I think Homer is lucky, he has been banned for a week. It could have been for good.
The mods have taken a lot of crap lately, and have had to deal with the influx of trolls, assholes and idiots.
I believe that Homer has learned his lesson and be more careful of the type of joke he plays in the future.
But lets face it guys I didn’t like it when a troll stole my user name and posted as me, what Homer did wasn’t quite as bad about that, but he still used Manny’s name and tried to make it look as if Manny had done something he hadn’t done. It upset Manny, wouldn’t it have upset you too ?
Think about it, a weeks banning isn’t too bad a punishment for that.
I’m very sorry UncleBeer, I had not been exposed to ‘Homer as an asshole’ in the threads I had read. Perhaps my opinion is uninformed then. Since this is obviously very upsetting to you and others I’ll just be quiet from now on w.r.t. this issue.
That’s fine Anthracite. Maybe it’s better that a small clarification is posted. Sometimes we forget that everyone doesn’t know what has happened in the past. Don’t worry about, and please don’t let this scare you from posting your opinions.
I don’t know if I misunderstood the nature of message boards - I had hoped that one on something like Straight Dope would be about sensible discussion, a bit of (fun) stupidity, lots of different opinions, and plenty of setting people straight, back and forth if necessary.
I don’t mind swearing, in fact I probably swear too much in conversation, but I hardly ever see a reason for it in public forums - for example, when I’ve done radio shows I’ve decided to avoid swearing, even when I might have had an excuse. This is just my opinion, and I don’t mind if people swear a lot. However, it annoys me (pisses me off!!!) when people on message boards are disrespectful, which is what this comes down to. If this board wasn’t moderated, it would be about as interesting as listening to a bunch of drunks on a train after a football match, and also smell about as good. I’m not picking on Homer or anyone else, but before posting something abusive, think for a second just how interesting it is for anyone other than yourself to read.
Iguana… this IS a forum for swearing, epithets, irrationality and buffoonery. There’s plenty of sensible discussion to be found… in Great Debates. I have a feeling (just a hunch) that the Pit (a label with plenty of insinuations) was created simply for the abovementioned base actions. Come one, Iguana… take my hand and let’s go for a walk on the wild side of the board.
I, for one, am completely behind Homer’s punishment. Not so much a slap on the wrist as much as a shmack upside the head. “shmack Don’t do that.”
Homer, if you read this, I respect a lot of your posts, but like Calvin said… “How can something seem so smart at the time and seem so dumb in retrospect?”
I got it, I’ll now, in honor of the idea behind this board, vent:
I hate fucking idiots who are so fucked up they
can’t fucking speak without shitting swear
words to make their crappy fucked up shit filled
lives look more interesting than the boring pieces
of shit they actually are.
Strangely, I don’t feel any better, but I hope you do.
I know why you don’t feel better; your cursing doesn’t parse. It has no rhythm, no soul; it’s just not poetry. Try again when your vocabulary improves.
Just to be a surrogate voice for Homer (please don’t beat me UncleBeer! Or at least let pepperlandgirl do it for you!)
For what it’s worth, Homer has written me to say that it “truly was just a bad joke”, and has expressed that he intends to obey the temporary banning and return to the board afterwards. He is on chat he says, so I presume people who want to grill him early and often can do so either there or via e-mail.
After Uncle replied to me, I’ve since read a few of the threads where Homer was “acting up” a little, so to speak.
(whack!)
OUCH! OK, more than a little, Uncle. Nevertheless, I would still like Homer to return when the time is up and be given another chance by everyone. If Homer manages to offend the general Board community again (yes YOU Homer!) I will write him off with the rest of you. That’s all I will say on this issue from now on.
The only thing I have as a tool to moderate General Questions is my credibility. If people believe that I am behaving arbitrarily or capriciously, I cannot keep GQ to the high standards I believe it currently has. Everyone has to understand that.
But Homer is back in before his week is up. There are a few reasons.
For one, he recognized just how serious the infraction was. No whining that it was “just a joke” or comments that the staff should be ready to “take” that kind of stuff, but rather real regret and contrition. That goes a long way toward demonstrating one’s sincerity.
He took his punishment. No sock puppets, no angry emails, no wailing against the injustice of it all.
Anthracite asked nicely. Seriously, the fact that she and others averred that it seemed out of character for him carried a lot of weight.
So Homer, welcome back. You already know not to do something like this again; here’s some more advice for you. TubaDiva was even more mad than I was (well, OK, about as mad), so kissing some serious admistrative ass is in order for the next few weeks. Anthracite and Coldfire piping up for you saved you. You should follow them both around like a puppy for a while thanking them for their intervention. And I’m still pretty steamed, so you’ll want to steer clear of me when you see me wandering the streets of GQ for a while.
