Da Schneib shows up late

[devogue]

And as it also happens I pointed out that in this instance he had clear grounds for his grievance, grounds which I laid out quite clearly in my first post in this thread. There was clear, indisputable evidence of inconsistent moderation within the thread in which Seth and Schneibster were arguing - Seth got a bye, while Schneibster was moderated.

Except nether were reminded for personal attacks. Schneibster was reminded for quite a few posts that taken together were felt to be in breach of the play nice rule.

Here is Ronja's reminder:

Schneibster, repeatedly accusing someone of gaming the system and implying that they are jackbooted thugs, is not playing nice (not to mention, gaming the system!). This is a reminder to please stay within the rules.

Across a number of posts Seth exclaimed "Fuck you" (is that playing nicely?), and "infantile", "stupid", "idiotic", "moronic", "full of shit" were used to describe Schneibster's arguments (not personal attacks, except perhaps the last one - but "playing nicely"?). And he personally attacked him by calling him a juvenile netwit.

They were both guilty, but only one was pulled about it.

[devogue]

But Dev could not be arsed to offer any of his insights in a constructive way earlier in the thread. Perhaps anther perspective would have helped things turn out differently, or at least staved off the inevitable for a few more days. Maybe he could have assisted Schniebster in clarifying his complaints, but that would have averted Dramaz, so he chose to fan the flames instead.

I really can't believe I am about to do this. Between 4.32am and 9.12pm on Friday there were sixteen pages of posts in this thread. I logged on and posted a couple of quickies in other threads just after breakfast and before starting work at 11.30am. I honestly can't remember if I clicked on this thread - probably not because I didn't have much time, but it wasn't until night time when there were 22 pages that the thread caught my eye and I had time to read it. So the fact I had not posted earlier had nothing to do with me being "arsed" or not - like a lot of people I had to go to work. For fuck's sake.

As I read the thread I was pretty confused - what was the issue? What was the grievance? Why were established members and moderators snapping at Schneibster - what the fuck was his problem? You said wouldn't it have been great if I could have assisted Schneibster "in clarifying his complaints" - indeed it would have, and indeed I did (CLUE - CHECK MY FIRST POST IN THIS THREAD).

So my first post here was an attempt to bring another perspective to the table, but my post was met with one response (apart from Schneib's):

Complete bollocks.

The next post by a staff member was:

...and I was accused by a member of being drunk.

So much for a new perspective, for trying to get to the bottom of the problem. So fuck them, fuck you, and fuck the rest of the assholes who hadn't the decency to respond properly to the "constructive, insightful" post you accused me of not writing. After that I pulled no punches - but I told the truth about the clique, the methods used, and the very real undercurrent of insular nastiness that rears its head here with increasing regularity.

Oh, and there it is again - once more I am accused of fanning the flames of drama, after wading through 16 pages of inflammatory and despicable shite by a crowd of people who are guilty of indulging in the same inflammatory and despicable shite over and over again on this forum over the past two and a half years - I am not the only one to see this pattern; I am quite sure there are one or two surprising names who agree with me, but understandably choose to remain quiet. And now I have to listen to you, whoever you are, calling me a drama-monger: thereby stirring me to defend myself and rise to your drama-mongering. I bet that felt good when you had a go at me - did you wait with anticipation for the others to come along and back you up? Did it feel good in your lofty moderator tower to throw muck at me? Are you venting your exasperation and statesman-like irritation with me in the warmth of the moderator forum?

Sorry Dev, there are hundreds of people who I will listen to criticism of my conduct in this thread, but you're not one of them.

No, that's just words. You won't listen to any criticism about anything, from anyone. You enjoy being a moderator, and you accepted the position of moderator because you think you are good at making the right call, about being correct about things.

But hopefully just one or two people might think I've made a fair point or two. If nothing else, perhaps they will read Pappa's expression of unease.

You? I don't care what you do.

[Ian]

I was commenting about the fact that this trifle of an issue had gone on for sixteen pages' worth of hysterics. I'm not partial to either side.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

[Seth]

All I want is an assurance I won't be cut off from a community whose opinion I value because some fucking crank decides to harass me. I don't know what else to say to you. Either you believe it or you don't. But if you don't, or even if you don't demonstrate it to me, then I can't afford the risk of posting here.

It's your call.

Critically assessing and responding to a published argument is not "harassment" I'm afraid.

[Seth]

Seth gamed the system to "get" me because it couldn't answer my questions. Seth is a fucking troll, and you all admit it.

And there is no rule against trolling here. So, what's your beef? You can't be "trolled" unless you take the bait, so it's really your own behavior that's "causing" the "problem" now isn't it?

[Seth]

Schneib, i recommend a beer.

This is a two-bit, cheesy, funny, relaxed (mostly) little backwater forum. A battered, cracked, overstuffed leather armchair that has seen too many bottoms. Just the way I like it.

And it smells faintly of farts, dirty underwear and smelly cooch. Ya takes the bad wit da good and yaz don complain 'bout da way tings iz 'cause yoze planted youzes ass in da chair all by youze lonesome.

[Seth]

Well, I read through the thread in question and I think Schneib has a point.

So basically you just talk at people.

No, just juvenile Netwits. I tend to use them as useful idiots in my arguments. It's just toooo much fun!

It is absolutely clear from the flow of Seth and Schneib's argument that Seth's insults were aimed at Schneib.

