It doesn’t take that long to figure out the general tenor of a party and start having the same kind of good time there that everyone else is having.
So if someone shows up on a forum, reads enough of it to figure out that people post their opinions, sometimes (often?) controversial and a lot of them flame each other for it, then they start participating in the same manner of action that everyone else already is, why does it matter how long they were around?
I don’t think it really does matter how long someone was on a particular forum. It’s not like messageboards aren’t all similar in a lot of ways (along the lines of how all parties are somewhat similar). If you’ve been into the internet scene for a long time, it really doesn’t take that damn long to figure out the workings of a new hangout. It’s the people who insist on treating someone like a child whose hand must be held and who can be insulted with impunity because of the info in the left hand column under registration date and post count that are irritating.
I actually remember that instance very well indeed, Fenris, and I’m gonna try to tell you that those words don’t apply the same way to Reverend Mykeru.
That, I recall, happened in the middle of a large insurgence of trolls, people who were unhappy with the SDMB (because they came in supporting the uber-troll concrete, and not incidentally, Melin) and their socks. That was a result of a cross-board skirmish, I believe, which should be stamped out.
Here, however, Mykeru did contribute to the forum, just not in ways people liked. He was abrasive. So? He was also funny, and agood bit of the time, right. Pat Robertson is a fakir. He has bilked God only knows how many people out of their money. He is probably responsible for deaths because of his admontions to ignore modern medicine. And he is a hypocrite for running into the arms of modern medicine at the first sign of trouble.
He tried to contribute to the Scott Peterson thread.
He discussed website costs.
He corrected (harshly, but big deal, and he was right) manhattan when he had an aneurysm about someone talking about file sharing.
We’ve been over these things before.
In the end, I think this post by Mykeru nicely illustrates where he was coming from:
so the mods are stupid and viscious, as are the regular posters.
and the rules are stupid etc etc. why on earth would anyone want to stay in such a place?
on the first page of his self proclaimed banning threadColdfire again noted that of his (then) 110 posts, all but 3 had been in the pit (so much for the ‘no, he’s not only posting in the pit…’ yea, with more than 97% in the pit, it’s not all )
anyhow, that good enough for you? I guess I can try and locate the UncleBeer one too, but, as I said, at least one mod had made suggestion that he try other forum, that his actions were being noticed.
sheesh. I already talked about that. No, there’s no rule that says you have to spend your time 10% here, 15% there, however, I’ve noted on more than one occasion a mod suggesting to a poster that has nothing but pit responses (or like here 97%) , that they try some of the other forums.
reference too, Lynn’s comments, that **Fenris ** found.
reference too, that ignoring mod suggestions unilaterly is a pretty good way to get banned.
reference again, my comment above that if damn near all of your activity here is to bitch about how lame/wrong/idiotic/ etc the rules are here, the other posters, the mods, why on earth do you want to be here?? and that there’s some justification to kick out some one who demonstrates effectively that they don’t like anything around here.
anyhow, I’ve spent way more time than I think the guy was worth. IT was clear to me (and apparently you don’t disagree strongly) that pretty much all he wanted to do was kvetch, bitch, moan, insult folks here. can you honestly think of anyone who posts here regularly that does that 90% of the time?
wring, so what we’ve arrived at, then, is that it’s justifiable to ban someone who 1) posts a lot in the Pit, 2) enjoys it, 3) ignores an insupportable command to “get out of the Pit!”, 4) breaks no specific rule?
In short, who doesn’t toe the line, whatever the heck that line may be?
Equitable.
And let’s not forget that a moderator went trolling on the net, away from SDMB, for ammo to use and present against Mykeru here. Man, how many rules does that violate?
Yes. Can’t believe I’m revisiting this BS, really, but the charge of being “wildly abusive” from you is a bit much to take. So begins the Tool thread:
No mistaking the criticism there. Wrong assertions aside.
next bit of helpful advice:
So, no one can condemn Pat Robertson after this; it’s hypocritical. Idiotic. It makes you a jackass. A horrible jackass. Is that it? No!
I still don’t see a point to this flailing hysteria, and RM’s posts in between were actually somewhat level-headed. The point of the Tool thread was to tell the guy he was a shitty person exactly as the title implied. Says so in black and white…nice revisionist effort though. (And by the way I retract my apology. WTF was I thinking.)
The good Rev was unjustifiably slagged for holding his contrary opinions. He had the infernal nerve to slag others back, in the Pit, no less! The effrontry! The unfuckingmitigated gall!
I love the SDMB, I really do. However, there seems to be this, well, subhuman tendency among several posters and mods to drive out someone who won’t sufficiently kiss their golden asses. I find it contemptible. Before any animals decide I am asking for a banning, I’m not. I simply think that too many of our regs are given a pass on some pretty heinous shit, while newbies can’t express what they have to say without the benefit of the doubt. FUCK THAT.
