Project Willow » Sat Jun 20, 2020 10:59 pm wrote:The reason this place worked so well for Jeff for so many years is because he was incredibly tolerant, of a wide range of views and behaviors, only drawing the line where actual harm was being done, often too late in those cases.
Jeff's tolerance of views and behaviors has well-advised
limits and he drew lines a number of times, including when he appointed me. The partial record of his "rulings"
here leaves out the long arguments that preceded them, or the 37 accounts that were closed by moderators through the years because they were used for abuse, spread disinformation, engaged in racism or sexism, or just never stopped engaging in what seemed like compulsive disruptions.
I'm guessing that the frequent strife over bullshit and insistent trolling by very small numbers of accounts at various times is a major factor why Jeff and others didn't want to do this job any more. Those who try to manage this mess get hit with all sorts of agita and are called a lot of dramatic names. Everyone tires of it at some point.
(Willow, some of your "I don't know if..." comments and questions about things I already answered above suggest you've reached for some easy available tropes about "our times" without looking too deeply into the cases at hand, or reading my posts above, which admittedly were plenty, which is why I now give each post a separate title. We all sometimes find it easiest to follow our prior assumptions and fit everything into our existing framework. This tendency is reinforced because it often works. It's part of intuition, which is not infallible.)
I have no interest in wondering or worrying that something I post might get me booted at any second, or because you know me it's okay, but someone else is booted for saying the same thing.
This is nonsense. You and your posts are a paradigmatic opposite to the kind of stuff that gets accounts banned. That would be true of anyone who posted stuff like yours, whether or not we know each other.
Bans have been rare and when has anything ever been done "at any second"?
The norm, on the contrary, has been for abuses to go on for years. Even obvious trolls have taken up hundreds of posts back and forth, and get multiple account restorations even though it's just as obvious what will happen again. This is a contrast to most boards by the way, where the mods don't play Hamlet all day.
A significant tell is if you're worried about outsider perception, you're worried that tolerating certain posts or views will "look bad". Nothing good or vibrant was ever created based in such fears.
I care less for what "looks bad" than for maintaining a quality site that does not descend into a platform for what
is bad while alienating passers-by who might read or contribute. There are enough of those.
Consider the main themes here, and think over the decades how all serious attempts to research and expose deep politics and (for want of a better term) organized crime in society, institutions and government have been undermined in many ways, including direct suppression, but in the US and "West" above all through a one-two, inside-outside move: the spread of poison pills, disinfo and intentionally crazy talk from within, in turn allowing the strawmanning and condemnation of these poison pills from without. To go from the general to a very specific example, it's why Jeff banned talk of "no planes at the WTC."
It is not, however, why he was moved to declare this an anti-fascist and anti-sexist board. That was because he believes there are such things as right and wrong.
None of this is a good fit for me. In the past I was chased off the board by actual perps due to lax management, now it appears I am chased off the board by authoritarian micro-management.
I'm sorry if you find that. Your presence is welcome. You know damn well that you, of all people, are not being chased off.
I'm sorry that you have identified with anonymous account holders who are so unworthy of you. They may not be the kind who chased you off in the past, but they are the kind who make this an unwelcoming place for many people who won't stick around in the first place. Nevertheless, you know that if you leave, it's because you choose to leave.
Just do me a favor, don't delete the ra/mc survivor posts.
I would never do that. I'm sorry but it's sad that you would suggest this, or expect such an idea would occur to me or to Elvis. Nothing's being deleted, and to my knowledge almost nothing has ever been deleted (the major exception being exposure of personal details). Keeping the archive intact and online is the bottom line.
I know it's not your thing, but there's an important record here. If you feel that urge, contact me so I can download and save it. It should be preserved.
Again, I would never "feel that urge" and reject the implication that I would.
However, you and everyone else should consider yourselves already contacted to download and save this site or as much of it as you care for. Whether this board will stay up doesn't depend on what I feel. There are many other factors in the world. Among others, the various fascisms on the rise are real and far from their peaks and extremes. I hope everyone is perserving what they can of this site, for whatever its worth at a time when so much more is endangered.
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I'm wandering the halls adjusting to the new configuration of rooms.
. This is a haunted 
