# Regarding SDMB Administration: A Plea For Restraint **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 13, 2005, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858 "2005-02-13T09:22:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858/121 "2005-02-15T20:41:52Z")
> [@ZombiesAteMyBrain](#): > > No way!! Go back and read the post - why doncha? I quoted his **fantasy** of what I was thinking to tell him that he was wrong about it. Out of my entire post, that’s the ONLY thing you took out of it? :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > Why shouldn’t mods have to apologise, even in the pit, when they throw a gratuitous insult at a member? Or are they so lofty that they are above the common decencies that we mere mortals expect? Because, as was mentioned, this is THA PIT. Gratuitous insults are the order of the day. Great glommering gobules of something icky, I’ve been insulted by and insulted back so many people here I’ve lost count. I very much doubt any of them will rush to apologize to me; they thought they were right! I certainly won’t be apologizing to them, _for the same damn reason_! It’s why we have this place here. Polite discourse takes place in most of the other forums. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858/122 "2005-02-15T20:43:54Z")
> [@catsix](#): > > So the ‘message board’ nomenclature is a bit misleading then. > > Not that you weren’t using PLATO, but you’re talking about the time period of the development of ARPANET when there were maybe 20 computers country-wide that were networked. It didn’t even hit the hundreds until the mid to late 70s, and even then the only way to do it was to dial a local BBS or have access to a machine at a university that was connected. Arpanet didn’t have usenet or anything similar back then. We used it to get to Stanford to play Parry. (I almost got a summer job working at BBN on the IMP, which was a Lockheed Sue mini which I did micropgramming for.) PLATO users off the U of I campus communicated through a satellite link to the computer. It’s effectively the same as the net today - after all, I think someone said “The Network is the Computer.” PLATO was much closer to what the net is today than the net was back then. Anyhow, the point is that PLATO notesfiles had the same culture we see in the Dope - finish the stories, odd threads, in-jokes. The discovery of quoting led to a massive thread where people just quoted the last post. Simple things kept us amused in the dark ages. “The purpose of the Arpanet is for people at MIT to send foo to people at Stanford, and for them to send bar back.” One of my MIT profs in early 1973. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858/123 "2005-02-15T20:51:46Z")
> [@catsix](#): > > So the ‘message board’ nomenclature is a bit misleading then. Perhaps I got too nostalgic in my last post. The point about Plato was that it was graphically driven, unlike any other computer system at the time. It was driven by plasma panel terminals, all with touch screen and XY addressing capability. PLATO notesfiles looked a lot more like the SDMB than they did Usenet. (Which wasn’t around yet.) There were multiple forums with multiple threads per forum. Like I said there was quoting. It was remarkably ahead of its time. Now, back to the flamewar already in progress. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858/124 "2005-02-15T20:52:38Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > “The purpose of the Arpanet is for people at MIT to send foo to people at Stanford, and for them to send bar back.” One of my MIT profs in early 1973. You got a better way of testing it? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858/125 "2005-02-15T21:15:52Z")
Douchebaggery aside, I had to laugh out loud that a mere half-hour elapsed between this: > [@ZombiesAteMyBrain](#): > > I do not call other people names on this board and this: > [@ZAMB](#): > > Drama Queen??? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858/126 "2005-02-15T21:22:04Z")
We’ve all gone through some changes the past couple weeks. Some faster than others. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2005, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858/127 "2005-02-15T21:47:08Z")
Heh heh heh. ---
**Author:** ![ZombiesAteMyBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ZombiesAteMyBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZombiesAteMyBrain)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858/128 "2005-02-16T03:12:26Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Douchebaggery aside, I had to laugh out loud that a mere half-hour elapsed between this: I meant insults - as I think I’ve made pretty clear. In this country ‘Drama Queen’ is a commonly used descriptive term, not an insult - while ‘Douchebag’ is just plain insulting. The only thing they have in common is that they begin with the letter ‘D’. Ike has not only NOT apologised, but for all his zeal in correcting MY post for one tiny coding error, I notice he hasn’t gone back to correct his own for his continual gender errors. It seems that he’s only so keen to correct mistakes when someone else makes them and it gives him an opportunity to be abusive to someone who doesn’t agree with him. Considering the topic of this thread, he isn’t a good example of the ‘restraint’ showed by the SDMB administration. Double standards again. I bet if I’d called him that name for no reason, even in the Pit, I’d have been slammed for it. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858/129 "2005-02-16T04:02:43Z")
Yup. Somethin’ ate your brain. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858/130 "2005-02-16T04:11:07Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Yup. Somethin’ ate your brain. Ed! ---
