How we can all make the Celestial Forum a better place

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_marg

Post by _marg »

Dr. Shades wrote:The mistakes of A) JAK derailing threads by "backtracking;"


Can you give me an example of a thread derailed by JAK.

B) dartagnan using less-than-Celestial language in the Celestial forum,


Can you give me a sense of the extent of problem it is of Dart using less-than-Celestial language via direct words? I am not aware of him ever using words such as stupid or idiot in the Celestial. Your advice to him is to essentially carry on except don't use direct words.


C) you being overly-sensitive to dartagnan.


What gives you the impression I'm overly-sensitive to Dart? Can you support with a or some examples please.
_Trevor
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Post by _Trevor »

marg wrote:What gives you the impression I'm overly-sensitive to Dart? Can you support with a or some examples please.


By now we should all just ignore dartagnan when he calls people "idiot" or "stupid." He doesn't really mean anything by it. It's sort of a teasing older sibling kind of thing.
“I was hooked from the start,” Snoop Dogg said. “We talked about the purpose of life, played Mousetrap, and ate brownies. The kids thought it was off the hook, for real.”
_Dr. Shades
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Post by _Dr. Shades »

marg wrote:Can you give me an example of a thread derailed by JAK.


Any thread in which he brings up the existence of God or the reliability of the Bible.

Can you give me a sense of the extent of problem it is of Dart using less-than-Celestial language via direct words?


The extent of the problem is the extent to which you've complained about him.

I am not aware of him ever using words such as stupid or idiot in the Celestial.


I've seen it.

Your advice to him is to essentially carry on except don't use direct words.


You are correct.

What gives you the impression I'm overly-sensitive to Dart?


The fact that you can't let anything from him slide.

Can you support with a or some examples please.


Every PM you sent me.
"Finally, for your rather strange idea that miracles are somehow linked to the amount of gay sexual gratification that is taking place would require that primitive Christianity was launched by gay sex, would it not?"

--Louis Midgley
_marg

Post by _marg »

Dr. Shades wrote:
marg wrote:Can you give me an example of a thread derailed by JAK.


Any thread in which he brings up the existence of God or the reliability of the Bible.


So are you saying in the "Evidence for Jesus" thread, JAK should not have argued the position that the Bible is unreliable as evidence for Jesus?

And are you also saying that the Celestial is not a place for critical thinking applied to irrational (religious) beliefs?

As you know I'm fine with specifying that certain irrational assumptions can be made with no critical thinking applied. But that is not a mistake of JAK's to not make that assumption. The mistake comes from the board's lack of policy, if that is a policy you wish to have. You don't want rules in theory, but then in practice you do. I understand that many religious individuals do want to assume beliefs in discussion. They are not interested in an examination of how or why they believe as they do or any sort of religious critique. But you do promote this board as open to all no matter what their viewpoint. And you have no rules in the Celestial on this, so why should JAK assume it? Once again it’s not his mistake.

If this was something that you wanted from JAK, perhaps it would have been more considerate to pm him and ask/suggest rather to present on this board ..that he's made a "mistake" and to put him into the same category or level as Kevin who is into lacing his posts with ad homs and harassment.

Dr. Shades wrote:
marg wrote:Can you give me a sense of the extent of problem it is of Dart using less-than-Celestial language via direct words?


The extent of the problem is the extent to which you've complained about him.


Do you think when I respond to a post of his which is ad hominal and I say either directly "fallacious ad hominem" or I point out his post is ad hominal that I am complaining about "him"? In those cases, I'm essentially complaining if you want to call it complaining ...about his tactics. And that is a legitimate reasonable response to make in those situations.

Dr. Shades wrote:
marg wrote:I am not aware of him ever using words such as stupid or idiot in the Celestial.


I've seen it.


Well how often, is this really a significant problem? I’ve not noticed it. Perhaps there are some rare occasions Shades, but they are rare. Kevin does not use those words frequently if at all in an ad hominal way in the Celestial. There are other valid issues with Kevin but what you are suggesting is not one of them in the Celestial.

