I think everything is cooling down now.

althom said:

Donuts and bacon...the answer to all of life's problems.

althom said:

Christopher said:

ENOUGH! Knock it off! No more!

Muse2noPharaoh said:

Muse althom

Muse2noPharaoh said:

that was a friendly chair beating i love althom

TongueBox said:

Thanks!



My wife says it reminds her of "Wilson" from the movie Cast Away.

Yeah there's been some drama... but there's always drama on the Org Even in the old days. As usual the guy who ends up cleaning up the mess gets the blame (i.e. me) but I don't care, it's all part of the job.

There's been some "Lord of the Flies" type shit going down recently, that we had to squash. It's a small number of people, but it was damaging the site as a whole which is why we had to take harsh action.

It's funny though... most adults can accept that there are some people in the world that we just can't get along with, that we can't all be best friends... and we just accept that. However a tiny minority of people feel that they have a God-given right to harrass and bully the people they dislike for days until they finally leave the site. These need to learn that it is possible to learn to interact socially with people who ordinarily would not be your choice of "best friend". Fuck it, most of us do it on a daily basis at our places of work.

As for the recent account deactivations... well I'm not willing to discuss it here but not all deactivations are permanent. If a person is cooperative and understanding in dealing with the moderators, it is quite common for accounts to be reinstated. In other cases, it is more permanent. We'll see how it goes.

Personally I thought most of this flaming behaviour in the last 24 hours from the culprits was a really childish and undignified way to behave. It's basically all about throwing a tantrum because moderation decisions didn't go the way they wanted. Of course, it is easy to then try and validate your position by making it out like you are combating "racism" - who would want to disagree with that? It's pathetic.

Natsume said:

dude yer gettin a dell
.
.
[This message was edited Tue May 27 2:36:03 PDT 2003 by Christopher]

1. Yes, in some ways, you are taking this site too seriously.
2. In others, you are not...
3. You know you've made ultimately futile moderation decisions in the past (i.e., Shausler's thread last year)
4. You are going through a difficult period.
5. It seems some of the departing Orgers are some of the strongest opinion leaders.

Sounds to me like a messy situation. Everyone knows moderation is subjective. Here on the Org, it's downright esoteric. For instance, no one can seriously argue that "nonsense" threads can be moderated -- there's just too much "nonsense" in the form of humor to have any reasonably clear line between what is acceptable and what is not. Taste? You'd have to say you moderate the extremely tasteless, since there's a lot of crude threads in general. Likewise, the discussions on race are extremely tough to moderate -- some stuff is acceptable, some is not -- and they don't sound that different from one another.

Obviously, all this "anything goes except when I've reached my limit" standard of moderation is difficult to apply. Add personal issues -- Moderators get cranky too -- and you can piss off some key people in very little time. Even if some of the transgressions are clearer than others, I am sure that some were in that grey zone.

It would appear this thread is part of a process --- but what process? Over at NPGMC, they say the Org will close. I hope that is just some silly speculation, but in any case, if you feel you have been too harsh on someone, now's the time to make overtures. I know some of the renegades and am confident they will understand.

A little story... For six months after my ear surgery, I had a lot of pain behind the ear. Every time a person spoke loud, I had a very bad pinching sensation. The damn thing was set way too loud. It made me very irritable and I made some poor decisions in my work, where I supervise a number of people. Eventually, I had to recognize the problem and sit down with some individuals and explain that I now saw I had lacked patience and given in to sheer frustration.

Could it be that you too, Matt, have succumbed to that? If that's the case, it's not too late to make amends. I know it takes a certain amount of pride swallowing, but you know what? Swallowing one's pride is one of the most important skills anyone can learn. And as I mentionned, I know for a fact that some of the renegades will be understanding. In truth, there's no one on this site that hasn't benefited from a little understanding, here or in real life. So let's tuck the egos, suck in the virtual stomach... and have an APOLOGY FESTIVAL.

matt said:

Matt I know exactly what you mean mate.

I too am down but combined with people here dropping like flies it doesnt help, I like stability and there isnt much here anymore but i stay cos there are people here that seem to appreciate me being here

The worst thing for me was Step going cos he is my best mate, himself and JD(interactive) both are . I found 'em both first too , they've always been there for me and Step especially has given me alot of help. Least I know in some shape or form i can always grab 'em so I have comfort from this and I always know they'll be apart of my life in someway... (because they have no choice !)



JaneyX

Aerogram, the only apologies required are those of the people who have abused this site and harrassed individuals repeatedly. There is nothing "subjective" about moderating those that have posted dozens of flames despite repeated warnings from moderators. It is clear-cut, and I stand by the decisions that I and the rest of the Org staff have made in this regard.

