why we love babble

Source please.

What is your source for this information, NDPP?

Thanks. Just found it and was coming back to ask NDPP if "You're not the boss of me" is really the cause he wants to go to bat for.

And not a word? I'd say there's been perennial yapping and hand-wringing over this one. It was frankly a relief when four of them decided to go in one day, and if SJ decided this was the hill he wanted to go on then I don't see any difference. He's a big boy.

There was a lightning round of suspensions not too long ago.

The yapping and hand-wringing I am refering to...  the perennial allegations of heavy-handedness of the moderators in suspending or banning people after they have been warned about behaviour, and the whole myth (see above) that it is some force of oppression that we should be going to the barricades over.

Do I think it is a shame that posters get banned? Sure, but not enough to agree to be held hostage to their grandstanding. In this case there was a direct request to get banned. Someone wants to be a martyr? Fine.

6079_Smith_W wrote:

Do I think it is a shame that posters get banned? Sure, but not enough to agree to be held hostage to their grandstanding. In this case there was a direct request to get banned. Someone wants to be a martyr? Fine.

I felt the same way about TT. Careful what you ask for you just might get it. I have reconciled myself to the fact that the moderators are always right when they speak as moderators. That is the nature of their role on this site.

Sorry I was comparing his leaving to the person banned for asking for it. TT asked people he had insulted and goaded whether he should stay or go. Like Slumberjack he asked for his fate to be determined by someone else. Of course unlike Slumberjack he is free to come back anytime he chooses. It is his prerogative.

Sure, their word is the last when it comes right down to it. I have had disagreements with them too, but when you conside te degree to which some abuse the work they do, and this place, I can see why that is unfortunately a hard rule. Who is it that pushes the point?

Misogyny, like racism, is not kosher on this board. I didn't want SJ banned either, but he was saying more and more hateful antifeminist stuff. He has interesting things to say, and I'm sure he can return if he agrees to refrain from the macho laddish outbursts.

True, and it is important to say so. But it isn't just about one forum, one issue, nor even one poster. We have been down this road a tiring number of times, and it is a drag that so much of the blame gets tossed at the mods for things that, when we actually look at it, are the right choice. 

(Oookay, I think you actually aren't using the sarcarm font there).

Of course, no one here has ever accused the mods of being out to get them or playing favourites. No one has ever made a personal attack against them or accused them of being autocratic, and no one has ever second guessed their judgment over a difficult call. No one else has dared the mods to ban them. And no one has ever described this place as an autocracy that is quashing our free expression and needs to be resisted. 

I'm sure our good friend's cry of solidarity was really just an honest kumbaya. And you know, if I am mistaken and the general consensus is that this was a difficult but necessary act and we do move on, then no one will be happier than me. I'll be surprised too, because I have seen it go the other way far too many times. 

I hate like hell banning people. It feels really bad, regadless of how egregious and ongoing the so-called policy violations are. I like to extend second and third chances becuse so often they are deserved. Trolls, real trolls, don't get a lot of rope but regular babblers are allowed fairly wide leeway.

That said, Slumberjack basically asked for it. He can agree to stay out of the feminist forum any time and be welcomed back, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Terrytowel was totally different. Even though it was his choice to leave he was bullied off the board. For the record, I asked him to stay.

Anyway, one of the reasons I love babble is that it's fun developing new metrics to measure/quantify where threads are at when they start in comparison to where they are as they approach their demise.  

MegB wrote:

I hate like hell banning people. It feels really bad, regadless of how egregious and ongoing the so-called policy violations are. I like to extend second and third chances becuse so often they are deserved. Trolls, real trolls, don't get a lot of rope but regular babblers are allowed fairly wide leeway.

That said, Slumberjack basically asked for it. He can agree to stay out of the feminist forum any time and be welcomed back, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Terrytowel was totally different. Even though it was his choice to leave he was bullied off the board. For the record, I asked him to stay.

Thanks for sharing that Meg. Always interesting to know what happens behind the curtains! Would not wish your job on anyone. 

I remember babbles very first banning.  Different sort of community then, really a close family.  There was a huge amount of angst and hand wringing about it.  I also remember the first flounce.  My God what a classic.  He set the gold standard for flounces pretty much forever.

Of course I also remember when the House of Plantagenet was a bit of a big deal.

I'm not sure that image is particularly uplifting...

Pondering, up here there is a community group called "La Maison des Grands-Parents" that does that kind of work. La Maisonnette des Parents also helps families with problems, in a somewhat different ways.

While I fully understand the need to ensure that babies have a good start in life and that parents who are stymied need support, I'm afraid I'd rather foster kittens than the human kind of baby...

Me too

When there was a larger babble community discussions seemed to me to be much more self-moderated. If you didn't have anything constructive to say, then you got a digital slap upside the head. The number of intelligent lurkers was astonishing. At least that's the way it seemed to me. It reminded me a little of attending a political meeting for the first time - back in the antediluvian past for me now - where if you were paying attention then you were careful to just say your piece and mostly listen. I must confess that I learned a lot.

The other thing of note from those days was that we had visitors who, very obviously, viewed babble banning as a badge of honour. They were nauseously predictable and plentiful as weeds.

A smaller community just doesn't have that critical mass. We should, therefore, all be a little nicer to each other. So the mod arguments seem well thought out to me. Last resort and all that.

Besides, being such a polemical jerk, I can get away with murder. Bwa ha ha ha. Just kidding. A little. I suppose I could ...

quizzical wrote:

i now love babble because it gave me the opportunity to meet a former long time babbler and family in person this weekend, all the way from TO.

dinner was like the best dinner ever.

conversation was like slow rain in the desert turning it lush and setting was in the heart of the Rockies on the side of the Fraser River. literally flowing 15ft away.

stellar views, great food and even better companionship.