The Benign Dictator II

[Lianachan]

This post and the next three posts have been removed from the Cat Flap thread, to this BAUT feedback forum.

I got my wrist slapped for off-topic posts in this thread....... so can anybody convincingly explain why all these other recent posts are perfectly acceptable?

[PetersCreek]

In Off-Topic Babbling, especially if the OP has been talked out, it's not unusal for a little topic drift or banter to occur. We don't normally slap wrists in OTB unless posts distract from an ongoing discussion of the OP.

If our latest posts have distracted from an ongoing discussion of the OP, I'll readily apologize for my contribution to it.

[hhEb09'1]

I got my wrist slapped for off-topic posts in this thread....... so can anybody convincingly explain why all these other recent posts are perfectly acceptable?

Sure. Here's your first sentence about the topic that you tried to introduce:

The problem with ****** is that it's for idiots, and by idiots.

It wasn't that it was off-topic, but it was the heat you brought with it. That sentence alone could have earned you an infraction from some of the other moderators, I avoided slapping your wrists. I even suggested you take up the subject in another thread, if you wanted.

If you want to dispute the details presented in a link, dispute the details, don't just disparage the website.

[Lianachan]

Sure. Here's your first sentence about the topic that you tried to introduce:It wasn't that it was off-topic, but it was the heat you brought with it. That sentence alone could have earned you an infraction from some of the other moderators, I avoided slapping your wrists. I even suggested you take up the subject in another thread, if you wanted.

If you want to dispute the details presented in a link, dispute the details, don't just disparage the website.

Why did you obfuscate the word "Wikipedia" when quoting me? Is that really the problem? In my humble, apparently worthless opinion, that is extremely poor form.

Edited afterthough - Oh yes, and I was actually prevented from going into detail in this thread. Having, of course, heard The Last Word from a mod (yourself, as it happens). Seems like inconsistent moderation, and hypocrisy to me.

[hhEb09'1]

The above four posts have been removed from the Cat Flap thread.

[SeanF]

Why did you obfuscate the word "Wikipedia" when quoting me? Is that really the problem?

Just the opposite, I suspect.

I almost responded to your question about why the difference in treatment of your posts to the others but - ironically - I was afraid it was off-topic.

As a serious answer, your posts were actually about something, whereas the others you referred to were meaningless puns. Your posts were, IMHO, much more likely to move the thread onto different subjects than the others were - and, in fact, were already in the process of doing so before the moderator(s) stepped in.

Edited afterthough - Oh yes, and I was actually prevented from going into detail in this thread. Having, of course, heard The Last Word from a mod (yourself, as it happens). Seems like inconsistent moderation, and hypocrisy to me.

You made several posts disparaging Wikipedia in general without going into details about the thread subject before any moderators posted anything. I don't think it's fair to blame them for your failure to do so.

EDIT: Interesting. I started typing this post before the thread was split, but finished and submitted it after. Kind of surprising that the system put it here instead of on the original thread...

[Lianachan]

You made several posts disparaging Wikipedia in general without going into details about the thread subject before any moderators posted anything. I don't think it's fair to blame them for your failure to do so.

I had started responding to individuals, individually, before any mods decided to weigh in. I didn't, in that context, see the point in going into precise details at that stage - not least for the reasons I mentioned in the thread - and was then given The Final Word and told to shut up. Unsurprisingly, that discouraged me somewhat (and did a great deal to convince me that this site is no better now than it was when I last quietly slipped off 13 months ago).

[hhEb09'1]

Why did you obfuscate the word "Wikipedia" when quoting me? Is that really the problem? In my humble, apparently worthless opinion, that is extremely poor form.

You took me to task, in another thread yet, for commenting on your post and then saying that the wikipedia discussion should be held elsewhere. I removed the word "wikipedia" so as not to focus on wikipedia--in other words, the problem really was the word "idiot".

Edited afterthough - Oh yes, and I was actually prevented from going into detail in this thread. Having, of course, heard The Last Word from a mod (yourself, as it happens). Seems like inconsistent moderation, and hypocrisy to me.

To claify, I've moved the four posts from the Cat Flap thread, which would have been "this thread" in that context. I didn't think a full discussion on your perceived problems with wikipedia were appropriate, just because someone quoted a wikipedia article in that thread. As it turned out, I had a problem with the article in its particulars, but that is a different issue from having a problem with wikipedia in the main.

I suggested you move that discussion to a different thread, and I still think it is a good idea. I didn't try to have the Last Word at all, I'm surprised you are still characterizing it that way.

