Holy fucking shit. What the fuck? **Otto **is banned!
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10178839&postcount=16
[QUOTE=Ed Zotti]
[QUOTE=Otto]
And if a member of the board staff is rude to a guest outside the Pit? Will they be summarily fired and banned?
[/QUOTE]
The above constitutes snark in my book, Otto. Goodbye.
[/QUOTE]
That shit ain’t right.
Damn, Ed needs a blankie, a bottle, and a nappie.
A board-changing moment. Sad. For me, in fact, a brand-changing moment. The words “The Straight Dope” no longer give me the warm fuzzies.
This has gotten beyond ridiculous. I have no words.
Try “fucking bullshit,” and building from there.
This is really, really not cool.
Seriously, Ed, WTF?
Wow. This is out of control. WTF is going on around here?
Well, at least he’ll have more time to talk to his mother now.
But, er, yeah, that was a bit shocking. On the other hand, he said something snarky in the same thread in which Ed had just announced the “shut the fuck up” rule.
This raises a problem I experience with the structure of the board. If I want to say something about this banning, I presume I need to start a Pit thread. However, the Pit is also where many of the rules of civility are suspended. I find it extremely problematic that there isn’t a forum where concerns about board administration can be expressed without gratuitous invective, obscenities, and personal insults in all directions.
But there is. From forum descriptions re: ATMB
“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.”
The rule was changed a while ago. The Pit is now for pitting mods/admins. The rest go in ATMB
Given the response Otto just received, I would not want to unwittingly risk my membership in ATMB right now.
Well you would not have to ensure that you are not snarking or whining, so I agree you need to stay here in the pit. However, being in the pit, not preclude being civil.
I think this was a very bad decision, but Otto did pick the wrong time and place to make an unneeded remark.
BTW: Here is a pit thread just for Otto’s banning. WTF? Otto was just banned by Ed.
BTW: The board picked a great time to wonky.
I add (because pages are taking more than 5 minutes to load right now so I couldn’t edit):
The context of my reply is that I didn’t think Otto’s question violated the “no whining” dictum but raised a legitimate concern that appeared to me to meet criteria for ATMB and did not need to be placed in the Pit.
This is my sentiment also. I’m not sure anything short of an apology can fix it —sort of like your nice neighbor going postal —he was such a good guy until he shot all of those people.
Fortunately no one was shot. So the situation IS rectifiable. I’m not holding my breath though.
Yeah. I know it’s been said countless times, but this really may mark the beginning of the end.
I think they’ve got it somewhat backward. The rule should be against senior IT’ing since apparently they’re already in charge of the junior bit. There are probably at least 100 posters here whose IT credentials dwarf that of the entire staff combined.
Man, what shitty customer service. There is no way I’m renewing my subscription when it expires.
Was Ellis banned? I thought he had just decided not to renew his subscription when he ran out. When did that happen?
Jesus! You are such a snoop. Why are you always sticking your nose into other people’s bidness! Go to a flaming hell you Unix Nerd.