I HEREBY STEP DOWN FOR NOW

[Philo Sofee]

And he's back!!!!!! And with no pleasant surprise, and exactly as he used to be. OK moderators, now the power is yours, lets see an exercise designed for stopping trolling.

Hey Shades. This is the future of your board without you being at the helm. In the past hour two regular posters have publicly called for my dismissal. It’s not what you and I talked about they don’t like, they don’t like my opinion and they’re going to shut it down. Your power is going to be used to shut down my opinion. They smell blood in the water.

AM hasn't changed an iota. Lets give him a temporary 55 year break from here and we can get this place cleaned up and he can come back when he matures......... he will always do this. He always has and always will.

[honorentheos]

I hope the best for you, Dr. Shades, as you step back from the pandemonium. I admire your intention to give people with unpopular allegiances the benefit of the doubt. In this case perhaps you were a little too lenient, or you forgot that a temporary break from the board for persistent troublemakers is not a bad or unusual thing. Maybe I am off base. In any case, I hope you step back in when you get itchy to be more involved again.

you guys, his so called “friends” just strong armed the man out of his position. You wanted his power so you decided to humiliate the man on his own board and did it for days until he finally gave in! That’s not what true friends actually do. The man just went through a divorce, apparently is financially strapped from it, had to re structure his mortgage and his so called “friends” performed a psychological coup d’état because they knew if they kept pressuring the man in public on his board, eventually he would give in to the pressure. Let me say that again. His friends pressured him into giving up his power and as soon as I post this, they’re going to come behind me and try to tell everyone reading this thread, that the coup d’état was for the board founders own good.. In the past two days you guys mentally abused Dr Shades. You likened him to an ignorant CEO that needed to be ousted by the board. You told him he wasn’t seeing things clearly and many other insults that friends just don’t do in public. For God sakes. Just read his opening sentence. You guys took his dream from him. No matter how you try to spin it in the post following this one, you guys took the mans dream from him and you did it because you want your ECHO CHAMBER back. The Backwards Professor even admitted this was better off being an ECHO CHAMBER so guess what, I was correct all along.

All right, so now it’s your turn. Go ahead and start spinning your web of lies to justify what you guys just accomplished. Make no mistake. You guys just took advantage of a man that is at a very low point in his life and now you’re going to enjoy the spoils. Go ahead. Tell us how you guys stripped Shades of his power for his benefit.

Atlanticmike,

I'm replying directly to you because it is needed for the stability of the board during the transition. To be clear, Canpakes is calling it correct. You took the change as license to provoke rather than contribute and the result is the mods will now be testing their authority and defining their roles going forward in extremis. You're a dick for putting them in that position.

That said, you and Cultellus haven't been wrong that the board had problems that attracted you here and made your disruptions a crisis rather than something others simply overlook while enjoying the better offerings here. There is a bit of an echo chamber. It isn't because the posters are all progressive and not conservative, though. It's just vacuous so the thin propaganda broadcasts and soundbites that pass for discourse only get backfilled with more of the same. Your fatal flaw is you also lack substance and therefore could only shout alternative thin right-wing soundbites yourself mixed with crowing about your abuse of the place.

Your behavior (note, it's that and not you nor is it your ideology) demands moderator action. And if anyone has turned on their friend Shades it is this immediate attempt to get yourself in trouble with the mods so you can imagine you proved a point. Congrats.

As for the mods, I imagine that one will be for banning outright. Another will be for a suspension and then banning on a next infraction. Not sure about the other. All are worth consideration for more complex reasons than those are able to recognize who imagine they would be the board saviors and be swift, sure, and immaculate in effecting justice were they just put in charge or someone just like them. Yeah, again you aren't wrong that there are some here who do want an echo chamber because all they consider harmonious are their own thoughts mixed with praise bounced back at them. It could still prove fatal to the board because those folks are going to have a hard time with the moderators and they will be back complaining and asking to speak with a new manager now that they spoke with previous one and he quit. Its unfortunate but self-knowledge is hard.

Anyway, thought I'd give my $0.02. You could, of course, learn to post differently and prove yourself an actual friend to Shades but that's not true. Substance doesn't appear magically in a person like that.

[honorentheos]

Exactly. You want all your little conservatives to be like Ajax. That’s my point. That way Doc Cam the enforcer and his two lieutenants can go out and insult anyone they wish without worry of being banned. Make no mistake, from here on out, if a conservative poster or anyone who stands up to refute the progressive church lt narrative found on this board will be banned. Not at first. But it will happen.

So much early morning fail from you.

I’ve been here over a decade, and I don’t think that I’ve ever seen ajax do anything that would suggest in the slightest that he be banned.

Whatever his opinions, ajax is much more of a man than you can manage to be.

Your destiny is yours alone to chart. Act like it.

Hey Canpakes,

If I may make a small suggestion, when situations where mod action is going to be needed or appears imminent, it would be good practice for you all to stop engaging as posters and use the space between issue and decision to deliberate amongst yourselves. Appearances do matter. Bias is something that has to be not only actively suppressed but also scrubbed as much as possible from the public discussion between the ones with authority and the ones who face disciplinary action. The board is genuinely more fragile than dealing with AM will resolve. I'm all in on Team Moderator here. Leave AM to us while you guys figure out what is genuinely in the best interest of the board without just jumping to a conclusion. If the issue is acute, a time out for the offender until you all can meet and make a decision is preferable to seeing the mods engage the problem person as a poster.

