[POLL] Abolish the "ignore" function.

[seemslikeadream]

people have left here because of the bullying and meanness

I know because I keep in touch with some of them

I hope you all are having a really good time and surely do not have anything better to entertain yourselves

[Heaven Swan]

What about the exodus I read about in the "What Constitutes Misogyny" thread?

[brekin]

I think we need to think out of the box, in non-linear ways.
Posting restrictions won't solve the problem.The poster in question needs help. We could take up a collection to send him to one of the military-style boot-camps they run in Asia to quarantine internet addicts from their compulsive use of technology and reeducate them.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/26/health/cn ... boot-camp/
They start the day with physical training and marching in formation, followed by ethics lessons. It may be replacing one kind of rigid dogma with another but what options do we have?

Sure, I have my tiffs with the boy. He's going through some growing pains. But I don't think that is the right course for Mac. Besides, remember how he did at Bernies Holiday Camp?

people have left here because of the bullying and meanness

Exactly. Threads dedicated to a single user should only be congratulatory. One dedicated to revoke someones ignore function strains both sensitivity and logic.

[MacCruiskeen]

[...] Speaking of thinking out of the box, I never got a reply to my suggeslion of apologizing to female RI members who were run out of town.

You could entice them with a promise of the only MRA-free conspiracy site on the internet. Getting them back would come at the problem from a different angle. I believe the idea has merit.

HS, I don`t know why you keep addressing this suggestion to me, because I never ran any RI member of town, male or female.

Re: [POLL] Abolish the "ignore" function.

Post by Heaven Swan » Fri Apr 14, 2017 8:53 pm
What about the exodus I read about in the "What Constitutes Misogyny" thread?

That would be the thread to post your suggestion in, if any. Not this one. It`s off-topic here.

[Heaven Swan]

[...] Speaking of thinking out of the box, I never got a reply to my suggeslion of apologizing to female RI members who were run out of town.

You could entice them with a promise of the only MRA-free conspiracy site on the internet. Getting them back would come at the problem from a different angle. I believe the idea has merit.

HS, I don`t know why you keep addressing this suggestion to me, because I never ran any RI member of town, male or female.

Re: [POLL] Abolish the "ignore" function.

Post by Heaven Swan » Fri Apr 14, 2017 8:53 pm
What about the exodus I read about in the "What Constitutes Misogyny" thread?

That would be the thread to post your suggestion in, if any. Not this one. It`s off-topic here.

Maybe you weren't around then, I thought you were a longtime poster. The suggestion was addressed to anyone who was here during a very long thread about misogyny In which quite a few female posters were hounded and harassed then finally left.

Does anyone remember this?

[seemslikeadream]

hounded and harassed.....yes like I said bullying and meanness

[MacCruiskeen]

Yes, it used to be a place with a lot of great women posters who posted very frequently. As I said, it was one the best things about this board. And until Dr Volin vanished three years ago, followed by Project Willow a year later, it was also a place that never had fewer than three Moderators -- not including Jeff, who was also still active and present here until around the same time. There was always at least one woman among the group of Mods, and usually they were in the majority. All this made it much less likely that any woman (or any man, for that matter) would be bullied or harrassed. The Mods were there to take care of that, and did so. Trolling wasn`t tolerated, or not for long. WR too took care of that.. Moderation is a thankless task, and this is the first time that anyone has been expected to manage it alone. Many things are a mystery to me about this place now.

It would be interesting to see a complete list of all moderators here since the board started, because I would guess that 3/4 of them were women. Sunny was a great mod, for instance, and so was Willow. I can`t remember which thread HS is referring to. I`ve been a member here since the days of the Old Old RI Board, yes, but I certainly didn`t take part in, or even look at, every thread.

[brekin]

[...] Speaking of thinking out of the box, I never got a reply to my suggeslion of apologizing to female RI members who were run out of town.
You could entice them with a promise of the only MRA-free conspiracy site on the internet. Getting them back would come at the problem from a different angle. I believe the idea has merit.

HS, I don`t know why you keep addressing this suggestion to me, because I never ran any RI member of town, male or female.

