PEW's Status

[ScottsyII]

I've never come across him / her so I can't really say much - but if this particular poster is being a pain in the butt, I say jettison his her username to the foul winds of internet banned - ness

[Paul]

So uh, is he banned or what?

[Adam]

wayved said:

Adam--did you just post what I thought you posted? Yes you did!

DO people not like him cos hes a troll, because he said we were uptight, or just because he feels hes superior and is condescending?

PEW is the most popular person here. He certainly gets the most attention. Thats just the way I see it.

I don't like him for all of those reasons.
If you want him to stay or can ignore him, that's okay with me.

And no offence, but I don't give a damn about all the attention he's received. It's not attention laced with respect, which is probably what he wants. Unless he's fucking with us every step of the way. Which makes me despise him even more.

On the infamous James Brown-white man's guilt entry of his (and that's all he's got - infamy), what is hilarious is not so much his post but the comments section and one person who responded nailed down PEW's problem like this: he is passing himself off as provocative to draw attention to himself, even if it's negative.

Admire that? Even in the slightest? Never.

[Thorngrub]

All I'm gunna say is I miss back in the day at rollingstone.com when the whole world was at our fingertips and every manner of spammer and bomber and troll would roll on by for us to try and ridicule it was cool and so much fun those days are done now its too safe and so PC and if it were really up to me I'd let all manner of riffraff in because without them our skin grows thin and next thing you know our will grows weak I like different points of view in fact its what keeps me coming back to a place where every other face spits in yours in sick disgrace its what makes a melting pot save face variety and a wild place to stake your claim and build up friends without diversity life comes to an end so all I'm saying is if you don't like someone leave them be isn't that what you expect from them so practice what you preach and put them on ignore if you can't do that then maybe you're the one who needs to be banished more stand up for yourself and look your enemies in the eye and set an example unflinchingly try it and maybe you'll see how to strengthen your own character while at the same time providing the grounds to make friends out of an enemy but who gives a fuck right don't listen to me what do I know about solidarity I'm just a freak a creep a contradiction someone who finds more truth in fiction just a living paradox trying to keep my nose above the surface oh and one more thing just remember when you destroy what you don't understand then how will you ever learn to expand your mind and see the world from another's viewpoint my advice is to put down your ego and get a grip what the fuck who runs this ship anyway I've seen some good people get banned here for the stupidest reasons maybe a reverse policy should be put into effect post haste otherwise a golden opportunity may go to waste so now I've said my lonely piece if you've read this far you care at least and just remember what country we're in its the land of the free and the brave and the way that I see this whole situation is that its neither freedom nor courage to exile one slave yes we're all slaves to the rhythms of this community wear your true face and your heart on your sleeve and don't worry about others whose opinions don't jive with your own make the best of it while you're alive because in the end we'll all be alone.

[shin]

hey how come tracy never got her own status thread

[Galactus]

I like punctuation.

[Thorngrub]

So strat-0, here's how I feel.


If PEW has been banned, its the last straw for me. First Knight is banned. Then Pissin. Then someone (trace). Now PEW. It's fucking bullshit. I don't discriminate.

Phil doesn't even post here anymore. Neither does the Queen of Postcounts, Chrisfan. And Layla took off, for whatever reason. This lil ship may not be sinking, per se, but a hell of a lot of cool people that used to be regulars are gone for one reason or another, if they weren't outright banished.

HOmey here don't play that; Fuck all that bullshit.

So here's my Proposition to you, strat-0:

I will not delete my account, because I have just as much a problem with that as this elitist mentality of fake ass "fraternity".

So here's what I'm going to do. If PEW has been banished, I'm outta here for a spell.

But since I'm leaving my account up, please email me if and when you grow the balls to invite back every single last person you banished, including PEW. I understand they may not *accept* your invite; that doesn't matter. I just want to know that you've at least made the effort. It's called being the better person. It's called doing the right thing.

It pains me to have to leave, but its the only way I can send a message. I will not participate in apartheid.

P.S.

Please understand I want to come back; only, I want to come back when there is more diversity. The only way to do that is to write up a very thoughtful, carefully worded apology or explanation as to how things went wrong, and invite Phil, Chrisfan, Layla, Knight, Someone, Pissin, and PEW back.


I will be checking my email every day to see what CASTAWAYS's status is.

Don't take this personally, strat-0. I still respect you as a person, your own individuality, and I don't hold this situation against you at all. That's the main reason I won't delete my account; there are too many posters still onboard here that I look forward to interfacing with again in the future.

Therefore, thoRny is simply on a temporary hiatus.

Good luck to you all.

peace out |

[Kensterberg]

Hang on here, ThoRn. I remember the whole affair with Knight (engaging in what sure as hell looked like trolling almost as soon as this board opened), Pissin (who can come back any time he wants, he just has to email Strat like anyone else looking to open an account here would do: but who wants Strat to formally invite him back before he'd come back here, which is all a bunch of posturing), and I've got no idea why Tracy/someone was banned. However, I know that Phil left b/c he got sick of the overly confrontational tone of some posters here, which certainly won't be helped by having PEW around. Due to the circumstances they left under, I think that both Layla (who is much missed) and Chrisfan (who I would certainly welcome back here, but who was effectively driven away by coordinated attacks from a few folks) would say that PEW adds absolutely nothing to this community, while driving down the level of conversation.

