I guess that could be it.
I just asked a question, I didn’t want to start another Spanish Inquisition.
I can understand how you feel. Obviously, there are those that feel differently. It’s just sad to me that SDMB’s image of respectability and propriety (by my perception) has been tarnished in the eyes of long-time, respected Dopers because of the actions of one trusted person.
Many of those who have invested a great deal of time and emotion into this board – those who would post something as deeply personal as a family member dying – have apparently found this board to be a haven, a safe harbor, among the myriad of virtual communities. More than “just a message board,” because you wouldn’t just pick any old board to pour your heart out to. There’s a damn good reason they have come here.
I’ve been proud to be a member of a board that maintains a membership made up by and large of intelligent, mature, and honorable people. I think the hands-on administration of SDMB has greatly contributed to the attractiveness of this board to a higher caliber netizen. I would hope that the administration honor those same values in its dealings with volunteer mods and admins. I would expect the administration would seriously contemplate the widespread damage to its members’ trust resulting from the impropriety of its staff. And consider the respectability of the board to be something it cherishes and upholds, as well.
I have considered what many of you on both sides of the aisle have expressed. And I just keep shaking my head thinking “What a pity. Couldn’t have happened to a greater community.” Where’s our uniter?
Should forgot to check the Quote box in the Quick Reply. That was a response to featherlou’s response to my post. Just wanted you to understand the reason I think people are taking this so seriously. Maybe just a hobby to you, but it takes all kinds, you know. For some people this board represents a very real support network of friends and caring acquaintances. As in more than just a hobby.
Look folks, I want to see this mess completely explained to us as well but now is not the time to demand it. The mods and admins are stuck in the middle of a shit storm night now and I’m sure there are lawyers involved (never a good thing). Ed had told us as much as he can right now.
For now let the admins deal with cleaning up this mess. When they can talk they will. Until then bitching and speculating will just serve make their lives harder.
…I would consider the comparison between what happened during the recent unpleasantness, and START’s thread a very poor one. You became emotionally involved? I can believe that. Did your crying at home endanger anyone else? Did it mean you started considering suing somebody? Did it make you feel suicidal? Did it make you want to, like in the Jenny Jones case, want to kill somebody? Emotional involvement is one thing, getting directly involved in real life is another. When that line is crossed, we are no longer just “talking on a message board”, we are playing with peoples lives.
It is the fact that that line got crossed which has gotten many people angry, and unwilling to let the issue just die. I wish that it was “just a message board”, and that we didn’t have to worry about privacy issues here. But that came down to a crashing thud last week when the unpleasantness occured-which is why the Reader-acting correctly-has sought to clarify privacy issues.
NO one expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Point taken. Yours too, Cinnamon Girl. When I say this is “just a message board”, I don’t mean to disparage it and the people that make up the community.
A serious question - everyone is getting all upset about potential privacy issues, but what are we really afraid of? What is the worst that could happen? As far as I know, the Straight Dope admins have my VISA number, my name, my email address, and my IP address. In the worst case scenario, with the worst possible breach of security, how much damage could they really do? I’d reject any weird VISA charges, I already get spam and viruses through email, and my name is not really a world-class secret to me.
I been round for a long time even though My post count is low. I’ve posted some of the bad stuff of my life… I have no problem With the board admin now or in the past… ::: shrug ::: If I wanted it to be a secret, I would not put it here.
I have respect for all the MODS and even when I get crossways with them, I do not worry… I have no reason to …
It is a certain set of posters that are the problem… YMMV
…I would say that the situation, as played out, could have been much, much worse, hence my “best case, worst case” scenerio. The reaction of the Reader management and the administration team, seem to have prevented what could have been the “worst case” scenerio. I’ll make it clear that I am not talking about the current incident but hypothetical examples:-what if information were revealed to the public that led to a doper committing suicide? What if that information was used to track someone down and have them murdered? What if information was released that directly led to a law suit on the Reader, closing down the Message Boards? These were the worst things that could have happened, that fortunately were avoided in the present case. But without a strongly enforced privacy policy-these things are open to abuse.
