Christ, Silo, are you going to turn into one of those fuckheads with an axe to grind that drags it into every thread?
You aren’t Opal. Opal isn’t you. Fights involving you have never been so divisive to the boards that people left.
For Christ’s sake, the Reader almost sued Opal once. I don’t call that playing favorites.
–John
I checked back into the threads and read the stuff here, and it is a bit more complicated than I thought. That’s my fault, for offering an opinion when so much had changed about chat, etc.
Admitting that, the central point still remains. Silo, I’ve never had the least problem or conflict with you. (My cluelessness is equal-opportunity; took forever and a day to figure out you were once MM, and it didn’t make any difference to me when light finally dawned.) But in this case…don’t. Just don’t.
Speaking for no one but myself, rehashing old issues and grudges doesn’t help. It doesn’t take very long (see: MadHatter) until the clashes and nastiness bores and annoys the onlookers.
Veb
There are certain posters and certain subjects that we get very careful about. You can probably think of most of them. If you want to call that “playing favorites”, Silo, that’s fine. I call that not moderating in a vacuum. Besides Silo, your perception of how moderators should do their job has always been a more than a little naïve.
I don’t even set foot in chat and I still hear the occasional tale of backstabbing and grudges and espionage and all kinds of nasty crap. Some real nasty catty personal shit has apparently gone down in that channel. Crap like that on #straightdope is the antithesis of The Straight Dope. I’m sure there are also a lot of good things about the chat room too (I even used to particpate way back when), but I’d rather not see everything that is bad about it dragged into and splattered all over the SDMB.
Allow me to repeat my new favorite regulation: The Pit ain’t the place for personal grudge matches. To me, the whole deal seemed headed for one, if it wasn’t one already.
[Edited by Alphagene on 11-09-2000 at 07:46 PM]
Moral of the story:
Boys will be boys, kids will be kids, and jackasses will unfortunately be jackasses, no matter where they may be.
I wasn’t going to respond to this thread at all but I thought I needed to make a point to Silo about Tuba.
He said:
Um Silo friend, who basically had the final say as to if you were allowed back as a regular poster? She was the one that said your apology sounded sincere.
No offense my friend but if it weren’t for Tuba accepting your apology you wouldn’t be here right now. (still friends but gonna say it as I see it)
I think Tuba and all the mods make decisions based on things they know and have in their vault of knowledge here. Did I agree with the closing of the thread? No, but Tuba has her reasons, this does not mean I should agree but respect the decision to the best of my ability because without their moderating and administration this board would not exist.
It did get some people to discuss in private their true feelings so in that light I think it was an okay decision.
**
It’s good to know that Tuba thinks that I am an enemy of the state.
Please do tell me the rest of the administrators here who feel this way so I can decide how I am supposed to feel about this…
Yer pal,
Satan
*TIME ELAPSED SINCE I QUIT SMOKING:
Seven months, 23 hours, 57 minutes and 38 seconds.
8639 cigarettes not smoked, saving $1,075.20.
Extra time with Drain Bead: 4 weeks, 1 day, 23 hours, 55 minutes.
David B used me as a cite!*
Oh, sheesh…one more time around the May pole…
Satan? Please don’t. This whole brouhaha will just burn already scorched earth. This place, and the people, have time depth–and issues that rankle.
But in fairness the actions taken here–forget persons and personalities–erred, if at all, on the side of keeping peace on this board. Right or wrong, and it’s all in the eye of the beholder, no one has been declared anyone an enemy of any state.
From a broader board viewpoint, the current fight didn’t start here so the Bouncers (aka SDMB mods) politely ushered the combatants off the property. The Bouncers can and should usher regulars outside to settle their differences.
In the words of a cheesey work seminar, “who owns the problem”? From a pragmataic viewpoint, the mess didn’t start here so the hosts declined, without prejudice, to house the brawl.
Of course I’m biased…ancient grudges seem so pallid compared to the yeasty give-and-take mind-fest now.
Veb
What the hell?
I wasn’t even talking about you, Satan. Neither you nor Tuba were mentioned in my quote so tell me how exactly you came to the conclusion I was implying that Tuba sees you as an enemy of the state.
“You swore you weren’t going to say anything”. Pssht. And yet you always do. And very time you do it makes you look completely obsessed with Tuba. Or yourself.
I know you are aware of what Mr. Zotti announced recently, as it was in a thread you started.
Please stop ignoring the rules of this message board, Satan.
Oh, puh-leeeeze, Satan. This may come as a total surprise to you, but get this: not everything is about you.
You are a very smart guy that usually offers a lot to these boards. It would, however, be a lot more effective for your credibility if you wouldn’t bring up your Tuba-obsession (cause that’s what it fucking is) at each and every opportunity you seem to find. Apparently even when it isn’t an opportunity, such as in this case.
Take it from someone who usually respects you: you really need to stop being such a pompous ass all of the time. Not every moderators or administrators decision has something to do with Satan. Honestly.
This may sound very harsh. That’s because you’ve pissed me off. I’m sure you’ll be able to repair that damage, however. Just take into account that I may be the one expressing something a lot of people think.
Silo, maybe the administration was trying to avoid an ugly situation like what happened before. I don’t see how an expectation of consistency should oblige them to always follow the dumbest course they ever did in the past.
The way I see it, this message board is for general discussion, not for people to carry their differences from other places. A thread about chat is okay if it has a general interest. Flame wars between posters are okay if they arise from discussion on the boards. But the Chicago Reader isn’t going to be the host for people to bring outside problems into. Just like with RosieWolf and her friends. Just like we got very annoyed with Boo Boo’s Tigress (though sickening lovefests aren’t as likely to inflame other posters).
Okay, let’s recap, shall we?