**Author:** ![Good\_Egg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@Good\_Egg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Good_Egg)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858/131 "2005-02-16T04:15:51Z")
Zombies ate my muffin! ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858/132 "2005-02-16T04:23:30Z")
**Muffin** , knock it off, please. **Good Egg** , you are **not** helping. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858/133 "2005-02-16T04:29:07Z")
Ah, c’mon, **tom**. That one was funny. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858/134 "2005-02-16T05:25:49Z")
**Zombies** , if you’re this sensitive, the Pit may not be the place for you. A moderator fixing a coding error in a post of yours called you a douchebag for no real reason. No, that’s not particularly nice or fair. But that’s life - you can feel bad about it or forget about it. (Hee - douchebaggery.) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858/135 "2005-02-16T06:50:42Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Well, shoot. **aruvqan** had a post here that I was attempting to reply to, but I punched the wrong damn button and obliterated his/her post and replaced it with mine. That’s why I don’t do a lot of moderating around here. Sorry about that, chum, didn’t mean anything by it. **-Ed Zotti** _sigh_ I merely pointed out that I _finally_ found out what the whole hooraw was about. I had been very reluctant to ask because I didnt want to risk getting banned, but all I saw was threads asking about vague things, and no details, with the locks going on …and generating more threads. I suggested that perhaps if they had made a sticky explaining things as simply and clearly as was done in here, we could have avoided all of the misheva and hard feelings going on. AS an aside, Aruvqan is my SCA name, the name I was known to hundreds of gamers in EQ, and in general used on message boards, and many people in real life call me Aru [pronounced Rue] and I am not particularly reticent about mentioning where I live despite having a stalker. ---
**Author:** ![Berkut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858/136 "2005-02-16T06:55:46Z")
Have you seen [this sticky](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=302206), aruvqan? ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858/137 "2005-02-16T07:58:39Z")
> [@Berkut](#): > > Have you seen [this sticky](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=302206), aruvqan? That’s what he was replying about. I did print out this thread before his post got “disappeared”, and really, there is nothing in it aside from saying, “I just found out about this.” So I have no problem believing Ed Zotti’s telling the truth…in fact, I got a laugh picturing him banging his head on the desk, thinking: _“Oh man, I hit the wrong freakin’ button and NOBODY’S gonna believe me when I tell them that!”_ We really do need to lighten up on the admins, you know. They’re under a lot of obvious strain and all this whining and pissing and complaining, while relevant, ain’t helping us get through this. Maybe we should all go play The Sims for awhile. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858/138 "2005-02-16T11:16:08Z")
> [@Ed Zotti](#): > > All right, kids, let’s chill here, OK? Also, I see we’re beginning to stray into a discussion of the he-said-she-said details of this incident, which I have said repeatedly I don’t want to happen. If the trend continues, I will close and hide this thread too. Yeah, maybe you oughta. And while you’re at it, see if you can reign in your unprofessional moderators. What a ridiculous “explanation”: “I posted my reason for said editing to avoid the foment of conspiracy theory.” Gimme a break, dude, conspiracy? If you’d just said, “fixed coding,” you honestly think people would shout, “Conspiracy”? Maybe you should put your resentments aside when performing official functions, Ike. You know, like Tuba should have. Ed Zotti, if you don’t prohibit your moderators from pulling crap like this, then you’re implicitly giving your approval of it. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858/139 "2005-02-16T15:33:02Z")
[moderator hat off] dan, you’re a real douchebag, you know that? [moderator hat on] ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858/140 "2005-02-16T15:34:33Z")
Now you’re getting the hang of it, Ike. Good show! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regarding-sdmb-administration-a-plea-for-restraint/289858.md?page=8)