Well, yeah, of course they were. But "aimed at" is not against the rules here so long as it's merely "in the general direction of" rather than "specifically targeted at". I checked, very carefully. And you ignore the massive amount of idiocy Schneibster had posted previously leading up to this exchange, mostly including his perpetual complaint that I am somehow "gaming the system" which he hurls about as an accusation without EVER actually defining what he means by that.

His plaint seems to revolve around my posting style and how I choose to dissect his arguments, which for some odd reason he thinks ought to be against the rules. This indicates to me that he might well be a sockpuppet for one of my well-known enemies from RDF who is here to stir up a pogrom against me, but who failed in that effort due to the largely "who gives a fuck?" attitude that Ratz is famous (and well-loved) for.

I suppose we'll never really know who he was, but I'm glad the drama ended with him stomping off in a huff rather than handwaving and rule-changing by the Mods.

Schneib has made a mountain out of a molehill in this thread, but in fairness that mountain has been created because of the frankly disgraceful dismissal of his concerns by a number of people, including staff, who don't seem to have read through the thread in question carefully enough. Once again, inconsistency in moderation rears its ugly head, and once again a lone voice looking for a bit of fairness is shot down with derails, abuse and dismissiveness.

Nonsense. Schneibster never bothered to state a cognizable complaint in a cogent and coherent fashion. All he did was make vague accusations that I was "gaming the system" (again, whatever the fuck that means in his opaque mind) and then started bitching when he got a polite notice to play nice for calling me a "jackbooted thug", among other insults too numerous to mention that I ignored because it appeared to me to be just sarcastic byplay between the two of us, which is why I suspect the whole thing was ignored by the mods.

I've re-read both threads and I still can't figure out what he was bitching about with this vacuous "gaming the system" business. Does anybody else have a clue what the fuck he was talking about?

[Gallstones]

I don't suppose you read much of the rest of his posts here did you? Well if you did...

As it happens, yes, I did.

And as it also happens I pointed out that in this instance he had clear grounds for his grievance, grounds which I laid out quite clearly in my first post in this thread. There was clear, indisputable evidence of inconsistent moderation within the thread in which Seth and Schneibster were arguing - Seth got a bye, while Schneibster was moderated.

No fucking way!
Seth, hey dude you have new status.
I never thought I'd see the day.
No more uphill slog for you.

[Seth]

I don't suppose you read much of the rest of his posts here did you? Well if you did...

As it happens, yes, I did.

And as it also happens I pointed out that in this instance he had clear grounds for his grievance, grounds which I laid out quite clearly in my first post in this thread. There was clear, indisputable evidence of inconsistent moderation within the thread in which Seth and Schneibster were arguing - Seth got a bye, while Schneibster was moderated.

No fucking way!
Seth, hey dude you have new status.
I never thought I'd see the day.
No more uphill slog for you.

I know, that's fucking weird isn't it? Still, I wouldn't make too much of it, I did get the occasional win at RatSkep, but it had to be pretty egregious for them to nick a favorite son in my favor. I don't expect it to become a trend any time soon though.

[Audley Strange]

If it makes you feel any better, I still loathe you.

Not really, you're comedy gold.

[Seth]

If it makes you feel any better, I still lovathe you.

Not really, you're comedy gold.

[mistermack]

Devogue, I'd just been watching you talk lovingly about wine on another thread, and then I read your post about the moderation, which WAS complete bollocks. So I naturally thought you were pissed.

I was actually making excuses for you.
Anyway, to correct my error, if Devogue writes complete bollocks, that DOESN'T mean he's pissed.
Sorry.

[Hermit]

But Dev could not be arsed to offer any of his insights in a constructive way earlier in the thread. Perhaps anther perspective would have helped things turn out differently, or at least staved off the inevitable for a few more days. Maybe he could have assisted Schniebster in clarifying his complaints, but that would have averted Dramaz, so he chose to fan the flames instead.

Sorry Dev, there are hundreds of people who I will listen to criticism of my conduct in this thread, but you're not one of them.

You have got to be kidding, Robert_S. Of course I have not read Devogue's post - for he is on my ignore list - but had I read it, I would have regarded it as a drama-free evaluation of the situation. The even-handedness is plain to see. Look at it: "All of this could have been avoided if both Seth and Schneib had their heads cracked together in the gentlest possible way" and "Schneib has made a mountain out of a molehill in this thread". There is no hint of invective, goading or hyperbole anywhere either. I couldn't see anything in Dev's post (had I read it) that would justify you writing what you did. You wrote total, unadulterated rubbish.

Earlier in this thread I expressed my displeasure at the tedium Schneibster used the "first lie" and "gaming the system" mantras. To me it revealed a mix of intellectual inflexibility, not to say an unwillingness to try to understand other people's points of view, and a very closed-mindedness bordering on dogmatism. Those mantras seriously impeded his ability to discuss the issues at hand. More of a problem than that, though, is the uneven treatment meted out to him, but the biggest disappointment is the hive-like piling on top of Schneibster by quite a number of forum members. They remind me of similar behaviour in other forums.

It's a pity Devogue's almost lone voice is not listened to because the noise of past dramas echoes too loudly in some people's heads. Drama is not all he's good at. He does not shy away from researching for what has actually been said, creating a reasonably accurate timeline of a sequence of relevant posts, and he makes a good fist of analysing the situation. Perhaps I should take him off my ignore list (thus emptying it altogether).

[Robert_S]

Actually I do owe dev an apology, I misremembered one of his posts as being earlier in the thread than it was,

Sorry Dev. I shouldn't have spoken to you that way.