Always remember you can question authority, but only for as long as the authority permits it. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
That is an interesting point. There had always been a long standing rule on this forum that asking for someone to be banned, by opening a thread and detailing why they should be banned, is a bannable offense. Yet, no one protests about questioning the authority of the people who own this site for that particular rule. I would see this as an extension of that long standing rule. One that existed even when this forum was under the rule of the previous owner.
The Intelligent Community is yours to build or piss on I think part of it is that people have long jumped to SFOG to address these issues instead of taking them up with the administration privately, as we have long asked. And of what private inquiries we do get, many are rambling accusations, rants against our souls. What, really, are we to do with those? Over the years, I've found that those who inquire reasonably, if answered reasonably, tend to be satisfied even if they still disagree. Indeed, some of the recent inquiries that have wearied the staff could have been reasonably stated or answered. And in some cases, they were. But long-simmering tensions have also erupted to the surface. Indeed, some moderators might answer those questions as best they can, but others stay caught up in rivalries. We're probably all guilty of brushing off some here and there when we shouldn't have, but I cannot assert with a straight face that such occasions are equally distributed among the staff. Those rivalries flare up, bleed over, and some of our newer hands have been caught up in that crossfire. This, of course, does not dispose them kindly toward the shooters. But some of those shooters are part of their faction—e.g., staff. So this is where their sympathies fall. Cynically, one might suggest they side with power because they share that power. But access also provides opportunity, even if only for understanding. We should not underestimate the value of comprehension, or the sympathy it brings. To invoke some specific examples: Trippy and Dywyddyr, for instance, are newer hands, but were immediately thrust into the role of villain by those tangled in personal rivalries with James, String, or even myself. For donning the gold cloak of the Sciforums Guard, they are condemned as brownshirts. Do we expect them to strike out in search of peace with the vicious, or join their wagons in the circle of safety within the staff compound? The outcomes are generally predictable. We need not necessarily condemn the existing rivalries, though. Some of the anger shown the staff is justified. We do make mistakes, and regardless of what people think, we are rarely marching in the same direction to the same cadence. At the same time, public discord among the staff empowers the various factions that would disdain us. Some among these have legitimate complaints. Some pursue personal quarrels. Some are just desperate, lonely souls seeking empowerment by lashing out at whatever authority they encounter. Especially for our late additions, it is not always easy to distinguish between these. I watch. I cannot see everything. My own hands are tied on a number of fronts, and if I do not walk away it is because I can still pull strings with my fingertips, and because this is the only online home I have ever known. I will not abandon it. In truth, I am furious with any number of people these days. This includes both my colleagues and the general membership. We entertain some who have no genuine desire to contribute to this community. We alienate some who love it dearly. We pretend, if the latter are angry, that they are the former. We fight more often for pride than anything we might construe as real about Sciforums. And so I remind: this site can only be what its membership makes it. And that includes the staff, as well, for we do not merely sit in our ivory tower and judge from afar; we are also down in the trenches, fighting it out with armor-piercing words, spilling the ink-blood of poets, prophets, and politicians. This chaos and carnage, this odor of death carried on electronic winds, is what we have wrought—all of us—together. We have managed to avoid a bloodletting, a midnight massacre, a secret-police purge of the guilty while the innocent dream, only because we have not the stomach to carry it out. But believe me, there are days I wish I did. I don't count up the names on my list because I do not want to know how long it is. I do not want to read the names. In life, you can turn away or look into the other's eyes. But here, it is only names, electrically-charged glyphs that represent real people somewhere in the Universe. This is all we have of each other, so to know the names on that list is as close to looking in their eyes as it will come. I am sick to death of what we have done to this community. And so should everyone else be. I grow weary of seeking some genuine sense of community among those who would