Re: [POLL] Abolish the "ignore" function.
Post by Heaven Swan » Fri Apr 14, 2017 8:53 pm
What about the exodus I read about in the "What Constitutes Misogyny" thread?

That would be the thread to post your suggestion in, if any. Not this one. It`s off-topic here.

Maybe you weren't around then, I thought you were a longtime poster. The suggestion was addressed to anyone who was here during a very long thread about misogyny In which quite a few female posters were hounded and harassed then finally left.
Does anyone remember this?

Actually, spawning from that thread Canadian Watcher (a female poster) got perma banned for outing another poster's irl identity (also a female poster) who stopped posting (as much or at all if i recall after that). The suggestion of apologizing to female RI members (none who were run out of town) is ridiculous and uncalled for if you review the thread. That thread was instructive because one female poster riding under the banner of misogyny, created much drama and in a short time ended up alienating and attacking many of her champions and defenders (many who were women). Enticing "them back" (who?) with a promise of MRA-free conspiracy site is just...strange. There have been 1 or 2 ardent MRA's (they probably didn't identify as such but were) and there was a rule put in long ago something to the effect of the board recognizing women have been an exploited class in history, which takes care of most of those coming here to proselytize something contrary.

[MacCruiskeen]

This used to be a board where psychological abuse was identified, examined and exposed *, rather than tolerated, encouraged and cultivated. It attracted a lot of very sharp, serious, well-informed and genuinely funny posters. Something very bad happened to RI in the meantime, but maybe things are finally going to change for the better now.

"Genuinely funny" may be going a bit too far.

Not at all. (Just for instance.)

[dada]

I'm committed to respecting female posters and feminism, and do my best to stand up for them when they're attacked by bullies and MRAs (who are not welcome). I'm committed to that on the internet in general, in fact. I've stood up for them in situations where it is futile, and social suicide. Gladly, and I'd do it again without a second thought. The good thing about RI is that the fight isn't futile. The sad trend towards troll-culture notwithstanding, this board is still feminist at heart.

I don't think it's my place to start a thread about it. I'm just not a thread-starter, it goes against my principles. The last thread I started will be my last. Something about video games, that I decided it would be better if I let go, to be absorbed into the ocean of GD back pages. It just isn't the role I choose to play. But I will always stand up whenever it passes before my eyes on the screen, I promise that.

That being said, and so I won't be accused of being off-topic, I have no problem with "bullying and meanness" in other contexts. Personal attacks and implications of nefarious motives I find unnecessary and unproductive, as well as going against the few guidelines of the board. I can criticize AD's methods without attacking him. I think the methods are insensitive and uncouth.

I'll use myself as an example of what I'm getting at. I make bad photoshops that are kind of dumb. Some people had a problem with it. I cut back on posting them here. Every once in a while, I've posted some, but on the whole I have and will continue to respect the wishes of the minority that were bothered by them for one reason or another. I'm comfortable enough in myself, and responsive enough to others to curtail my behavior.

Of course everyone is different, and not everyone is as confident or has as high of an opinion of themselves as I do, though they may try to project that image.

But "bullying and meanness" I think is something different than personal attacks. Ten years ago, when I first found this board, there was plenty of psychic bullying and witheringly critical meanness. It was part of what I liked. As we used to say when we were kids, this board was fucking hardcore. You had to have a razor-sharp, weaponized intellect and strong psychic shielding to participate here. Maybe you still do, and I've just become accustomed to it. At first it was very intimidating. As I say, I like that.

So having defined what I mean, I'm pro-bullying and meanness. Some may see this as a double standard, that I can be against bullying feminists, but have no problem bullying trolls. I'm okay with that. No matter how illuminated you may be, I think it's good to keep one or two character flaws around. It makes for a colorful personality. It's like having a vice. There's nothing duller than someone that has no vice. You want to have at least one or two.

[dada]

"Genuinely funny" may be going a bit too far.

Not at all. (Just for instance.)

I know. I was trying failing to be funny.

