You’re not? When did the George Orwell Rule go into effect?
Not having the right to call another poster (or a mod) a cum guzzling trailer trash whore (or something similar) isn’t some horrible affront to freedom.
You know, I am really, really, really getting tired of this strawman.
You really think this is what it’s all about? After upteen pages, and thousands of posts, in dozens of threads, by hundreds of posters, you think this is about “Fuck you” or the lack thereof?
Moron.
I’d call you a fucking moron, but it’s probably against the rules. Not sure though. Depends. On what, who knows.
Please explain it to me slowly, what is this about?
Is it about the way Ed dropped all the new rule changes on us? Because I agree, that was a shitty way of going about it. But how exactly has the board changed in the last few weeks? Point me to some concrete examples where mod action was brought down on something that wasn’t a problem before. Please, I’d like to see it, because I have yet to understand the great upheaval that people think is happening around here.
In my personal opinion, it is the fact that the SDMB had an existing culture, and Ed, in all of his misguided glory, decided after ten years to start messing with it.
We’re supposed to fight ignorance, but we’re scared of a few words?
We need to keep on adding more and more rules when “Don’t be a jerk” worked so well for so long?
These new rules are not spelled out, they are capriciously enforced and often are backdated.
I don’t like the fact that when I used the phrase ‘fucking moron’ in the Pit, I really don’t know if I am going to be warned or not. I really don’t. And honestly, neither do you.
I didn’t like the Euthanasiast bruhaha, and I really don’t like how the mods reacted to it.
I rarely poke my head up, but if I do, I do so for a reason. I don’t want to have to worry that someone is going to cut it off, because they don’t like what I say.
Look, a lot of the posters who have complained repeatedly in multiple threads are not reactionary potty mouths. They are long term posters with good credibility who have pleaded with TPTB to reevaluate some of the changes for the good of the 'Dope.
They were told if they didn’t like, they could leave.
That answer, while truthful, sucked.
That’s why there’s been an exodus.
Not because we are unable to use naughty words.
He did? That’s news to me. I believe I started Domebo before Giraffe started GiraffeBoards, and that was well after the current mess.
Giraffe most certainly started giraffeboards AFTER s/he resigned as moderator.
Giraffe started his boards after he resigned. The domebo boards were launched three days or so before the Giraffeboards.
An easy mistake to make. I also could’ve sworn that Giraffe said the board had existed for quite awhile – months to years. However, a whois lookup shows that the domain was registered on March 1st of this year. Guess I misunderstood something that was said along the line.
What on earth are you prattling on about? I was just stating the present situation here, not making a political screed. Try to get a grip.
I’m just popping in to add a +1 to the OP.
I haven’t been around here forever, and probably half of my posts went into the 3 Mafia games I joined. I’ve been in a few (very) minor scuffles, and I’ve been misunderstood a few times by my own fault, but I’ve never been warned or Pitted. You probably don’t recognize me, and you certainly couldn’t tell me something you know about me. I’m a total middle-of-the-road poster, just one of several thousand faceless usernames.
But I owe many hours of entertainment and a buttload of education to this message board. I’ve met a few posters IRL, and all of them are very cool. I, too, stop here first when I need a pick-me-up or an answer that I can’t find anywhere else. Since I’ve been lurking and posting here, I’ve graduated college, gotten married, held around 4 jobs of varying quality, gone to school again (and graduated again), suffered some of the worst times of my life, and achieved some of the greatest accomplishments of said life.
The Dope has not been privy to most of this. I’m not the type to start threads about this stuff, and there are some things I’d really rather not share. But you’ve been here for me through it all, and you don’t even know it.
I’m sad about what’s going on these days, too. I’m not going to sign up for three different boards, check them all, post to them all, and keep track of what’s going on everywhere. I’ve got too much exciting stuff going on in my life to deal with more than one Internet community. But that means sacrificing a great deal, losing a lot of people whose opinions I value, and watching the new posts come more and more slowly on the board I’ve become a part of.
Lastly, I do have a bit of a problem with the way we’ve been treated sometimes, but I can’t imagine picking up my toys and going elsewhere. I hope things get worked out, and I’ll stick around long enough to find out. If I’m tempted to come here less and less, that will be it for me. There really are other things going on in my life, and there will be more in the future. But it will all be a little less rich without the SDMB.
It is kinda sad, but I think this is just a speed bump. In a few months, when the dust settles and everyone calms down, it will be business as usual for us. You know, fighting ignorance and all that. Some will come back, some won’t. No great loss, its not the end of the World, or the Dope.
We will miss those that left, though they are but a bookmark’s click away…
Hi, Coldfire. IMO, what has made this message board such a rare bird lies in its reliance on getting out the “straight dope.” (Sometimes that’s a bitter pill to swallow.) IMO, Ed’s focus appears to be on the MB and not the SD. I gather that he sees the use of certain words as uncivil, but he does not see the abrupt disrespect of the sensitivities of hundreds or perhaps thousands of regular users as uncivil.
I see a parallel in zero tolerance schools that deal with a handful of real troublemakers by enforcing rules such as “no nail clippers” and “no Tylenol” on the whole student body.
This is just my take in general. Personally, I’m not going to let anyone tell me that certain words are bad because they have a sexual meaning when used in other ways and therefore, I can’t use them.
Zoe’s Law: Anyone who can remember WWII should be exempt from being told anything about how to behave by anyone who can’t remember WWII.
I’ve got a grip. I’m just irritated that nearly every Pit thread I’ve read in the last few weeks will eventually degrade into people lamenting the “change in tone of the board”. Which makes me ask what change? The only place the tone has changed is The Pit (which makes sense, seeing as how the rule changes affect it the most).
If you don’t go into The Pit, the rest of the board feels pretty much the same.
I feel the same way, also made a post but accidentally dressed it in concrete shoes.
I’ve had a similar experience to sven (sven is a boy’s name, no? I keep seeing poster even referred to as she), except I didn’t post anything about it. I had mental problems, I pulled myself together, moved to another country, learnt a new culture, language blah blah. Unfortunately my efforts have not helped me long-term and it all looks like a stupendous waste of time to me now. Whatever.
It’s still a bummer about what’s happened here.
It is never a waste. Never.
Not a problem, Svennie! - Your Mentor, Locrian
[pats self on back, sighs…] 
But seriously, I think the boards are great too. GD REALLY helps define what a debate is.
Many seething creatures, trolls, and general ranters don’t seem to understand the
“I think this, now you refute me” concept of a general debate. GD Dopers clearly define that during the bouts asking for cites, examples, etc-- in short, I think we’re an education.