Dino
Reged: Nov 09 2008
Posts: 6
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Quote:
Andy,
Yep...especially after I read the letter JeanPaul sent David:
"First and foremost though, please inform everyone that the Obama and religion posts have to stop, or the tavern is going to go away.
Thanks, JP"
....especially being it was sent to David.
Andy, David is not the only one who got a similar letter. And what that was about was not which politics were acceptable to Taunton; it was about J-P trying very very hard to avoid being ordered to close the Tavern. How you could have a problem with that escapes me.
The rest of this is addressed to TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN--, not to Andy in particular. Sorry, Andy; I don't yet know how to address a post to "ALL" on this board.
Anyway--If the foo fits, share it:
I've spent two+ days reading this long tale of woe, betrayal, skullduggery, and injustice--both here and over at BT--and I still don't know what happened except that a few people seem to have been banned and TPTB at Taunton are maintaining a silence on the subject.
But what actually happened seems less salient than the realisation that there is a small number of people who have mistaken BT for a sovereign, democratic state.
These people imagine themselves citizens of this state, and believe that entitles them to all sorts of inalienable rights like voting, free speech, and the right to bear flamethrowers.
Um, Reality Check time.
Taunton is not a country, and we are not citizens of it. These forums are owned, operated, and paid for by a private company. We are guests of Taunton, and we have been invited to participate in the forum discussions--free of charge!--but that invitation is and always has been subject to a very simple set of rules of behaviour.
This is not about politics; it is not about religion; it is not about race, sex, age, intelligence, knowledge or anything else of the sort. It is about respect and the good manners that a guest OWES to his host while he is in the host's home.
If someone came into your home and behaved the way some of you have been behaving in Taunton's electronic home, you would throw them out on their ear...and probably a lot quicker than the 'evil mods' at BT have done.
There are people reading this I truly admire and respect even though I disagree with their politics. They are welcome in my home any time. There are also people reading this whose childish, utterly selfish, whining drivel makes me want to puke.
And quite frankly, I've got better things to do than clean used pork chops outta my keyboard.
GET A LIFE, DAMMIT! Behave or begone. Grow the hell up.
Just sayin'
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SquarePeg
Reged: Nov 09 2008
Posts: 48
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Bite me.
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SquarePeg
Reged: Nov 09 2008
Posts: 48
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<<If the foo fits>>
That's "if the foo shits" to you, pal.
And I agree with your every word. JP is trying very hard, against pressure, apparently, to avoid flushing BT down the drain.
We can disagree with his methods 'til the cows come home, but he's got a business to run and a 'real' job to do.
Either we make his life easier, or we wear him out. Simple.
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Luka
Reged: Apr 25 2002
Posts: 1383
Loc: The great NorthWet
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There is a donation button at the bottom of every page.
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The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. ~Samuel Johnson
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David_Doudv2
Reged: Nov 09 2008
Posts: 27
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Colleen, in JP's defense, at that time the Obama=Muslim and Muslim=terrorist thing was in full flower in several threads -
it's been ugly - if it were my tavern, I'd make some changes too -
a good moderator could/would make all the difference - doesn't look like there is one in the cards -
none of the tauntonese enjoy/have the time/know how to do the job - it appears that moderating is the booby prize - hence the poorly concieved, hamhanded, inconsistant actions that provided a genesis for this thread -
dunno -
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calvin
Reged: Apr 29 2002
Posts: 2388
Loc: NW Ohio
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First of all, I know how to read English.
And with your writing sir, you are an imposter.
Brownbagg would not use that kind of language.
After that, common sense and just a bit of class. Not that hard.
--------------------
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City
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maddog3
Reged: Nov 11 2008
Posts: 2
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so this is where all y'all are hangin out !
may as well add me to the list of the Damned
and it's been a very long day so g'night for now
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Dino
Reged: Nov 09 2008
Posts: 6
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Quote:
<<If the foo fits>>
That's "if the foo shits" to you, pal.
Yah, well, I'm just a newbie here; I didn't know one could say 'SHIT' over here without gettin' ####ed or somethin'.
Yeah, after I got back from David's, JP let me in on a few things that were going on at that time in the Hexecutive Sweet in Tauntonville. Very very scary stuff, much worse than anyone has yet fantasized about even with all the screaming going on right now. And while I must respect his request not to blab the content of his letter to me, I can tell you that he's not one of the bad guys. And the fact he took the trouble to write me to ask my opinion of his 'keep it civil' decree indicates as clearly as anything could that he is not on a power trip.
