# Why was the Twickster ATMB thread closed? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 10, 2012, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543 "2012-05-10T19:42:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543/141 "2012-05-13T19:43:49Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Well, it certainly wouldn’t have been a thread about moderation without you dropping in to push your nose further up their arses. I wondered how long it would take… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543/142 "2012-05-13T19:50:17Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > I wondered how long it would take… 😉 Happy to help. I had been wondering how long it would take _you_ to arrive. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543/143 "2012-05-13T20:19:04Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > Frankly this is a non-issue. If some other mod had slipped up and then gave themself a mod note they would be a board legend. [/SIZE] As a matter of fact, **samclem** has given himself a mod note for an inappropriate remark in GQ. But he’s a board legend even without that.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543/144 "2012-05-13T21:09:02Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > And why do you think that is? How come every other thread about other mods actions doesn’t turn into pile-ons against them? > > Twix broke the rules. And once again we get some flip wave-away. What’s so bad about expressing our displeasure and why does that equal “pitchfork waving”? Because its very hard not to see much of it as pitchfork waving. Just as an example, and with no real intention to single anybody out, here are a selection of quotes about Twickster from one poster in particular, all from their last twenty posts in ATMB. > [@](#): > > Twickster is a shit mod. You know it, I know it, Cecil knows it, Ed knows it. > [@](#): > > She, and they, deserve the heaps they’re getting, in my opinion. > [@](#): > > This is hardly surprising behaviour for Twix, in my opinion, a new twist in a long pattern, to my mind. Her little slip has revealed an ugly underside of the SD. The contemptuous attitude tolerated, it would seem, and only regretted when it comes to light. > [@](#): > > Yeah, you’re not telling us something we don’t all already know about Twix. No one is surprised. No one is honestly thinking she’ll apologize. We’ve all seen her in action enough to know, it’s not going to happen. And if you do force it, it will be lame and not on point. Again, we have lots of experience with this. > > She is like Teflon, nothing sticks. The admins could care, yours is just, yet another, complaint about Twix. > > You’d think, if it happens often enough, if enough people complain, if she’s often demonstratively jerkish. But no. > > Ain’t nothing going to change. Sad but true. Like the rest of us, who have been caught on the wrong side of her, you’ll just have to suck it up and ignore her. > [@](#): > > “Just move on. She’s not worth it.” Those quotes would be right at home in a pit thread, not in any serious discussion of the running of the board, yet that is the tone that seems to be prevalent every time somebody decides they don’t like Twickster this week. It all seems so very personal to some people, and so is it so surprising that the admins will just roll their eyes and say nothing. Hell, what do you want them to say? For many people no less than the removal of Twickster as a mod will do, for the rest, any sort of reprimand will be seen as validation. Why on earth would the admins fall into that trap. As I indicated before, the best thing the admins can do is tell Ed to back the fuck off, and let people pit moderators again. I bet we wouldn’t be seeing these types of ongoing witchhunts. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543/145 "2012-05-13T21:14:31Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Happy to help. > > I had been wondering how long it would take _you_ to arrive. Didn’t we do this already? Besides, I am curious. You can’t really believe that I care a great deal about kissing up to the mods, can you? Seriously? Do I seem like the type that is waiting around for a pat on the back from the bosses? Really? Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps this is my opinion? And that I simply have different views on what shite people should have to put up with as mods? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543/146 "2012-05-13T21:23:16Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > Besides, I am curious. You can’t really believe that I care a great deal about kissing up to the mods, can you? Seriously? Do I seem like the type that is waiting around for a pat on the back from the bosses? Really? I believe it at exactly the same level that you believe that people come to these threads only because they have unreasonable and unfounded criticisms of the moderators. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543/147 "2012-05-13T22:03:32Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > As I indicated before, the best thing the admins can do is tell Ed to back the fuck off, and let people pit moderators again. I bet we wouldn’t be seeing these types of ongoing witchhunts. I agree, FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543/148 "2012-05-13T23:51:08Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > For many people no less than the removal of Twickster as a mod will do That would certainly be a good first step towards improving moderation around here. She has shown, time and again, she is unwilling or unable to muster the level of detachment necessary to moderate threads fairly and to the rules. > [@MrDibble](#): > > I agree, FWIW. Me Too.™ If nothing else, allowing the moderators to be pitted will reduce the amount of unfounded moderator complaining in ATMB, so that the ATMB discussions of actually terrible moderation will be less crowded out. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543/149 "2012-05-14T00:07:54Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > As I indicated before, the best thing the admins can do is tell Ed to back the fuck off, and let people pit moderators again. I bet we wouldn’t be seeing these types of ongoing witchhunts. I wouldn’t be opposed to that but I don’t know that it’s needed. Why not just let posters say they don’t like her moderation in this forum? That way people can express their feelings without all the name calling. > [@](#): > > It all seems so very personal to some people, and so is it so surprising that the admins will just roll their eyes and say nothing. It is personal. We love this place. We are part of a community here. It’s not wrong to want it to be run as best it can be. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543/150 "2012-05-14T01:51:16Z")
> [@bucketybuck](#): > > . . .so instead we get this thread, again and again. > [@bucketybuck](#): > > . . .every time somebody decides they don’t like Twickster this week. Serious question: Why do you think it is you had to post these two phrases? ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543/151 "2012-05-14T12:19:16Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I’m not sure what there is to understand. I think this whole thing has been blown way out of proportion by a handful of posters who have a severe hate-on for **twickster**. > > I actually find that the board culture is far \*less \*snarky/insulting than it was when I first started posting here, and I rather miss it. **manhattan** , of course, being the classic delightfully curmudgeonly moderator, but others had some shining moments as well. The difference being, that when Manhattan or DavidB went all nuclear on your ass, you could take them to the Pit and hash it out mano-a-mano. You didn’t have your hands tied behind your back so they could insult you but you couldn’t respond. Nowdays, a mod insults someone and they can’t be taken to the Pit and responded to in kind. And it can’t really be discussed here either because the thread will often be closed based on some idiotic arbitrary standard “I think this has gone on long enough” or “I’ve decreed that this has been resolved so I’m shutting the thread.” or “Hey, the mod defenders are fighting the people with the problem with the mod in question. Fights go in the Pit. Closing thread” or, hey, "Before there are requests for tumbrils and pounds of flesh, let’s close this thread. " (aka, the “Beaten like a mule” gambit. If we must keep mod threads in ATMB, randomly closing them, rather than punishing people who are out of bounds for ATMB is a cowardly, pathetic move. Seriously–why not just simply say “No complaints against mods, they’re far too delicate to take in-kind responses.” and be done with it? Why maintain the fiction that there’s any interest whatsoever in poster complaints/concerns? \*And I don’t think Twickster’s offense was all that big of a deal. Tubadiva’s closing the other thread, though, was typically idiotic mod-action. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543/152 "2012-05-14T13:11:09Z")
I think l\_i\_h is calling **twickster** a twat by the changed names, and is doing so because **twickster** apparently got away with it, so why can’t she? I also suspect she’s mad enough that she doesn’t really care whether she gets in trouble for doing so. My only advice there is “Come back when you aren’t so mad, and see if you still don’t care.” I have found in the past that I do. Then again, she seems less happy here than even I was at first. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543/153 "2012-05-14T13:47:38Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > The difference being, that when Manhattan or DavidB went all nuclear on your ass, you could take them to the Pit and hash it out mano-a-mano. You didn’t have your hands tied behind your back so they could insult you but you couldn’t respond. > > Nowdays, a mod insults someone and they can’t be taken to the Pit and responded to in kind. And it can’t really be discussed here either because the thread will often be closed based on some idiotic arbitrary standard “I think this has gone on long enough” or “I’ve decreed that this has been resolved so I’m shutting the thread.” or “Hey, the mod defenders are fighting the people with the problem with the mod in question. Fights go in the Pit. Closing thread” or, hey, "Before there are requests for tumbrils and pounds of flesh, let’s close this thread. " (aka, the “Beaten like a mule” gambit. > > If we must keep mod threads in ATMB, randomly closing them, rather than punishing people who are out of bounds for ATMB is a cowardly, pathetic move. > > Seriously–why not just simply say “No complaints against mods, they’re far too delicate to take in-kind responses.” and be done with it? Why maintain the fiction that there’s any interest whatsoever in poster complaints/concerns? > \*And I don’t think Twickster’s offense was all that big of a deal. Tubadiva’s closing the other thread, though, was typically idiotic mod-action. I agree with everything you’ve posted here. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543/154 "2012-05-14T15:47:01Z")
Maybe they should just relabel ATMB as Jerk Circle/Vent here. At least then, posters expectations will be in line with likely outcome. Just own it, and be honest. People will suddenly understand. Happiness will rule the valley once again. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543/155 "2012-05-14T15:57:41Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Maybe they should just relabel ATMB as Jerk Circle/Vent here. > > At least then, posters expectations will be in line with likely outcome. > > Just own it, and be honest. People will suddenly understand. Happiness will rule the valley once again. I could almost get behind this. Imagine a visitor trying to find out what’s what here, checking out the forum titled _About This Message Board_ to find out what we’re about…and reading venom-filled diatribes and demands directed towards the moderators. What a _great_ first impression. edited to add: Other appropriate names would be _The Shark Tank_ or _The Piranha Pool_. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543/156 "2012-05-14T16:00:45Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I could almost get behind this. Imagine a visitor trying to find out what’s what here, checking out the forum titled _About This Message Board_ to find out what we’re about…and reading venom-filled diatribes and demands directed towards the moderators. > What a _great_ first impression. You’re right. “How to give us money” and “How to surf this board without giving yourself a virus” are far better introductions to the recent atmosphere. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543/157 "2012-05-14T16:13:18Z")
On my (admittedly much smaller) board, we don’t even have a forum like this. We just expect our mods not to be jerks and smack them down ourselves when they get out of hand (which incidentally, they never do). ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543/158 "2012-05-14T16:43:33Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > …and reading venom-filled diatribes and demands directed towards the moderators. Also really stupid, over-the-top hyperbole about the horrible abuse of the mods, insults thinly disguised as annoying rhetorical questions about the motives of people who dare question the mods, and the ever ‘popular’ chorus of “Mods who insult people and aren’t allowed to be insulted back, are beaten like mules around here” by people who are terrified of any possible discussion of mod action. That’s bad too. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543/159 "2012-05-14T16:45:46Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Also really stupid, over-the-top hyperbole about the horrible abuse of the mods, insults thinly disguised as annoying rhetorical questions about the motives of people who dare question the mods, and the ever ‘popular’ chorus of “Mods who insult people and aren’t allowed to be insulted back, are beaten like mules around here” by people who are terrified of any possible discussion of mod action. > > That’s bad too. Yeah, that would be bad if it ever happened. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543/160 "2012-05-14T16:47:03Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > On my (admittedly much smaller) board, we don’t even have a forum like this. We just expect our mods not to be jerks and smack them down ourselves when they get out of hand (which incidentally, they never do). And do you reveal all that happens behind the scenes to your posters? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-was-the-twickster-atmb-thread-closed/621543.md?page=9)