I think I’m going to take a break from the boards for a while. I don’t know for how long.
It just seems like the right thing to do.
Oy.
Overreaction leads to overreaction leads to overreaction.
The Teeming Millions are abuzz with nervousness, excitement, and/or anticipation. A hush falls over the crowd…
And yet, somehow, life goes on.
Look, we’ve reached the bottom of Manhattan’s deep well of patience, that’s all. He’s had enough for the moment and JillGat’s helping out on the truly Sysiphusian task of keeping GQ habitable. Look for a while and you see the same non-questions come up. The same topics are hijacked towards a debate. Questions on drugs and Napster swing towards debate and well-defined well-known and pretty fucking obviously unacceptable territory time after time.
You think loading a page is slow? Imagine you’ve got to read every thread, knowing that some of them are going to contain the same things that you’ve shut down 20 in the last month for and then someone’s going to open another Pit thread protesting for the same reasons as the one a month ago. I reckon you’d get bomb-happy, and quickly.
Manny’s had enough and I’m amazed he lasted so long – particularly as much of it was alone in close to the busiest (and surely the most important) forum. So can we thank him for the job he’s done, hope that he can log on to the board for fun soon and move on, please?
Jeeze. I can see where Manhattan is coming from (oh, 'scuse me…“from where Manahttan is coming”)
Manh. is smart to take a very, very, very slightly conservative approach in some instances. Based on his experience and his responsibilities to protect the boards (and ultimately help free speech), he has to recognize that, when convo dablles in the illegal, it might be time to shut a thread down.
Yes, we acknowledge “illegal” means different things in different places, which helps Manhattan’s case, bub. It’s tricky to define what is appropriate and what isn’t appropriate at all times. Tricky = risk. While we push free speech, the rules of common sense remind us that we live in a litigious society with a dizzying array of definitions and interpretations of what’s appropriate and/or illegal. We may strive to push the envelope, but acknowledging there is an envelope is admitting their is a limit to where convos can go.
Neutron Star, Manny asked for references to substantiate your claims, and while he grilled you good, he is asking you to to the “SDMB thing” and back up your strong claims. He is at the edge of being a jerk, but he isn’t being a jerk.
Neutron Star should not be banned if he can’t make good on his points.
Manhattan pushed Pit Behavior to the edge of the envelope…and now you can see the confusion that arrises when the “rules envelope” is pushed…
:rolleyes:
I pity the nun that wanders into the BBQ pit.
Jeremy,
Here is the thread in question.
Here’s what Manny said when he edited the thread:
Did you see Dani’s post before Manhattan edited it? It consisted of several detailed ascii drawings describing the construction and use of a gravity bong. Irrespective of Dani’s understanding of the board’s policy towards such a post, he clearly violated the policy in a BIG way. Consideration of banning (remember-not actual banning, but consideration of it-all that a moderator can do is make a case for banning) is not overstepping authority in this case.
BTW, Manny edited one of my posts to the same thread. In that post I very briefly suggested an improvement to Dani’s design. I wasn’t thinking that I was in violation of board policy when I did it. I was more concerned with the issue from a physics/engineering standpoint. But I fucked up anyway, I apologized, and I moved on. So did Dani. I acted in good faith in the thread. I believe Dani did as well.
Can you be banned for royally fucking up even if you had the best of intentions? Well, I’m still posting and Dani isn’t banned either. But I’d argue that a fuckup of gargantuan proportions-even an innocent fuckup-is grounds for banning. Apologies and explanations go a long way with the administrators on this board, though. Hopefully, neither of us will be receiving our pinkslips anytime soon.
CB
It sucks to be a mod.
One reason it sucks to be a mod is that apparently they have to take steaming helpings of crap from people, ans respond with beatific smiles.
Now, if the steaming piles of crap are the truth, I think that’s a hazard of being a board participant.
If, however, you get flamed with assertions that are not the truth, as in the instant case, then I think the mod in question has every right to ask the poster to prove or retract his lies.
Mods, by virtue of their role, will be lightning rods for criticism. Much of it is unavoidable. But there ought to be a remedy for the mod who is defamed by inaccurate accusations, especially on a board whose purported mission is the eradication of ignorance.
In short: I support Manny on this one.
- Rick
Umm…yeah…good point, aenea
Boy you really showed me. Seeing that you’re in the monoirty, put a better show on.
I made valid points.
Eye rolls are cute…cute doesn’t cut it.
Showed you? Showed you what? That I thought your post was a tad anally self rightous? Good, at least you got the point.
Rules envelope my ass. . . And your points are valid to whom, exactly?
As far as being in the minority - last time I looked this wasn’t a fucking popularity contest. If I have an opinion, and feel like voicing it, I’m standing by it.
You don’t like it? Scroll on past, my man, or don’t and get all pissy. Like I actually care, right?
