# Tomndebb: WTF? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 14, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822 "2009-02-14T15:26:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822/1 "2009-02-14T15:26:22Z")
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10826640&postcount=7](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10826640&postcount=7) Seriously. We aren’t allowed to actually discuss issues in ATMB. Well, at least some of us aren’t. If there is to be a debate about board issues, why can’t we do it in your forum? Why does a great debate exclude debates about this board? Isn’t the board great enough to merit a debate? I got the impression that the OP really wanted to examine the merits of his idea. And now, he has pretty much just let it die because he knows what happens to debate in ATMB. It’s only a matter of time before someone swoops in and tweets, “Okay stop it you guys! This isn’t your personal blog!” Or some such irrational bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822/2 "2009-02-14T15:35:57Z")
I read that thread about fifteen minutes back and it struck me as a typical ATMB thread. Why **CP** thinks an idea for this board cannot be “debated” in ATMB is beyond me. I believe he is flat out wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822/3 "2009-02-14T16:51:10Z")
Congratulations, **Liberal** , on starting the winning thread in this month’s “least deserved pitting” contest! ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822/4 "2009-02-14T17:20:33Z")
:: scans **Liberal** with tricorder :: Just as I thought. Your outrage meter is miscalibrated. Please have it adjusted before you watch the news or read the newspaper, lest it overload and injure you. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822/5 "2009-02-14T17:46:57Z")
You were just looking for an excuse to get a third “\: WTF?” thread going, weren’t you? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822/6 "2009-02-14T18:14:51Z")
> [@Risha](#): > > Congratulations, **Liberal** , on starting the winning thread in this month’s “least deserved pitting” contest! To be fair, it isn’t a real pitting. He’s just questioning a mod action in a designated forum. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822/7 "2009-02-14T19:09:13Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > You were just looking for an excuse to get a third “\: WTF?” thread going, weren’t you? Well, no, but shit. After Giraffe’s announcement, it really doesn’t matter. Mod can close if like. Meh. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822/8 "2009-02-15T00:58:17Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Mod can close if like. Meh. Are you reduced to posting in pidgen English now? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822/9 "2009-02-15T01:01:23Z")
Is that anything like _pidgin_ English? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822/10 "2009-02-15T01:29:14Z")
> [@Q.E.D](#): > > Is that anything like _pidgin_ English? Gaudere strikes again. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822/11 "2009-02-15T02:28:53Z")
Y’know, I’d like to see more people posting in [Pidgeon English](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Pidgeon) – that guy had some class. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822/12 "2009-02-15T02:35:08Z")
Or pigeon French. Coo la la. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822/13 "2009-02-15T02:43:12Z")
pidgin English tiem noa go! ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822/14 "2009-02-15T15:41:22Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Or pigeon French. Coo la la. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822/15 "2009-02-15T22:38:11Z")
It’s probably not worth a thread of its own, but I won’t debate with **tombdebb** anymore due to his repeated badge-flashing. i.e. when I have gone against him (or his position) in debates, he has a tendency to claim or hint that I have violated some rule when I haven’t done anything at all outside the range of normal debate. For example, in [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10799630&postcount=128) I asked whether this was posted as a moderator or as a regular poster. His answer? "Both. That is why I have stopped short of describing your actions as trolling. " As far as the OP goes, it seems like more of a complaint about board policy in general than **tomndebb** in particular. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822/16 "2009-02-15T23:10:47Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > It’s probably not worth a thread of its own, but I won’t debate with **tombdebb** anymore due to his repeated badge-flashing. i.e. when I have gone against him (or his position) in debates, he has a tendency to claim or hint that I have violated some rule when I haven’t done anything at all outside the range of normal debate. > > For example, in [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10799630&postcount=128) > > I asked whether this was posted as a moderator or as a regular poster. His answer? "Both. That is why I have stopped short of describing your actions as trolling. " More self-serving crap from **brazil84**. Not surprising. Note that in this case, (and in others he has attempted to use previously), I was not really involved in the debate and he was not going “against” me or any position I have (not even) taken. In every case, he has been behaving in a provocative fashion while being very cagey about what he is “really” saying–begging questions, using a shifting definitions for terms, strongly implying concepts, then demanding to see citations for where he “said” it, etc.–in a manner intended to rile up other posters without quite posting and maintaining something so utterly outrageous as to be identified as trolling. I am not going to go out of my way to put a stop to his behavior–we accept a lot of posting styles–but I think it is worthwhile to alert other posters, from time to time, about his behavior. = = = **Liberal** , I was unaware of any change to the board practice of discussing board policies and practices in ATMB. (Until I stumbled onto a different **Pit** thread, I had no idea what you were even on about.) If the rest of the staff lets me know I have the current practice wrong, I will gladly move the thread in question back to **GD**. Until then, I think it is in the correct Forum. ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822/17 "2009-02-15T23:30:54Z")
I hardly think it’s anything to get worked up over, but I was also under the impression that debates about how the board **oughta** be were off-limits in ATMB. Somewhere I got the idea that ATMB was sort of like a GQ for board-related questions, whereas any debates about the board were supposed to go in the Pit (I had guessed it’s because speculating as to how the board oughta be is uncomfortably close to calling the board administration “wrong” (gasp)). Maybe that’s incorrect, but I thought it worth noting that **Liberal** isn’t alone in his understanding of the rules. On the other hand, I always thought it was kind of dumb, so I’m happy to be told that’s not the way it is. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822/18 "2009-02-15T23:51:33Z")
Up until a few months ago, ALL discussions of the SDMB practices and protocols were carried out in the **BBQ Pit**. Then, a few months ago the decision was made to open **ATMB** to (polite) discussions of board practices and even questions about specific staff decisions that did not involve actual Pittings of the mods. I see that the original threads or announcements are no longer on the front pages of either Forum, so I can see the confusion, there. I believe, (open to correction), that **Liberal** ’s point was based on a separate specific instance of moderation that was employed in an **ATMB** thread. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822/19 "2009-02-16T08:50:16Z")
Well, the description of ATMB states: (emphasis on the bold parts) > [@](#): > > For all general questions and concerns about the SDMB. **This is the place for suggestions, complaints, and other discussions regarding rules, administration, and moderator decisions.** **Chief Pedant** had a suggestion, and posted it in Great Debates, which has no mention of suggestion for the board in the description. I think the thread was moved to the correct forum. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822/20 "2009-02-16T14:10:57Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > **Liberal** , I was unaware of any change to the board practice of discussing board policies and practices in ATMB. The problem, as I explained, is that debate is stifled in ATMB. Every fucking nuance of expression seems to be perceived as an insult to the admins. One thing y’all have always said is that forums are not divided by subject matter, which ostensibly is why there’s no current events forum, for example. Instead, we’re supposed to chat in MPSIMS, opine in IMHO, and debate in GD. If the topic of debate happens to be how the board could be structured differently, and if it’s moved to ATMB, then at least let the debate go on. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-wtf/485822.md?page=2)