Why would me closing one of his threads indicate I have a thorn up my butt? Look, if anyone posts something that is so incomprehensible that a moderator finds it inapproproate for their forum, it doesn’t mean that our feathers are ruffled. It’s not an indictment of everthing bjOrn stands for. It just means, in bjOrn’s case that his thread was innappropriate for the Pit. That’s we way we run things. Regardless of who makes the post.
If anyone here is acting like their feathers are ruffled, it seems like it’s bjOrn.
Again, this isn’t about sentence structure or english proficiency. It’s about going from a rant to another poorly phrased rant to a general question. Lack of lucid sentences doesn’t get threads closed, not sticking to a topic appropriate for a particular forum will.
Fair enough. It just seems sometimes that people, mods included, are harder on bj0rn than other posters who commit the same “transgressions.”
I looked back on your closing post in the other thread and you’re right - it wasn’t hostile at all. You can’t deny, though, that Coldfire’s post in this thread was just downright mean, even for the pit.
I’m not trying to defend bj0rn or anything. Like I said, I think I find his threads just as incomprehensible as the next person. I’m just saying that maybe the possibility that he’s being treated differently than everyone else should be considered. If your opinion is different - fine. I’m not one of the people who think this should be a democracy.
Most of us know by now that English is your second language. Nothing wrong with that.
But if your going to post on predominately English speaking message boards you need to carefully peruse what you have typed before you post it. If syntactically it seems to be at all vague to you then it’s probably going to be really vague to many readers.
Here’s a suggestion. Spend more time reading and correcting your posts.
So don’t read your post? Yep,I am going to read them, or attempt to read them because some of them have been interesting. Besides, I read as many posts as possible on this message board. That’s why I joined in the first place, to post and to read other’s posts.
So give us all a fucking break and carefully proof what you have to say. Then after you have done so, ask yourself this question,
“Will others be able to easily understand this?”
If the answer is not a solid yes then take some time and revamp your thoughts into some sort of intelligible and coherent message. I can promise that every reader will appreciate it.
I’ll be the first to admit that my patience with bj0rn is extremely limited. But that could change the minute he decides to drop his 3 or 4 tricks he’s been playing for 18 months now, with intermissions.
My quotes:
The worst thing I see there is that I called him an idiot. No offense, C3, but I’ve seen worse Pit insults than that. Hell, you have to see my incoming e-mails sometimes.
Again, read up on his history. We’re not telling him anything here that he isn’t been told 24 times already. Hence the limited patience.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I enjoy bj0rn’s post because of the incomprehension factor. And bj0rn must enjoy it too, because almost all of his (her?) threads devolve into “what’d he say?”
After reading both this OP and the original thread, I’m sad to see that bj0rn is improving. Either that or I am slipping deeper into insanity.
Biggirl-- eat crackers.
Naaah. They’d most likely say, “We see you have met our bj0rn. How long have you known him? It seems that he has already interfered with your ability to communicate.”
I guess I’m just being too sensitive. The whole thing just reminds me of this kid I knew in elementary school. He was the one (I’m sure we’ve all known them or even been this person) that was always talking to himself, reciting random Star Trek catchphrases, and going on about physics equations. Although I’m sure bj0rn doesn’t do this, he used to pick his nose and wipe it on people when they annoyed him. He just didn’t fit in and he got nailed for it. Playing dodgeball during recess? They’d hit him in the face as hard as they could with the ball. Sitting quietly in class? They’d throw crap at him. He just annoyed them and they let him know it at every chance.
Yeah, he annoyed me to no end, too, but it still made me feel bad when he got ganged up on. Like I said, I know bj0rn’s history…I’ve read most if not all of his posts. I still don’t get why some people get soooo irritated by him.
Maybe I should just hang out it MPSIMS more and forego the Pit for awhile. And just for good measure… .
Alphagene: I did not find any of your posts toward bj0rn hostile at all. I asked why Coldfire appeared to be hostile. And he has explained himself. Fine.
I stand by my assertion that his op in the other thread was a legitimate rant. I understand why you feel differently, and accept your decision.
Coldfire: I like bj0rn. I like his posts. I don’t always agree with him, and I wish he would write more clearly, but I don’t think he qualifies as a jerk. If you don’t like him, don’t read his posts. If you have to read his posts as part of your moderator duties, then I would ask that you keep your professional distance.
Not to inject boring reality into (another) surreal, crosstalking mess, but please consider:
Mods and admins are fallible humans, with limited time and a lot to read. This isn’t whining or sucking up. We signed up for it. But it is an objective reality.
A lot of board house-keeping involves routine moving of threads to where they’ll find the most likely audience, given their intent and content. It isn’t glamorous, but it’s useful. Moving threads is usually no big deal; either an honest mistake or due to “thread drift”, i.e. the topic takes on a life of its own and wanders a different direction.