Silo points out “TubaDiva plays favorites.”
I see this and move on without a comment. Then, I see Alphagene - a moderator - post:
“There are certain posters and certain subjects that we get very careful about. You can probably think of most of them. If you want to call that “playing favorites”, Silo, that’s fine.”
Now, regardless of whether I specifically was being talked about, I have said all along I was treated quite unfairly by her and that she DOES play favorites.
So I see what Alpha writes, and while I know it’s not about me, I have to ask why am I any different? If the answer to her “playing favorites” is always synonymous to “there are people we have to be careful about,” that makes me guilty as charged whether or not you were specifically talking about me.
And yes, Coldfire, I am aware that not everything is about me, thanks.
However, the situation described above APPLIES to me in my opinion. As such, I felt it prudent to know where I stood. That’s all.
Here’s the simple way of putting it: The way I see it, either I am in a class of “certain posters who you need to be careful of,” or at least in some cases, she plays favorites just because she particularly likes or dislikes someone personally or for some other reason which does not equal to poster being someone who needs special attention.
If there’s another possibility, please let me know because I don’t see it. I’m certainly willing to concede anything that makes sense.
I could live with it either way, frankly. As I said, I just want to know where I stand. I was not slamming anyone, I asked a simple question. Me thinks thou protesteth too much… All of you.
Yer pal,
Satan
*TIME ELAPSED SINCE I QUIT SMOKING:
Seven months, one day, 8 hours, 37 minutes and 50 seconds.
8614 cigarettes not smoked, saving $1,077.00.
Extra time with Drain Bead: 4 weeks, 1 day, 21 hours, 50 minutes.
David B used me as a cite!*
WE protest too much? Sure…
I don’t think you’re considered a threat to the SD or its message boards, Satan. Even though you may have had your differences with Tuba in the past, they were hardly of a Melinesque scale, if you’ll allow me that analogy.
THAT’S why I found it odd, and annoying, that you brought up your own “situtation” (for lack of a better term) once more in a thread where it seemed completely irrelevant - to everyone but you, apparently.
**
I appreciate that, Coldie, but you are not a moderator. I was responding to something a mod said.
**
Well, that sure might be the case. However, as it was described by Silo and Alphagene above, this is inclusive of me. With all due respect, you don’t know everything that went down between her and I (or other mods, good and bad, for that matter). And while I don’t think I have done anything “Melinesque,” as you put it, maybe they do? I have no idea.
All I know is that we were simply talking about treating people differently and the motivations for it.
If Alphagene would just post and clarify what he meant, and I will then know where I stand, I’ll not say another word about the issue, other than thanks.
I’m sure he will though. Alpha’s a good one, and thus far I have never had any bad or unfair treatment from him.
Not that I’ll like the clarification! 
But I knwo he won’t leave me hanging…
I explained why I thought this applied to me and how much of the discussion mirrored my own plight. If you choose to think this not the case, so be it. But I am not going around trying to heap shit on anyone here and hijacking threads with my own agenda. And I don’t think you will find evidence of this.
In this one thread, I reacted to the comments of a board administrator, Coldfire. And that reaction (while sarcastic, I will admit) was just seeking clarification since I do feel as if I was impugned to a degree.
Yer pal,
Satan
*TIME ELAPSED SINCE I QUIT SMOKING:
Seven months, one day, 10 hours, 49 minutes and 12 seconds.
8618 cigarettes not smoked, saving $1,077.46.
Extra time with Drain Bead: 4 weeks, 1 day, 22 hours, 10 minutes.
David B used me as a cite!*
The comment from Ed Zotti that Alphagene quoted (above) was from the first of this month. Two days later Satan started this thread. Now the same stuff again in this one. After the 24CaratGold incident, you’d almost think it was an attempt at martydom. That would be a shame.
You can rationalize it all you want, Satan, but my quote to Silo has nothing to do with you, Tuba, or Tuba’s perception of you. And just because I am a moderator doesn’t mean I am a mouthpiece for The Powers That Be.
I don’t think my original statment was so confusing that it needs clarification. It sounds like a general statement because it is a general statement. It wasn’t meant to be a coded backhanded snap at any one specific poster. It doesn’t even imply that those posters we are careful about are people we dislike.
In fact, “we” are a group of individual moderators and administrators with our own opinions and our own styles. We all have the same duties, to enforce the rules as evenhandedly as humanly possible, but we don’t all get together and decide who we as a whole are going to hate.
So my quote wasn’t meant to be a statement regarding where you stand, Satan. I don’t know “where you stand”. I don’t even know what “where you stand” means. I don’t even know what your “plight” is, exactly. And seeing as how this discussion has now been shifted into another episode of Tubabashing, the Satan Way I’d rather not find out.
We do not allow this forum or this board to be used for personal grudge matches. That statement is relevant to the OP and to you, Satan. I’m sorry that a thread that began as a legitimate and polite request for clarification turned into this.
I’m closing this thread but I’m going to ask you again, Satan, as a favor to a moderator you consider to be “a good one”, and out of respect for the SDMB, its rules and its participants, not to post any grudges you may have on this board.
Satan
First warning. Over the past week or two you have:
(1) Whined about TubaDiva after I made it clear I wanted this to stop, and continued to whine after you were reminded of my warning by a moderator.
(2) Posted copyrighted material without permission in two separate threads even though you know full well we do not allow this.
(3) Posted an obscene insult in a non-Pit thread because you “knew” it was going to get moved to the Pit soon.
(4) Posted comments to another moderator (Gaudere) that in my opinion were obscene and abusive.
I am fed up with this crap. If you violate SDMB rules one more time, or do anything I consider jerklike, you are out of here, and I don’t care if you’ve got five million posts to your credit.
