FWIW, I have no wish for our resident cephalopod to be banned, though I’m always happy to argue with him when he’s wrong.
Barack Obama was turning out to be a moron. I always suspected that this character wasn’t really the 44th president, who seemed a lot brighter IRL.
Seriously, I think BPC was a bit of a loss to the board, but let’s face it, the discussions often went like this:
BPC: <Some outlandish statement of an extreme liberal sentiment, yet probably worth discussing to some degree, then with an insult or two thrown in to those who disagree.> Moderator: BPC, you need to dial it way back. BPC: No, I will not.
Repeat, repeat, repeat. I guess it was just a few times too many.
Thanks, mods! Ditka in particular was much more interested in scoring points and “liberal tears” than actual discussion or debate. The board is a much better place without him.
Oh, he was a different voice, alright. The voice of a troll. Or as we called it in the old days, a gadfly. Originally a gadfly was an annoying fly that buzzed around and bit livestock, but it gradually morphed into meaning an annoying person, especially one who provokes others into disreputable action by incessant criticism. I have no personal issues with conservative posters like Sam Stone, or Bone, with whom I disagree politically on almost everything. But Ditka never seemed to have anything useful or substantive to contribute.
Yeah, it’s somewhat bittersweet that the ban ended up being personal insults or whatever, rather than a definitive statement about a years-long campaign of trolling in the form of sealioning, JAQing off, and, well, trolling.
I expect fairly soon we’ll see the emergence of a new account sporting all those delightful behaviors. Watch for the conservative whose main contribution is threadshitting with liberal-hostile questions.
Your critique of other posters would have merit if you weren’t so blatantly partisan with your bias. How about slinging some snark towards worthless left wing posters such as kaylasdad, steveG, etc?
**BPC **had lots of valuable content and arguments to offer, and his posts were usually backed by sound logic and facts. It’s just that he couldn’t/didn’t learn how to present them without flaming and running afoul of the mods.
I’m sure my political opinions make me more likely to notice right-wing trolls than left-wing trolls. But I have called out broad-brushing attacks from the left on this board on multiple occasions.
As for specific left-wing supposed trolls (or otherwise worthless posters), feel free to make a case.
I too thought BPC made a lot of valuable contributions to the board but I’m not quibbling with the banning. That’s a lot of warnings to rack up.
Of the others, Zeke never really made it onto my radar but the rest were pretty toxic, especially in recent times. I never did figure out whether Barack Obama was a left-wing troll or a right-wing troll pretending to be a left-wing troll, but I’m pretty sure he was an asshole.
There is the old saying about being able to disagree without being disagreeable. However, these days it seems , to some at least, that disagreaability is the essence of disagreement. One can be conservative (or liberal, or ultra-conservative or ultra-liberal) without being an asshole about it. Those who can’t should get, as Spider Robinson put it, an invitation to the world.
I disagree. The impression I usually got from HD was that he didn’t really understand the debates he was in. I feel he was just repeating things he had picked up in some right wing websites. In those sites, those ideas were applauded. But when HD brought them here, people responded by questioning them and pointing out the problems in them. And HD couldn’t defend the ideas he was posting because he hadn’t developed them and didn’t really fully understand them.
I mostly agree with this and in doing so he reminded me of a lot of people I knew in the oil field. I don’t go to those right wing sites so I like having someone here who is willing to do so and act as their advocate even when they are dumb. I always felt he was genuine since I know people exactly like him.