My identity, from many of my posts here, could be freely discovered, I have revealed that I was the Functions Manager at Parliament here in NZ for the Queens visit back in 2002. Anyone, with a bit of non-google work, could find out my identity. If that were to happen, and I were to find out my name and addresss were broadcast over the internet, I would not be very happy. I’ve never done anything illegal, yet I have done some things I haven’t been proud of in my life. If, along with my name, address, and photo, there was a discription of some of the things I did when I was younger that I thought was behind me, I don’t know what my reaction would be. I take my privacy seriously, I now run my own business, some of the skeletons in my closet could destroy that-and me with it. It is never the intended consequences that are the problem, it is the unintended consequences. As I said before, when you start playing with the privacy of the members, your playing with real life, and your playing with peoples lives. The worst thing that could happen is that someone could loose theirs.
Oh, I quite agree, by the way, I was just pointing out the self-generating nature of outrage, not advocating it as a good thing. Often, it’s the little things that generate the most, the big things leave us more numb…
Does it just come down to; innocent until found guilty? Or is it more selfish then that? Is it about this being a place we all enjoy, a place that we all feel a small part of ownership in, a place we all feel we belong.
Is this a place “we” trust and are we willing to deal with the consequences of that trust?
For me, yes. It wouldn’t be tricky to find out who I was. I have freely, in various threads, given my whole identity. Not because I intended to do that but because I trusted this place so I was a bit lax sometimes.
As I said I gave that info freely to a community I trust. I would be horrified if that basic info was abused but I believe this is a good place with good people.
Two people slipped up in this sad saga. Maybe it is a lesson for us all. Maybe it just means some of us need to realise we are real people in a real community and that has real consequences.
If this whole screw-up is a serious as some keep telling us then perhaps it’s time that everyone realised that cool heads and measured responses are needed.
Too bad that many feel running around in a screaming panic expressing their outrage is an appropriate course of action. Either they save up this nonsense for online, or they must be total pains in the arse when faced with real-life’s problems.
My wish is that, just once, we could have a serious board discussion that stays on track, without a “fundies vs fags” sidetrack or a string of Monty Python references.
Because what the customer thinks of how the company does business is unimportant. Right.
I’ve found that to be untrue when for years, in an effort to please my religious family and get them off my back, I tried to believe in what they did. It’s just not there, and I am unable to change it.
Or they don’t intend to, ever, and are just hoping that everybody’ll forget this and it’ll get swept under the rug. I guess that’s just how it feels to me, someone who’s frustrated with the fact that rather than being treated as the customers we are, we’re treated like a big pain in the ass.
Restraint??
Some of these threads go on for pages after being hijack by some side issue!! 
I cannot conceive of a subject more deserving of being hijacked. Preferably into a conversation involving circumcised Libertarian homosexuals driving SUVs full of WMDs to an abotion clinic.
It would, IMESHO, be less stupid.
I wonder how many of those criticizing the Mods have had the experience of dealing with a personnel issue, spending hours in meetings about it, writing up pages and pages of documentation, spending sleepless nights worrying about it, then having someone say loudly “why doesn’t the management do something about X?”
And I was getting paid to worry about these things.
I’ve been posting on message boards for over 30 years, and this is the best moderated one I have ever seen. It is the only place on the web I am willing to pay money for. I am not going to judge the actions of anyone or any group on incomplete information, but I do want to offer my support for those who are busy working this out - no matter what the outcome is. Things were a lot simpler when the only people on the net were in universties and big companies.
I am grateful to the Administrators and Mods for leaving this thread up for a while.
Maureen, your Monty Python quote helped to break the tension and put things into perspective for me. The rest of what you had to say, dropzone, I am in full agreement with.
If anything, I think that I will probably trust Administrators and Moderators more now than I have since a time before Aldebaran’s personal information was revealed. At least now there is an acknowledgement of a problem and it is being addressed as a serious issue.
Pax
Zoe, glad I could add some levity to a situation that’s become much too weighty. And your last sentence is probably the most relevant thing anyone’s posted in here.
andros, would those be Mormon or Baptist circumcized Libertarian homosexuals?
Feh! Just watch yourself because I have Firesign Theater quotes for every occasion and I’m not afraid to use them! 