I recall that poster. They were not a problem.
Assuming the thread requesting a resurrection of their old userID really was from that IRL person, the whole thing is legit. Why ECG chose to delete rather than close the thread is their call, but I suspect it’s more a technologicla consequence than a deliberate policy decision. IOW If they delete that _1 userID, there’s nothing left of the thread but posts by mods acting as mods.
Not a lot of value in retaining that for posterity.
Hi Basado! So many keywords that define him as both a conspiracy theorist and a loon.
Is guys that only eat chicken fingers a thing?
and
I pit the idolization of Luigi Mangione
And . . . gone!
I didn’t even bother to ignore. Obvious troll is obvious.
The guy read like a chat bot trained solely on 2smart4u high school edgy Reddit posts. I saw the posts but my eyes were rolling too hard to get through them.
There was (prior to being cornfielded) about 1/2 of a decent argument in their first post. But the rest, and especially the followups were 100% single-issue troll. I can see where a few people would have engaged, but it looked 100% troll and not long for the world so I just flagged it and moved on.
On the other hand, at least one of the posters replying to such continued their degenerate “affable yet gross” behavior and it very close to just getting a perma-ignore from me.
[putting here because he’s only been mentioned in this thread, vs. the THINKING one]
I don’t understand why posters like this are given extra chances; you just know when he comes back, he’ll quickly get himself banned for good, ESPECIALLY since the above announcement even says that such sanctions have had zero effect and that he has already had a suspension already. So what’s the point?
This board is and always has been extremely lenient to long-time posters who manage to not have spectacular flameouts.
Of course, to hear it from our problematic posters the mods are on a constant witch hunt to root out “dissenting” viewpoints and ban people who just want to discuss “uncomfortable truths” or whatever.
I suppose part of the issue here is similar to the one IRL.
There are a hell of a lot of people out there in your and my county who were decently in control of their darker sides … until Faux news / QAnon / etc. got ahold of them. Those folks have since pretty well lost their moorings. And their filters. Saying the quiet part out loud is something their newfound heroes do. So of course they start emulating that.
The problem for SDMB is several fold. Such an example poster has probably been a decent person most of their time here. Just less so recently as their mind has been eaten by RW propaganda. Such a poster probably produces a lot of perfectly acceptable content, plus a few clinkers. SDMB is kinda hurting for headcount and for post count each and every day. The real world is getting increasingly frustrating regardless of one’s political persuasion. So more folks vent or say something snappish more often. How best to react to that changing reality?
etc.
For the record, the previous “major” flameout and embittered defense played off in a spun-off thread in the Pit:
(which I linked too upthread #8270 by my count)
Which ended up being a de-facto pit thread, because it brought up his general jerkishness on Trans and Covid Issues.
I fully expect (and suspect the mods expect) Bob to flameout sometime not too long after their return. I also think @LSLGuy is likely correct on the causation - it’s terrifying how much latent hate has been empowered (or flat out created) by the propaganda and outrage machine that is Fox/Qanon and the like. And as has been proven repeatedly, just because you’re smarter than the average bear (a claim I’d make for almost everyone on this board) you’re not immune to being led into magical thinking and being taught to only trust information from your sources.
I basically concur with the last three posts. A suspension vs an immediate ban at least opens up the optimistic possibility that Blaylock will restrain his worst impulses, even if the likelihood seems fairly low. There’s not much downside to giving it a go.
But man, I have to agree, the craziness currently emanating out of the US is beyond anything anyone could have imagined could ever happen in a putatively advanced democracy, and it’s empowering the worst impulses of all the worst and most evil people that we never knew existed.
Its like being in a great school band or on an award winning cheerleader team, yet the football team is a losing team. You get no props.
Don’t throw baby out with the bathwater.
All Americans in the US are not terrible, racist, sexist, hateful jerks.
We’re just not.
“No Drama” Obama served the nation chamomile tea. Donald Trump and his cabal serve us Red Bull and Vodka mixed with a generous dollop of meth – The Very Last Thing any of us needed then or needs right now.
I agree. Most are fine, generous people. But look who they elected.
Nope, terrible analogy. Its like being in a great school band or on an award winning cheerleader team in a school run by Hitler. Who’s throwing bricks through the windows of all the other schools and getting his goons to beat up students he doesn’t like.
Unfortunately, a significant portion of them are. Too large a percentage just sat back and let the terrible, racist, sexist, hateful jerks take power. Any other country must act and plan on the basis that Trump and MAGA are in charge. Citizens of other countries must do the same. I see a better analogy- It is late and you are waiting alone at a bus stop. A man walks up, possibly just to wait for the bus. The smart and proper thing to do is to assume that man is a threat of some kind, and to act and plan accordingly. He may be harmless. That is not a chance you should take. You should not pro actively get out your pepper spray and spray him in the eyes. But, you should have your pepper spray ready to use, in case it is needed.
Pepper spray? This is 'Murrica dammit: pull out your Glock.
So what?
“Not All Men”
“All Lives Matter”
Right now, as Americans, it doesn’t matter if we personally aren’t insane fascists or their willing collaborators. They are on the rise, and, even if not our fault, it is our responsibility to help deal with it.
We must accept that we deserve the opprobrium, if not individually, then collectively. And also be part of the solution - individually and collectively.
The point is to give them chances. I think the philosophic difference might come down to temperament. I’ve never muted anyone on this board, because although some posters here annoy me, they rarely annoy me enough to metaphorically drive me crazy. They’re just annoying. As I can personally tolerate that (most of the time), I’m all for giving long-standing posters that contribute positively most/much/a reasonable part of the time a fair bit of rope before banning them. I can avoid them if I’m being annoyed.
More easily annoyed people (no judgement on them) are obviously going to want to make that call a lot quicker - i.e.“why the fuck do we keep tolerating this annoying poster?”
Of course everybody has their limits and I have mine. Bob_Blaylock is a cranky older guy with a penchant for thinking his opinions are correct, which describes a lot of us these days. He just has a problem with jumping from “I’m right” to “therefore you’re an idiot.” He needs to work on that shit. Other times he seems okay(ish), though frankly I don’t interact with him much so haven’t made a study of it.
Over the history of the USA we’ve been torn apart in several, seemingly devastating ways, yet to come back together again in crisis. One, large, odd, crazy, a bit dysfunctional family of United States of Americans.
Trump getting re-elected was not the crisis, folks.
That is yet to come.
And sometimes it is not a teeter-totter.
It is a cliff.