[MacCruiskeen]

[...}

But "bullying and meanness" I think is something different than personal attacks. Ten years ago, when I first found this board, there was plenty of psychic bullying and witheringly critical meanness. It was part of what I liked. As we used to say when we were kids, this board was fucking hardcore. You had to have a razor-sharp, weaponized intellect and strong psychic shielding to participate here. Maybe you still do, and I've just become accustomed to it. At first it was very intimidating. As I say, I like that.

So having defined what I mean, I'm pro-bullying and meanness. Some may see this as a double standard, that I can be against bullying feminists, but have no problem bullying trolls. I'm okay with that. No matter how illuminated you may be, I think it's good to keep one or two character flaws around. It makes for a colorful personality. It's like having a vice. There's nothing duller than someone that has no vice. You want to have at least one or two.

I´d put some things a wee bit differently myself ("bullying"? no), but yeah, that`s a pretty good characterisation of this board at its best. A thread populated by (say) barracuda, Project Willow, Jeff, JackRiddler, compared2what, WombaticusRex, sunny, Simulist, AhabsOtherLeg, AlicetheKurious and Slomo was a place where angels feared to tread and fools stepped in at their peril. It was a place where you were expected to know something, to say something worth saying, and to be capable of thinking straight and actually expressing your thoughts. It was full of right witty bastards who were very quick on their feet. None of them would have tolerated being drowned in copy pasta or patronised and talked down to. They would have told the perpetrator to fuck right off. It was a board with no time for trolls or timewasters or fakes or ponderous dullards. It was also, therefore, a place where anyone could be pretty sure of learning some things worth learning.

It was not a herbal massage parlour for the mentally challenged.

[brekin]

But "bullying and meanness" I think is something different than personal attacks. Ten years ago, when I first found this board, there was plenty of psychic bullying and witheringly critical meanness. It was part of what I liked. As we used to say when we were kids, this board was fucking hardcore. You had to have a razor-sharp, weaponized intellect and strong psychic shielding to participate here. Maybe you still do, and I've just become accustomed to it. At first it was very intimidating. As I say, I like that.

I agree that the board use to be more hardcore (psychic bullying and withering critical meanness). I have seniority on you by about a month and only less than a year to Mac's, so I remember it definitely being rougher and sharper at times, but I'm not seeing where he is pulling the golden and silver ages of RI from. Being disenchanted from the status quo via conspiracy theories was less mainstream back in the day (President's didn't run on conspiracy theory platforms then as you know) so there was more of a pressure cooker, rabidness and hostility in a lot of threads because...perhaps people thought more false flags, wars, takeovers by the ptbs were coming and there was a greater urgency and stakes? There was a supposed importance to what was being discussed at the time and some possibility of "it all being revealed" I guess, but all that having happened, and no one particularly caring about a big reveal, except easily manipulated stooges dazzled by cheap knock offs, (yawn) it is all a little blase now I guess. More House of the Conspiracy Commons then, compared to the House of the Conspiracy Lords now. With no one really doing original first hand research (that being now a highly dangerous occupation) it has all become academic, and like they say about academic fights, they are so bitter because the stakes are so low. So now we argue about the ignore function, copypasta (who has the time to read it all?), and repartitions to supposed exiled female RI alumnus. Is it Pea Soup in the cafeteria today, or Chowder? I can never remember.

[...}

But "bullying and meanness" I think is something different than personal attacks. Ten years ago, when I first found this board, there was plenty of psychic bullying and witheringly critical meanness. It was part of what I liked. As we used to say when we were kids, this board was fucking hardcore. You had to have a razor-sharp, weaponized intellect and strong psychic shielding to participate here. Maybe you still do, and I've just become accustomed to it. At first it was very intimidating. As I say, I like that.

So having defined what I mean, I'm pro-bullying and meanness. Some may see this as a double standard, that I can be against bullying feminists, but have no problem bullying trolls. I'm okay with that. No matter how illuminated you may be, I think it's good to keep one or two character flaws around. It makes for a colorful personality. It's like having a vice. There's nothing duller than someone that has no vice. You want to have at least one or two.