Ad hominal posts which are off topic, unwarranted do not need direct words.



Dr. Shades wrote:
marg wrote: Your advice to him is to essentially carry on except don't use direct words.


You are correct.


This is where you are showing your bias in favor of him. Why would you suggest that he carry on ad hom unwarranted posts? They are off-topic, detract from "tone" of thread, waste people's time, go nowhere, can derail threads. Why on earth would you support that by suggesting he carry on, if in theory you want the Celestial to be above all that..respectful, scholarly?

Dr. Shades wrote:
marg wrote:What gives you the impression I'm overly-sensitive to Dart?


The fact that you can't let anything from him slide.


It's really convenient isn't it to level accusations without backup. I have no idea what you are talking about..re I “don’t let anything from him slide”. Did you see the post from him calling me a “gimp”? Did I get mad at him? Did I try to retaliate in any way shape or form. I really don’t know what you are talking about.

Dr. Shades wrote:
marg wrote:Can you support with a or some examples please.


Every PM you sent me.


Shades I have gone out of my way to contact you infrequently in pm. Only in recent times after the thread was moved did I pm with some frequency but it wasn’t to complain about Kevin. It started out, to find out why the thread got moved. And your response to me was that people complained about the thread and maybe it should have been moved. I persevered in trying to get a satisfactory explanation from you but to no avail. The people I was angry at was you for your evasiveness, and the women mods for their apparent behind the scenes dealing and bickering which played out on the board. Everyone was so evasive, so secretive about it all, until Liz posted on the board that Kevin had suggested to move the thread. So then that part made sense to me. I wasn’t angry at Kevin for that and I wasn’t angry at Liz for it either. She based her decision on your policies which lacked clarity , and supported her to move threads on essentially whim.

As far as complaints about Kevin, perhaps you are mixing me up with Jersey Girl. While that thread “evidence for Jesus” was progressing, apparently she was looking for mods, and yourself to look into the thread to keep it I believe on topic, free from ad homs. That had nothing to do with me. Every discussion I've had involving Kevin I have not pm'd you or any mod to complain about him. At some point on the board Jersey Girl gave a suggestion on how to handle ad homs in Celestial and she asked what others thought. I agreed with her suggestion and she posted on the board she would pm you about it.

Once again, if I talked about Kevin it was after the thread got moved, and my focus wouldn’t have been on him, though I might have mentioned he was the one writing excessive ad homs not us. (by the way, I haven’t kept most of my pms, so if you have some you want to share to back what you say up, go ahead.)

My focus was on poor and/or biased moderation, interference by reprimanding us (JAK & I) on the board in a post by a mod, which in my opinion was uncalled for, moving the threads when it does nothing to curtail the problem but only plays into the hands of any individual who should actually want to increase attacks. And I wanted clarity from you on what a participant should expect from the moderation in the Celestial.

Now I notice as far a “mistakes” go you have not suggested I or JAK were writing attack posts. With these vague accusations, and moving threads without any clarity, that has been inferred that we were doing that.

It is unrealistic, to accuse JAK of making a mistakes when all he was doing was applying critical thinking to religious topics. It is your lack of clarity in policy which is the mistake if you want to find something or someone to blame for a mistake.

As far as myself not easing up on Kevin, actually it’s been me not easing up on you. It might seem to you that my focus was Kevin, but it’s been on you and the moderation activities going on. Keep in mind you moved another thread because of Kevin not that long ago, and I complained about it then, being moved. So that is not Kevin’s fault. So your policies on moderation are the issue, not Kevin. Kevin is simply playing the game that the board allows him to. Now that I know what the game is via board policy, I can choose to participate or not.

With regards to Kevin, your advice to him that he should curtail using direct words is superficial at best, because he does not frequently if ever use direct ad hominal words like “stupid” or “idiot” in the Celestial.

Your bias in favor of Kevin is evident.. You say maybe he came close to the line. No Shades Kevin passed the line with excessive use of ad homs in Celestial, and I don’t want you to interpret he’s the problem Because there will be others who will do the same. Micky is an example.

