Totally agree. But if it does happen, the moderator needs to put down the ban hammer and call in another mod.
I wonder if Antinous will continue to engage with the community under another nameā¦ we may never know.
Although if I lure him into an argument I think that Iād spot him from a mile off. Havenāt noticed his presence yet though.
My guess is that his leaving was to do with his ābeing ashamed of BBā when that comic was posted, that one from the series that no one here seems to like, yet BB keep posting.
Rob pointed out that they are more of a parody than a serious attempt at a philosophy. I think it would be terribly embarrassing to take satire at face value; so tend to reserve judgement on these kinds of things. Kind of a cop out, I know.
But I think it was The Enders Game thing that done it. Iāve never heard such a partisan view expressed by Antinous. Really the logic of his statement can be applied to the way groups handle individuals too; as well as the fact that you can have a fair bleed over of subjects from group to group in the partisan-by-necessity examples he mentions. Seems to be a finalistic stance from someone Iād never seen give up before.
1 Like
Link? I think I missed something hereā¦
Iām inclined to agree with @miasm though.
Edit: never mind, found it. Iāve not been reading those posts, seems like they got even worse after I stopped.
I was wondering what was so shameful about Tom the Dancing Bug!
1 Like
Lol!
For any future folk w/ similar confusion:
Ditto. Iāve actually always wondered what he wouldāve been posting about or musing on if heād ever been given some of the editorial reins.
Seriously! I was like, āWait, what did Louis do nowā¦?ā
Yeah, wow.
Bit OTT thereā¦
Oh, I have. Itās kind of what I was referencing earlier - one of the things I liked about his moderation was that he didnāt use it as a weapon to enforce his own personal views, but instead to do the job that the Boingers gave him (which could be described as enforcing their views, but only if youāre even more cynical than me). Instead, he replied to the stuff that bugged him. (In this case, I totally agreed with his point, but it wasnāt as much fun when I myself was in the crosshairs.)
Iām pretty much in agreement with you on all of this. He might not have been the worst mod in the world, but compared to some of the senior mods at MetaFilter, such as jessamyn and cortex, heās not that good. He also would yell at me because of broken links in replies that I made that were some artifact of the commenting system that BB used at the time. No big loss, IMO.
āSoā, weāve collected a fair spectrum of views here, there was a Princess Bride reference-flame and everything but as with so many things, answers only beget more questions.
Was Antinous some kind of unbalancing force for creative chaos, provoking discussion as much as he applied subtractive influence on the debate?
Some people certainly seem to have feltā¦ āshapedā by his moderation, in a fashion they found, again seemingly, persistently unpleasant.
I have no interest in ever being a mod but have to admit, the idea of finding inroads into shaping discussion in a way that is perceived to feel inclusive for everybody (who can keep their temper), intrigues me.
Apart from the fact that I sorta do suspect that with his departure, as with most things, there was an element of showmanship being wrought, I would like to hear back from the others whoāve felt unduly moderated by him. Especially the previously commented moderators or ex-moderators who feel his flair for unfairly stream-lined conversation/debate was impractically applied to them.
I would imagine you have some interesting observations from within the fold.
Bah. He reined me in when I was out of hand. And from what I saw of his behavior towards others, that was generally what was happening, but some of the people being sanctioned had egos too inflated for them to admit that they might have needed to be muzzled.
Think on this: if every time somebody quashes your self-expression, you feel totally wronged, then you yourself are probably the source of the problems. Because every human being occasionally gets out of hand - and if you canāt admit that, you are most probably an egotistical dick who really needs to be reined in.
Not aiming this at you, @miasm, despite the rhetorical āyouā in the paragraph above. As far as I know you are not an egotistical dick.
The only problem I saw was the usual āQuis custodiet ipsos custodes?ā that applies to all moderator roles. Aunty Noose wasnāt perfect, either.
4 Likes
I assiduously fill my egotistical dick quota and redeem the coupons for snark-miles.
1 Like
I assume your airline of choice is Jet F-You?
Untied (sic)
1 Like
Mm yes I also agree. Iāve been head mod for some large forums in the past and know the pain of being a mod. Itās both a fantastic job and a challenging one at the same time.
As a mod, one has to be very clear whether they are participating in a thread as a member of the community or as a moderator, and never ever shift from the former to the latter just because you donāt like something someone said.
Sometimes you have to be willing to just not get involved in some conversations that you have personal opinions on. And there are times when frankly youāre not welcome in a thread by the community as a moderator, but you are welcome as a community member.
1 Like
Although the content of that post was not pleasurable to read, it was certainly refreshing to read a normal linear conversation. Sigh. A double loss.
1 Like
Moderation with empathy built this city
2 Likes
Sounds like it is time for everybody to grab their yoga mats and road trip to Palm Springsā¦
4 Likes
