[QUOTE=Sophistry and Illusion]
Writing such a long post about such a minor comment is really borderline crazy.
[/QUOTE]
You better not say that in front of Southern Yankee. Apparently pointing that out may be crazy in itself.
Maybe it’s ok if you don’t actually count the number of words…
I think Liberal needs to change his medication. No, seriously.
[QUOTE=Sophistry and Illusion]
There’s nothing wrong with telling a poster to knock it off.
[/QUOTE]
Posters provide a substantial portion of the board’s revenue. In other words, they are customers. As such, they deserve a default approach of courtesy. Not that a wing-nut like yourself would comprehend that. You know, you’ve advised in the past that my posts should be ignored. Maybe you should set the example.
[QUOTE=Liberal]
After all, you’re too important to concern yourself with my opinions, and (if history holds) there will be a wall of “Oh poor Tuba, she did nothing bad!” between us, leaving you with clean hands.
[/QUOTE]
This? I didn’t miss it. Sorry, but it doesn’t change my impression much.
But on reflection I’m really not interested in getting in the middle of this, so I’ll leave it at that.
[QUOTE=Liberal]
You know, you’ve advised in the past that my posts should be ignored. Maybe you should set the example.
[/QUOTE]
You are always trying to get people who disagree with you to just ignore you, one might think you just want to be left alone to pontificate without interruption. Furthermore, that link doesn’t say what you imply it says. His advice is limited (in that link) to those times you troll with wacky pseudo libertarian drivel where it does not belong.
I believe someone in a position of authority does have the privilege of making a demand such as “knock it off” when rules are violated, such as arguing in forums other than the Pit. I don’t see any unwarranted snark in Tuba’s post at all. Sometimes a little snark is necessary at the right time. I moderate on other message boards, and sometimes find it necessary to tell people to knock it off myself. Sometimes you just need to be blunt.
IMO ‘Knock it Off’ is the kind of thing a mother says to a kid who’s picking his nose.
Just MO.
[QUOTE=Lobsang]
IMO ‘Knock it Off’ is the kind of thing a mother says to a kid who’s picking his nose.
[/QUOTE]
No, if your kid’s picking his nose, you say “Don’t pick your nose or your head will cave in.”
Cool! When?
[QUOTE=Liberal]
Posters provide a substantial portion of the board’s revenue. In other words, they are customers. As such, they deserve a default approach of courtesy.
[/quote]
Well, as a good libertarian, you should just feel free to take your money somewhere else. That is, if seeing someone being told to knock it off is enough to make you have a hissy fit (as it obviously is).
Me? Being called a wingnut by Liberal? That is really rich. That’s almost as good as the thread where **Der Trihs ** accused someone of being totally immune to reasoned argument.
Actually, I said that when you drop into a thread to threadshit by laying down a one-line libertarian slogan and then vanishing, you should be ignored. I still think this is good advice. You must have missed the part where I also said that you often post intelligent and well-thought-out things.
Libertarianism is not a wing position. It represents a political neutrality — the philosophy of voluntary human relations.
Realizing that I may be punished for this later, I have to agree that the subject of the OP can come across as a nasty bitch at times. Many times I have been gape-jawed at her displays of arrogance, self-importance, and just downright rudeness, which is really not appropriate given her job title and the fact that we are customers.
That said, sometimes you have to ask yourself just how much you can dictate someone else’s personality. This is who she is, her employers have seen her comments many, many times, and they continue to utilize her. What can you do? It’s not like the problem isn’t known- I’m sure that by now it’s WELL known, and she’s still here. Base your decision to stay and continue posting here based on the reality of the situation, which is that she has some personality problems, or leave, but asking someone to change and be how you want is futile.
[QUOTE=Liberal]
Libertarianism is not a wing position. It represents a political neutrality — the philosophy of voluntary human relations.
[/QUOTE]
I don’t think libertarianism is a wing nut position, although I am not a libertarian. I just think you are far too sensitive, far too prone to obsess over minor slights and irritations, and in general insufficiently willing just to let things go. That doesn’t really qualify you for nuthood, but it’s behavior that IMO you need to recognize, and I think you would be happier if you could reduce these tendencies in yourself. YMMV.
ETA–There is no such thing as a value-neutral politics. Libertarianism embodies a commitment to a particular moral value, that of autonomy. That is a contestable value (although I think those who contest it are wrong), and is unquestionably a normative assumption. But that is a topic for another thread.
Thing is, Lib, these people like you. They want to continue to like you, but you make it so darned hard, sometimes. You got a lot of porcupine in you.
I want you to stay, I daresay I’m not unique in that view, so its safe to say we want you to stay. But you know…you simply* have * to know…that you will dial it up to eleven at the drop of a hat. You’re a mite touchy, boychik. (Are the nominatons of SDMB Understatement of the Year still open?..)
We’re not gonna stop liking you, hell, you’re as cute as a pair of fuzzy bunny slippers! We just wish you’d make it easier for us to continue. Of course, there’s no coercion in that, if you care, you care, if you don’t, you don’t.
My two bits. Go in peace, and do as you will.
[QUOTE=Liberal]
I have nothing to add or extend. I also pre-noted the deluge of opposition, so I’m not expecting any support or sympathy with my position.
[/QUOTE]
You just invented a new genre of logical fallacy…
Argumentum Providium: [see also Proof by Verbosity] Arguing that objections are invalid by virtue of having anticipated them.
Go have a beer. You have accomplished something today.
