Reverend Mykeru banned. SDMB Pit vultures rejoice.

[Ogre]

Absolutely not…for two reasons.

First, I specified the “Pat Robertson” thread. I did so because it seems like that’s where most of the vitriol was coming from.

Second, since we’re expanding the argument to any and all threads, let’s take a look at the context in which each of those insults you quoted was made.
[ul]

Asshat.

This was in response to Libertarian’s direct insult,

You are a fucking moron.

I wouldn’t have stopped at calling him an “asshat,” personally.

This must be related to some general reading comprehion problem…it’s obvious that you performing fellatio on your own appendix…Well, as long as you are predicting, and while your head is there, can you pull some lottery numbers out that fundamental orifice of yours?

This was in direct response to iampunha calling him a

shit-sucking, maggot-infested, used tampon-licking, corpse-fucking pustule on the underbelly of a leprous babylonian hyena

Charming. I certainly wouldn’t have stopped at commenting on his reading comprehension.

He was also responding to Bricker’s flame-baiting mini-mod comment. Pile-on? Yes, please!

I don’t fault you for having a loose grasp of language. I commend you for graduating from Yerkes Elementary School into the real world where you don’t always get a slice of apple evertime you press the right button, intentionally or not. I look forward to your random typing of Hamlet which will become available, I assume, some time before the heat death of the universe. I do, however, fault you for wearing your ignorance like a badge of honor and waving it around like some deviant at a nudist camp wearing an obvious prosthetic shlong…Words don’t mean whatever you want them to mean at any given time. They actually have meaning all by themselves and you know, for hundreds of years people have written these meanings down in books without asking your opinion.

Feel free to print out this post, roll it in a tight cylinder and shove it up your sphincter to to break the vacuum keeping your head up there.

And you are welcome.

This was a direct response to Munch’s (decidedly strange and meaningless) “puss monkey” comment. Again, he turned up the heat after he’d been directly insulted. I certainly don’t blame him.

I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you are actively attempting to feign complete obtuseness rather than assume that you do, in fact, have a couple extra chromosomes…Hey, nice way to hijack a thread by invoking Godwin’s Law, fuckwit.

Trion had already, earlier in the thread, snottily referred to him in this way:

And big man that you are you once again sunk to the depths available. And further continued the sinking process. You truely are a Paragon of Humanity.

Do I really have to go to the bother of pointing out that this was a sarcastic insult? Again, Reverend Mykeru reacted relatively mildly to what was clear provocation.
[/ul]

[Monty]

*Originally posted by Hank Fescue *
Monty , one of the all time assholes and pit dwellers on this board, remains.

I do remain. I do not dell only in the pit and I am not an asshole, your worthless opinion notwithstanding.

Doesn’t have half the sense of a fuckin’ head of lettuce.

Again, your worthless opinion.

The Rev was twice as smart and twice as witty.

Apparently that’s not a true statement. After all, the rev’s been banned.

Just stung the wrong people.

I wouldn’t characterize it as stinging. The rev initiated a thread in the pit himself entitled “ban countdown” or some such. That’s more of a dare than a sting.

Manhattan , one of your beloved Mods got away with near criminal slander. Couldn’t shine the good Revs shoes.

Care to provide a link for this?

[Ogre]

Specifically, Coldfire, I am referring to David B’s behavior in the thread that got Nocktober banned. Very ugly, if the only justification it really boils down to is “hey, it wasn’t against the letter of the law in GD to cleverly insult him!”

I wasn’t only referring to the current matter with Reverend Myerku.

He chose to ignore it, he chose his roll as a shit-slinging Pit monkey.

No. He chose to espouse his opinion on Pat Robertson in the face of gratuitous insults flung his way, and he chose to return those insults in kind (better, actually.) He got banned for it.

[Diane]

I’ve been around the SDMB before dirt was created. I do not recall ever chiming in on a “Why did you ban ****” thread. I think the mods and admins do an excellent job with the SDMB and I trust and respect the way they run the show.

I love and respect 'em dearly.

Even now I am not going to add my 2 cents to the Rev Defense Fund because it ain’t my house and I’m not going to tell the owners how to clean it. He had adequate warning.

Also a lot of the players in the Rev threads are good friends (some I have met in person) and/or people that I respect. Shit, I may or may not have wild sexual kinky fantasies about a few of them, but still. . . .

Having said all of that and understanding that my opinion holds as much water as a fork, I am just going to say that in all these years and all the accusations of cliques, vultures, and lynch mobs, this is the closest the regs have ever come to proving those accusations hold some truth.

Maybe I am the only one who sees it this way, but it certainly appeared to me to be nothing more than an egotistical, testoserone filled battle of whose dick is bigger.

Rev came onto the board with a strong opinion and personality and because he was a newbie a few posters thought they could strong arm him going so far as to start a “Fucking Tool” thread and then acted surprised when he came back with a flame thrower.