Your post is an attack of all three of us, as you advise everyone else to avoid “mistakes” we made, which you have not even established as mistakes, nor that they are “ours”.
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Post by _Jersey Girl »

marg wrote:The people I was angry at was you for your evasiveness, and the women mods for their apparent behind the scenes dealing and bickering which played out on the board


Just a minute. I am aware of no behind the scenes "dealing and bickering" between "women mods" on this board. Are you thinking in terms of Sam Harris? Whatever you have seen posted by me in terms of protest/challenge/criticism's of Sam's choices on this board were posted after she was no longer a moderator and the protests/challenge/criticism's that you see were never discussed prior to that between moderator's.

You make it sound here as though the female moderator's are at fault for doing something that you are unable to identify or as if there were some sort of "cat fight" going on "behind the scenes".

I want you to know upfront and publicly that I resent the insinuation.

There was no "behind the scenes dealing and bickering" between female moderators that "played out on the board".

What you see on the board is what it was. At least on my part.

Jersey Girl
Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up.
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_marg

Post by _marg »

I'm out for the evening Jersey Girl will respond tomorrow.
_Jersey Girl
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Post by _Jersey Girl »

marg,

I actually posted here twice again and twice I deleted my comments. This really needs to be done with. I see no point nor profit in continuing this line of dialogue.

Jersey Girl
Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up.
Chinese Proverb
_marg

Post by _marg »

Jersey Girl wrote:marg,

I actually posted here twice again and twice I deleted my comments. This really needs to be done with. I see no point nor profit in continuing this line of dialogue.

Jersey Girl


So you don't want me to address your previous post? That's fine with me, I have a cold/sore throat atm, an event to prepare for this Saturday and taxes/papers to gather (anyhow) so it's not the best of times for me to spend time on here. If Shades wants to address my post, I'll respond to him. If you do, I will respond later as well. I'll leave it up to you guys.
_Dr. Shades
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Post by _Dr. Shades »

marg wrote:So are you saying in the "Evidence for Jesus" thread, JAK should not have argued the position that the Bible is unreliable as evidence for Jesus?


No. That was the one exception.

And are you also saying that the Celestial is not a place for critical thinking applied to irrational (religious) beliefs?


No. I'm saying what I already said.

As you know I'm fine with specifying that certain irrational assumptions can be made with no critical thinking applied. But that is not a mistake of JAK's to not make that assumption. The mistake comes from the board's lack of policy, if that is a policy you wish to have.


If a literal "policy" has been lacking, the "wish list" has now been made clear.

You don't want rules in theory, but then in practice you do.


What else do I want that I don't know about yet?

I understand that many religious individuals do want to assume beliefs in discussion. They are not interested in an examination of how or why they believe as they do or any sort of religious critique. But you do promote this board as open to all no matter what their viewpoint. And you have no rules in the Celestial on this, so why should JAK assume it? Once again it’s not his mistake.


If we're going to split hairs, then it was a breach of etiquette, not a mistake. Satisfied?

If this was something that you wanted from JAK, perhaps it would have been more considerate to pm him and ask/suggest rather to present on this board ..that he's made a "mistake" and to put him into the same category or level as Kevin who is into lacing his posts with ad homs and harassment.


It might've been strictly more considerate, but by failing to put it on the board itself, others wouldn't get the message and I'd perhaps have to reinvent the wheel sometime down the road.

Dr. Shades wrote:Do you think when I respond to a post of his which is ad hominal and I say either directly "fallacious ad hominem" or I point out his post is ad hominal that I am complaining about "him"?


As long as we're splitting hairs again, then allow me to reword: "Every time you complained about his actions." Satisfied?

Well how often, is this really a significant problem?


It's a significant problem every time it occurs.

I’ve not noticed it.


I, however, have. And that's good enough for you.

Perhaps there are some rare occasions Shades, but they are rare. Kevin does not use those words frequently if at all in an ad hominal way in the Celestial. There are other valid issues with Kevin but what you are suggesting is not one of them in the Celestial.


Then what on earth were you complaining about all this time?

