Towards a new RI

[Project Willow]

So, basically, bring to the board what you want to see. I'd like to see more Africa threads and more civil and informed interaction, so I'll do that. Those who want more woo - bring it! I always enjoy those threads, even though I seldom have anything worthwhile to add.

And I'd be willing to have a go at moderating, although I'm more of a 'have at it' kind of person and I don't go near a computer at weekends. Let me know if I can help Wombat.

That's great stephano!

My ex referred to anything that I did on the computer as "just go play on the Internet, with your RI buddies". I took total offense to the word "play". A lot of people don't get "us". It would really be nice to see and read Jeff again. Perhaps in the near future Willow can do something about this.

Sorry I'm missing your fiesta in Seattle, Willow! It ain't no bowl of cherries where I am right now!

But, those who remain are an "us". So here we are. . .

I will miss seeing you! I'm taking a rare break in the midst of utter chaos, but my goodness, it was rather heady when they put the no parking signs out yesterday. We're shutting down a downtown street! FYI for the rest of you: http://streetfair.tklofts.com
http://seattletimes.com/html/thearts/2024198213_tashirokaplananniversaryxml.html

You can read Jeff's writing in a number of places right now, but if he wants to reveal those here, that's up to him. I would really like to have 3 or 4 people from this board write (for pay!) for the new online magazine I was supposed to begin this year with Janet Thomas, but there's been no time to work on it. Now Janet's got herself immersed in writing a new book, so who knows when or if the magazine will launch.

[seemslikeadream]

let's play a little game ...who just posted this in the last couple of days?

Maybe someone broke his" Death to the Jews" placard at the latest protest and it threw him for a loop..

Or maybe he's still just an antisemitic fuck like always

You just keep trying to hide your little Nazi-promoting mind behind the righteous cause of the moment that happens to be convenient for you

yes it would be nice to move towards a new RI....it really would


Willow you did not hurt my feelings....what upsets me is the lack of fairness

I have never said anything so vile here...ever....yet this crap goes on for years and the persons posting it are never berated in public...never suspended


and I will tell you right now that one of those members posts that stuff 99.5% of the time ...and that is no exaggeration ....that is the truth

[BrandonD]

let's play a little game ...who just posted this in the last couple of days?

Maybe someone broke his" Death to the Jews" placard at the latest protest and it threw him for a loop..

Or maybe he's still just an antisemitic fuck like always

You just keep trying to hide your little Nazi-promoting mind behind the righteous cause of the moment that happens to be convenient for you

yes it would be nice to move towards a new RI....it really would


Willow you did not hurt my feelings....what upsets me is the lack of fairness

I have never said anything so vile here...ever....yet this crap goes on for years and the persons posting it are never berated in public...never suspended

and I will tell you right now that one of those members posts that stuff 99.5% of the time ...and that is no exaggeration ....that is the truth

It does seem that a decent amount of foul negativity is allowed free rein here. That sort of thing does encourage an anti-intellectual environment.

From my pov the moderators sometimes allow more "misbehaving leeway" to friends or members with shared ideologies. But that sort of buddy system is unfortunately unavoidable and generally not intentional. Really the only way to counteract it is to have a large number of moderators.

But I'm certainly not volunteering for that thankless task. I think the moderators here are perhaps doing the best they can, being a small number of fallible humans rather than an armada of super-objective moderating robots

[JackRiddler]

I posted one of those and I will do so again.

Oh no, propaganda that rhymes with the Nazis is being called out! The horrors!

Who posted the following approvingly, you poor, constantly persecuted genius? And now who wants to turn my response into a flamewar on this thread?

Here, below is your "intellectual" environment. Here's a proverb for you! Just a harmless Polish proverb! You like it? Is this acceptable to you?

As the Polish proverb says:

“The Jew cries out in pain as he strikes you.”

Perhaps this should be modernised to:

“The Jew cries out in pain as he bombs you.”

SNIP

Why don’t we:

Fill one such large estate with Jewish residents who have been expelled from their desirable homes in Stamford Hill and Golders Green.
Hand over these homes to the erstwhile residents of the Council houses.
Enclose the Jews-only estate with a fence that cannot be breached.
Bomb them occasionally.
Only allow enough food into the estate to barely keep them alive.
Destroy most of their supplies of clean water.
Forbid them from trading with anyone outside their estate.
Call anyone they elect to representative them terrorists.

The massacre of the Palestinians used, not to condemn Israel, but as the pretext for hatred against Jews period! Doesn't matter whether the person who wrote this is ideologically aligned that way or is merely a moron who can't restrain themselves or understand any-the-fuck-thing about politics.

The ultimate effect of this kind of post at the moment is to assist in killing Palestinians, by the way. If Hasbara wanted to do "false flag propaganda" to associate opponents of the Israeli massacre with anti-Semitism, and thus discredit the growing movement against Israel, they would disguise themselves as some friend of Gaza, like bluenoseclaret, and post things like the above. Unlikely in this backwater, obviously, but those who salt their "Palestinian solidarity" with kill-the-Jews rhetoric are enemies of the Palestinians.

Civility doesn't mean you avoid saying "fuck" when some fuckwit produces hate rhetoric. Some messages may deserve a nasty response - and an immediate banning of the asshole who delivered it. People with brains should be able to distinguish message and tone.