I´d put some things a wee bit differently myself ("bullying"? no), but yeah, that`s a pretty good characterisation of this board at its best. A thread populated by (say) barracuda, Project Willow, Jeff, JackRiddler, compared2what, WombaticusRex, sunny, Simulist, AhabsOtherLeg, AlicetheKurious and Slomo was a place where angels feared to tread and fools stepped in at their peril. It was a place where you were expected to know something, to say something worth saying, and to be capable of thinking straight and actually expressing your thoughts. It was full of right witty bastards who were very quick on their feet. None of them would have tolerated being drowned in copy pasta or patronised and talked down to. They would have told the perpetrator to fuck right off. It was a board with no time for trolls or timewasters or fakes or ponderous dullards. It was also, therefore, a place where anyone could be pretty sure of learning some things worth learning.
It was not a herbal massage parlour for the mentally challenged.

Two words for you to seriously consider:
Fantasy Football.
Seriously.
Build your dream team.
I think it could help with your expectation management vis a vis ideals and the real world.

[MacCruiskeen]

dada, QED. brekin`s latest and entirely typical "contribution" is the kind of dumb timewasting flamebaiting shitpost that is now welcomed silently endured here, because most people who would have resisted it have long since given up and left. It would be wrong to say it is beneath contempt, because it is in fact entirely worthy of it.

[Heaven Swan]

I appreciate the previous posts and perspectives.

I'm definitely not in favor of more bullying and meanness, although I do appreciate Dada's perspective which I've interpreted as that 'sometimes impolite honesty is necessary to combat oppression'.

The women and the past glory I was, perhaps mistakenly, referring to were certainly not snarky 'star' posters. I came here because of my research into the intersection of government sponsored mind-control and women's oppression and I was under the impression that there were quite a few survivors, child advocates, writers (like esteemed founder JW) on the subject who used to frequent this forum.

Your posts are making me realize that, like most calls to the turn back the clock, the apology I was envisioning probably isn't the great idea I thought it was.

I do think apologies can help though.

Mac--aren't you the poster who targeted, followed around, and hurled abuse on a daily basis at SLAD? And am I mistaken or weren't you one of the several posters who (from another continent no less) ranted and raved for months about the mortal danger that the warmongering Hillary Clinton posed to humanity and how she was poised to start WWIII, thus effectively helping elect the Orange Menace who really is threatening life on the planet?

An apology to SLAD and a humble admission of your mistake regarding our election might do a lot to rehabilitate your image.

Re: the ignore function and copy pasta loving posters

Ok, so there seem to be three culprits here and I'll address each one separately. This is only my opinion and 2 cents BTW

SLAD
I don't and never have had a problem with her florid posting habits, on the contrary, her threads are one of the main reasons I check in here daily. Also, she seems to have started linking longer articles to data dump threads which effectively solves the problem that some might have had.

AD
This is another matter altogether--even though I do think that he does post material of value and am not calling for his exile. The problem I and perhaps others see is not just the sheer volume, but a repressive attitude coupled with a seemingly endless amount of time to dedicate to burying in copy pasta the contributions of those who disagree with him.

His research threads like TIDS and the monitoring of right-wing groups don't bother me at all. I even take a peek occasionally and have found things of value. His posting about far-right extremists may have seemed a bit obsessive, but he was right about the rise of the right.

If there were a way to rein in the number of threads he can start per day that would make a big difference. AD if you are reading this--LESS IS MORE--irritating your audience is not a good way to get your message across.

We do a have a responsive and understanding mod, so if he misbehaves on discussion threads we can report him, so if he continues down that road there is a way to stop him.

Frumenshen
This is not meant to hurt or offend in any way but I have to say that I don't like, and on principle won't open misleadingly titled threads. There may be gold in those threads but I haven't seen it. And as far as the search function goes it makes absolutely no sense to give threads bizarre titles unrelated to their content.

Therefore I'd like to respectfully suggest to Fruhmenshen (who is probably an amazing and brilliant person) that, for the greater good of the forum, he change his thread titling habits.

I haven't seen any other problems originating from this poster.