Date: March 1st, 2007 9:38 PM Author: Glittery foreskin
Now that a legion of moderately qualified to abysmally poor mods have been appointed, I no longer feel compelled to post here.
It hasn’t really been discussed, but the size of the mod population is curious. Why do we need GTO, MTG, Joe, NYCFan, Earl and sugarywitch to monitor this site? I’m sure numerous dubious justifications could be provided, but somehow I’m not persuaded that the board requires six pairs of eyes to ensure that no one posts sugary’s name or links to pics she has posted online.
Some of these individuals will probably do a good job “moderating.” MTG clearly has little else going for him and lives in Hyde Park. I am confident that he will be able to devote a necessary amount of time to watching others. Joe Caltech is also a good choice, and will probably do a good job, as will Earl.
Making sugarywitch a moderator is simply ridiculous. I’ll take the moral high ground by omitting a discussion of her intelligence and simply note that she is more prone to childish cat fights and board drama than most people here. I know GTO likes her, but I’m not sure this is a good reason to make her a mod. Growing up, I had an affinity for the retarded boy who sometimes tended my parents’ garden. But I wouldn’t trust him with managing my “business.”
I’m also concerned about the (mis)use of information on this board. None of us knows the extent of access that has been provided to the “mods.” I doubt I’m alone in being bothered by the prospect of law students (some of whom are mentally unstable, like sugarywitch) having access to my IP address. But even those who are not bothered by this should be concerned with the “slippery slope” cliché. I am not a child, and will not be regulated by a cadre of imbeciles.
So, while I still like GTO as a person, I will never post on this board again (with the exception being to occasionally bump this thread). I’m not trying to influence anyone’s opinion, but felt this was an effective end to my time here.
You've already retired like 5 times, man. Look, the main point of moderation is to keep the on-topic clean. But if you want a completely unmoderated board, you can have that--you've always been given that and that won't change if you don't want it to--but nobody ought to complain about it if that's what they want.
This is just meant to create more options for people, the board policy won't change, just like it hasn't for three years.
I've realized that. Look, he's going to take a backseat now and help me develop new things like lawfirmdiscussion.com. I realize there is a lack of trust so hopefully, you'll give me a little more of a chance.
I promise you the board won't change. Nobody will see any IPs and what will end up happening is a couple of people will be monitoring the board mainly for things that make on-topic unpresentable to the public. That's the point--basically to duplicate myself and GTO, who can't realistically be here every minute of the day, but not to change any moderation policies. I'm even thinking of having an automated feed listing every single moderation action that is taken, so the board can see that it is being done extremely sparingly and complain if it isn't, and to maintain the overall integrity of the on-topic.
If there WERE a problem iwth this, though, then I would eliminate the capabilities altogether.
Well, I can only say I hope you reconsider, and that I can only promise you that if there's any damage to content on the website, it will be restored (nothing on the board is actually deleted, it's just hidden) and I'll rethink things. I'm already rethinking things, but it looks like you're really misunderstanding the actual capabilities of the volunteers.
Date: March 1st, 2007 10:07 PM Author: Glittery foreskin
The previous retirements were obvious flame, man.
Anyway, I appreciate your comments, but surely you can't trust your business in the hands of sugarywitch, right? Did you completely miss the 6-month MC War, for instance? Not to mention NYCFan, who has abused his power numerous times?
Also, while your point about keeping the on-topic area clean is legitimate, it does essentially nothing to address concerns that random law school students have potentially been given access to IP addresses.
Nobody has access to IP addresses. I don't even track them on the database, believe it or not, unless there is a spammer--at which point, I activate it! I don't even keep an IP log on the server! But no one except me has ever or will ever see an IP address. The board's soooo anonymous.
She asked me yesterday and I told her I'd personally delete it, and I forgot but you reminded me.
But the point is, none of these mods did anything about that. And that pisses me off--and it makes me suspect that this voluntary modding will only serve selfish motives if left unchecked.
I didn't give him permission to do that, and we'd normally discuss before making any moderation to the board. And I also didn't realize that she was "self-outted." So, when she IM'ed me, I told her no problem (but didn't communicate that to GTO). GTO was being perfectly consistent along the rules I had set a long time ago.
I think I have to at least temporarily suspend the volunteer mods now, because it seems to be an irreconcilable point of friction and it's not worth it to me to have everyone running around saying the sky is falling. It's not their fault, but this is not taking to the community.
What does self outing mean? She certainly never put her name on this board. It's a bit hypocritical to go around deleting every link to the paulie walnuts webpage (no names named, even though he outed 3-6 people), and then to leave someone's real name hanging around in an xoxo thread title.
Edit: I don't know if it's the outing policy itself that's the problem. We just need it to be applied mechanically, not by someone with feelings and prejudices.
You'll have to talk to her to get the scoop on the extent of her self-outing, but my understanding is that she never posted her full name on the board. Either way, there needs to be a rational reformulation of the outing policy. As it stands, it's a broken system.
Here's what MTG told me he would do to enforce the outing policy - it's basically "whatever the fuck GTO says to do." This may explain why some people had such a virulent reaction to the appointment of mods.
Basically, what I plan to do is ask GTO. For example, last night, when the Pauliewalnuts stuff occured, I IMed him and said "If this guy's name gets posted, do you want me to delete or let it go?" He said he would discuss it with Rachmiel and get back to me.
For a lot of posters, GTO has already drawn the line (e.g., you can't post sugarywitch's name), so this just skips the step of me IMing him and asking him to remove it (which I've done many times before). Now, I can go directly to deleting it.
Otherwise, I'll probably err on the side of caution. If I see a name posted that I've never seen before, I'll probably delete and then IM GTO immediately to let him know that I deleted it, and let him decide on whether to restore it or not.
Date: March 1st, 2007 10:28 PM Author: Glittery foreskin
I'm glad to have made your day- please feel free to disagree with the OP, or even hurl a half-literate insult or two. Whatever floats your S.S. BIG CHANGES.
Date: March 2nd, 2007 12:02 AM Author: sadistic flatulent police squad
Your prestige will be missed.
But before you go, I need your advice. Harvard or Columbia with the Hamilton? I'm a poor, but which would be the best choice for someone of my station.
Date: March 2nd, 2007 12:04 AM Author: Glittery foreskin
CLS with Hamilton. You won't get a job out of HLS that you won't also get with CLS. Go for free, do well and work at Wachtell. In a worst case, tragic scenario, you can go to any of the other V5 firms.
Thanks to me, rachmiel has suspended all mods and stripped them of their powers. The catalyst for this positive event was me- I am like the Karl Marx of this board, except that I am richer, don't give a shit about the proletarian poors, and am better groomed.