Moderation approves personal harassment by silence

:dubious:

With all due respect, Sunny (quite a lot in your case). I have to disagree with this. Chimera was all over the Skald pit thread defending him to the bitter end. When I mentioned in that thread I was female, Chimera responded very dismissively and brushed aside my concerns. He continually handwaved away the concerns of all the female posters in that thread. It was only when the tide seemed to turn and the new rule was made that he was suddenly Mr. Enlightened Male, saying “we did it!” as if he did a single thing to help the process along, inviting female posters to PM him if they feel ganged up on in a thread by sexism, etc. etc. So I’m not really inclined to call him a supporter. I understand people can change their stance on things, but his was more like a complete 180 once the vocal minority became larger.

Chimera, you have to recognize a couple things. They are playing a game. You can’t let them under your skin. And whatever happened to Idle Thoughts?

This does not mean that his change of mind was not sincere. Quite a lot of people have indicated that their understanding has broadened as the discussion has continued, and I am glad to take them at their word. I have seen nothing from Chimera to indicate this isn’t the case. If I didn’t believe that people could reach a different understanding of the world around them, then there wouldn’t be much point to having discussions about diversity at all. Call me an optimist.

Since this is off topic, I’ll just post a link.

https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=842900

Whether or not he’s a good person is definitely relevant in terms of a personal hope that he’ll stay. (and I know that’s what you were talking about)

But in terms of the broader discussion–whether behavior like what he’s talking about in the OP is okay–what kind of person he is is beside the point.

The point is that building up a head of steam off-site to come attack people here is kind of shitty. And using the most painful periods of a person’s life to craft nasty things to say about a person is profoundly shitty behavior, like way-beyond-normal-usage-of-the-Pit behavior. And allowing folks to get away with these activities (especially the latter) is going to result in a worse board, as people will be less willing to post honestly about their own lives because they know anything they say can be used against them without repercussion.

I’ve disagreed with Chimera a lot, but that has nothing at all to do with thinking that the behavior he’s talking about is terrible. I would say the same thing if it were directed at any other poster.

You need to get this “off site” think buried dude. You lurk there every day, you more than anyone should know that most people dismiss that as ridiculous.

Morgenstein’s taunts about Chimera’s divorce and mental health were inexcusable. They may not have violated rules, but they sure said a lot about Morgenstein.

But there should be. That would be-* being a jerk*, by any definition. This idea that harassment and bullying is Ok if it is in the PIT is wrong.

I agree: Mocking another poster about mental health issues is not acceptable. This is one instance where I would suggest that we treat it the same as we would treat any other health issue. Would we allow the mocking of a poster with cancer, or a neurological disorder, or a wheelchair? No, I’m guessing. Mental health should be off the table. I think it falls under the “not being a jerk” rule, if nowhere else.

Right. Look, when the people at another board, decide to come over here and start harassing a member here, it isnt good enough to just say “well it’s in the PIT”. Crossing over from board to board, etc, could very well be considered Internet harassment and Bullying. And they have nothing to lose if their provider shuts that down, but the SDMB does.

You guys really need to get out of the idea that Internet Bullying, Stalking and Harassment is OK if it is in the PIT. That is totally false.

In addition to the health issue, I believe that Chimera went through a pretty trauma-filled, abusive relationship, and Morgenstern decided that’d be fun times to mock him for.

I hadn’t considered that it might be against the rules, or I would’ve reported it. Certainly that sort of stuff is out-of-bounds as far as I’m concerned, and I’d be very happy to have the board shut it down going forward.

Would you agree that people who post snide work on a message board towards someone who does not post on that message board is also very cowardly?

Because there is a lot of snide work posted toward Trump on this board.

Mods - can we have a ruling on whether mocking someone’s mental health issues is within the rules? Please see post 50, and 52.

I’d love to see proof of your claim, could you provide anything at all? If you’re afraid to post it, PM it to me. I’ll accept it.

Please see Bone’s post. He already did.

[ol]
[li]No I didn’t.[/li][li]I’m not a Pit mod.[/li][li]If anything close to what is being discussed occurred in forums I moderate, I would not allow it to continue.[/li][/ol]

Oh, I dont think that is necessary at all, and you know why.

“Most people?” Cite? I know that there are a few people who go to great lengths to dismiss that. They are all among the most active participants in a certain sub-forum at another board.

All due respect, I don’t plan to get into a back-and-forth with Morgenstern here. That’ll inevitably go into Pit thread territory, and I don’t think there’s really a whole lot of confusion about what’s being discussed here such that a back-and-forth will do any good.