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1925. wabbit - 12/3/2008 1:32:16 AM wonkers, this isn't AC's battle anymore. Actually, it never was. I'm the one who's had it with Jexster. And lest anyone think I don't mean business, allow me to remind you… cazart, jonthecat (who I actually liked), Rosie… I'm sure there are more.
I've gotten emails from people that would curl or straighten your hair. I could not care less. I honestly don't give a rat's ass about Jexster. If he wants to take a shot at someone who posts here, I have no problem with that. He isn't close to clever. But he has gotten away with talking shit about family members who do NOT post here, and I'm done tolerating his petty crap. He has stepped over a line, and if I have to paint that line in flourescent green for anyone, then you too should feel free to go elsewhere.
Many people tried to work around Jexster's incessent trolling. I have the emails to prove it. But not having the keys to the kingdom, they found themselves powerless to do anything about him. Well, here's a big boo fucking hoo for Jexster and his supporters, but I *do* have the keys, and it's long past overdue that they be used. No more trolls, no more endless one sentence posts that were copied from someone else, no more insults about other people's families, no more taking over this forum and having absolutely nothing to say or contribute. Not one person has ever treated Jexster with the level of disrespect he has routinely shoveled at others and at the forum as a whole. He's been warned over and over and over again, and he counts on one or two people to rise to his defense. Funny how those same people were nowhere to be seen when it was Rosie who was being warned, but then his politics were distasteful, I suppose. Jexster is either too ignorant to know when enough is enough, or he is too vapid to realize that his inanity is neither interesting nor actually making any kind of a point. Either way makes no difference to me. He has been tolerated for too long.
I have resisted having a list of rules for this forum for many years, trusting people to monitor themselves and each other, and thinking that the "Golden Rule" should be enough. Clearly I was wrong. The past several years have shown that in government, business, and here in the Mote, unless someone is willing to be the hall monitor, people will behave as badly as they can get away with. Fine. If a hall monitor is what's needed, then a hall monitor is what I will be. I've had enough. I've had enough of Jexster and trolls like him. I've had enough of people who want no part of helping out here dictating the terms of how this forum should be run.
Message # 1923 Jexster, zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. As usual. 1926. JJBiener - 12/3/2008 2:23:20 AM A few days ago I was reading through some of the Mote Archives, the Politics thread in particular. I thought it was remarkable how different the Mote was back then. There were actually long, involved discussions about the issues of the day, and while there were occasional digressions into personal attacks, it was the exception instead of the rule.
I have been to other forums, but the participants don't come close to the people we used to have around here. I am consistently surprised by how many people at these places can argue passionately about things they know absolutely nothing about.
From a philosophical point of view, this forum has the same problems we see in society as a whole. How do you find the balance between freedom and control, chaos and order.
The Mote has always erred on the side of freedom. While good in theory, this has allowed a few negative and vocal individuals to drive away many of the people who made this place what it was. That is why I spend so little time here.
If Wabbit wants to get rid of a few trolls, maybe some of the old gang will see fit to return. 1927. jexster - 12/3/2008 2:35:07 AM Capn Would Drink Their Bath Water 1928. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/3/2008 2:54:53 AM I love you wabbit! I love your brain, I love your words, I love your indignation and I love your spirit . . . and your ass! If I wasn't happily married, I'd even write you love letters and court you.
1929. wabbit - 12/3/2008 3:09:08 AM Alas WoW, you are married and having met your charming and beautiful wife I can say lucky you, because she is wonderful. But I'm sure I'd love reading those letters!
JJB, I go through the archives every so often and am amazed at the discussions and appreciative of those who have stuck with us. The Sci-Tech thread from the Fray always makes me smile. I wish I had all the old Fray threads. I've made most of what I do have available, though it looks like I'm due to move them to a new host. It's good to see you again. 1930. vonKreedon - 12/3/2008 5:57:11 PM Jexster is the one reason I don't post here with any regularity or interest. Cal used to mock me for claiming that one can be shouted down in an online environment, Jex is empirical proof of the possibility. 1931. thoughtful - 12/3/2008 11:19:43 PM I said it a long time ago...Grisham's law come to the fray/mote. The bad posters will drive out the good.
We did used to have fabulous discussions around here...that caused me to think and stretch as good intellectual exchange should. I've looked back at some really old posts from the late 90s that i'd saved and was stunned at how sharp the other posters were and how much sharper that made me. It was really a mutually beneficial exchange. EG, I remember learning about ochams' razor here. It helped me to grow and I was better for it.
This place hasn't been that way in a long long time and I'm sorry for it. Any half way decent exchanges seem to deteriorate into ugliness, for which no one is better off. 1932. jexster - 12/4/2008 1:46:20 AM Jexster is the one reason I don't post here with any regularity or interest. Cal used to mock me for claiming that one can be shouted down in an online environment, Jex is empirical proof of the possibility.