Ad hominal posts which are off topic, unwarranted do not need direct words.


So are you complaining about the times he posts ad hominem-esque posts in which he does use direct words, or the times in which he doesn't?

Dr. Shades wrote:This is where you are showing your bias in favor of him.


You are wrong. You are free to observe the same request I gave him.

Why would you suggest that he carry on ad hom unwarranted posts?


Because they'd be Celestialized that way.

They are off-topic, detract from "tone" of thread, waste people's time, go nowhere, can derail threads.


I disagree. The one has nothing to do with the other.

Why on earth would you support that by suggesting he carry on, if in theory you want the Celestial to be above all that..respectful, scholarly?


"SCHOLARLY" ISN'T REQUESTED OR REQUIRED. It may be "ideal," but it's not something either myself or any of the moderators are going to lose any sleep over. As long as there is the veneer of respectability, that's good enough for me.

Dr. Shades wrote:It's really convenient isn't it to level accusations without backup. I have no idea what you are talking about..re I “don’t let anything from him slide”. Did you see the post from him calling me a “gimp”? Did I get mad at him? Did I try to retaliate in any way shape or form. I really don’t know what you are talking about.


I am talking about all the complaints you've made about him. Er, excuse me, all the complaints you made about his actions.

marg wrote:Shades I have gone out of my way to contact you infrequently in pm.


You call that infrequent??

Only in recent times after the thread was moved did I pm with some frequency but it wasn’t to complain about Kevin.


Oh, then excuse me. It was to complain about Kevin's actions. Oops.

It started out, to find out why the thread got moved. And your response to me was that people complained about the thread and maybe it should have been moved. I persevered in trying to get a satisfactory explanation from you but to no avail.


The explanation I gave was indeed satisfactory.

As far as complaints about Kevin, perhaps you are mixing me up with Jersey Girl.


So you have complained about Kevin, or haven't you? Or, pardon me, about his actions?

While that thread “evidence for Jesus” was progressing, apparently she was looking for mods, and yourself to look into the thread to keep it I believe on topic, free from ad homs. That had nothing to do with me. Every discussion I've had involving Kevin I have not pm'd you or any mod to complain about him.


Then who/what were you complaining about when you PMed me?

My focus was on poor and/or biased moderation, interference by reprimanding us (JAK & I) on the board in a post by a mod, . . .


I did not reprimand you. I made polite requests of you.

. . . which in my opinion was uncalled for, . . .


Oh, believe you me, it was very called for.

. . . moving the threads when it does nothing to curtail the problem but only plays into the hands of any individual who should actually want to increase attacks.


So who was the one who wanted to increase attacks? You said it wasn't dartagnan, so who was it?

And I wanted clarity from you on what a participant should expect from the moderation in the Celestial.


And now you have it.

Now I notice as far a “mistakes” go you have not suggested I or JAK were writing attack posts. With these vague accusations, and moving threads without any clarity, that has been inferred that we were doing that.


You are wrong. The only thing I inferred is precisely what I requested the two of you not do, nothing more and nothing less.

It is unrealistic, to accuse JAK of making a mistakes when all he was doing was applying critical thinking to religious topics.


Forgive me. I should've said "breach of etiquette" instead of "mistake." My bad.

It is your lack of clarity in policy which is the mistake if you want to find something or someone to blame for a mistake.


In that case, I blame myself for this entire mess.

As far as myself not easing up on Kevin, actually it’s been me not easing up on you.


Ahh, thank goodness we've finally worked that out.

It might seem to you that my focus was Kevin, but it’s been on you and the moderation activities going on.


So why were you complaining about ad hominems if you were focusing on us? Did any of us post ad hominems?

Keep in mind you moved another thread because of Kevin not that long ago, and I complained about it then, being moved. So that is not Kevin’s fault.


If I moved a thread because of Kevin, then it was ipso facto Kevin's fault. Otherwise I wouldn't have moved it because of Kevin.

So your policies on moderation are the issue, not Kevin. Kevin is simply playing the game that the board allows him to. Now that I know what the game is via board policy, I can choose to participate or not.