All the best.

[Marcus]

Atlanticmike,

I'm replying directly to you because it is needed for the stability of the board during the transition…

Apparently you missed the first 20 or so times people tried reasoning with this troll. At this point, comments like this just exacerbate the trolling by giving him a reason to continue. He wants attention and he’s got yours.

[honorentheos]

There is a bit of an echo chamber. It isn't because the posters are all progressive and not conservative, though. It's just vacuous so the thin propaganda broadcasts and soundbites that pass for discourse only get backfilled with more of the same.

Indeed.

Your behavior (note, it's that and not you nor is it your ideology) demands moderator action. And if anyone has turned on their friend Shades it is this immediate attempt to get yourself in trouble with the mods so you can imagine you proved a point. Congrats.

The problem begins with the definition of "friend." I am sure there are a number of people here who do not consider Shades a friend, and yet they are generally constructive members of the community. AM is insidious in his false misuse of friendship as a wedge in a way that is actually targeted at making people, especially Shades, feel bad for no reason. AM is not Shades' friend, and he has proven it here repeatedly in the way he behaves. But that is not the problem. The problem is how he has weaponized everything, including friendship, to destroy the community that exists here.

Community is not dependent on friendship as much as it is dependent on a certain base level of good will and desire to get along. AM's behavior strikes at the heart of community, and his twisted use of the idea of friendship is grotesque.

As for the mods, I imagine that one will be for banning outright. Another will be for a suspension and then banning on a next infraction.

I would go for the latter, if only to protect us all from summary action in the future. How we treat AM, regardless of his deserts, should be viewed as setting up the conditions for how each of us might be treated by others in the future. Beware of the weapons of security forged for others, as they can be used on us too. That said, he is a toxic bad actor with no genuine contribution to the board, and, it seems, destructive designs or at least feckless disregard for community.

Nothing but agreement, Kish. Wise words.

[Some Schmo]

The writing is on the wall, methinks. It looks like the calls for me to step down and let my moderators take over--unleash them?--has reached critical mass. Therefore, I hereby step down as chief moderator and release them from any obligation to be clones of me. I hereby give them free rein to moderate as they see fit. Hell, I hereby even grant them permission to change the rules if they want (with the exception of Universal Rule #12, which is exempt from alteration).

I'll take back over if a critical mass of people call for it or if it becomes necessary for whatever reason. In the meantime, I reserve the right to post as a civilian.

But for now, with this action, let no one say I refused to grant unto you according to your desires.

You're a good man, Shades. It would be great to see you post more.

I hope the things stressing you out right now are resolved soon.

Thanks for listening to us.

[canpakes]

Hey Canpakes,

If I may make a small suggestion, when situations where mod action is going to be needed or appears imminent, it would be good practice for you all to stop engaging as posters and use the space between issue and decision to deliberate amongst yourselves. Appearances do matter. Bias is something that has to be not only actively suppressed but also scrubbed as much as possible from the public discussion between the ones with authority and the ones who face disciplinary action. The board is genuinely more fragile than dealing with AM will resolve. I'm all in on Team Moderator here.

Honor -

That’s a sound suggestion, and I agree. I was looking for the ‘pleasant surprise’ to manifest, though, and I guess that whatever that opportunity was, it has been rejected.

Leave AM to us while you guys figure out what is genuinely in the best interest of the board without just jumping to a conclusion. If the issue is acute, a time out for the offender until you all can meet and make a decision is preferable to seeing the mods engage the problem person as a poster.

All the best.

Already there. I figure that folks should be allowed to dig their own graves as deep as they prefer.

[Marcus]

…How we treat AM, regardless of his deserts, should be viewed as setting up the conditions for how each of us might be treated by others in the future….

I agree. And if, in the future, one of us commits dozens and dozens of infractions that have to be moved or deleted, repeatedly harasses people, sexually and otherwise, frivolously starts dozens of threads in a manner Shades already queued another poster for, and then is documented repeatedly threatening to continue disrupting the board in the same manner, is suspended and comes back to repeat it all, I have no problem with whatever combination of suspension and or banning is decided upon.

[Res Ipsa]

Dear Dr Shades,

I appreciate that this was a very difficult decision for you to take. The fact that you have taken it speaks well of your capacity to listen to others, even if what they are saying runs contrary to your own deep-seated inclinations.

I trust the moderating team, and I am sure they will be able to agree amongst themselves about what policy decisions they need to take. As an ordinary poster, I would appreciate it if they share those decisions with us, so we know what the guidelines are that will be enforced from now on, in particular in relation to the problem posed by persistent trolling intended to disrupt the board.

Thanks again for all you have done to create this board and keep it alive!

Chap

It would be great to hear from the moderators, I agree. And I add my thanks too for all Shades has done. Hopefully our board can return to a place to communicate without the disruptions of trolls so our community can continue.

I learned of this when I logged in just now. It’s both unexpected and disheartening. I’m sure you’ll be hearing from us after we’ve huddled and agreed upon any changes we make regarding the rules or how they are enforced.

[Marcus]

It would be great to hear from the moderators, I agree. And I add my thanks too for all Shades has done. Hopefully our board can return to a place to communicate without the disruptions of trolls so our community can continue.

I learned of this when I logged in just now. It’s both unexpected and disheartening. I’m sure you’ll be hearing from us after we’ve huddled and agreed upon any changes we make regarding the rules or how they are enforced.

Glad to hear from you. Best wishes with that!