babble is rabble.ca's discussion board but it's much more than that: it's an online community for folks who just won't shut up. It's a place to tell each other — and the world — what's up with our work and campaigns.
Missing Babblers - Part IV
June 15, 2011 - 4:08am
I once was lost but now am found ..
Eye sight restored as well?
This thread should fill up fast given recent events.
Just read the 'Crackdown' finale. This is bullshit. Truly progressive people do NOT allow their free and open discussions to be subjugated in such a manner. I fear Fidelio was right about the 'poisoned well' here. Advise me if/when Babble's chilly climate reign of the Crackdowners ends or is overthrown. Until then ndpp is 'on vacation'.
It's always been kinda difficult to nail down progressiveness to anyone's complete satisifaction without running the risk of getting bogged down by the exhausting ordeal of hammering away at everyone's real or imagined shortcomings. I need an extended vacation as well because I'm tired of it. It should actually even things out somewhat.....the absence of two NDP critics on downtime as offsets for Fidel's work ethic in unpaid political ads.
Snert should be reinstated.
I've decided to retire this account.
N.Beltov, after over 8 years of posting on babble, having never been suspended, much less banned, (but warned plenty of times) will come no more to play along the cherry lane known as babble.
However, I have bad news for those who would like to see the end of me. I've recently re-activated another account, thanks to a babble moderator, so I will be posting the same tiresome Marxist dogma (lol) as always under a different pseudonym.
Bye! Be seeing you!
Nnnnnooooo! You contain multitudes, Beltov.
The Brig Mercury Returns to the Russian Squadron after Defeating Two Turkish Battleships, 1848
I guess Al-Qa'bong is gone. I wonder who is next.
It's summertime. Lots of babblers take a break. You've been here long enough to know that.
Feel free to ignore the evidence of the last fortnight.
What "evidence" on Al-Q do you have? Maybe he's gone to the bathroom and is watching replays of old CFL games.
He isn't in the bathroom or watching CFL re-runs. He seems to be posted at En Masse and I sincerely doubt he will be posting here any time in the near future.
So this "evidence" isn't on babble at all? What are you playing at?
I'm not playing any games at all. You have a PM.
As to evidence, feel free to count the number of people who were banned, suspended or said they were leaving in the last two weeks.
My point is only that there was no evidence that I could find here to confirm what you were saying about Al-Q. I got your PM.
Sorry if you felt I was misleading you ikosmos, that was not my intent.
I'll do it for you, Caissa. By my count, three babblers left (one or two non-babblers dropped in only to register their disappointment, of course) over the decision to stop discussions with credited the CIA, incredibly and without evidence, for orchestrating the Arab Spring. Perhaps you think babble should be a haven for such offensive conspiracy theories. One person was banned for repeated flouting of babble policy. You seem to think that because of the "droves" you perceive to be leaving babble, we should coddle such offensive posters (posters who have already been banned under previous auspices), clinging to the scraps we still cravenly possess. Al-Q appears to have flounced because his feelings were hurt by a moderator. I like al-Q, but he has never been good at considering how mods have interpreted babble policy when it comes to race and gender, and rather than reconsider his remarks, he left. Pity. I hope he returns.
I wonder why a babble dedicated to sarcastic contempt for leftist politics and white supremacist conspiracy theories should be saved at all, let alone what you think we (because I presume, based on your incessant niggling, pestering and hectoring, that this is somehow the mods' fault) could do to save it. Sometimes I wonder, with your constant backhanded pestering, why you don't just open your own progressive message board and you can set the rules and culture as you see fit. Then I realize that doing so would deprive you of the only act of pleasure babble affords you.
Your third and fifth sentences are complete misrepresented extrapolations of my arguments.
Do you want to tell the whole Al-Q story as you know it?
Your second paragraph is completely gratuitous, especially your last sentence.
Re-read your post Catchfire with especial attention to the parts I pointed out and ask yourself if this would be considered a personal attack if written by somebody else?
Then tell me honestly that isn't a problem.
Yes, well forgive me if I don't take your accusations of gratuitousness seriously, Caissa. You've been needling the mods for at least a week (just this latest dose of your usual vintage).
Very good job of ignoring the issue. I don't remember mentioning you once in this thread and then you write post #21 and ignore my quite prescient critique in number 22. Re-read #21 objectively, in a dispassionate academic manner. If you have problems with some of my specific posts I am more than happy to discuss them.
Caissa, someties life's outcomes are not as we wish, and we have to accept that we are not seeing the world through the same lens as others. At such times there is nought left to do but mumble to ourselves briefly about the folly of the world, let it go, forget about it and move on.
This is one such time.
You see, there is something good about becoming "old," oldgoat. A person may not be any smarter but, hopefully, they will be a bit wiser.
Good advice.
Also, these recently departed (and alleged departed) aren't all gone for the same reason. Quite the opposite, actually.
Some of those who seem to think there is a problem are pointing in the direction of the mods, but frankly I don't see any one cause coming from any one direction, nor any one solution that would be sustainable and satisfy everyone.
Near as I can tell, changing things to create the perfect board for one would just cause even more grief for others, (or possibly even Catchfire's nightmare scenario of a place with no one to blame and nothing to complain about).
I am a strong believer in free speech and that the best response to 'wrong' speech is not to attempt at limiting the speech but to drown it with 'right' speech. Often I cringe when the moderators cut off discussion, especially when they call stuff I think is 'right' speech to be 'wrong' speech and tell people to stop.
On the other hand we must admit that Babble is top heavy in white guys. If we are going to drown 'wrong' speech with 'right' speech we need to ensure that we have a well represented forum and sometimes we need to take steps to ensure that there are not barriers to entry. It is not so much limiting speech as encouraging diversity of speech.
With the CIA posts. I saw it as sloppy writing. I don't believe that any of the posters meant to say that only white people are able to organize a revolution and that if there is a revolution elsewhere the first place we need to look is for the white people behind it. I think that the people who read it this way are going out of their way to find something to be mad about. But then I take a second step and say if this is so important to a group of babblers who are under represented (and therefore under-heard), then that is all that matters.
I just started a new thread, Facebook-style "Like this" button on babble comments. I was about to add it as a comment here but felt it deserved its own thread.