MB Double Standard?

The BBQ Pit
1

Recently, a thread in which ChiefScott asked Satan to flame everyone was closed. In her explanation, Lynn Bodoni explained that some of the insults had gotten beyond the pale, and it was “setting a bad example for newbies.”

But is that the real reason? I submit the following evidence.

This thread, started by Flypsyde, was another silly insult thread that had absolutely no basis in fact. However, there are several major differences between the two threads. Satan’s thread had everyone obviously asking for their flames. Any newbie who isn’t an idiot could see that. The Flypsyde thread, on the other hand, had its background in chat, I assume. Nobody in it specifically asked to be flamed, so the newbies at the time (and half of the regs, if you read the thread) must have been quite confused. Still, the Flypsyde thread, which was MUCH more confusing, was allowed to remain open, and went to multiple pages.

So, newbies, were any of you confused by the Satan thread? Did you think he was being insulting, or do you find that your intelligence is being insulted by Lynn Bodoni, who assumes you can’t tell the difference between a real flame and an over-the-top, silly joke? If so, I ask you to post here, please.

As for those of you who were flamed by Satan, if you were truly insulted, please post here as well. I am aware of a conversation between Satan and a moderator in which the moderator insinuated that certain insults were a bit harsh, and I KNOW he would like to know if anyone was truly injured by what he had to say, so he could apologize.

And for the moderators–we’ve established that we can’t post real insults toward members in the pit, and we can’t post fake ones…so why, exactly, does this forum exist? People can bitch about their bosses and flatulence in MPSIMS, you know.

2

Any thread that Satan starts is a waste of time anyway, so just live with it. No harm, no foul.

3

As a matter of record, Flypsyde’s thread was started as per a conversation a few of us had in chat regarding people getting their panties wrapped too tightly because they had no sense of humor. The closing of Satan’s thread seems to be a similar case.

The fact that one thread was closed and the other was left open I’m sure will be passed over by bringing up the rule change. I’m not that concerned about that point. Again, I realize that the board is yours, the interpretation of the rules is up to you, and in light of all the great work that has been done here at SDMB, I am loathe to complain about anything, but…

Where was the harm done here? Posters asked for flames and recieved them. The whole thread was plainly in jest and no one complained, in the thread at least, that their flame was over the line. I agree with the OP that the reasoning of “setting a bad example for newbies” is just an insult to the newbie’s intelligence and unfounded, as well. I’d definitely be interested in a more thorough explanation of the thread closing.

Perhaps someone bit off a little more than they could chew when requesting a flame and complained privately to the Mods? I’m sure Satan would be more than happy to apologize if he actually hurt or insulted anyone. That was obviously not his intention.

Oh well…

4

I have to agree that it seems pretty lame. After reading Satan’s thread I really don’t see what the big deal was. sigh

5

I’m with y’all. Flames getting too high? If anything, they were getting milder. Bad example for the newbies? Why? I almost never come to the BBQ Pit because I don’t like the smoke - but I was really enjoying this thread.

6

For those who want to see more of Satan’s flames, the thread has been revived here:
http://fff.fathom.org/ubb/Forum6/HTML/000064.html

7

I was not at all insulted by Satan. I asked for the flame and I got it. Geesh we were waiting for the end of the thread so we could grade him. I guess that’s gone now. But, so be it. It’s not anything that upsets me. If the mod wants to close the thread then I don’t see any harm done. I saw a thread deleted on Opal’s board last weekend that was nothing compared to the one we had going here, simply because a mod thought it was getting a little rough and it was also in what is supposed to be the Pit on her board. So it happens everywhere.

8

Oh, please, must we start this all over again? Please, please, please, I’m just so TIRED of this. Hasn’t there been enough damage and ill feeling?

Please…can’t we just let it go? I wouldn’t wish on any moderator–here, Opal’s boards, anywhere–endless scrutiny, criticism and debate. The mods and admins, here and at TM are good folks who do a thankless job, gratis.

For the record, I like and respect most of the posters here. It’s a diverse, opinionated bunch who probably couldn’t agree on anything. And that’s half the fun of it.

This is just striking a raw nerve with me right now. Lynn has had her hands full with a full-fledged troll infestation. One troll deliberately dredged up all the hurtful old threads, simply to keep ill-will alive.

I’m NOT in any way implying your actions and motivations are trollish, Drain. You’re not that kind of person, or poster. I guess it’s the coincidental timing that’s getting me down.

It’s just that the healing had started. Opal’s FFF is such a great complement to SDMB, and well, things were starting to heal. No moderator is perfect; not Lynn, Euty, Satan, AuraSeer, Melin, Chris, David B., Gaudere, Manhattan; they’re all just people.

I’m not asking anyone to sacrifice their principles. But could we…well, declare a sort of separate peace? Agree to state disagreements but still move on?

Veb

9

Drain Bead, here’s my enormous insight:

Three posts from the end, a newbie cleverly named Satan_Squared suddenly and pointlessly enters the thread. I would say that Lynn carried out what the military calls a “pre-emptive strike”. No point allowing a potential troll to steer a fairly decent thread off the end of the dock into deep water and ruin it. Besides, I had the impression, reading it, that Satan was getting kind of tired of the game anyway.

You can’t feature it in Threadspotting someday if it degenerates into a slapfest with a troll.

10

What TVeblen said. Sure, she could have left the thread for what it was. But then: what Notthemama said. I immediately thought she was refering to Satan_Squared as well.