I haven't written to him to ask what's going on right now, and I don't intend to. In the first place, it may have been taken out of his hands--that kinda shit happens a lot at Taunton--in which case we all better get real prayerful it doesn't go any further than it has. I repeat: he's been protecting us at the risk of his job. In the second place, the people causing the problem have already had enough warnings to float a battleship...yet they persisted. So what could they expect?
Anyway, Thanx.
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splintergroupie
Reged: Nov 08 2008
Posts: 83
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Your actions in the Tavern belittling those who are no longer there reveal you to be the kind of person just brave enough to hang onto a dog leash attached to a manacled prisoner.
I don't win all the battles i engage in, but i'm not a coward. Sometimes it's just the company i get to keep that makes it worth the trouble it is to be me, but it suits.
We have in common that we both agree my writing is wasted on you. Expect a refund check in a few days for exactly what you invested in it. Now shoo.
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splintergroupie
Reged: Nov 08 2008
Posts: 83
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Quote:
in JP's defense, at that time the Obama=Muslim and Muslim=terrorist thing was in full flower
Maybe. My first banning, without a warning, for two months, in both BT and Knots, was for using an Abu Ghaib photo that had been printed in the WaPo, long before this election cycle. Concerning their uptightness about typing 'gay' or 'crap' - even 'Washita'! - the conservatism is apparent.
I'm not under the impression, as Dino appears to think, that i own Taunton. Taunton uses the website to sell products; they use the forums to entice folks to their store. At best it is a symbiotic relationship where we provide content and they capitalize on it. One of the perks of that arrangement was the Tavern where we nurtured our community.
My point, in an earlier post, is that to throw a massive forum up and expect it to self-regulate is as unrealistic as expecting a crew to build a house without supervision. I have a friend who is completely ignorant of contracting who decided to GC her log home and ended up getting hosed. Most of you would consider her hopelessly naive to expect any other outcome.
No one is arguing for the right to bear flamethrowers, but for fairness in application of the rules in return for having helped Taunton build its brand. We are getting the antithesis of fairness. Dino said we'd be kicked out of a friend's house if for behaving as we did in the Tavern. He fails to note we would also kick someone out of our homes who behaved as passive-aggressively as Taunton has.
It doesn't have to be this way, but it's not all the posters' fault. In fact, one can easily reason that the entity with the authority, Taunton, has more responsibility for outcome. Taunton seems to wish its responsibility in the relationship to end with providing software and a server and reaping the benefit. Certainly it's their forum to ruin, but what a dumb thing to do.
I think my solution of QT or somewhere similar becoming the de facto back room Tavern that Taunton readily allows us to link to, while retaining the services of the posters in the regular forum, is equitable and workable.
I'm just repeating myself, for whose benefit i know not - certainly not yours. In and case, i'm glad i went to Peachfest when fests were still happening. Good-night, David.
~Chet
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Eric_Paulson
Reged: Feb 12 2007
Posts: 32
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"Your actions in the Tavern belittling those who are no longer there reveal you to be the kind of person just brave enough to hang onto a dog leash attached to a manacled prisoner."
Splinty, you may embellish my actions any way you see fit in order that I fit the twisted image you have of me.
I responded to Andy and rjw in a toungue and cheek way to just once be able to get in a final word. TGNY was more than willing to rat me out to a whole slew of folks. (gee, you don't think that HE could be one of those people that go complaining to the mods do you?)
That's an issue I have here, the big, twist my phrase pontificators such as yourself can NEVER let another have the last word.
I did NOT get the boot splinty, what does that say about YOU???
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CU2
Reged: Nov 09 2008
Posts: 121
Loc: The burning tundra
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BT is the only forum I've spent enough time at to know any of the characters. But I have spent a little time on numerous others. BT is the only forum of it's magnitude that doesn't have consistant moderating to my eye. On the others that I'm familiar with, the moderator will alert the potential offender in public when she/he's about to cross the line. If they persist or have already crossed the line, then the post is deleted. Don't know what happens next, because I've never been there, just witnessed.
This gives the flammers a chance to make nice with each other before they get axed or in some cases to explain the post that may have been misconstrued by the moderator. A moderator that has no knowledge of the regular posters will have a hard time moderating fairly.
Edited by CU2 (Tue Nov 11 2008 01:18 PM)
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DarylFerguson
Reged: Nov 09 2008
Posts: 29
Loc: Cape Breton Canada
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OK...you've heard the expression...dense as a post?
Well...that would be me!
It was only this morning i understood..."I'm in..." in your post. Colleen that was 6 yrs ago...I apologized the next day. and the day after.And then tried to just be me...and out of your line of fire. I have no hatchet to bury, I just said some very rude words. Well 2.
So...only one blow-up in 8 years...that's not so bad!
