The Glade 4.0

Hellfire has been a shithole for quite some time. This came about for two reasons, both of which have been referenced elsewhere. First is the decision to separate Hellfire from the rest of the "real life" conversation, which allowed everyone to bail, leaving only the most stubborn and obnoxious jackasses left in this section. Second is the lack of moderation for two or more years.

There is a reason why we had little to no moderation, and it isn't because everyone was too lazy to do it. That might be part of it, but the big reason is that we don't really want moderators. Even now, when we say we want moderation, we really don't. You see, most problems can be solved by sufficient emotional armor. Unfortunately, mods don't go for, "Grow a pair of balls, you whiny *****." Moderators like rules because they provide some amount of security and protection from people who ***** about mod action. Posters think they like rules because rules let them know what to expect as far as acceptable behavior. Once they have rules in place, they will throw out warnings and suspensions for things that, quite frankly, are bullshit. This is because rules suck. When rules are being made, everybody sees it as a chance to ban everything they don't like. You end up with a cure that's as bad as the disease.

The alternative is for the community to moderate itself. Let's be realistic, that wasn't happening. We had one poster habitually pissing all over every thread, and everyone responded by flagrantly hating on him. Did he get the message? Maybe he did, but if so, his reaction was to start tanking up on booze so that in addition to pissing all over the place, he also had hangover shits to drop in a random thread.

Let's not pretend this is something other than what it is. Monty is treating the implementation of moderators as if it was a Glade conspiracy against him, and let's be honest - that's certainly one of the goals. It's one of the great ironies of human nature that rather than examine why an entire community would be against him to that extent, and possibly fix the problem, he is attempting to lobby for a recourse by which he can protest a suspension or ban.

Frankly, there's a part of me that wonders if this wasn't the plan all along: Getting back at the evil conservatives by causing excessive rules and moderation to be put in place so that the board would suck for everyone. If Monty can't enjoy it, nobody can. Let's review how everything played out. He's banned from Glade 2.0 and allowed back in 3.0, then he switches from ***** and complaining about Nitefox to shitting all over every single goddamn Hellfire thread. He finally decided to take his ball and go home days before Glade 3.0 crashed, and yet he came back. It's as if there's been a vendetta against the entire board since his ban.

There was a time when I liked Monty. He's perfectly fine outside Hellfire. Early in Glade 3.0's lifespan, I tried to look out for him since it appeared he was on thin ice. Over the past few months, he's made me regret that.

But let's not make it just about Monty. Let's look at the rest of us. Monty has at least a year whereby he pretty much pissed everyone off, plus excess baggage leftover from the first two incarnations of the Glade. Yet instead of coming together and deciding that we'd finally had enough, we're trying to pretend like we're doing this for the betterment of the debate and conversation in Hellfire. That would make us all duplicitous **** snakes, except that we're also laboring under the delusion that Hellfire actually will get better once we have mods. Well, let me lay it out for you.

This whole dog and pony show of board moderation is not going to fix Hellfire.

Read that last sentence again until it sinks in. I want everyone to know that moderation won't fix ****. What will happen is that once rules are in place, Monty will begin to skirt them, just like he did back in the old days when we actually had moderators (lazy, ineffective moderators, but moderators nonetheless). He'll continue to go just up to the line and then stop so that he never quite gets hit with the ban stick. Meanwhile, we all have to deal with whatever rules we put in place to make him behave himself. The people who got fed up with Hellfire aren't going to suddenly come back and give their opinions because it's become a nicer place. It won't turn into a nicer place. The fact of the matter is the difference between Monty and everyone else is a matter of scale. He doesn't do anything that the rest of us aren't doing ourselves, rather he's simply a magnification of all of our flaws. In the end, we are still left with pinko Commie liberals fighting and bickering with fascist authoritarian dickwads.

Maybe its just because I'm pregnant, or maybe I haven't been here long enough to see it?

I know what you mean LK. I have been around a long time but I dont read all the threads so I suppose I miss the day to day stuff. Even if there are people who crap in every thread, it's up to people to get a thick skin and either take it with a grain of salt or ignore the person completely.

On the other board I moderate, my point of view is the minority. In fact I'm a minority of one All the others are anywhere from liberal to REALLY liberal. I argue there all the time but it's (mostly) civilized. No reason it cant be here.

Apparently the only **** that stinks on the board is the **** produced by me. Everyone else seems to have magical spray can of Fabreeze that neatly white washes all of their particular outbursts, personal attacks, unprovoked vitriol, and trollish, flame baiting posting habits.

Whatevs.

Way to play the victim card.

Its can't possibly be you, it *must* be us.

A wise man once said, "The only constant in all your failed relationships, is you."