only seek fertile soil for the salting, and all for the satiation of their ravenous, dysfunctional egos. But none of this is going to stop unless people decide to stuff their shit back in their asses, or at least seek flowers to fertilize for bloom. I find myself compelled to establish a new policy in EM&J, and whether it is a matter of genuine dysfunction or someone's warped ego, it amounts to, "Lighten up on the retards." Fuck, we can't even deal appropriately with the bullies and thugs. No, we keep them around with token suspensions instead of throwing their asses to the fire so that some can say, "Look at me, I'm doing something! Don't say I'm not moderating!" But those rank fiends will be back. Tomorrow or next week, or maybe next month. And for those, I can only advise that members need to wake up and realize that lashing out at fragile and afflicted egos in such furious manner isn't going to help. My colleagues—well, I think they're pretty much aware of what I think. I've said it all, in diverse phrase and increasing volumes, far too many times over the years. What works, works. What doesn't ... well, yeah. So I'm left pulling strings. "What happens if I do ... this?" And then we find out, and then we know. Remember that we are all guinea pigs. That, more than anything else, is our purpose here. Our hosts have other concerns than abstract experiments in virtual democracy. And if we feel imprisoned, it is only by our own doing. Summer approaches the northern hemisphere. It was 85° in Minnesota today. 75° in Seattle. Get out in the sun, people. Guinea pigs. Hamsters. Lab rats. If the rats wish to strike for better conditions, they will be tolerated only so long, and then thrown in the incinerator. We can abandon ship, or we can do the best with what we have and try to make something useful and rewarding of our time here. Those who want the Intelligent Community: we have no reason to put it off. Those who would make things difficult, who want to make themselves miserable, are welcome to torture themselves. But leave your neighbors alone. I have no sympathy for names on the screen if the people behind them have nothing genuine to give. And that goes for my fellow staff, as well. But for heaven's sake, I can't tell you how stupid things have gotten around here. You can question authority? You always could. But many people never really wanted to. They just wanted to be annoying, miserable rodents. And I am very tired of cleaning up their shit, or patching the holes they chew in the upholstery. I would very much like to believe people are capable of building the Intelligent Community. Quite frankly, I'm sick of being wrong about that.
sci is a great place, tiassa bigger and better than ever before porf forked out the cash, you set the tone thank you
Do you thank thers mor azz-holes here at sciforums that ant been "kept out".??? Why dont you perma-ban 'em.???
I know its meant to be a joke but I feel uncomfortable about that image of a Police man beating a woman. I could go into personal reasons but that's personal! But I think its obvious.
I ant sure what part of Tiassas post you seconded (mayb all of it?)... but the way thangs seem to me is... Plazma Inferno (a hands-off type of owner) has put James R in charge of the directon of Sciforums... i thank you mods shoud quit runnin aroun like chickens wit you'r heads cut off (wit you'r diferent ideas) an moderate acordin to the way James R wants you to.!!!
Then ther musta been hell to pay for the mods who woudnt go along wit James R an voat that Sam be perma-baned Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
'They beats us and makes us calls them master..' :bawl: Then the singing starts.. the naked prancing.. And then, at the top of the pit, we see the little fluffy dog and.. Buffalo Bill: It rubs the lotion on its skin. It does this whenever it is told. Catherine: Mister... my family will pay cash. Whatever ransom you're askin' for, they pay it. Buffalo Bill: It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again. Buffalo Bill (to the dog): Yes, it will, Precious, won't it? It will get the hose! Catherine: Okay... okay... okay. Mister, if you let me go, I won't - I won't press charges I promise. See, my mom is a real important woman... I guess you already know that. Buffalo Bill: Now it places the lotion in the basket. Catherine: Please! Please I wanna go home! I wanna go home please! Buffalo Bill: It places the lotion in the basket. Catherine: I wanna see my mommy! Please I wanna see my... Buffalo Bill: Put the fucking lotion in the basket! :bawl: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I ant sure what part of Tiassas post you seconded (mayb all of it?)... oK... but do you "second" my advice for mods.??? "but the way thangs seem to me is... Plazma Inferno (a hands-off type of owner) has put James R in charge of the directon of Sciforums... i thank you mods shoud quit runnin aroun like chickens wit you'r heads cut off (wit you'r diferent ideas) an moderate acordin to the way James R wants you to.!!!"