That makes me in, also. But I wasn't out, LOL
Is this the opposite to being "outed"?
More power to the correct people
Newf 
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PIFFIN
Reged: Apr 29 2002
Posts: 94
Loc: Island in Maine
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Dino
Thanks much for those comments.
I have spent an awful lot of mental energy on the moderator question, thinking that it has been going downhill ever since Andy E left.
And I agree that probably 2/3s of those who got banned deserved it, but I am still confused about much.
I've come to a few conclusions and have other questions open in mind.
I am 90% sure that the reason taunton does not provide reasons for banning is on the advice of some legal consultant. Maybe jickenshit, but seems realistic to me. Or that they just don't have the time and inclination. Or both.
The biggest thing that bothers me is that even tho they seems to have been fair with me, this whole moderator thing has been VERY inconsistant from person to person, and incident to incident, and month to month.
I conclude several things from that.
There are more than one moderator and they do not all have the same interpretation of the orders from on high.
( I add to that, the item Peg had earlier that it appears that somebody who is a regular at BT might also have much input, and possibly power to bann or control threads)
There is somebody above the mods in authority at Taunton who occasionally makes demands of them. I don't mind a benovolent dictator at all. The problem is that this person appears to be less than benovolent.
There is also so much complaining by members that the mods simply don't have time to read a whole context to make a just determination, so they are simplifying their work by the recent wholesale slaughter, leaving all the blood and guts on the floor.
This last is the one that BT members can do the most about amoung ourselves.
First, to give less reason for anyone to complain about us. Second, to not make any complaints. But I suspect that those who have been guilty of that see themselves as some sort of holy warriors or are OCD and paranoid and taking too many thing personally. whoever they are, they are unlikely to stop until and unless the mods tell them to please shut up.
Maybe I'm wrong on much of this, but it is a puzzle that my poor mind keeps trying to solve. The problem is like most of the jigsaw puzzles in our house - too many pieces are missing.
Oh well.
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Excellence is its own reward!
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MikeSmith
Reged: Apr 29 2002
Posts: 971
Loc: Rhode Island
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geesh.....chill, gurl....
u no i luv you dearly... but it's always
"to the ramparts"
what's your goal?
to blow the place up..... or continue the community?
me, i want to continue the community
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MikeSmith
Reged: Apr 29 2002
Posts: 971
Loc: Rhode Island
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eric... you don't have to respond....
then those things become the sound of one hand clapping
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CU2
Reged: Nov 09 2008
Posts: 121
Loc: The burning tundra
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Now, that's what I calls me some moderating.
That's how I've seen it done on other forums.
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remember
Reged: Nov 09 2008
Posts: 42
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Quote:
Now, that's what I calls me some moderating.
That's how I've seen it done on other forums.
Mods should be chosen from amongst regular members (how else can they tell who is who and judge intent?)
This would also reduce mistrust of the moderators.
Mods would then be answerable to Forum Admin.
Quote:
geesh.....chill, gurl....
u no i luv you dearly... but it's always
"to the ramparts"
what's your goal?
to blow the place up..... or continue the community?
me, i want to continue the community
No Justice, No Peace!
Quote:
Your actions in the Tavern belittling those who are no longer there reveal you to be the kind of person just brave enough to hang ont
o a dog leash attached to a manacled prisoner.
I don't win all the battles i engage in, but i'm not a coward. Sometimes it's just the company i get to keep that makes it worth the trouble it is to be me, but it suits.
We have in common that we both agree my writing is wasted on you. Expect a refund check in a few days for exactly what you invested in it. Now shoo.
I love to hear you talk this way
I've watched you riding everyday
And something in me yearns to win
Such a cold and very lonesome heroine
-Mike Rooney
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- Mike Rooney
Mon Coeur S'ouvre A Ta Voix
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Scarecrow
Reged: Nov 08 2008
Posts: 27
Loc: Portland, Oregon USA
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I'll have to agree with CU2. I participate in several forums, BT being one of my favorites. In each of these forums a moderator or several are active participants. And moderators have shiny sheriffs badges so everyone knows who they are. BT is the only one where moderators are occasional, stealth, or only come by and peek inside when some glass is being broken. If it's a money making vehicle you'd think they would do a better job of monitoring it.
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The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
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JHOLE
Reged: Nov 08 2008
Posts: 258
Loc: Oregon. Ohio
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I have the same experience in other forums.
The difference w/ BT is that the moderating is an assigned "task" to someone in the office, instead of a genuine interest in the forum subject matter.
Most of my other forums are not connected to a money making venture. And if they are they are e.g. Boating, sailing, etc where the money making part of it is still interested in the subject. Taunton is just selling words. They don't care what subject the words talk about.
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