.

[seemslikeadream]

You just keep trying to hide your little Nazi-promoting mind behind the righteous cause of the moment that happens to be convenient for you

since blue is a one note poster here I have a very hard time believing you were speaking to him....sounded like you were speaking to Searcher ...a post made by you right after him..but there you go again Mr. Wordsmith.....one would think you could be more clearer in your replies ...like mentioning who you were talking to

you haven't answered Searcher question yet so I really don't know who you were talking to

[JackRiddler]

And why didn't you post that there then? Why are you bringing it here, why do you want flamewar? Fuck off.

[Searcher08]

I knew I shouldn't have mentioned the war

[seemslikeadream]

so do people get suspended for saying what Jack just said? I think I'll ask Nordic

[JackRiddler]

Fuck is a word. Stupid is forever.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqvLTJfYnik

[Elvis]

Hi everyone. So much for a "new RI" eh?

Just enjoyed a splendid day with Project Willow, Twyla LaSarc and Perelandra at the art street fest Willow organized. Between exhibits, live music and helping as we could with the festival, we had some great RI-themed conversations, mused over 82_28's plea not to fuck up the forum and I think we all expressed a general optimism for its future.

Then I come home to this.

bleah.


Better than banning Bluenoseclaret: ignore Bluenoseclaret. Completely.


Something I understand now is that public politics is never rational, always emotional.

[BrandonD]

Ah well, I tried.

As they say, behind every lumberjack is a wonderful justification for flattening the forest.

[Searcher08]

Ah well, I tried.

As they say, behind every lumberjack is a wonderful justification for flattening the forest.

Do not give up just yet, @Elvis and @Brandon.

In the journey to re-creating an organisation, going through a period where it seems like all the old issues re-surface again can actually be a sign of heading very much in the right direction. In fact, if it does NOT happen, that can be an indicator that the change will not ultimately stick. Transformation that emerges from within a self-organising system (which is what the RIForum is at the moment) can be unpredictable and dramatic.

[82_28]

Hi everyone. So much for a "new RI" eh?

Just enjoyed a splendid day with Project Willow, Twyla LaSarc and Perelandra at the art street fest Willow organized. Between exhibits, live music and helping as we could with the festival, we had some great RI-themed conversations, mused over 82_28's plea not to fuck up the forum and I think we all expressed a general optimism for its future.

Then I come home to this.

bleah.


Better than banning Bluenoseclaret: ignore Bluenoseclaret. Completely.


Something I understand now is that public politics is never rational, always emotional.

Yeah, super bummed I couldn't be there. What the naysayers have to say that at least in the Seattle area, we're all personal friends who met via RI.

I miss Seattle so much and can't wait to come back.

[JackRiddler]

Just enjoyed a splendid day with Project Willow, Twyla LaSarc and Perelandra at the art street fest Willow organized. Between exhibits, live music and helping as we could with the festival, we had some great RI-themed conversations, mused over 82_28's plea not to fuck up the forum and I think we all expressed a general optimism for its future.

Sounds great. Wish I'd been there. The crazy thing is - I've said this about a couple of members who believe they're my enemy here - how well it works in person, always has with people from RI. The best thing - the only unqualified good thing - about age of Internet has been the awesome amounts of real-world meetings, relationships and rl organizing and partying that wouldn't have involved the same people if not for the Internet's opportunity to bring us together.

Now don't exaggerate the "horror" of what you came home to. It's the same old flamewar as before, in which we all must cater to a certain member's persecution fantasies about texts that aren't even directed at her. When this shit is pulled on Project Willow, she'll find a way to be nice and humane. When it's pulled on me, I might be nice twice, ignore a few times, and eventually let Genghis Khan out and put some heads on pikes. As you say, irrationality. This particular member should understand that, and try therapy or yoga instead of seeking more punishment here. Especially when it is based on her mistaken conclusions about comments being about her when they are about others.

Better than banning Bluenoseclaret: ignore Bluenoseclaret. Completely.

Don't you see what happens after that? Twenty motherfuckers from Stormfront and whatnot eventually find a home here to talk about the Jew animals on 80% of the threads, and they can debate their racist brethren from the KKK about whether the Arab animals are worse. We can ignore all of them too. As long as it's a new RI, where everyone is nice to each other and no one says fuck.

I am amazed at how many of you care about AD boring you or something, and yet not this:

As the Polish proverb says:

“The Jew cries out in pain as he strikes you.”

Perhaps this should be modernised to:

“The Jew cries out in pain as he bombs you.”

Stuff of this caliber is actually everywhere on the Internet at the moment. Hate speech of various kinds, usually camouflaged up in some legitimate grievance. It is what will predominate here sooner or later if you allow bluenoseclaret to be ignored.

.

[American Dream]

Better than banning Bluenoseclaret: ignore Bluenoseclaret. Completely.

Don't you see what happens after that? Twenty motherfuckers from Stormfront and whatnot eventually find a home here to talk about the Jew animals on 80% of the threads, and they can debate their racist brethren from the KKK about whether the Arab animals are worse.

It's really unfortunate that there are probably individuals here who would be ok with this kind of scenario unfolding.