Go back and read the threads from day one. He didn’t fight back or even act like an ass until a reg threw the first punch and others piled on. From an outsider with no dog in the fight it certainly looked like the problem escalated in part because he didn’t bow to the old regs and play the submissive role of the newbie.

Again, I am making no argument against his failure to heed to the warnings of the moderators and agree that he should be banned. I just want to make it clear that he surely wasn’t the only asshole in those threads and his taunters should be ashamed of their actions.

The next time the old accusation of cliques and dog piles rears its ugly head, you might want to think about this incident and wonder just how off the mark it really is.

[Coldfire]

Well, he wasn’t banned for his comments in the Pat Robertson thread, but I do like to think that the SDMB staff, and the majority of the teeming millions, have the decency to think of those who wish cancer upon others as some sort of retaliation for what they’ve done to the world, regardless of what it was they did, as complete and utter assholes. And I’ll maintain that stance if it’s the last thing I’ll ever do on these boards.

[manhattan]

*Originally posted by Monty *
**

Manhattan , one of your beloved Mods got away with near criminal slander. Couldn’t shine the good Revs shoes.

Care to provide a link for this? **

He’s just sore because I get to date a lesbian and he doesn’t.

[Monty]

You’re probably right, manhattan. He’s also just sore at me because he made an assertion, I asked for a cite, and all he did was make a snide comment in return. In other words: SORE LOSER!

[Diane]

Hiya Coldie, I agree that wishing cancer upon someone is an assholish, disgusting thing to do. I know first hand. In the last 10 years I have witnessed up close and personal the last few months of living hell a cancer victim endures. I have lost two very close friends (one just left three kids motherless last October), three uncles, a grandmother, aunt, and the three year old son of a good friend to cancer. I have helped my close-as-twins cousin fight non-Hodkinson lymphoma for the last 8 years and wait with clenched fists every time my mother’s sister goes in for her (hopefully) continued remission from cancer health check. Because I work with the disabled, I have lost many clients from cancer.

Believe me, I find it just as revolting as you do, but I do see where Rev was coming from in his noting the irony in Pat’s scamming money from cancer victims and keeping them from medical treatment. A dark side of me knows that I would feel an evil sense of vengence (with his cancer) had one of my cancer victim loved ones been robbed and sent to an earlier grave by Pat.

Beyond that, I still feel that Rev was goaded into a fight by some of the board members who then acted shocked that he fought back. I didn’t like what I saw.

I also agree that he didn’t catch the warnings to back off and was justly banned. It still doesn’t excuse the action of some of the other posters.

BTW, that book you mentioned? The one where the Rush guy’s wife and daughter dies so he hits the road, right?

I have never read it but I have heard - EVERY. SINGLE. DETAIL. about it from my boyfriend who worships Rush.

I mean - EVERY. SINGLE. DETAIL. OVER. AND. OVER. AND. OVER. AND. OVER. AND. OVER. :::sigh:::

You’ll love it.

[Coldfire]

Heh, cool. Thanks.

[Tee]

*Originally posted by Diane *
**Rev came onto the board with a strong opinion and personality and because he was a newbie a few posters thought they could strong arm him going so far as to start a “Fucking Tool” thread and then acted surprised when he came back with a flame thrower. **

I thought the same thing.

He didn’t wish cancer on PR; he was honest about not feeling at all bad about PR having cancer. A very different thing, and he wasn’t alone there. Yet it triggered that level of outrage? Looked to me like the whole “Tool” thread was bait.

And yes, he was giving it as much as he was getting it, so…a bad ending.

[RedFury]

*Originally posted by Jeff Olsen *
**Returning flames in one thing but what Rev. did was drop napalm. **

Although likely unintentionally, I think Jeff Olsen captured the essense of this whole episode beautifully in the above post.

The plans of putting the Rev through the SDMB’s own puerile version of a Trial by Fire simply left many of you scorched from head to toe.

Clearly, we can’t allow a mere newbie to effect such an egregious affront to The Elite Flamesmen of the SDMB.

Too bad – I for one found him quite refreshing and clearheaded. And contrary to popular opinion, I also think he was thrust upon the cross…but he didn’t go meekly.

Good for him.

[White_Lightning]

Ogre, you can specify all you like, but if you want to talk about how people called RM a “fucking tool” you’re going to have to realize that I started that thread because of his behavior in the “personal experience” thread. I don’t give two shits what his opinion was about Robertson’s personality. I made it explicitly clear in the thread that I started why I started that thread, time and again. I’ve been over that ground with RM several times, too.

I’ll freely grant that he was responding to other posters insulting him. Lib started right off with the insults. iampunha chimed in in merry Pit tradition with over-the-top hyperbolic flames. So? You said there had been no insults before I started a thread exclusively to slag him. That is false.