Glad to hear you thought my rolleyes smiley was cute. It was not intended that way, but what the hell. You have ‘issues’ with cute, btw?
I certainly appreciate all the support I have received on this thread. But I have to confess something. The reason I left out “apology” as an option in the last part of my post above is that I [sub]looks abound sheepishly[/sub] forgot. We don’t routinely ban people for a single shot at a mod, even one as false and malicious as this one.
That said, neutron star, how about it? If I read your response correctly, you made a very serious and malicious charge against my integrity based primarily on the fact that you missed one post in a three-post thread. I call upon you to admit that that was an unbelievably stupid thing to do. I deserve and expect an apology a hell of a lot more elaborate than “oops,” even if you couldn’t take my flame.
Finally, on Dani Filth: Well you’d have to ask the moderators what, if anything, they intend to do (I only have the title below my name because I promised to help with a new person whom they hope to have aboard soon), but I would recommend that they not terminate her membership. There’s a difference between putting the fear of God into somebody and actually smiting them with lightning. He fessed up to the error, and I think that should be that. Double for choosybeggar.
…which I think is now in force, includes very severe punishment for disseminating certain kinds of information about the use or manufacture of drugs (all drugs–not just meth). Unfortunately it does behoove the moderators to err on the side of caution.
No I didn’t see it, and what you describe does sound like a more egregious violation of the rules than, “Fill a bucket with water, cut a plastic milk jug in half, attach a…” OOPS!! Strike that! 
Anyway, my point is that Dani obviously was unaware that such a thing was a big no-no here (heck, I was unaware myself), for all I know he comes from a country where smoking pot is perfectly legal. And when anyone names themself after the band Cradle of Filth, we oughta be glad that they’re not out burning churches or raping virgins or anything. 
Still, in that context, and considering manhattan’s right-wing crusade against drugs in general, I can see why he flipped out. I do think manhattan has a “ban fixation” since this is not the first time he’s threatened that (he threatened to ban neutron star in this very thread simply for attacking his integrity…sheesh, it’s the fucking PIT, fer cryin out loud!) If you threaten every violation with banning, eventually it becomes an empty threat.
[[One reason it sucks to be a mod is that apparently they have to take steaming helpings of crap from people, ans respond with beatific smiles.]]
Jeez, Nobody tells me anything. I’ve been seriously low balled. Or baited and switched or something.
Anyway, you can criticize Manny all you like but I tell you he’s a blast in Vegas.
Sometimes, age, while not conferring wisdom (see: everything I’ve ever posted), does provide experience. In my case, I’ve been reading The Straight Dope since its beginning, several Cecils ago. And do you younguns know why it was called The Straight Dope? Because Cecil answered drug questions. So I find this discussion, in light of my peculiar perspective, more than mildly amusing.
Umm…you like contradicted your whole premise.
Paragraph 1…right! Self righteous. It’s relevant to this thread. Thanks, Captain Obvious.
Paragraph 2…sleep through the “rules”?..SDMB has some
Paragraph 3…Convincing others sometimes does break down into a popularity contest. I believe Manny the Mod looks for support…support as in popular support from posters
Paragraph 4…Put “pissy” to a vote. You seem pissy.
Paragraph 5…“cute” - have no problem with it, but I am free to voice my opinion. You don’t like it? Scroll on past it.
Since we are in the pit: Fuck you and your pissy attitude. From where I sit, you read like a pissy cry baby.
I laugh at you - ha. And I won’t view this thread again, so respond for the amusement of others when you untangle your panties from the massive bunch they’ve gathered in your giant ass crack.
Ignorance is perpetuated by worthless posters who make great points and voice their opinions with the stamp of the dope: the lone smiley.
Hey, I’m starting to take that personally! 
Manhattan, show me the law that says its illegal to tell someone how to make pariphenalia(of any kind) and I’ll support you. Until then…
Manny, consider the source. :rolleyes:
It’s not that I “couldn’t take” your flame. It’s simply that I found it incredibly childish and uncalled for. I find it amazing that a message board as collectively smart as this one still considers name-calling a valid form of self-expression.
Also, it’s not that I “missed one post.” I didn’t follow the link in that post. The thread was closed without stating a reason. It was kind of implied that you don’t like drug threads and that’s why it was being closed. If somebody had said that the reason that the thread was being closed was for that link, I probably would have never posted this.
That said, I am sorry I posted the OP. Yes, it was stupid of me to fly off the handle without reviewing the facts fully.
So, I guess I’m still going to go away for a while. I just wouldn’t feel right posting anytime soon after this fiasco. It’s probably good since I’ll have more time to study.
Oh, one other thing…
Is Cecil going to get banned for his SD Classic column advising someone on how to get the bugs off his pot plants? After all, that advice would be aiding and abetting a “drug manufacturer,” wouldn’t it?