that is simply not true. perhaps you think it's changing because i have finally given up on my ability to get certain people to keep to my very consistent moderating theme.

this place is remarkably free from constraint. here is a reliable guiding principle: you can be a jerk because you strayed into jerkhood. or jerkdom. (whatever is the right word.) that can and does happen to all of us, me too, you too. nobody gets the boot for that, because everybody's guilty of that. but if your goal is to be a jerk to your fellows here in the forum who don't agree with your viewpoint, then you'll be invited to leave. if your goal is to see how much you can get away with, to try to find the limit, then you'll find the limit.

i invite you to move over to reddit. but if you don't find reddit to your liking, and this place is more your cup of tea, i submit to you the possibility there are reasons it's your cup of tea. if this place had reddit's moderating style it would be reddit.

and look, i've done what is pretty much not done in the world of reader forums: invite or at least allow the public gripes and questions about moderation. but i'm reaching my limit here.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

     Sorry, you're wrong about you. (Play along with me here) My point is that more people in society are looking to live life and experience less offense, more of those people will be more easily offended, more will complain to you, you will be forced to read threads here and do you ever consistent moderation more often. To add, I did not complain about your moderation, as a matter of fact I pointed out both the reason to have banned duffy, and the cost of doing so in my post.

edit: corrected my post with a correction so as to be more correct

well, fine, but i don't give a good god damn about what more people in society are looking to do, and that is absolutely reflected in the moderation here. you may feel free to take any number of socially unacceptable positions. you may feel free to consider the #metoo movement a crock of shit. i might agree with a number of your theses.

but if you're going to tell me that somebody who is going out of his way to offend, for the sake of offending, is righteous because his topic concerns the PC subject matter du jour, no. the subject matter is not righteous cover. there are ways to express a view unpopular in the current zeitgeist without being a dick. if your goal is to express that view, no problem doing so here. if your goal is to be a dick, then yes you'll have a problem here.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I am pretty sure that if being a dick intentionally were the criteria for banning, then there is surely no better example than the 1300 post thread in the other forum?

This is very true. Well said.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

-
WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST SAY SO??? lol (see this is where Duffy could have added a gif of you poundong your forehead on the keyboard, so now you feel the loss) Honestly, I'd prefer you be able to maintain this sub-forum with very little grief, or shut it down. We'd all be just fine doing this in the women's forum. :) Sorry, I can't stop, but the bolded is sincere.

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

Dan, this type of behavior is nothing a well-timed .gif cannot address.

E.g.:



Done and done!

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

i'll choose your first option: to maintain this forum with very little grief, which usually gets done through these unfortunate moments, once or twice a year. otherwise, this forum is not hard to maintain.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Dan. What was the outcome after you reviewed the posts where H20 is posting for Frank....or Frank posting under H20's name? Several of the posts are signed "Frank"? Shouldn't that thread be shut down given that banned STr's are not allowed to post under another person's name?

I like this forum. Smart debates, intelligent people from a broad cross section of experience, and some highly entertaining antics and memes.

I’ve had my ass handed to me a few times when taking a position without hard facts and evidence which, to me, separates this forum from all others (never done Reddit or similar). And I’m thick-skinned enough to handle the occasional personal attacks. Some of the thin skinned folks should just leave, IMO, instead of driving out the offenders. Easier for them to leave than for you to issue bans, but I really don’t care enough to worry about it either way.

I really don’t like to see people banned other than for direct physical threats; then again, I don’t have the pleasure of being the referee.

Having said all that: on balance, when I consider all in my life that is important to me and where I’m willing to spend mental and emotional energy to the point of being affected, ST isn’t in my top 50 other than when/if I lay out a very personal issue (which I’ve done here once) where I’m emotionally vested. In that instance, all who responded were helpful and kind and appropriate.

Otherwise, bans or no, it really just isn’t that important, people should just chill. (JSA - have a good chill out meme?)

i think if you follow that thread the moderating decisions made will become apparent.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

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RayGovett
Hughson CA
Be Prepared-- Strike Swiftly -- Who Dares Wins- Without warning-"it will be hard. I can do it"

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

Ain't no party like a windywave party
'Cause a windywave party don't stop!