Diane, I’m sure I don’t fall into any of the categories of posters that you named except one: I was an asshole. I was an asshole to Reverend Mykeru. It’s possible that I shouldn’t have started that thread (I soften this statement because I do still stand by my belief that he hijacked the ‘personal experience’ thread, and starting Pit threads to rectify hijacks of other Pit threads is tried and true), and it’s certain that I shouldn’t have titled it as I did. I also should probably have walked away from it way earlier than I did. Maybe I should even have requested it be closed. But it did fall off the board on its own for a couple days, until it was resurrected by a mistaken post and brought back to life by RM supporters who still had bones to pick.

I apologized in that thread for my hasty and inappropriate actions. I was not ‘surprised when he came back with a flame thrower.’ I had already seen enough of him to know that he’d react by getting defensive and fantastically hostile. I never intended that thread to be a pileon. I intended it to provide a place for his hijack to go, and I got carried away with the invective in my OP. I explained this in that thread and apologized that I had created an avenue for posters to flame him. Now that he’s been banned and all this shit is still being flung around, I’m even more sorry that I ever started it in the first place.

I’ve taken a look at what happened. I reviewed those fucking threads every day. I realized that I had made mistakes, and tried to apologize for them, before he ever started his cruisin’-for-a-bruisin’ ‘how long till I get banned’ thread. Know what he had to say to me?

This is me:

I started this thread because I thought there was a legitimate and interesting discussion to be had in the one you had hijacked, because I thought you had made some bad arguments there, and because I had something to say about that. I’ve said what I had to say. The thread grew from there and took off in directions that I wouldn’t have approved of if I had had any say. I am sorry that this thread provided a vehicle for posters with a bone to pick with you to air some baseless accusations. I didn’t intend for it to be used that way but it certainly shouldn’t have come as a surprise to me given the aggressive way I titled the thread.

And this is him:

I don’t know. Is that an admission of some kind? Probably not.

Fuck that.

[Ogre]

Well, he wasn’t banned for his comments in the Pat Robertson thread, but I do like to think that the SDMB staff, and the majority of the teeming millions, have the decency to think of those who wish cancer upon others as some sort of retaliation for what they’ve done to the world, regardless of what it was they did, as complete and utter assholes. And I’ll maintain that stance if it’s the last thing I’ll ever do on these boards.

I’m sorry for your experiences with cancer, Coldfire. I’ve seen people I love die from it too. I still do not understand what makes you think that someone is not allowed to have a different opinion on the matter.

And as long as we’re splitting hairs, let’s first establish that Reverend Myerku did not actually wish cancer on Robertson. He said he wouldn’t shed a tear if Robertson died of it. Big, big difference. He specifically compared the situation to a number of other cases…the Hillside Strangler and Jeffery Dahmer come to mind. Hell, sounds OK to me. I’m convinced that Robertson is quite as evil as those guys, and I certainly didn’t send a condolence card when Dahmer bought it.

And no, the “well Dahmer actually killed people” argument is not valid. Heaven knows how many people Robertson as paupered and led to their deaths by telling them to 1) send him money, and 2) not go to the doctor.

[Ogre]

Ogre, you can specify all you like, but if you want to talk about how people called RM a “fucking tool” you’re going to have to realize that I started that thread because of his behavior in the “personal experience” thread. I don’t give two shits what his opinion was about Robertson’s personality. I made it explicitly clear in the thread that I started why I started that thread, time and again. I’ve been over that ground with RM several times, too.

I’ll freely grant that he was responding to other posters insulting him. Lib started right off with the insults. iampunha chimed in in merry Pit tradition with over-the-top hyperbolic flames. So? You said there had been no insults before I started a thread exclusively to slag him. That is false.

No. What I said was:

At no point before you started your pit thread was Reverend Mykeru insulting to any poster in the Pat Robertson thread.

And since we’re talking about what I actually said, let’s talk about what I actually said.

But even your larger point is invalid. [bReverend Myerku** was not insulting to anyone before he was insulted himself. This includes (as I demonstrated) the thread that inspired your Pit thread, and the body of that thread itself. OF COURSE he responded insultingly. You baited him, and insulted him first.

[White_Lightning]

*Originally posted by Tee *
He didn’t wish cancer on PR; he was honest about not feeling at all bad about PR having cancer. A very different thing, and he wasn’t alone there.

Please explain how “I’m sorry he only had one prostate to get cancer” is closer to ‘not feeling bad’ than ‘wishing cancer.’ What’s the very obviously implied second half of that statement? “…Because if he had two, I’d hope he appreciated the irony of his situation and corrected the error of his ways before the second one went bad, too”? I don’t think so.

Yet it triggered that level of outrage? Looked to me like the whole “Tool” thread was bait.

