the death of the Dope

[Budget_Player_Cadet]

Let me just bring up a personal gripe, to tie into JohnT’s.

@Bone

@Budget_Player_Cadet

Then please stop responding to him.

I’ll extend this invitation to everyone else in the thread. HD has been posting things that are patently wrong and incredibly inflammatory since he joined the thread, and it’d really be easier if we just collectively stopped responding. There are real issues to talk about. None of them are furthered by interacting with him.

Knock it off. Take your campaign to convince others to ignore posters to the Pit where it belongs.

[/moderating]

By this point the last 4 pages of the thread had been HD taking a big fat stinking dump all over an otherwise quite serious discussion, which I had been working quite hard to keep that way (because god knows the moderators won’t help with that). I had reported several of HD’s posts, most notably a fucking horrific joke made at the expense of the victims of the concentration camps. No moderator stepped in or said or did anything, because apparently this is fine.

This prompted… a temporary hiatus. (Hey, good call, Ravenman!)

Skip forward a few pages, and here’s Bone again:

@Bone

@HurricaneDitka

It’s probably worth mentioning, in the midst of all this hand-wringing over the coming genocide, that the Border Patrol killed more people under the Obama administration than it has the Trump administration, and that assaults on BP agents are up, but use of force, especially with firearms, is down under the Trump administration.

If genocide is the concern, we seem to be heading in the opposite direction.

@HurricaneDitka

My point is that illegals dying “by Border Patrol” is not some new horror that has only happened under President Trump. It happened under Obama too, and at about the same rate, and probably others before him.

This kind of misleading presentation is an example of bad faith argument. First, it misrepresents the evidence, seemingly intentionally. Second, you’ve switched the nature of the commentary - first saying that more people were killed under the Obama administration, then saying it was about the same rate.

I’m giving you fair notice here. I have no more patience for JAQing off, sealioning, other off topic tangents meant to rile people up, or other bad faith arguments. That goes for all threads in the future, including this one. I will bookmark this post and if it occurs again you will be warned.

[/moderating]

An apology is, presumably, not forthcoming.

Two things to note.

1. Ditka didn’t get worse over the course of the thread. He was fucking awful from the start and stayed at about that level.
2. Thank you, Bone, for reaching the point most of the rest of us were at half a decade ago, so kind of you to join us. Please, for the love of god, actually enforce this shit, because this is literally HD’s modus operandi and if you actively hold yourself to this post, he’ll be gone in a fuckin’ week.

That said, I really doubt he will, because, like Clothahump before him, it basically does not matter how noxious and shitty HD becomes, as long as he does so in a polite tone of voice, because this is how the moderators understand trolling:

@Jonathan_Chance

I’ll make the same argument I always do when this pops up. You’re not only making your case to your direct debate opponent. You’re making it to the 100-1 who are just reading and lurking. To do otherwise is to leave the field to your rival.

Hey, since I haven’t said it, let’s just say it here: Jonathan Chance does not understand trolling, and is, as a result, an absolutely terrible moderator. This is not the internet anyone lives in any more. It never was, and these days you need to know better than that.

This board has serious troll problems, but the mod staff seems to take it the other way. Meanness, or calling someone’s bullshit? That’s a problem, that’ll get you warned ASAP. Constantly trolling and ruining any thread they’re a part of? Maybe, if we’re really lucky, after 18 fucking years of escalating bad behavior, the mods will get a clue. It could have been so easy to say, “Slacker, Samuel, we’ve heard your perspective, thank you. Please stop posting in this thread, and maybe give the next one on the subject a pass as well.” Instead, we get… this. It is phenomenally frustrating. Twitter moderation is ass, but if I call someone a jerk and block them, I don’t usually then have to deal with people around me constantly quoting them.

[jz78817]

@Scumpup

You know what the worst thing is? This place has become boring. I don’t come around nearly as much and post but seldom this last year or so. Same people riding the same hobbyhorses, day in and day out. It’s a shame, too. But, hey, if the board culture desired by the majority, or at least the loudest crusaders, is some kind of neo-Puritan safe space where the main activity is showing off to each other just how woke we are…have at it. This place needs me no more than I need it.

you know, contrary to the whining, nobody is telling men to stop talking about women, or what they want in a woman, or anything like that.
We’re telling you there’s a time and a place for it. The time is not “all the time,” and the place is not “everywhere.”

