Not that you care, but I may not be renewing. (Administration of the SDMB)

The BBQ Pit
1

I haven’t decided yet. I absolutely love the people on this message board and have found a lot of great friends on it, both online and real-life. I love having a resource where I can ask any question on any subject and always get a candid, serious answer almost immediately. Nowhere else in the world can you find a resource like that.

However, the administration and rules of this board are growing more and more Nazi by the day. I can understand the “don’t be a jerk” rule: it’s always been there and it’s an excellent rule that every message board needs to have. I personally think that the SDMB doesn’t need many more rules than that, but I am not part of the administration, and I don’t make the rules.

But the focus of the rules has gotten narrower and narrower as the years have passed. Threads have been locked, and people ask why, only to receive some ambiguous reason by the mod, or no reason at all. Flirt threads, which have been in existence for years, all of a sudden became a big no-no and were banned. The administration still has not really provided a strong argument for banning them (sorry, the “It competes with The Chicago Reader personals” argument is pure horseshit, and you know it). What’s next? No more sexual innuendo? Come on, people, we’re all adults here – if you don’t want to read a flirt thread, don’t click on it. It’s my personal belief that Flamsterette_X’s flirt thread was closed for some unknown reason by the mod, and that the rule was put in place to cover the mod’s ass because no one, including he, could come up with a legitimate reason for closing it.

I’ll also come out and say that TubaDiva should not have gotten her job back. She exposed the SDMB and The Chicago Reader to an assload of liability by revealing the personal information of a doper and alienated thousands of other dopers in the same breath. I feel quite a bit less safe about my own personal information now – what could the admins dig up on me and use against me on the board if they were so inclined? If anyone but TubaDiva had done something like that, they would be chastized, banned, dragged out into the street and shot.

Am I beating a dead horse on these issues? I may be, and feel free to pit me if you care about wasting enough time to.

Bottom line: The Straight Dope loves to advertise the fact that they fight ignorance. But with stricter and stricter rules being put in place, in effect spawning more and more censorship, are we really fighting ignorance, or breeding it?

Adam

2

I agree with you, Agent Foxtrot, things have gone downhill greatly, it started with the banning of game threads and has just slowly increased. The once comedic image of the mods as jackbooted thugs has become more and more real, and this has lead to much more hostility on the boards, things change I accept that but here we’ve seen many more negative changes than positive and therefore I also will not be renewing.

3

I understand your concerns in every detail. But some people, seeing something worthwhile in the rubble, learn from their mistakes and try to improve the future rather than abandoning it. Are you one of those?

4

I think so, yes. They’ve been beaten about over and over in many threads.

I’ll be sorry to see you go, if you do, but in the end it’s your decision, after all. If you really don’t like the way the administration of the SDMB is run then you probably are saving yourself considerable aggravation by saving your money.

5

And yet another attention whore crys out, “Look at me! I’m leaving in a huff!”
Ass, door etc.

6

Godwin in post one! (what do I win?)

These issues have been discussed and debated, and we’ve already seen a flurry of threads over them. Don’t know what else there is to say, other than that it’s strange that you felt the need to start your own thread informing everybody that you might be leaving.

7

Now this reaction I disagree with on so many levels. There are many people on this board who feel much the same way and wish to vote with their pocketbooks, so to speak. With that vote, I feel that the management needs to know why many people aren’t re-upping. Hell, I think they should post a survey(anonymous, of course, so pricks like you can’t point fingers and accuse them of attention-whorery), in which those who are leaving can let the Reader know why they are leaving.

Maybe after people decide not to pay to belong here anymore and they’ve voiced their opinions as to why, the Reader can look at the mamagement around here and react accordingly. Or, maybe people like you will drown the voices of the others out as you ridicule them for being open and honest.

Sam

8

[Homer Simpson]Mmmmm, mammage[/HS]

9

I’m not sure I understand your question, Musicat.

At less than 500 posts, Mac Guffin, I don’t think I quite qualify for “attention whore” status, but thank you for your consideration. :wink: The topic of my post was just naming the result of what my OP was about. After all, this is the BBQ Pit. Also, you and FinnAgain should note that I didn’t say I was definitely leaving, just that I haven’t decided whether or not I’ll be renewing.

By the way, it’s “cries”, not “crys.” :slight_smile:

Adam

10

Hey, someone said ‘whore’, does that count as flirting.

Agent Foxtrot, I don’t disagree with anything you say. Hope you don’t leave because I still think that these things can be straightened out. I’d like to see some signs of it happening soon though.

11

Ya don’t say?

12

I have more than 9000 posts, and have only once drawn the ire of a moderator (for calling someone something I shouldn’t have in a forum I shouldn’t have). And I have participated in some pretty heated, if not nasty, discussions.

Could you elaborate on the “the administration and rules of this board are growing more and more Nazi by the day”. 'Cause I ain’t seeing it.

13

“Some people, when not happy with a situation, and when faced with a choice between bailing, and sticking around and trying to change the situation, choose to stick around. Are you one of those?”

14

“Nazi”, as politically incorrect a term as it is, is used to mean anything that is overly enforced to the point that it is extremist in its enforcement. Watch the “Soup Nazi” episode of Seinfeld and you’ll see what I mean. :wink:

No, I am not saying the administrators of the SDMB are in the same league as the party that killed 10,000,000 people. Don’t read so hard into it. :rolleyes:

Adam

15

[quibble] Probaby closer to 11 million[/quibble]

16

Who besides the mods and admins have the ability to change board protocol? I invite you to name one instance where popular demand on the board has gotten the administration to reverse a decision.

Adam

17

Well, i’d personally prefer if everyone stayed, but that’s not gonna happen, and i 'm not really interested in talking anyone out of going. But, like GaWd, i do think it’s good to know who’s going, and why.

Firstly, it’s good to know who’s going because, like it or not, my own enjoyment of these boards is determined, to a great extent, by the people i interact with on a rgular basis. There are people whose presence makes this an especially fun place to come. If enough of those people pack their bags and leave, the incentive for me to hang around would be correspndingly reduced.

And it’s good to know why people are leaving because, as GaWd says, if enough people are leavin for the same reasons, then those of us who are left, and the board Administration, might need to stop and reconsider whether or not the board and its mission needs to be re-evaluated.

As it stands, i have absolutely no intention of leaving. My re-sub rate is $7.49 or something equally absurd, and even though i need to watch my finances i can easily afford this. And hell, even if i decide never to use the boards again, i figure that a small donation to a place where i’ve had so much fun is a reasonable thing.

I guess i’m lucky in that i’ve been pretty much on the outside of all the recent upheavals. I watched most of the TubaDiva affair from the sidelines (can’t remember whether or not i expressed an opinion on it), and i have never participated in the flirt threads or (IIRC) the game threads. If the mods and admin occasionally make stupid or apparently-capricious decisions—and i think they do—the benefit of membership continues to outweight the disadvantages in my mind, and while it does i’ll stay a member.

18

You misunderstand. I’m not seeing the admins being bullys, being mean, being unfair… I need examples.

19

Word. I’ve been here for years, nine thousand posts or so, and I haven’t seen any sort of increased Nazification. These same complaints were commonplace a year ago, two years ago, three years ago.

20

I’m sorry, but remind me how those idiotic flirt threads contribute anything to the quote unquote fight against ignorance. Frankly, if a person’s only contribution to these boards comes in MPSIMS or IMHO, I won’t miss them at all.