be entirely problematic. If there is something workable, we can consider it.
As Potter Stewart said, “I know it when I see it.”
This is the same problem that obscenity laws face, and one of the solutions is to apply ‘local community standards.’
If somebody says something, even in the Pit, that makes the bulk of the community cringe, then it may be beyond the pale. This isn’t tyranny, it’s just an understanding that it’s the community which decides what is and isn’t obscene (or in our case, jerkish).
Great job mods – we have lost two female posters in this very thread, either one of which contributes more sincerity to this place than a dozen Shodans.