Christ, some of you guys must have been “that kid” in middle school who would walk by a table of girls chatting over lunch and crop dust them.

[dropzone]

@Budget_Player_Cadet

…This is not the internet anyone lives in any more. It never was, and these days you need to know better than that.

This board has serious troll problems, but the mod staff seems to take it the other way. Meanness, or calling someone’s bullshit? That’s a problem, that’ll get you warned ASAP. Constantly trolling and ruining any thread they’re a part of? Maybe, if we’re really lucky, after 18 fucking years of escalating bad behavior, the mods will get a clue. It could have been so easy to say, “Slacker, Samuel, we’ve heard your perspective, thank you. Please stop posting in this thread, and maybe give the next one on the subject a pass as well.” Instead, we get… this. It is phenomenally frustrating. Twitter moderation is ass, but if I call someone a jerk and block them, I don’t usually then have to deal with people around me constantly quoting them.

Repeated for truth.

@octopus

The three right of center posters make this a scary place for newbies? Lol.

@Chisquirrel

You mispelled hateful, lying whingers.

Indeed. They are scary, with hateful beliefs they keep repeating until all the air is sucked out of the thread. Worse is that they are unpleasant and constantly hijack threads, using the thread as their own bully pulpit and giving lurkers and potential paying members the idea that we tolerate, even welcome, antisocial shit.

[Jasmine]

So, in other words, this Board is “dying” because it isn’t being run exactly the way you want it to be run? If that was a valid dynamic, this Board would have died a million deaths already. LOL

[dropzone]

@jz78817

you know, contrary to the whining, nobody is telling men to stop talking about women, or what they want in a woman, or anything like that.

We’re telling you there’s a time and a place for it. The time is not “all the time,” and the place is not “everywhere.”

Christ, some of you guys must have been “that kid” in middle school who would walk by a table of girls chatting over lunch and **crop dust **them.

Nice post with too many line feeds which I removed because I’m anal (just watch–I’ll get nodded for editing a quote), and I had to look up the bolded term, but yeah.

[JohnT]

Let’s face it. They like the trolls because they generate page views. It’s a damned short-sited proposition, but it sure explains a lot.

[iiandyiiii]

I think TPTB need to make it a top priority to have some women mods. And not just one or two, but several. It’s not just a mantra – diversity, in all characteristics, really is necessary to combat this sort of resistance to positive cultural change.

[What_Exit]

@iiandyiiii

I think TPTB need to make it a top priority to have some women mods. And not just one or two, but several. It’s not just a mantra – diversity, in all characteristics, really is necessary to combat this sort of resistance to positive cultural change.

Not a big fan of quotas and keep in mind that mods here are typically given a forum not the whole board to monitor. So I’m not sure how useful your suggestion is. Do you have any specific forums in mind or do you want them to change the structure of the mod team also?

Are there any long-term women members volunteering for this assignment? Have they let **TubaDiva **know that already? I know she has a process she follows, not the details of it, but it does exist.

[Maserschmidt]

There is a handful of posters who, like shit covered pigs, come running into the room and rolling around until everybody else is covered with shit as well. Some of that is on the people who respond to them and let threads get derailed, but the reality is they are so insistent and prevalent in some threads that it’s difficult not to. As a result, I find myself avoiding entire threads when I see some posters posting in in them.

Which I think is an effect they probably enjoy.

I know I haven’t been as big a presence on the Dope as many of you, but this was definitely the message board I came to when I wanted to be around adults, and that’s just no longer true.

[dropzone]

@Jasmine

So, in other words, this Board is “dying” because it isn’t being run exactly the way you want it to be run? If that was a valid dynamic, this Board would have died a million deaths already. LOL

No, it’s dying in part because a handful of jerks are allowed to run roughshod over the actual attempts to fight ignorance. Would your sister feel welcome where threads get hijacked by the likes of WillFarnaby promoting his own brand of right-wing libertarianism and page after page are spent with him arguing with do-gooder enablers? It’s a mod’s job to moderate and try to keep the thread on track, and that’s not happening, to the detriment of the board.

