rigorousintuition.ca

So, something is afoot.

Being the being I be, I care not whether it's solar flares, mercury in triple retrograde, the news cycle itself, or, you know...active gaming of our fine watering hole once again. Causes escape me, but symptoms seem clear enough. I definitely see the levels of venom floating towards the high water mark for what I've ever dealt with at RI. Not necessarily a problem, since lord knows we've been there before many times and still abide.

Just the same, I wanted to start a non-specific conversation about steps we as moderators can take to spray a little water on the flames without making it into a big deal -- or even a visible effort.

I'm making an attempt to type less, edit more, and keep my opinions aimed at entities that don't exist here. I am having a hard time with that on occasion, being human (and further handicapped by a penis). I am going to disengage from SLAD completely since a past slip of mine is still an issue for her.

One concrete thought I've had is that I'm going to refrain from comment or involvement with anything another moderator is already dealing with. No matter what the reality is, I think there's often a perception of "ganging up" that tweaks some of our more fragile souls and fringe specimens.

Regardless, I believe that what has made RI work over the years is decisive unilateral action in times of acute crisis and a very passive, permaculture approach at all other times. This is mostly intended as a platform to talk shop, not a rally to battle, or even an alarm signal.

We're good. It's just kinda nasty right now.

Solar flares. I blame solar flares...

All joking aside, I hear you. I've been kind of trepedatious to do any moderating as of late, because I am not sure how I will come across & it seems there has been quite a bit of tension around here the past few days. I'm not quite sure how to proceed, personally, but am wondering what others think, as well.

Any thread that deals with Israel needs to be watched closely. RI is no different in some respects from other venues for the discussion of conspiracy tropes: the hatred can bubble right under the surface here. It's unfortunate, but a reality, that huge swaths of this landscape echo versions of older, dangerous material so many iterations removed from the source as to be protected by the layers of intervening associations. There have been far too many episodes of real hate speech here to think that somehow, majickally, that mindset has disappeared for good. It never does. Cinderella's carriage is a fucking pumpkin, and she's not supposed to forget that while the music plays so sweetly at the ball. But she always does.

I hate to think how many Israel/zionist threads we're going to have on the front page as the tempo continues to build towards an Iranian war. The eight we had at one point last night was really getting me down. I recall a moment during the aftermath of the flotilla incident when we had seventeen on the front page. So I don't kid myself that there's not a pretty intense focus on the subject around here, or that the codespeak and probable spates of personal messaging isn't a part of it. It is. Personally, I'm at the point at which I simply sit back reading trying to categorize the repetitious tropes as to which are just mindless regurgitation, vehement hatred, deliberate baiting, dog whistling, careful pushing of the lines of appropriateness, and legitimate analysis. One thing you rarely hear are suggestions for solutions. Well, Alice had one the other day - the end of Israel. As smart as she is, I wondered if she considered just what events might compel such a diaspora, or just how inevitable that outcome probably is.

Of course, what can be done about it? Maybe a subforum for Israel? Creating a subforum can rather neatly suck the interest out of almost any class of subject matter. It's really not even a pet topic for me - I'm here for the weird. But it takes over and things get ugly.

Wombaticus Rex wrote:One concrete thought I've had is that I'm going to refrain from comment or involvement with anything another moderator is already dealing with. No matter what the reality is, I think there's often a perception of "ganging up" that tweaks some of our more fragile souls and fringe specimens.

I agree that this is a good tactic. If a mod needs some assistance in a thread, put up an alert flag at the appropriate juncture. Or start a thread down here asap.

It's sad, but I find I'm not entering conversations as much as I used to. It's the nature of the thing itself, as far as I can tell. I've told many of my favorite stories already, and truth be told I get no satisfaction out of helping to consolidate the communal sense of outrage at every rip and slander visited upon me and the world by each successive news cycle, or by once again thrashing through similar arguments. What I really need is a quality UFO hoax right about now. Or banning eyeno. That would probably perk me up.

barracuda wrote: It's sad, but I find I'm not entering conversations as much as I used to. It's the nature of the thing itself, as far as I can tell. I've told many of my favorite stories already, and truth be told I get no satisfaction out of helping to consolidate the communal sense of outrage at every rip and slander visited upon me and the world by each successive news cycle, or by once again thrashing through similar arguments. What I really need is a quality UFO hoax right about now. Or banning eyeno. That would probably perk me up.

Aww, fish.

We could always have a mod battle in "last one to post in this thread wins".

I thought it was pretty funny how nobody really gave a shit when I locked that thread out of the blue. I had sort of hoped to provoke a minor uproar, but nothing. Ah well, plans, mice, men, etc.

I must admit I have been wondering whether the board has been under some sort of concerted racist assault in the past couple of weeks, but that might be just my natural OpFor mind at work. I agree that in the runup to whatever happens with Iran, what we have seen this week will get worse.

I think we need a mod discussion of where we see the line. Of all people, Alice seems to have given us a clear guide in her well articulated paragraph on the evil of actions rather than of people and categories of people. It will be important to keep the inevitable coming discussions focused on actions and their historical consequences rather than on categories of people. After all, history is one long genocide.

barracuda wrote:What I really need is a quality UFO hoax right about now.... That would probably perk me up.

ON IT.

Honestly? I want to take that damn Icke superthread, put it over my knee & give it a good, damn sound spanking.

viewtopic.php?p=450896#p450896

^^This Holocaust tear SLAD is on is very weird. The comments she is responding to here having nothing to do with the holocaust, even tangentially, and yet that's the precise note she's coming in on.

Rory deals with it graciously and ignores the weirdness, then...this:
viewtopic.php?p=450921#p450921

I mean, that's spooky weird. Rory is not even engaging on the topic here...yet SLAD says

We are discussing Icke as a holocaust denier...at least that's how this whole thing started.

That's simply not true. The first time "Icke as a holocaust denier" got brought up was by SLAD on page 3, which is that first comment I linked to.

Four pages later, that circular and vituperative convo is still going on. I don't view it as malintent on SLAD's part but I am starting to wonder about her cognition.

Bear in mind, I'm also generally weirded out by her attachment to a passing comment I made last year in a Sarah Palin thread, so that's coloring my concern and irritation.

slad is a strange bird. As I said in the Sounder = slimmouse? thread, I like her and she seems good intentioned, but she's pretty unpredictable from day to day, and her posts, when they're not simple copy and paste news stories, often seem like they were written by someone a bit unhinged. I believe that she just tends to let her emotions get the better of her, though.

As for the rest of your OP, Wombat, I believe that we RIers are all so plugged in to what's going on in the world that the oncoming train of Iran/WWIII is really beginning to get to us. Patience and reason seem to be at an all-time low. At least in my five years of reading and posting.

Sorry for going postal in that Atzmon thread.

Seriously, that's what you call going postal? Jeez, I'd hate to see you in a contemplative mood. Must be damn near a coma.

Jeff wrote:ON IT.

Thanks for trying. Nothing like an inchoate blob or two to lift up the spirit.

Honestly, right now, I wanna go postal on AD. I know you you asked Mac to let it go, but AD deliberately goads people. I wanna punch the computer when I see his replies sometimes. I'm gonna step away & soak in the tub. holy fuck, something's in the air on here & I'm feeling a little testy myself. I'll refrain, I promise... :/

Yeah, but AD has a seemingly legitimate question for the Doctor, and here Mac comes along with the full set of non-sequitur insult cards, flingin' 'em one by one on the table. Fucking out-of-left-field unecessary. I call whiskey on that one.

I know, I know, it's just he's... so dickish. *grumble*