Exi5entialist's Allegations- Discussion and debate

[Seabass]

I don't know if I should post this, but since some people here can't see it in situ, here's Exi5tentialist's bullshit in full. BTW, he's not getting an easy ride, most people there can see through him, and the more he posts the more obvious his butthurt is.

You’ll be aware of the joke made by an admin at Rationalia about raping Skepchicks which has embroiled the website in its own ongoing sexual abuse crisis. Bizarrely, the same admin has now issued a poll at Rationalia asking whether or not he should resign. Obviously he feels unable to take responsibility that decision himself.

I'll take this opportunity to speak against poll itself, but also to make the point that yes, I think the entire membership of any forum should be held accountable when they fail to adequately respond to a serious problem of sexual abuse within their own organization. Equally when a forum uses harassment or disciplinary procedures to curtail the expression of protest against sexual abuse I think all members are responsible. I would lay the same responsibility on all members of a church where sexual abuse was prevalent, I don't see why I should be any more generous to an atheist organisation or atheist website. I am a member at Rationalia and that is why I am responding. My response is outside Rationalia because when I have sought to raise issues within it I have myself been sexually abused and personally harassed.

As far as the resignation poll that’s now been proposed at Rationalia is concerned, I don't think resigning would be enough. What staff at Rationalia really need to do is stop breaking their own rules on harassing people who express dissent, and stop coming down like a ton of bricks on any person other than staff who proposes any significant constitutional change to their present, nothing-can-change-without-staff-say-so governance arrangements.

If staff did stop their authoritarian behaviour (behaviour they show, for example, whenever a staff review is proposed by an ordinary member) it might then be possible for Rationalia to have a sensible conversation about the methods by which staff are appointed by the Rationalia community. But the present resignation poll is a travesty of democracy. I'll explain why.

As in any community whose members are equals and not people who are manipulated by a leader, you would normally expect alternative candidates to incumbent staff to be invited to come forward at every AGM. This is normally done in order to invite ordinary members to stand for election as equal candidates alongside any incumbents who wish to stand. That’s the usual format for a fair election.

If such a democratic process were the norm at Rationalia, it would open the door for the present staff power base to be more easily challenged. An environment where it is considered acceptable for alternative candidates to come forward tends to be one where they do. Where it is considered unacceptable, they don't. At Rationalia, they don't.

Instead, the situation at present is that the kind of disloyalty to staff that might seriously challenge their position is easily met with verbal harassment, sexual abuse and official threats of disciplinary action, so they get to keep their jobs.

Obviously staff at Rationalia are not confident enough to submit to the kind of pluralistic process as would be permitted by a conventional fair election. In its absence, this latest faux-democracy poll is just one more of their manipulations – an exercise to claim democratic legitimacy where they have none.

And pretty transparent it is. It's reasonable to predict that they'll be crowing at the end of the process how, “We had a poll”, “People were allowed to vote”, “It wasn’t perfect but at least people were asked” etc etc. The combinations are endless.

So the main problem with claiming that the latest popularity poll is democratic is that it is not the way democracy works. Challenging people to vote for the Great Leader’s resignation where there isn't even a process to enable alternative candidates to come forward isn't in any way democratic. Furthermore although people who might speak openly for the resignation may currently be in a minority, Rationalia's members have already demonstrated the type of verbal sexual abuse that they are capable of inflicting on anybody they find “annoying” (you'll recall that it was because he finds Skepchicks annoying that their site leader made his joke about raping them).

They may hold back while they are under external observation as they are at the moment, and when the dissenting minority are sufficiently intimidated not to visit the site and make much of a noise there. But where there is a real possibility that the way Rationalia is run might actually change as a result of dissent expressed by a minority, sexualised verbal abuse, personal harassment and disciplinary procedures are used.

These are the principal methods by which those who support the incumbent staff at Rationalia retain their supremacy, and the means by which any dissent is efficiently dealt with. One site member recently spoke out against Rationalia’s sexual abuse in public, and in response a thread was quickly started describing him as a "stone cold racist." If anybody wants to read the full list of epithets that directed at this member during that thread, contact me, because I do not want to be associated with them by repeating them publicly. Needless to say, they sound like a sado-masochistic abuse playroom. Unsurprisingly, the member expressed his understandable anger and asked for his account to be de-activated.

Personally I would predict that if Rationalia does not change fundamentally there will be recurring sexual abuse problems at the site in the coming months. Rationalia's leaders will continue to suffer from a crisis of authority and their position will become more and more untenable. At the moment, Rationalia can legitimately claim to be a private site run by its bullies. Let them have that. But please let’s not let them pretend this resignation poll is actually democracy or even “the next best thing.” We should be ready to counter their claims to democracy when they start going all over the internet saying what a fun, silly, free, democratic place Rationalia is. It is none of those things - it’s an abuse website where a small number of bullies can come out with whatever offensive rubbish that they want to without facing any responsibility within the site, and can sexually abuse anyone who might seriously challenge the position of their current staff.

What in damnation is all that about??? That's some weird shit. I don't think he's trolling; I think the poor guy seriously has a screw loose...