[What_Exit]

@Maserschmidt

There is a handful of posters who, like shit covered pigs, come running into the room and rolling around until everybody else is covered with shit as well. Some of that is on the people who respond to them and let threads get derailed, but the reality is they are so insistent and prevalent in some threads that it’s difficult not to. As a result, I find myself avoiding entire threads when I see some posters posting in in them.

Which I think is an effect they probably enjoy.

I know I haven’t been as big a presence on the Dope as many of you, but this was definitely the message board I came to when I wanted to be around adults, and that’s just no longer true.

Its true, the trolls use to be more subtle. HD is a blunt instrument compared to the likes of some of the past expert derailers of threads. But debates also use to be more then shriekers and parsers. GD has been overwhelmed.

I think the more honest and rational right leaning posters have largely walked away from the board and especially GD leaving mostly cesspool dwelling scum-suckers behind.

[Babale]

@What_Exit

Its true, the trolls use to be more subtle. HD is a blunt instrument compared to the likes of some of the past expert derailers of threads. But debates also use to be more then shriekers and parsers. GD has been overwhelmed.

I think the more honest and rational right leaning posters have largely walked away from the board and especially GD leaving mostly cesspool dwelling scum-suckers behind.

I’ll gladly trade WF, Octoputz, and UV (world’s worst lawyer) in exchange for getting Bricker back.

[octopus]

@dropzone

Repeated for truth.

Indeed. They are scary, with hateful beliefs they keep repeating until all the air is sucked out of the thread. Worse is that they are unpleasant and constantly hijack threads, using the thread as their own bully pulpit and giving lurkers and potential paying members the idea that we tolerate, even welcome, antisocial shit.

Disingenuous hypocrisy won’t get you anywhere. Perhaps scanning people’s profile or the metadata in their avatar image file for something to trigger the Uber-woke and their puppets might be a more productive use of your time.

[Maserschmidt]

@Babale

I’ll gladly trade WF, Octoputz, and UV (world’s worst lawyer) in exchange for getting Bricker back.

I one thousand million percent endorse this.

[octopus]

@Babale

I’ll gladly trade WF, Octoputz, and UV (world’s worst lawyer) in exchange for getting Bricker back.

Octoputz? You come up with that all by yourself? Or is that the work of the snark committee?

[Inigo_Montoya]

@JohnT

Let’s face it. They like the trolls because they generate page views.

10 years ago I’d have considered this to be an overly cynical conclusion. Today I think it’s dead on. It’s still a fine place to come and take in some new ideas and even catch up on the latest trolling techniques. But like Facebook, someone is making a profit from us doing so and that is going to affect the atmosphere a bit. Like anyplace else on the interwebs you slog through the trolls, you slog through nonsequiter-spewing distractions who somehow manage to stay under the radar :rolleyes: and occasionally you’re glad you did.

[What_Exit]

@Babale

I’ll gladly trade WF, Octoputz, and UV (world’s worst lawyer) in exchange for getting Bricker back.

Exactly. Largely because despite some unpopular opinions, he wasn’t a troll.

@octopus

Octoputz? You come up with that all by yourself? Or is that the work of the snark committee?

What? You don’t think that writes itself? Developing a persecution complex now?

[dropzone]

@Babale

I’ll gladly trade WF, Octoputz, and UV (world’s worst lawyer) in exchange for getting Bricker back.

He showed up for a moment in MPSIMS, but seems to be enjoying Real Life. As we get deeper into election season that’ll change.

Hey, old-timers! Does anyone remember what got Satan banned? He was annoying, but not as bad as these jerks. Same with Dio. Annoying, but a funny know-it-all, and he actually knew that shit.

[octopus]

@What_Exit

Exactly. Largely because despite some unpopular opinions, he wasn’t a troll.

What? You don’t think that writes itself? Developing a persecution complex now?

I think octopal or octosweetie are more self writeifiable.

[What_Exit]

@dropzone

He showed up for a moment in MPSIMS, but seems to be enjoying Real Life. As we get deeper into election season that’ll change.

Hey, old-timers! Does anyone remember what got Satan banned? He was annoying, but not as bad as these jerks. Same with Dio. Annoying, but a funny know-it-all, and he actually knew that shit.

We’re not suppose to talk negatively about banned posters are we? I ask as I think some things about a poster you mentioned are being forgotten.