Indeed you can. As can everyone else. I wouldn't have it any other way.

With regards to Kevin, your advice to him that he should curtail using direct words is superficial at best, because he does not frequently if ever use direct ad hominal words like “stupid” or “idiot” in the Celestial.


I've seen them.

Your bias in favor of Kevin is evident.. You say maybe he came close to the line. No Shades Kevin passed the line with excessive use of ad homs in Celestial, and I don’t want you to interpret he’s the problem Because there will be others who will do the same. Micky is an example.


So who are you focusing on now? Me and/or the other moderators, or people who post ad hominems, who may or may not be Kevin?

Your post is an attack of all three of us, as you advise everyone else to avoid “mistakes” we made, which you have not even established as mistakes, nor that they are “ours”.


It was not an attack; it was a series of respectful requests. And I concede that they were not mistakes; they were breaches of etiquette. And yes, they are yours.
"Finally, for your rather strange idea that miracles are somehow linked to the amount of gay sexual gratification that is taking place would require that primitive Christianity was launched by gay sex, would it not?"

--Louis Midgley
_marg

Post by _marg »

Shades just how many pm’s did I send you previous to Liz moving the thread complaining about Kevin’s pm’s? His modus operandi of using attacks to harass, has been going on for quite some time. I’ve not been complaining about him to you. He has come out and said on the board, he intends to deliberately harass because he doesn’t want anyone being influenced by JAK. And he has harassed me as well, but I don’t post all that frequently anyhow. That one thread I was going to put in some time, I had already started to do so.

Yes I am against excessive argumentation by fallacious ad hominems by any individual. Twice now threads were moved, from Celestial to Terrestial with my understanding due to excessive ad homs. I don’t remember the details but when you moved the thread not all that long ago, I believe it might have been one Tal started, you admitted to me that it did nothing to curtail the tactic.

My impression was that you wanted the Celestial to be a place where individuals would be free from that sort of tactical gameplaying. When it happened the second time by Liz I wanted to know why, essentially because it makes a difference to me just how much I want to invest or involve myself. I think for about a week I wrote you and you’d respond with a line or two but saying virtually nothing satisfying as to why it got moved. Telling me lots of people complained but not telling me why, is not satisfying. I’m sure lots of people didn’t complain about Kevin’s ad homs, so what were these people complaining about?
Liz as well made some comment that the thread wasn’t moved based on Kevin’s ad homs, that there were complaints. So just what on earth were these complaints if not Kevin’s ad homs?


So what we had going on was moderator intervention in favor of Kevin. He resorts to harassment, it’s in his interest to move threads from Celestial to Terrestial.

At the time I had thought you wanted to curtail ad hominems in Celestial. Now I know differently, that you aren’t interested in that. So now it’s out in the open. Of course, I’m not going to continue to spend time involving myself in discussions which involve dishonest tactical gameplaying. And if the board has no interest in controlling it, if one person can go around deliberately focused on harassing without any sort of curtailment then sure I will avoid the board.

And in the scheme of things, the big picture, anything to do with this board is not a big deal. What I've been doing, and it's been aggravating to do so, is getting information. I do not accept you passing the buck, onto me, onto Jak or even onto Kevin.

And no Shades, Kevin is not the primary issue, never was, it's how the board is run which is. If I'd been complaining about Kevin, previous to moving the thread I would have assumed it got moved based on my complaints. It was for the very reason I didn't complain Jak didn't, Goodk didn't , that I knew if others complained it wasn't about Kevin but about us, because few people would complain about anyone arguing with fallacious adhoms. Only the people who are interested in keeping a discussion focused and honest would care because they are the ones investing in the discussion.


I am not suggesting I want you to change the board, or that you need to, it is simply that I do not agree with how it is run. I do think, for this board to be an effective discussion board, the Celestial will need to become a harrassment free zone. I never say "I'm leaving"..on any message board though. But there certainly are limitations to what I will accept from anyone in life.
Last edited by _marg on Wed Apr 16, 2008 6:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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