It’s hard to figure out what to do with a thread if the content–and intent–are muddled. This isn’t censorship or “double secret probation” rules, just a fact.
This place is notable for posters who demand clarity of thought and language (very refreshing, given the knuckle-dragging grunting so many other places on the Web.) But Dopers are also very understanding w/ Teemsters whose native language isn’t English. Language is just a tool to convey thought.
Bj0rn has a long history of near-incomprehensible posts. He isn’t a newbie, and he isn’t unique with language issues. He is…notable, however, for insisting that his contributions should be considered by some arcane standard no one else has ever figured out.
So here are some facts: there are no special rules for or against Bj0rn. Full stop. His posts are treated objectively, by the exact same standards for everyone else. The only thing anyone can go on is what he writes.
And one speculation: this tedious brouhaha of Bj0rn The Misunderstood has gone on for a loooong time. Given past discussions (the most tactful term possible), perhaps Coldy is a lightning rod. He is Dutch, someone whose native language isn’t English. As eerily fluent as Coldy is, he hasn’t made this a personal issue–just called Bj0rn on his incoherence from a level-ground basis.
I’d suggest taking a few long steps back for a clearer view. Fairness runs both ways.
Pleeeeeeease, don’t start with all the “mods are only human” and “our job is so hard with all you unfair people jumping down our throats every second.”
I think it was fairly obvious that I - and Green Bean, too, as far as I can see - was only asking that everyone, not just mods, consider that they may be bullies and not the warriors on ignorance that they think they are.
That’s all. Not once did I say that Alphagene was wrong in closing the thread. In fact, I even said that I don’t think this is a democracy. Trust me, I know that I have no say in any moderator decision. I was just trying to point out that maybe people sometimes react to bj0rn in an unwarranted way. It is just my suggestion that people weigh their words more carefully sometimes.
Well, hey, Bj0rn, baby, I love you no matter what you post, and no matter where in your infinite Icelandic wisdom you decide to post it.
It’s been awfully quiet around here lately. Where ya been, boy? Are you home on Christmas vacation or what? I’ll bet it’s colder in Chicago right now than it is in Reykjavik! Don’t you wish you were here? Eat your heart out, you candyass dweller in a tropical climate!
Mods are human–and therefore imperfect. Get used to it. And I didn’t say or imply that the job is we signed up for is particularly hard, nor accuse anyone of attacking. Odd, the inferences you drew from a simple observation that the job requires a lot of time and routine reading.
I think it equally obvious that I was civilly asking people to consider that the different degree of exposure forces, shall we say, a broader context. Your comment about “bullies and warriors (against) ignorance” is a pathetic cheap shot. Classic strawman argument: set up a false premise and then hurl your torches at it.
As an offensive response to a civil post, it was plenty. And lest you feel bullied or threatened, I pointedly wrote this as an individual poster, not as the newebiest of mods. This carries no official weight at all, just personal disappointment that a simple request to consider the issue from a different perspective was so useless.
And thus, you sum up my feelings, exactly.
I think I’ve been quite civil throughout this whole exchange. It’s my personal feeling that people are sometimes unnecessarily mean to bj0rn. It is my personal feeling that meanness is ignorant. I can appreciate that sometimes things are written offhandedly that are not intended to sound hostile, but that could be taken that way. I’m asking that in this instance, Coldfire consider that to me he sounded unnecessarily hostile. If he thinks I’m wrong, so be it. I’m just hoping he considers the issue from my perspective.
Now, I’m done with this little melodrama. Off to bake Christmas cookies! Have a good holiday!
i would like to apologize for how long i have delayed my reply to this thread, but piles of food have prevented my way to the computer during the holidays…
this is how Alphagene misunderstood me (i dont know if i can quote from closed threads, but the link is in the op):
i am not asking you to understand every post you read. i am definetely not asking you to understand every post I submit. i am not asking you to misunderstand any post either. i am going to tell you that you misunderstood the purpose of the sudden change from (non)descriptive titles to the normal blahblah about the milleniuym hype.
sure, i made the post a bit obscure but the purpose was three-fold.
i was making a non-descriptive subject, one that had nothing to do with what the thread contained…i did feel certain that this action would stir up enough pit related emotion to grant the thread a place in the pit.
i mentioned an old grudge, one that, as coldfire said, was long dead and buried for two reasons…
a. to provide the subject with an non-related message
b. to ask a simple and annoying (because of the old factor) question about the millenium hypers, which i find to be the most annoying people in the world right now.
for old times sake…you cant have me growing up and learning english can you?
damn…i hope im not using sarcasm im my post, that would mean im stupid.
anyway, thank you all for your kind words, specially you duck…although i cant understand your sudden change of mind.
.
Are you home on Christmas vacation or what? I’ll bet it’s colder in Chicago right now than it is in Reykjavik! Don’t you wish you were here? Eat your heart out, you candyass dweller in a tropical climate! 