The Org will keep going, as always, and will be better off without these bullying personalities.

ian said:

Blunt and to the point as ever

(and no I'm not kissing your arse I agree with what your saying to an extent!)


GO IAN GO!

Thanks Janey!

ian said:

I am in with the law

Am I a moderator now

PUKE said:

Yeah, you wanted to "work things out" so sincerely that at the same time you went off and used another account "PUKE" to flame with. If that is any indication of your sincerity, forgive me if I don't take your word very seriously.

And no one has to "beg" me for anything. My role as site moderator is to explain how your behaviour on the site breaks our site rules, and make sure that you understand that, so that it doesn't happen again. Sounds pretty fucking reasonable to me.

Holy I've been in bed sick for three days and all hell breaks loose...what's going on?

(btw, Matt, hon...I hope you're doing well )

matt said:

It makes me sad too.

applekisses said:

Hope you are feeling better now applekisses!

Quick summary: a little gang of orgers got together, decided they wanted to get someone they disliked booted from the site. Instead of reporting problematic posts to the moderators, they appointed themselves as "Org Sheriffs" and threw a tantrum on the forums and kept flaming this person dozens of times, ignoring warning after warning from the moderators. All they accomplished was that they ruined the GD forum for a few hours, pissed everyone off, and got themselves deactivated.

That's about it.

Oh wait I forgot. By not giving in to these "cyber-bullies" apparently our site moderation is "biased" because we won't ban someone without good reason. Mmm.

Oh, also, we are terribly unfair for deactivating accounts of people that have posted dozens of flames and have had many many warnings from the mods. In fact, now that I think of it, it is downright racist.

I think we can all agree that if a mod deactivates the account of someone who is a friend, that friend must be entirely innocent of course, and it is simply another example of the Org trying to keep the black man down. Right on.

YIKES...
Sounds like you guys have been way too busy for the last few days...such nonsense
It sounds like some people around here have caught a case of Cranial-Rectal Inversion (as my brother-in-law likes to say )


And, yes, I am feeling much better, thanks it's really a miracle what antibotics and rest will do

All I ever hear is "DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA!"

good lord people

applekisses said:

Glad to hear it!
I could do with a shot of those antibiotics right about now myself haha.

jees

get a good night sleep and

all hell breaks loose

whos gone?

Well Rdhull is back I'm happy to report. Drama averted, issues resolved, and his account is now active again

Oy vey.

You know, I've said it before (though perhaps from a different perspective), and I'll say it again:

It's only the Internet, people. Come on.

It's easy to get riled on this thing, sure, but we can't forget that this thing we're typing on is a tool, and the little squiggly things we're reading are just words, and that the way we interact on these rootin'-tootin' computer boxes is most likely far, far different than the way we'd acknowledge each other in person.

I love the phrase making the rounds of forums like this: "Arguing on the Internet is like playing in the Special Olympics - whether you win or lose, you're still taking the short bus to McDonald's afterwards." Okay, maybe a little insensitive as analogies go, but it makes a point.

I had my own little flare-up with the Org last year, and spent several months away from the site. I still have my issues with certain aspects of the moderation here, but just because I don't agree with certain approaches doesn't mean I shouldn't respect them. And in taking that approach, I'm not as riled by those questionable moderation decisions as I had been before. I just walk around such incidents, like I would walk around dog poop on the sidewalk. Pretty simple, actually.

That said, I think there have been some pretty substantial improvements in moderation over the past year.

I think if these "banished ones" grow from this experience and want to participate in this community, it'll all work out in the wash. It always does.

ian said:

Not so fast!

I'M LIVING THE ORG because you, IAN, are a brute, a jackal, a hooligan and a closet bolchevik.

On account of my note above, I must say that's a slight -- very tiny -- misfire from my part. But if you even try to embarrass me over it, that's it -- I'll quit the Org's... Celebration 2002 forum.

You know how ashamed I am that I thought a moderator could be wrong sometimes. The truth is that they are infaillible. I recognize that now.

wellbeyond said:

chopping up pigs isn't going to help anyone, sonny-jim!

Thoughtful and insightful post Anxiety, thanks for that.

People will always disagree with moderation decisions. We just can't please everyone. Ultimately we just try to make the best judgement calls we can with the available information. I feel that it is far better to accept the system we have - "warts and all" - with its flaws and try to work with it, rather than trying to bring it down crashing around your ears.

As adults we should all be capable of communicating with civility, with people who aren't necessarily people we would choose to be friends with in real life. This whole "I hate you and I will not rest until you are gone from this site" mentality just astounds me. I myself have a very limited amount of free time to devote to the Org... I work long hours in a full time job, most of my weekends are spent catching up on sleep or working... I don't know how some of these grown adults can justify to themselves the act of devoting hours of their day to pissing people off and ruining their experience of the website.

Anxiety said:

You sound like my dad there...lol