I understand that there are people you'd like to see back here -- I'd like to see them back too. But keeping PEW as some sort of "yardstick" to measure the openness of this board to dissent in the form of a total nutjob, well, that's going too far.

Frankly, I think that the biggest thing wrong here right now is the attitude that there is something seriously wrong here. I love this place, and pretty much everyone who comes here. That's the biggest reason why I'm still around. At a very low point in my life, I stumbled on a music message board where I felt like I belonged, with a bunch of people who shared the biggest passion I have: music. And frankly, that's why I still post here instead of moving on to any number of other music-themed boards: I still feel like I belong here. But I'm here primarily to talk about music, and secondarily to discuss personal lives, politics, movies and TV, dogs, cooking and whatever the hell else comes up. Someone like PEW (and let's be frank, the shit that Knight was pulling, too) does absolutely nothing to make this a place to discuss anything.

I really do have mixed opinions about banning anyone, even PEW. But the guy has shown beyond any reasonable doubt that he has absolutely zero to contribute here, and zero interest in any sort of sincere discussion with anyone on anything. He's a troll. Period. He's pretty much been thrown off every message board he's ever posted on, and I don't think that needs to change here. He's an ass, an idiot, in short, he's a fucking troll, of a markedly different quantum than anyone else who has ever found their way here. Even if I disagreed with every other ban that Strat has ever implemented, I'd still say that PEW must go.

No offense is meant to you by any of this, ThoRn. You know I love ya, even though we're always on different sides of questions and tastes. If I'm ever in Salt Lake, you can bet I'm gonna find you and go have a drink or three. I don't want you to leave here either. And I hope I've given you some sort of reason to stay.

[Thorngrub]

I hear ya, Holzman.

I'm just processing it all right now.

[strat-0]

Some good thoughts especially from Thorn and Ken. Might be some benefit from all this. I'll be in later to try and distill some of my two cents.

[JACkory]

I understand, thorn, that you are angry because some of your friends got banned. Trust me, PEW is not your friend. He's noone's friend around here. He doesn't want to be anyone's friend, he just wants to see people get pissed off while he no doubt has a nice belly laugh about it. I tried to engage him is serious music discussion...all he wound up doing was implicating that I was a homosexual who needed therapy. I called him out for it and all he could say was "I only want to talk about the music. If you want to talk about that, do it on the other board", as if his insult to me had anything to do with music.
That alone made me see the light, made me understand exactly what his purpose was here.
This is a friendly community. It's NOT like the old rollingstone.com. THANK GOD FOR THAT. Don't you remember how shitty it was not having proper moderation? Your stream-of-consciousness rant may have pined for the old days when trolls were free to roam at RS.com...I guess you've forgotten what a major pain in the ass they were. Perhaps you've been spoiled by the civility here that is enabled by a strong hand of moderation.
Back in the days of the old west when a troublemaker came into town the sheriff would get together a posse and run him out. Troublemakers have nothing to offer the community and eventually break it down. PEW is a troublemaker, pure and simple. If the poll results are any indication it's obvious that most people don't want him here.
So you're gonna throw out this "He stays or I leave" proposition? What's he ever done for you? Yeah, he's a dissenting voice and I know how much you appreciate that, but you've got to see that his dissension is nothing more than a tool he uses to piss people off. There's nothing genuine about it, nothing sincere. He's being contrary for the sake of being contrary. How can you get behind that?

[samplestiltskin]

I don't remember ever feeling the old RS.com was shitty because of trolls. If you don't have the intelligence and self-control to ignore them, then it's your fault you get upset. They were fun to fuck with and easy to ignore. I think it would be very silly to just ban everyone who screams for attention with stupid posts. A sterile environment makes for a pretty stagnant one.

[Galactus]

That was nne thing I really liked about RS.com, the number of people that came and went. You had the regulars and the guys who'd drop in once a month or so and then people who only posted one or twice and never again. Most people gave as good as they got. The sheer size of that place made that possible, this isn't that size and can't support that style of community. Its like going from an apartment building to some condos. There's pros and cons to both but they're not the same and they can't be.

This board is clearly at a low point, I don't blame it all on pew but I do know that he isn't part of the solution.

[rockysigman]

This is dumb. PEW already got banned, and yet because he got a new IP, here he is again. What is different this time than the last time he was banned? Anything?

And I'm with shin on tracy's thread. Did I miss the vote on her?

Anyway, yes, I think PEW is a big part of why this board has been so dead lately. Certainly not the only reason (or even the biggest), but a significant one.