[hackenslash]

Having looked at his post and responses on several fora now, I can only say that I wonder what he would have said about me had I ever engaged him in discussion. Most of what he deems 'verbal sexual abuse' would be what I would deem throwaway, warming-up material.

[rachelbean]

Having looked at his post and responses on several fora now, I can only say that I wonder what he would have said about me had I ever engaged him in discussion. Most of what he deems 'verbal sexual abuse' would be what I would deem throwaway, warming-up material.

Does he actually ever give an example/link of the sexual abuse he suffered here?

[JimC]

Paula1 wrote:

Thanks for the rundown. For what it's worth I think he's being a total dick to you, it could be described as harassment but believe me when I say he's just making an absolute cunt of himself.

WE BELIEVE YOU!

[Bella Fortuna]

Having looked at his post and responses on several fora now, I can only say that I wonder what he would have said about me had I ever engaged him in discussion. Most of what he deems 'verbal sexual abuse' would be what I would deem throwaway, warming-up material.

Does he actually ever give an example/link of the sexual abuse he suffered here?

Yes! On Pharyngula he cited this horrific, repulsive post (ladies, avert your eyes, I beg of you!!):

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

Exi. Go and have a wank. It'll do you the world of good. x

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

I’m out for a few days – I’ll be on the beach.

Before I go, here’s another update on the problems at Rationalia. Fresh from their criticism that I used the term “sexual abuse” when what I should have said was “verbal abuse of a sexual nature to an unconsenting person” (everyone happy?), it seems Rationalia has been suffering from a bout of collective amnesia over whether any actual verbal abuse from their mods took place at all.

The query comes from the warm matrimonial environs of Pappa’s life, apparently, where his loyal wife has queried my recollections of the abusive behaviour from their moderators last year. So convinced is rachelbean that I never suffered any such abuse from moderators she is prepared to publicly call me a troll and say it never happened.

So in order to be helpful to you guys over there (is my megaphone at full volume? I’m certainly not coming over there to be on the receiving end of the kind of treatment you gave one of your other members last week), one relevant thread you might want to check out is http://rationalia.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 9#p1020619 from late last year.

Those of you here who retain privileged access will be able to see the abuse straight away but for those of you who don’t here’s a flavour of the conversation:-

by Exi5tentialist » Sun Oct 30, 2011 8:15 pm

No it’s not about dramaz, but I’ve been increasingly pissed off with the way that open abusiveness on this forum comes straight from moderators and I want to use my constitutional rights to assert my status as a human being who would prefer to be respected as such. Today, moderators and executives of Rationalia have told me to fuck off, called me a twat and troll and now you are swearing at me and posting tit-graphics. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to prevent any members expressing such things – but I don’t want them to think that on top of receiving the systematic abuse, I’m going to vote for them to be execs or have the power to appoint moderators. I’d rather vote for people who say their aim is allow free speech within the existing rules, but recognise that moderators / execs have a special role not to encourage the abuse of members. That’s a reasonable personal view to have isn’t it? Why shouldn’t I be able to express it in the form of a vote?

Then pretty much straight away I get this response:-

by stripes4 » Sun Oct 30, 2011 8:49 pm
Exi. Go and have a wank. It’ll do you the world of good. x

Quickly followed by posts from two mods, not moderating stripes4′s comment but instead saying how justified the verbal abuse is.

Later on in the thread we get another moderator not giving a “flying fuck”, followed by a third moderator posting in response to the thread just to say that she wants to say “fuck”, a helpful contribution in the context of Rationalia’s “Play Nice” culture.

There’s a limit to how much of Rationalia’s moderators’ sexualised abuse I want to re-post on another website, so please don’t get the impression that what I’ve posted is the sum total of their misdemeanours.

I do think it’s quite interesting though the way their high ideals of “Play Nice” and no “Personal Attacks” have shifted to a situation where such behaviour is now seen as “mild” or “a joke.” It’s not irrelevant that the maximum verbally sexualised abuse is reserved for someone who was seeking to initiate their existing procedures. As Pappa says in his rape joke, abuse is about power.

Needless to say, I was the one that got the official warning for posting the thread about six staff vacancies on the Executive. Apparently I was responsible for their behaviour, you see.

Rationalia is an abuse website. Most of the abuse is sexualised. Their lead admin abuses people, their mods abuse people, their members abuse people. Their severest warnings are reserved for people who post politely. So let’s not pretend Rationalia are capable of rehabilitating themselves without a radical shake-up of the mod team.

Anyway, I can’t stick around – I’ve got packing to do.

[hackenslash]

Excellent question, Rachel. I've asked for examples.

[hackenslash]

Having looked at his post and responses on several fora now, I can only say that I wonder what he would have said about me had I ever engaged him in discussion. Most of what he deems 'verbal sexual abuse' would be what I would deem throwaway, warming-up material.

Does he actually ever give an example/link of the sexual abuse he suffered here?

Yes! On Pharyngula he cited this horrific, repulsive post (ladies, avert your eyes, I beg of you!!):

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

Exi. Go and have a wank. It'll do you the world of good. x

Fuck, I talk to my mother worse than that.

