# Tomndeb, heal thyself **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 15, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndeb-heal-thyself/510247 "2009-09-15T22:59:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndeb-heal-thyself/510247/1 "2009-09-15T22:59:12Z")
Two posts follow one directly behind the other in [a thread about ACORN](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=531557&page=7): > [@Tomndebb](#): > > > [@yorick73](#): > > > > Wow…I see there is no more substance in this debate. Typical far-left tactics…when losing a debate start insulting the other side. > > . . . > > > > Pathetic… > > So, you identify yourself on the far-left? And then: > [@Tomndebb](#): > > Icckkkh! > > If there is not some substance posted to this thread, shortly, it will be closed and you can all move over to the Pit to gnaw on each others’ legs. > [/Modding] This is exactly the sort of thing that is unbecoming for a moderator. In that entire thread, I’m not sure there was a more leg-gnawing post than the one that **immediately preceded** this moderation: your own I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I? post. I appreciate that you want to hold GD to a higher standard than in the past. If this is how you post, I don’t think you’re the right person to do it. If you cannot behave better than this, you are not in a position to criticize other people for not behaving better than this. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndeb-heal-thyself/510247/2 "2009-09-16T06:24:38Z")
Yeah. I initially opened that reply to smack his hands for derailing the thread with one more bit of hyper-partisan blather, then decided the point would be better made by humorously noting the irony of his comment. (I notice you carefully deleted the smiley I included.) Then I re-scanned the equally hyper-partisan responses and decided to tell everyone to get back on the subject. In retrospect I see where it looked like I was just engaging in the same sort of off-topic nonsense to which I objected. ---
**Author:** ![leander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bcef8e/32.png) [@leander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leander)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndeb-heal-thyself/510247/3 "2009-09-16T10:05:23Z")
You just don’t get it, **tomndebb**. Most grown ups take responsibility for their actions, apologise and move on. They don’t spin, spin, spin. It’s a real shame that you don’t see this. (And you seriously think Left Hand \*deliberately \*removed your smiley??) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndeb-heal-thyself/510247/4 "2009-09-16T10:53:44Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Yeah. I initially opened that reply to smack his hands for derailing the thread with one more bit of hyper-partisan blather, then decided the point would be better made by humorously noting the irony of his comment. (I notice you carefully deleted the smiley I included.) > Then I re-scanned the equally hyper-partisan responses and decided to tell everyone to get back on the subject. > > In retrospect I see where it looked like I was just engaging in the same sort of off-topic nonsense to which I objected. First, the removal of the smiley was entirely accidental. I’ve never done quote-within-a-quote before, and I had to cut&paste since I was quoting in another thread, and somehow the smiley got removed. I apologize, I guess–frankly I don’t see that the smiley makes much of a difference in the gnawing-on-people’s-legs quotient of the post. Second, if it’s possible for you to make such an apparently content-free post while thinking that you’re making a subtle clever point, is it possible that other people are doing precisely the same thing? I think you’d be better off either not attempting humor in making your points, or else giving wider latitude to other people who do the same. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndeb-heal-thyself/510247/5 "2009-09-16T11:15:10Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I think you’d be better off either not attempting humor in making your points, or else giving wider latitude to other people who do the same. Well, he _did_ give wider latitude by NOT closing the thread. Just sayin’. ---
**Author:** ![leander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bcef8e/32.png) [@leander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leander)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndeb-heal-thyself/510247/6 "2009-09-16T11:40:55Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Well, he _did_ give wider latitude by NOT closing the thread. Just sayin’. This is twice now in as many weeks that \*\*tomndebb \*\*has responded flippantly as a poster, then read more of the thread and responded as a mod, rebuking others for poor behavior he just demonstrated. Seems that every week there are threads about \*\*tomndebb’s \*\*bias, posting as poster vs mod, closing threads, etc. Clearly it’s just the same few posters who “have it in for him” and not his poor behavior. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndeb-heal-thyself/510247/7 "2009-09-16T12:15:43Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Second, if it’s possible for you to make such an apparently content-free post while thinking that you’re making a subtle clever point, is it possible that other people are doing precisely the same thing? Of course not. There is always something that makes it different when he does it. And there is no possible explanation for not seeing it besides deliberate malice. That’s why you deliberately deleted the smiley that made the whole of **tomndebb** ’s post so brilliant and content-laden. Of course the rest of us can add smilies to our digs at other posters until our fingers bleed, and that won’t stop him from modding against it, but for him, it’s different. When someone else uses the generic “you”, it was meant as a personal insult. When he uses the specific “you”, it’s subtle humor. This is not exactly a new development, if you don’t mind my pointing it out. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![tacoloco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tacoloco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tacoloco)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndeb-heal-thyself/510247/8 "2009-09-16T12:34:36Z")
> [@leander](#): > > This is twice now in as many weeks that \*\*tomndebb \*\*has responded flippantly as a poster, then read more of the thread and responded as a mod, rebuking others for poor behavior he just demonstrated. > > Seems that every week there are threads about \*\*tomndebb’s \*\*bias, posting as poster vs mod, closing threads, etc. > > Clearly it’s just the same few posters who “have it in for him” and not his poor behavior. :rolleyes: Except that it’s usually the same relatively small handful of posters who continually bitch about moderators, especially tomndebb. It’s pretty clear that at least a few people have an ax to grind. ---
**Author:** ![leander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bcef8e/32.png) [@leander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leander)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndeb-heal-thyself/510247/9 "2009-09-16T12:45:58Z")
ETA: Scratch that. Let’s stick to the issues instead of attacking the poster. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndeb-heal-thyself/510247/10 "2009-09-16T15:43:44Z")
> [@tacoloco](#): > > Except that it’s usually the same relatively small handful of posters who continually bitch about moderators, especially tomndebb. It’s pretty clear that at least a few people have an ax to grind. I hate saying “this” to a post…but… ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndeb-heal-thyself/510247/11 "2009-09-16T16:01:39Z")
Heavens, yes - **Left Hand of Dorkness** is _constantly_ complaining about the mods. He must have started at least one thread about it during his stay on the SDMB. Guy joins a monastery where one can only say one thing every ten years. Ten years later, he says his thing. “The food here is terrible”. Ten years go by. He has his second chance. “The beds are pretty hard.” Ten more years. He says, “I’m leaving.” “I’m not surprised”, says the head abbot. “Ever since you got here, it’s been bitch, bitch, bitch.” Regards, Shodan