I have seen some of the most bigotted, vile shit met with courtesy, simply because it’s presented in a “civil” fashion. I’m sure that many of you know that you “can’t polish a turd,” but where do you get off slagging someone who responds to personal insults? I am specifically referring to White Lightening, iampunha, Jeff Olsen, UncleBeer, and Libertarian in the infamous “Tool” thread.
So, “people” attack the Rev mercilessly without asking for clarifications of his views and they whine about getting the same back? And even (the nerve of the guy!) on his own, personal website? Seriously, who the fuck do you think you are? You slagged someone for expressing an opinion of an, IMHO, YMMV, complete waste of care and feeding, and you are shocked! shocked, I say! that he responds in kind? In the everfucking Pit? Pathetic and shameful, really.
Seriously, the only fuckup I see the Rev making is his “Countdown to banning” thread. I think some posters and mods around here need some thicker skins.
No. Read the link in my last post. He was posting antagonistically about this board, its moderators and its members before the Pat Robertson thread was even a gleam in its originator’s eye.
As for your response to me: if you think that you, after being as friendly as you can be, sticking up for someone and having it thrown back in your face would then be more restrained than I when seeing yet another piece of arrogance railing against the board… well. You must be a saint. You are all to keen to point out provocation to the poor ol’ Rev and yet seem totally unwilling to see his provocation to us in response.
Despite your insistance on seeing us as a faceless mass of Rev-haters, we are actually all individuals, you know. Individuals that were each disgustingly insulted by that excuse for a human being - many of us long before we responded in kind.
Had it been a warning, I would have explicitly stated so. I don’t “get to tell someone what fora in which to post” at all: I can, like any other poster on these boards, advise someone to lay off the agressiveness and focus on more productive areas of our fine boards. This advise may have been presented at the same time as the remark that his behaviour was being monitored by the staff, but that doesn’t mean that he was banned for merely posting in the Pit. Merely posting in the Pit (oh, OK, 97%), and in a confrontational manner just to piss people off, IS a surefire way to get your ticket punched on the SDMB.
See the word I’ve colored red? That’s where his argument falls apart and that’s why he was banned. “Forever”.
There comes a time where you need to let it go. And even if he constitutionally couldn’t, I strongly suggest that, to the best of my vast Clique[sup]tm[/sup] knowledge, if he’d taken Coldie’s advice and in addition to fighting in the Pit, posted elsewhere and shown that he could do so in a non-confrontational way, he’d still be here. Outside of those three magic posts people keep referencing, where did he show that he had any ability to contribute anything beyond a moderately competent ability to be sarcastic?
It violates not a single goddamned rule, in that that is not what I did; I most fucking certainly did not go looking for “ammo to use against Mykeru.” I went looking to see how this guy, since he claimed to have vast Internet message board experience, had behaved and what he’d said elsewhere. You have a seriously distorted interpretation of events and reality. How is it that you think you can read my mind?
For the record, here’s the what I first said about what I found:
If that’s ammunition, it’s of a sadly inferior quality and extremely dimunitive caliber.
As you can see I only called the guy “mildly distateful.” However I also later said:
I will note that just a very few lines above that I said:
and that’s the extent of anything I said to Mykeru that could possibly be interpreted as “vile biogoted shit.” From that it should be pantently obvious which of the two options I stated of the Reverend that I believe. If that’s the “most bigoted vile shit” you can imagine, you’re sorely lacking in that department. Your interpretation of events and my actions is as utterly distorted as Ogre’s.
And also, if you’ll review the events with a dispassionate and unbiased eye, you’ll be quick to note that the Reverend went on insulting and attacking me well after I’d quit responding to him, making appear my initial judgment of him was the correct one; he was indeed courting controversy.
You and Ogre are both seriously mistaken about my actions and intentions as the record shows.
And I think some posters around here need to reflect on the events that actually transpired, rather than making false and heated accusations.
Uncle Beer, I was referring to the boards in general when I made the “vile, bigotted shit” remark. Sometimes people get called on it, sometimes they don’t. I was not accusing you of that. I was commenting on the fact that often people get slagged for no good reason other than to get a few laughs. Sometimes there’s a pile-on for no good reason, IMHO. Seems like mob rules sometimes. I hate it. YMMV
However, you did chime in on the pile-on of Rev. I don’t care how you phrased your remarks, you jumped right in against him. Yeah, I read through all his posts. He’s abrasive. So what?
If you mean me by,“some posters” making “false and heated accusations,” you are wrong. The posters I referred to in my previous post were those who jumped right in on the pile-on. You were the most civilized of them, but you still joined in.
AH - but he still had only 6 posts when he was berating David B. And there were already posts of his to that thread. It was definitely his early stuff.