Surprising myself even, I agree with the main thrust of Lib’s post. Even though I also agree with the others that said he’s got too much of himself vested into what unlimitedly is ‘just’ an MB, I have to admit that since we went to PPP – and even though what we pay it’s a pittance – Il think some mods go way overboard in their ‘admonishments.’
Let’s face it, we’re (mostly) not kids here, and if someone were to “talk” to me the way some Mods do F2F, we’d have a bit of a problem. Just imagine walking into a retail store, restaurant or any other service industry and have some A-hole talk to you that way.
Not good business practice. And this comes from a long, long time businessman. Sure, there are times when you need to put the boot down – at the expense of losing a costumer. But a simple warning should be just that: simple. None of this snark or talking-down to.
That’s just plain bullshit/power-tripping.
Fuck it.
[QUOTE=mhendo]
The statement itself is not especially egregious. A bit snarky, but nothing to cause too much grief, in and of itself. The thing is, though, it’s just another little straw dropped on the camel’s back. They add up.
Not only that, but it occurred in the context of one of the most dramatic and controversial changes in the board’s appearance in the whole history of the SDMB. The multiple threads, stretching into multiple pages, show how upset many people were that the members were never even consulted about the loud, obnoxious banner ads. To be so dismissive of such concerns, especially when they were being voiced by so many people who never normally criticize the running if the boards, was pretty unprofessio0nal, in my opinion.
Not only that, but the sentence you quoted came after another one that actually contained misinformation. It said that the ads were only being activated while Jerry was “chasing down an infrastructure problem.” Now, i don’t know exactly what the communications between Jerry and TubaDiva over this issue looked like, but as far as i can tell, “find[ing] the bug” was never the reason for activating the ads. Someone either bullshitted, or took a guess based on crappy information.
Either way, to offer a completely wrong explanation, along with a sneering dismissal of members’ concerns, is pretty unprofessional. Of course, that could have been alleviated by coming back into the thread and saying something like, “Hey, my bad, the ads are actually permanent, and your concerns were justified. Sorry about that.” But we never got that. What we got, as Liberal says, was a new thread in which her earlier dismissive tone was ignored and forgotten, and in which she attempted “to align [her]self with [the members] as pretty much just another poor sap whom the Powers That Be ignores”
Of course, now i’m sitting here wondering why i even bothered to type all of that. Most people will dismiss it out of hand as just more whining about non-existent problems by someone who has a hard-on for the admins.
The thing is, though, i don’t. I like this place, and for the most part am very happy with the way it’s run. And i also have no problems with mods and admins getting snarky in the right places. If someone is shitting on a thread or otherwise breaking the rules, then a smackdown, complete with sarcastic or angry tone is completely warranted. I’ve been on the end of a couple myself in the past, and probably deserved them. I don’t even have trouble with mods responding to mod pittings with some attitude of their own.
But one area where this should not apply is in ATMB, especially when it’s an issue of the members expressing valid concerns over the actual running of the board at an administrative level. That’s something that needs to be handled professionally, and there are times when that just doesn’t happen. I think the post you quoted is a good example.
[/QUOTE]
I don’t think you where one of the posters with a hard-on for the administration.
I agree that misinformation was posted but I get the impression and I can be very wrong, that the misinformation was passed along by **Tuba ** to us from someone else. If so, why blast her for it?
As far as the "To be so dismissive of such concerns,” part, that is where I think different people read her post in different ways. I did not think she meant to be dismissive, I hope she did not or I would have to join the vocal crowd in complaining about her post. I read it as, she was not sure what was happening, did not seem very happy with it herself and felt everyone had a right to bitch about it. Later actions by her and the rest of the staff seem to bear out my reading of her post.
The mods and admins really let us get away with stuff they never would have otherwise. Liberal, several mods, many many others and myself spent a lot of time helping people to block the ads. We put up exact detailed methods and PM’s and Emailed anyone that needed extra help. Posters put up email addresses of VIPs in the ownership group of the Reader. This was allowed for an extended period and never normally would have. TubaDiva’s first post after the one that got her in some heat was a fairly detailed apology and indication that all of the admins and staff were working with the membership on this issue. Whether or not it warranted it, the board pretty much was in a crisis mode and the staff shined in my opinion.
As far as posters complaining that normally do not, I know, I was one of them and one of the busiest.
Jim
So if you were in the grocery store calling some other customer an idiot and the manager walked over and told you to “knock it off” you’d have a “bit of a problem”? Gonna puff up your chest and tell him how to run his place?
I don’t know if Liberal will just take it as me wanting to contradict him, but I thought Tuba’s comment was pretty fair under the circumstances. I’m not usually much of a Tuba-defender.
Lib, I love you like a brother, but I don’t think this specific instance is worth what you are putting into it.
FWIW, the “taking offense is always your option” or whatever it was from TD was a bit too proactively snippy for my tastes, but I think she (and the other mods) were blindsided by the banner ads as much as the rest of us, and reverted to circling the wagons and “you folks complain about everything”.
It’s too bad, but your response isn’t going to help.
My $.02 worth probably isn’t even worth that much, but there it is.
Regards,
Shodan
[QUOTE=CarnalK]
So if you were in the grocery store calling some other customer an idiot and the manager walked over and told you to “knock it off” you’d have a “bit of a problem”? Gonna puff up your chest and tell him how to run his place?
I don’t know if Liberal will just take it as me wanting to contradict him, but I thought Tuba’s comment was pretty fair under the circumstances. I’m not usually much of a Tuba-defender.
[/QUOTE]
Am I allowed to testify to the validity of the last part?
Wow, bizarro thread.
Jim