What can you do. These are hard times, and we all have to make the best of it, I guess.

'Scuse me while I continue my daily Putz Patrol.

11

Actually the reason that thread was deleted was that it involved a fight between a real married couple and I didn’t think that our message board was the place for it–especially since one of the parties involved did NOT want it there.

As a side note, the BMZ is more of a place to discuss things negatively and less a place to flame people than the BBQ pit is.

12

I’d like to pipe in that I loved Satan’s thread as well. Hell, I probably have one of the thinner skins on the board, and I loved the flame he gave me. If I didn’t get offended, I really kinda doubt anyone else was going to either.

Just my $.02.

(And FTR, I think Satan_squared is a reg having a joke about the “Notthemama is my name” phenomenon. JMO.)

13

Veb, I can most definitely see your point. My point, is not to rile up more anger and ill-will towards the board, I hope you know that. But if we can’t voice our opinions, what is the point? I think we are healing, and very well. This board seems to have got back up on it’s feet after all the crap that has gone down, and I, for one, am very impressed at it’s recovery and resilliance. But, nevertheless, I wonder about why this particular thread was closed. I’m sure Lynn is dealing with a lot of crap, and I apologize Lynn, now, for the rude allusion in my first post. That was probably not called for. I’m a digger though, and it upsets me that a jovial and friendly thread was closed for seemingly no good reason.

I totally agree. This also means that there is a fine line to walk when moderating a board like this. I think, in the most part, the board admins and mods have dealt with issues with patience, reason and intelligence, just like Unca Cece would have wanted it to be. :wink: And I commend them on a job well done. But this decision doesn’t seem to be logical to me, and so, I question it. The reasons stated for closing the thread seem lame, as if posted without thinking. This may be due to all the other crap Lynn has been dealing with. I’m not asking for a Jihad, and I would hope that no one gets their “panties wrapped too tightly” (as per my original objection) about this subject, but I am interested at getting to the root of what was really so wrong with the thread that warranted closing it.

-Willing to let it go, but curious nonetheless.

14

[[It’s just that the healing had started. Opal’s FFF is such a great complement to SDMB, and well, things were starting to heal. No moderator is perfect; not Lynn, Euty, Satan, AuraSeer, Melin, Chris, David B., Gaudere, Manhattan; they’re all just people.]]

Notice Ck, Tuba, and I were not mentioned. That’s because we’re the only perfect ones.

  • Jill
15

Nawwww the flames of Satan didn’t hurt me. I am totally amune to flames as when I was my alter ego, I was flamed well probably around a thousand times in two weeks. Harmless if you ask me. Hey Satan, still smoke free?
I plan to sign with an independent record label in a few years–i’m a guitar virtuoso. Any advice?

16

Surgoshan, SanibelMan, TomnDebb, OpalCat and Mr. Knowitall didn’t make the list either.

I am humbled to be in the presence of such glowing, shiny perfection. :slight_smile:

17

Who’d a thunk?
I start a little thread enabling Brian to showcase some of his offensive linguistic abilities and…

Ka-Chung!

It gets slammed shut quicker than a virgin’s thighs on prom night!

I’m experiencing flashbacks to valenta8 and brithael, where entire strings of my posts were un-ceremoniously ripped from the board like an aborted fetus from a uterus.

Whatever happened to “If you don’t like it, don’t read it?”

The thread was well marked (just like the Wallysig and UncleBeer profile threads). Satan didn’t flame anyone who didn’t ask (in some cases begged) to be flames.

It seems as though someone’s being a little too overprotective and jumping the gun. We’re adults here, if we don’t like something, we’ll play elsewhere. With your attempts to moderate the tone of some flames, you are diminishing the overall quality of the board.

18

You know, I just noticed that the Satan’s Flames thread has had 968 views as of right now.

I presume Lynne made the decision herself that the flames were getting too hot. She mentioned nothing about complaints in her post closing the thread.

I challenge her to produce one complaint lodged with the mods about the content of that thread!

**I know you are the omnipotent mod here, Lynne, and that your decision is the end all and be all. If you honestly felt a few people who asked to be put down could not handle it when they were, that’s OK. So you closed the thread to protect them. OK. You and I have differing opinions about adult decisions and the consequences of those decisions.

I’m glad there is someone out there determined to restrict the freedoms of others so that my delicate sensibilities will not be offended when I make a decision to venture somewhere where my delicate sensibilities could be offended.

Would you please hold my hand as I cross the street too?

BTW, this is the first thread of mine which was locked in more than a year of posting here…

I’d use stronger language, but I guess I’ll resort to sticking my tongue out at you.

19

My God. Alert Amnesty International.

20

Just want to point out that any “reg” would know that having two user names at the same time is expressly against the rules and is grounds for banning.

Hey, Chief, chill, dude. Agreed, it was a nifty thread, and it’s too bad it got locked, but hey, it’s gone, the virgin’s done slammed her thighs shut, you ain’t gonna get any tonight, that’s for sure.

I don’t think anybody in the SDMB administration is saying, “You kids watch your mouth in the future, there’s children listening”.

FWIW, I still maintain that it was a strictly political Threadspotting decision, nothing to do with whether newbies couldn’t handle the flames.

Lynn isn’t required to inform the entire board as to what her thought processes are when she’s deciding to close a thread. Hey, I’ve seen MBs where threads just disappeared and nobody ever explained. At least here the mods post a reason why they’re locking a thread, even if some people happen to think it’s not a very good reason.