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

This thread reminds me of the fallout after TheForge got himself banned. Someone keeps pushing the limit until Dan gets fed up and cuts him loose. Then everyone throws a fit about it.

IMO Duffy became some kind of angry troll in the last year. He went from engaging in profound discussion to downright shit-stirring. It got to where I would avoid threads that he was involved in (a lot of them). I got tired of his shtick:

1. say something vague
2. someone asks for clarification
3. answers their question with a question
4. others jump in and take guesses
5. answers more questions with questions
5. finds a victim to belittle because they assumed something, or asked something "stupid"
6. interjects about how awesome he is
7. basks in the attention he gets from all the crap he stirred up

Hardly a method for creating thought-provoking debate or friendly rapport. It was just a bunch of dysfunctional attention whoring.

This place has changed a little since I went into exile (not banned by The Godfather, but as a result of a stupid 2012 election bet I made with Mr. Mopdahl). I was once worse than Mr. Duffy or TheForge or Art Franke or any of the other dearly departed, and not even a back channel word of caution from Lieutenant Dan or even an attempt by those whom I tormented so to have me evicted. Those worthies had thick skin, for one. Many are still here and can attest to how bad I could be on many occasions (especially during election years ;-).

Admittedly, I don't recall labeling anyone an idiot (including Mr. YaHey LOL!) or cursing at them, but I didn't need to. I think I was a lot subtler about tarring a debate opponent than our two recent evictees.

But I also agree that this is The Man's home. We shouldn't be so quick to throw fecal material all over the place, especially when it's he who's allowing us to live here rent-free.

Sometimes I think some of us just wake up one morning with an internet death wish and come in here seeking banishment. Lemmings going over a cliff, LR denizens courting the ire of Il Duce. They're one and the same! :-)

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

Whilst you were (and are, to some extent) a shit disturber, that's fine. Nothing wrong with being a shit disturber or taking people to task over their views or what they write. The line is when you are mean about it.

I don't recall you ever being mean to anyone. I could be wrong, but that's not my recollection.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

I had to put on the t-shirt I got for Christmas before posting to this thread.

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

Do you think Duffy was mean to some here? II never noticed that. And I don't know Windywave that well but he didn't seem mean either.

I never visited the offending thread, mostly because the title alone told me trouble was likely, so I can't say I know what it was that brought them to their outcomes. Hopefully they were launched for really good reasons. Like "9.0 on the Richter scale" reasons.

That would be the Duffy Way. The Tao of Duffy. :-)

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

Based on slowmans stated reasons for the bans, its possible.

Let's leave it at that.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Can you explain something to me? You spend hours and hours here, seemingly most days, and you are discussing whether Duffy was ever mean to anyone, offering your opinions, and yet you haven't even read the thread that got him banned?

I've "known" Duffy for years, and I count him an internet friend. I've never known him to be "mean" (though whether he was "mean" or not would seem to me to be a matter of subjective opinion -- outside of a death threat or "You're an idiot," I suppose).

I also can't remember exactly, but I think I first found the LR in 2004 -- after migrating from the tri forum -- and I remember reading his stuff not too many years after that. He never seemed mean as the word is classically understood by me. But I've said that I didn't read that thread because the title alone told me there was likely to be some blowback, mostly because -- in my opinion and apropos of nothing else -- it seems to me that people have thinner skins these days. But was the blowback going to be banishment? I didn't think that, admittedly.

Recall, as well, that I've supported Lieutenant Dan's actions. This place is his place, not our place. We're guests here. So he calls the shots in the end and if we don't like it, it's up to us to decamp. And I'm sure he'd be broken-hearted to see us go, right?

As far as the "hours and hours here" thing, that's not exactly true. Smartphones with browsers are a wonderful thing, and I'm a world-class multitasker, with about 20 pots boiling at any one time, so if I were the LR I wouldn't be too flattered at the attentions received from me of late, because they're not all that much in truth. ;-)

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"Politics is just show business for ugly people."

Regardless, it makes no sense to wonder if he has ever been mean without reading the thread in which he got himself banned. Carry on...