[strat-0]

I'd like to respond to a few of the posts made today. It's probably pointless, since we've been over a lot of this several times and yet I keep hearing some the same arguments from a few, but hope springs eternal.

Thorn, I appreciate your feelings, but I'd like to clarify a couple of things. First of all, for about the 27 millionth time, the ban on Knight was lifted shortly after it was imposed, and he did return for a while. It's my understanding that he doesn't post anywhere that we know of now and hasn't for some time. Second, "someone" has not been banned, but there is a very good case for it, since she is a proven destructive and malicious person at this website. Yes, Pissin was banned. PEW is in limbo at this point. Phil, Chrisfan, and Layla have taken their leave for their own quite different reasons. I wish they'd come back. That will happen from time to time, I guess.

I think in your reference to "elitist mentality of fake ass 'fraternity'," you mistake my meaning of the word. It's not intended as some kind of exclusive group, like a Greek fraternity, but in the true sense of the word: friendship and brotherhood. I should have chosen one of those words, I guess. Because that is one of the most important aspects of the thing to me personally.

"The only way to do that is to write up a very thoughtful, carefully worded apology or explanation as to how things went wrong, and invite Phil, Chrisfan, Layla, Knight, Someone, Pissin, and PEW back."

You want me to "apologize and explain what went wrong" to those people, Thorn? Almost all of what goes on here is way beyond my control. I just try to put out the fires when they get out of control, and make the most people the most happy. That's all. I wish those valued members would return, and have asked some of them to repeatedly.

Shin and Rocky: As I said above, Tracy has not been banned. I never started any of these poll threads about voting to ban anyone. I have a real problem with banning people by plebiscite or referendum. There is just something wrong about it. I did start a thread about the handling of trolls in general.

Ken pretty well hit the nail squarely on the head. (Pissin is waiting for a formal invitation? He's welcome to return... but if he breaks the rules, he will be banned again.) These two paragraphs bear repeating:

"I understand that there are people you'd like to see back here -- I'd like to see them back too. But keeping PEW as some sort of "yardstick" to measure the openness of this board to dissent in the form of a total nutjob, well, that's going too far.

Frankly, I think that the biggest thing wrong here right now is the attitude that there is something seriously wrong here. I love this place, and pretty much everyone who comes here. That's the biggest reason why I'm still around. At a very low point in my life, I stumbled on a music message board where I felt like I belonged, with a bunch of people who shared the biggest passion I have: music. And frankly, that's why I still post here instead of moving on to any number of other music-themed boards: I still feel like I belong here. But I'm here primarily to talk about music, and secondarily to discuss personal lives, politics, movies and TV, dogs, cooking and whatever the hell else comes up. Someone like PEW (and let's be frank, the shit that Knight was pulling, too) does absolutely nothing to make this a place to discuss anything."

I feel the same way. That's what I mean about "fraternity," even though everybody doesn't have to necessarily agree with or even like everyone else. There is something intangible yet special about this group.

Jac (and Ken) have PEW's number down pat. And it's possible that nostalgia may have glossed over Thorn's and sample's memories of how things were at the old RS boards. They seem to have forgotten that after Bob Ferdman left his job, many boards were simply rendered useless by trolls. Not just html bombs, but general mischief and sabotage. Not to mention the vileness. We know what happened to those boards... But like Ded, I wish we had the larger gene pool of those boards.

And Rocky (and shin): if you hadn't cracked me up so much with your response when Bozo snuck back in, he'd already have been gone! ;-)

Moving on, here are a few abstract observations. Let's get into the Way Back machine for a moment. Anybody remember when FreeToys was putting up the Flash animations at RS? After a while, they had to stop allowing them to be posted - bandwidth considerations, etc, I guess. That started this big protest movement against Ferdman (though he might not have even been the one to make the call and was just doing his job). Oh, yeah, the dissent was vocal and vociferous. There was even a splinter group that went off to form another message board at Webb (that host is now long defunct). Yeah, I went there too, though I didn't go in for the Bob bashing. I think that was the first spin-off from the RS boards. There is nothing new under the sun.

Not long after that, Ferdman went elsewhere, and we know what eventually happened to the RS boards (gone once again now).

Here is another thing. We have few rules here. They were developed from some tried and true rules from other message boards, and customized to suit our own needs, with much thought. They are among the most open, liberal, and lenient rules I've ever seen for a message board, yet some people will complain whenever any rule is imposed. That's human nature, I suppose. It would behoove a few folks to review them. If you violate them, you might be subject to actions. They are in the Welcome board.

I do not doubt the potential and vitality of these boards. There are ups and downs, of course. I do begin to tire of the thankless duty of trying to keep them from self destructing. If anyone is interested in taking up the administrator's position, please submit your name and state your willingness to take the job and perhaps we can put it to an open vote. I can't please everyone - maybe someone else would have better luck. Please keep in mind that once the keys are turned over to someone else, if the thing explodes, there's nothing I or anyone else can do about it.

And for some of the short attention span people, please try to read this post carefully before you respond.
With great affection, thank you. strat