[hhEb09'1]

EDIT: Interesting. I started typing this post before the thread was split, but finished and submitted it after. Kind of surprising that the system put it here instead of on the original thread...

i was surprised too.

and was then given The Final Word and told to shut up.

I didn't tell you to shut up, I said you should discuss it in another thread.

[Lianachan]

I suggested you move that discussion to a different thread, and I still think it is a good idea. I didn't try to have the Last Word at all, I'm surprised you are still characterizing it that way.

If you hadn't had The Last Word before your mod comments then I would agree. However, as it stands, to comment and then mod in that way seems to me to be an abuse of mod privilegdes. Especially when you did it twice in that thread. I did report those posts, but (of course) received absolutely no response whatsoever. There is thread that seems broadly along those lines now, to which I have only slightly contributed.

There's probably little point in me pointing out that almost all threads sway far from their original point without moderation - the inconsistency of which was my main concern.

[grant hutchison]

I think I'm not clear on what this thread is about.

The moderator thread splitter presumably thought this was a feedback issue, to judge by the acquired title and the present location of the split posts.
Lianachan seems to have an issue with Wikipedia (which I guess would be more suitable for OTB), and with moderation (which seems to fit here).

Lianachan, since you've been gifted with a thread of your own, would you care to set out what you'd like to do with it? (Or, if you'd rather let it die, then it might be useful to post some words to that effect.)

Grant Hutchison

[hhEb09'1]

I suggested you move that discussion to a different thread, and I still think it is a good idea. I didn't try to have the Last Word at all, I'm surprised you are still characterizing it that way.

If you hadn't had The Last Word before your mod comments then I would agree.

"I didn't try to have the Last Word at all."

I did report those posts, but (of course) received absolutely no response whatsoever.

I'm looking into that--especially the reports from before.

There is thread that seems broadly along those lines now, to which I have only slightly contributed.

Which thread? A BAUT thread on wikipedia?

There's probably little point in me pointing out that almost all threads sway far from their original point without moderation - the inconsistency of which was my main concern.

I don't mind repeating my point, that off-topic comments are not necessarily frowned upon. The heat of your argument was on par with the politics/religion/globalwarming issues that we have separated out because of the emotional conflagrations that blaze across message boards.

[captain swoop]

If there is to b ea discussion of Wikipedia then it would best be done in an OTN thread rather than here.

[Lianachan]

Lianachan, since you've been gifted with a thread of your own, would you care to set out what you'd like to do with it? (Or, if you'd rather let it die, then it might be useful to post some words to that effect.)

Grant Hutchison

This isn't my thread. I didn't ask for it, and I don't see the point in it. Yes, I have a problem with the areas of wikipedia that I used to contribute to, and (therefore, by association) with the entire institution. Yes, I also have an issue with the inconsistent, if your face fits and seat-of-the-pants style moderation on this site. I can't see the point in bleating about either. It would be like shouting into the abyss. Wikipedia, I can continue just to browse when looking for things like what my latest playstation 3 firmware update contains.... this place, I'll just tug my forelock and dip in here and there as and when I feel like it.

[Lianachan]

Which thread? A BAUT thread on wikipedia?

I meant this one, which is broadly along those lines and appeared after the thread in question.

I don't mind repeating my point, that off-topic comments are not necessarily frowned upon.

And yet that was the reason that was given for the moderation. Sorry, I don't accept that.

The heat of your argument was on par with the politics/religion/globalwarming issues that we have separated out because of the emotional conflagrations that blaze across message boards.

Or that.

If there is to b ea discussion of Wikipedia then it would best be done in an OTN thread rather than here.

Absolutey. I'm far more disappointed with the standard of moderation here, though, than I am with wikipedia. I wouldn't have made a fuss about it, though, and certainly wouldn't have started a thread like this about it.

Note - I don't have a problem with individual moderators, most of whomn I have never encountered in their modetorial capacities. Consistency... a universal application of the rules for all, including moderators... that's my problem.

[grant hutchison]

This isn't my thread. I didn't ask for it ...

I know. That's why I used the words "gifted with a thread".

... and I don't see the point in it.

Which I suspected might be the case.
That's why I mentioned the option of saying that you'd rather see this thread die in its mutant infancy, in which case I guess it'll be locked and allowed to disappear into second-page limbo.

I just feel that this has all the hallmarks of a thread that could blow up into some extended cross-purpose discussion that'll end in ill-feeling and infraction, unless it acquires a clear direction soon-ish. (Please note I don't suggest that you are responsible for that potentiality; something has just happened to you which you didn't plan.)

Grant Hutchison

[ToSeek]

I can't say I see the point of this thread, and since the pseudo-OP doesn't either, I'm going to close it. If you think it should be opened, report this post and let us know why.