[Twoflower]

Oh my delicate female sensibilities!

[rachelbean]

So stripes told him to go have a wank, and the moderators didn't consider that a personal attack so therefore are sexual abusers? I don't even think FTB or Skepchicks would buy that one

[Svartalf]

Oh my delicate female sensibilities!

That somehow I manage to offend regularly

[Sean Hayden]

While it's not what you want to hear when you believe you're presenting a serious case, it ain't exactly what you want to present as evidence of sexual abuse either.

Hehehehe, it is so absurd that any attempt at a serious response sounds ridiculous.

[rachelbean]

Oh my delicate female sensibilities!

That somehow I manage to offend regularly

You have a gift.

[laklak]

Boo de fucktity hoo.

[Rum]

I am qualified under the UK Mental Health Act (1980) as an approved social worker for the purposes of detaining people under that act. Part of my training In the Act is to assist with the diagnosis of mental illness and to ensure that any detention under the act is legal and proper, I.e. to 'section' individuals who are mentally ill and a danger to themselves and others.

I think there is evidence that the person referred to here as Exi5tialist has delusions, is suffering from paranoid tendencies and is also displaying the potential to harm others.

I find myself concerned (in a professional capacity of course) for his mental health.

:twisted:

[DaveDodo007]

Having looked at his post and responses on several fora now, I can only say that I wonder what he would have said about me had I ever engaged him in discussion. Most of what he deems 'verbal sexual abuse' would be what I would deem throwaway, warming-up material.

Does he actually ever give an example/link of the sexual abuse he suffered here?

Yes! On Pharyngula he cited this horrific, repulsive post (ladies, avert your eyes, I beg of you!!):

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

Exi. Go and have a wank. It'll do you the world of good. x

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

I’m out for a few days – I’ll be on the beach.

Before I go, here’s another update on the problems at Rationalia. Fresh from their criticism that I used the term “sexual abuse” when what I should have said was “verbal abuse of a sexual nature to an unconsenting person” (everyone happy?), it seems Rationalia has been suffering from a bout of collective amnesia over whether any actual verbal abuse from their mods took place at all.

The query comes from the warm matrimonial environs of Pappa’s life, apparently, where his loyal wife has queried my recollections of the abusive behaviour from their moderators last year. So convinced is rachelbean that I never suffered any such abuse from moderators she is prepared to publicly call me a troll and say it never happened.

So in order to be helpful to you guys over there (is my megaphone at full volume? I’m certainly not coming over there to be on the receiving end of the kind of treatment you gave one of your other members last week), one relevant thread you might want to check out is http://rationalia.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 9#p1020619 from late last year.

Those of you here who retain privileged access will be able to see the abuse straight away but for those of you who don’t here’s a flavour of the conversation:-

by Exi5tentialist » Sun Oct 30, 2011 8:15 pm

No it’s not about dramaz, but I’ve been increasingly pissed off with the way that open abusiveness on this forum comes straight from moderators and I want to use my constitutional rights to assert my status as a human being who would prefer to be respected as such. Today, moderators and executives of Rationalia have told me to fuck off, called me a twat and troll and now you are swearing at me and posting tit-graphics. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to prevent any members expressing such things – but I don’t want them to think that on top of receiving the systematic abuse, I’m going to vote for them to be execs or have the power to appoint moderators. I’d rather vote for people who say their aim is allow free speech within the existing rules, but recognise that moderators / execs have a special role not to encourage the abuse of members. That’s a reasonable personal view to have isn’t it? Why shouldn’t I be able to express it in the form of a vote?

Then pretty much straight away I get this response:-

by stripes4 » Sun Oct 30, 2011 8:49 pm
Exi. Go and have a wank. It’ll do you the world of good. x

Quickly followed by posts from two mods, not moderating stripes4′s comment but instead saying how justified the verbal abuse is.

Later on in the thread we get another moderator not giving a “flying fuck”, followed by a third moderator posting in response to the thread just to say that she wants to say “fuck”, a helpful contribution in the context of Rationalia’s “Play Nice” culture.

There’s a limit to how much of Rationalia’s moderators’ sexualised abuse I want to re-post on another website, so please don’t get the impression that what I’ve posted is the sum total of their misdemeanours.

I do think it’s quite interesting though the way their high ideals of “Play Nice” and no “Personal Attacks” have shifted to a situation where such behaviour is now seen as “mild” or “a joke.” It’s not irrelevant that the maximum verbally sexualised abuse is reserved for someone who was seeking to initiate their existing procedures. As Pappa says in his rape joke, abuse is about power.

Needless to say, I was the one that got the official warning for posting the thread about six staff vacancies on the Executive. Apparently I was responsible for their behaviour, you see.

Rationalia is an abuse website. Most of the abuse is sexualised. Their lead admin abuses people, their mods abuse people, their members abuse people. Their severest warnings are reserved for people who post politely. So let’s not pretend Rationalia are capable of rehabilitating themselves without a radical shake-up of the mod team.

Anyway, I can’t stick around – I’ve got packing to do.

O the humanity, clutches pearls, faints. While out cold someone steals my cardboard. What a shitty world we live in.