Another person who knows my motives better than I do. You guys are breeding like rabbits.

Bait for what? I’ve got nothing invested in Robertson’s situation; I didn’t post anything about him or his cancer before RM came along, and I haven’t since, either, except as it directly related to RM’s bullshit argumentation. RM had fewer than 20 posts when I started that thread. What in the world could I have against him other than exactly what I said I did? I don’t buy this shit about hating newbies with strong opinions, because personally I don’t give a fuck.

[Skywatcher]

*Originally posted by Diane *
Rev came onto the board with a strong opinion and personality and because he was a newbie a few posters thought they could strong arm him going so far as to start a “Fucking Tool” thread and then acted surprised when he came back with a flame thrower.

No, not flamethrower, napalm.
I saw him as dumping flames left and right, no matter who the target or who flamed first. He had to know that such indiscriminate flaming would have gotten him in trouble eventually yet he continued. Anyone who stood up to him was called names, insulted, labelled as a troll, you name it. What a waste of potential.

[White_Lightning]

Okay, what you actually said is true. I was wrong. You were right.

I think it’s misleading to say “At no point before you started your pit thread was Reverend Mykeru insulting to any poster in the Pat Robertson thread,” because the thread I started didn’t refer to that thread. I might as well argue that I hadn’t said diddly about RM in any of the number of MPSIMS threads I’ve participated in over the last two weeks. Maybe I insulted him first (since I had never attracted his attention before I insulted him), but by the time I got there there was already a full-scale conflagration, and RM was ‘giving as good as he got’ as all his supporters love to point out (in another vein, how good of an argument is it, really, to say ‘you started it’?).

He had more than enough time to settle down. The thread I started with his name in the title went away on its own. His camp brought it back. He singlehandedly ruined another thread, going out of his way to shit on people that were exclusively trying to help him. When that one got closed he started one against himself.

How much more evidence do you need that he got just what he wanted?

[Hamlet]

*Originally posted by RedFury *
**The plans of putting the Rev through the SDMB’s own puerile version of a Trial by Fire simply left many of you scorched from head to toe.
**

Two pages later and, nope, I still don’t get it. Why do some people insist on giving this guy more credit than he deserves. Even if you believe the poor little thing was picked on, why in the world do some of you operate under the illusion that he was anything more than good with insults? Sure he could fling shit with the best of him, and if you admire him for that, well, I now know what is important to you. Style over substance. Insults before understanding. All the things it appears you are railing on “the regulars” for. And somebody whose act is that one-dimensional, with that one act being akin to trolling, why would anybody be surprised he was banned? Pretending that he made any contribution other than keenly worded insults is ridiculous.

[Ogre]

*Originally posted by Hamlet *
**Two pages later and, nope, I still don’t get it. Why do some people insist on giving this guy more credit than he deserves. Even if you believe the poor little thing was picked on, why in the world do some of you operate under the illusion that he was anything more than good with insults? Sure he could fling shit with the best of him, and if you admire him for that, well, I now know what is important to you. Style over substance. Insults before understanding. All the things it appears you are railing on “the regulars” for. And somebody whose act is that one-dimensional, with that one act being akin to trolling, why would anybody be surprised he was banned? Pretending that he made any contribution other than keenly worded insults is ridiculous. **

Given that he was provoked first, why are you surprised that he returned the insults? Why is this bannable and unjustifiable?

Also, read super_head’s post about the other topics he contributed to. Your point that he made no other contribution is demonstrably untrue.

[super_head]

*Originally posted by Coldfire *
Well, he wasn’t banned for his comments in the Pat Robertson thread, but I do like to think that the SDMB staff, and the majority of the teeming millions, have the decency to think of those who wish cancer upon others as some sort of retaliation for what they’ve done to the world, regardless of what it was they did, as complete and utter assholes. And I’ll maintain that stance if it’s the last thing I’ll ever do on these boards.

Oh, please - spare us the sanctimonious martyr routine.

What punishment would be suitable for a man who regularly misleads others with his faith healing crap? Who then runs to the warm arms of modern medicine when his own prostate is on the line? Who regularly begs for money from any and all, some of whom can probably not afford it? Who advocates that atheists and non-Christians not be a part of government? Who says that those same people, gays, and pro-choice individuals caused 9/11?

Tell me, what punishment is fitting? Can you not appreciate the irony of his situation - and his response? It has shit all to do with wishing cancer upon him (personally, I’d just like him to go away in general) - and everything to do with appreciating that he has gotten his comeuppance, and his much ballyhooed faith has been found wanting.

And before you start in with the cancer thing, I’ve had skin cancer and dealt with it - still am, in fact. I’ve had cancer with relatives, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, AIDS, etc. And none of that changes the fact that some people are complete assholes who don’t deserve a moment of my pity - and I count Mr. Robertson among them.