I will gouge your eyeballs out and skull fuck you 1933. jexster - 12/4/2008 1:49:06 AM Last time I had a "lengthy" discussion with VK..I defended Manny Wallerstein's thesis that the War on Iraq was both symptom and cause of the demise of the US as one of the four global hegemons in the history of World Capitalism
I leave it to VK to declare his motives for raising the White Flag of Surrender 1934. jexster - 12/4/2008 1:49:46 AM EG, I remember learning about ochams' razor here. It helped me to grow and I was better for it.
Why UR welcome! 1935. jexster - 12/4/2008 1:51:45 AM Waaay back in the day when Nixon was president, I recall a Kissinger quote about Robert McNamara to the effect that he could overwhelm his opponents in any argument, silence them and leave them totally unpersuaded
Such is my cross to bear I thought then and knew a LONG time ago 1936. wonkers2 - 12/4/2008 2:28:17 AM Please, Occam's Razor. 1937. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/4/2008 3:27:41 AM . . . sometimes spelled Ockham's razor 1938. jexster - 12/4/2008 4:47:04 AM Hey Wonks! You still sporting a Nehru Jacket???
 1939. jexster - 12/4/2008 4:50:19 AM
 1940. arkymalarky - 12/4/2008 5:00:20 AM Things descended into drama a few years ago and a lot of people left as a result. IMHO, many who stayed failed to adequately nurture the site in a number of ways after that, including benign neglect. I'm as guilty of this (probably more so) as anyone. But the hosted thread structure--which looked at anyone policing a thread before the thread host stepped in as an encroachment on their territory--exacerbated the problem. The individual hosting is great, but policing is a tall order for many people. However, even considering all that, Jex has been the only consistent issue since the Great Schism.
When I was a kid we used to go up the block to what we called "The Little Store" with the neighbor kids to spend our allowance. The store owners were a rather heavy older couple. One neighbor kid called them "Mr and Mrs Fatso" whenever we came in. He fancied himself as a big kidder and he didn't have the basic social skills to know better. When the owners finally told him that if he couldn't be respectful he couldn't come into the store any more, we all felt very awkward, including the owners and the kid. But enough was enough.
For me, the line is crossed when a poster targets and harasses another poster or posters in ways that impair their ability to function in the forum and ways which others can't ignore. That's bullying and I despise bullies. The other line I consider as moderator is being a general, chronic, impossible to ignore nuisance, but we have always tried to defer to the thread host first on that. I don't think, for obvious reasons, that's a practical policy any more.
So Jex can be on the defensive instead of the offensive for a change, or he can facilitate rather than inhibit discussion and quit singling out his personal "Mr Fatsos," or the hammer can come down. It's entirely in his court. And I like Jex. I liked the neighbor kid. But the proprietors were right on in telling him to have some respect for others and for making it clear he wouldn't be welcome back if he didn't. 1941. Wombat - 12/4/2008 5:44:52 PM While I do not contribute as much as I used to, I lurk daily. I am of two minds. I know from my interactions with Jex on the History thread that he can be a constructive and amusing contributor. At the same time, there are some threads that I barely look at, because they are all Jex all the time, with rendundant and sometimmes abusive screeds. Many of us lose patience with particular contributors (me and Concerned, for example), and most of us have particular shticks in our posting style that can irritate.
It is too bad that a degree of civility might have to come from Wabbit's "big stick," but if it's deemed necessary, I won't protest. 1942. wonkers2 - 12/4/2008 5:47:03 PM IMHO we need more active participants like Jex, not fewer. Anyone who doesn't agree with or is offended by his posts need not reply and can easily scroll past them as I do many of them. Jexter attempts to harrass me are sometimes annoying but nothing I'm unable to tolerate and certainly would not cause me to leave the Mote. However, I can see how his use of racist, religious and ethnic slurs might discourage others from participating in the forum. 1943. vonKreedon - 12/4/2008 6:42:53 PM Wonker says:
" Anyone who doesn't agree with or is offended by his posts need not reply and can easily scroll past them as I do many of them."
Unfortunately one cannot "easily scroll past" Jex's massively serial posts. I regularly find that in threads I might be interested in posting to that over 80% of the posts are Jex posts, and well over 80% of those are to my reading raving abusive drivel. It is simply not worth the effort to try and post to the Mote because of Jex's ravings. If there were an Ignore feature that would remove Jex from view it might be doable, but not with current all Jex all the time in all the threads environment.
The Mote might need more active participants, but not like Jex and it will not get them with an unfettered Jex drowning out such participants. 1944. wonkers2 - 12/4/2008 6:54:24 PM Lighten up, VK! The Mote isn't ever going to compete with the Encyclopedia Britannica or Wikipedia.
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