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Quitters: Members Who've Left The Forum

rynner2 said:
Well, I never thought it would come to this, but after all the decades I've been posting here, it's no longer fun - in fact it's getting downright poisonous.

I'm referring to the heavy handed and immoderate modding that has recently been imposed on the MB, with stupid rules invented ten minutes ago for no perceivable benefit, and with random deletions of posts because of these rules.

The chief activist seems to be the Sorcerer's apprentice (who seems to have a down on me for some reason), but I fear the Sorcerer himself has taken his eye off the ball.

So farewell to all my friends here (I know I have some from the Likes I've accumulated :)), but under present conditions I won't be posting here again.

Oh, I almost forgot - we're supposed to add a comment - right...

FECK!
Click to expand...

ARSE!

Possibly things will revert to (un)normalilty once the current experiments have played out.

I'm not alone in hoping to hear from you anon. TTFN!

Will you still be doing The Lone Coastguard?
 
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rynner2 said:
Well, I never thought it would come to this, but after all the decades I've been posting here, it's no longer fun - in fact it's getting downright poisonous.

I'm referring to the heavy handed and immoderate modding that has recently been imposed on the MB, with stupid rules invented ten minutes ago for no perceivable benefit, and with random deletions of posts because of these rules.

The chief activist seems to be the Sorcerer's apprentice (who seems to have a down on me for some reason), but I fear the Sorcerer himself has taken his eye off the ball.

So farewell to all my friends here (I know I have some from the Likes I've accumulated :)), but under present conditions I won't be posting here again.

Oh, I almost forgot - we're supposed to add a comment - right...

FECK!
Click to expand...
Come back skipper.
 
Enter Captain Corcoran.)

Captain.
My gallant crew, good morning!

Chorus. (saluting)
Sir, good morning!

Captain.
I hope you're all quite well.

Chorus. (as before)
Quite well; and you, sir?

Captain.
I am in reasonable health, and happy
To meet you all once more.

Chorus. (as before)
You do us proud, sir!

Captain.
I am the Captain of the Pinafore!

Chorus.
And a right good captain, too!

Captain.
You're very, very good,
And be it understood,
I command a right good crew.

Chorus.
We're very, very good,
And be it understood,
He commands a right good crew.

Captain.
Though related to a peer,
I can hand, reef, and steer,
And ship a selvagee;
I am never known to quail
At the fury of a gale,
And I'm never, never sick at sea!

Chorus.
What, never?

Captain.
No, never!

Chorus.
What, never?

Captain.
Hardly ever!

Chorus.
He's hardly ever sick at sea!
Then give three cheers, and one cheer more,
For the hardy Captain of the Pinafore!
Then give three cheers, and one cheer more,
For the Captain of the Pinafore!

Captain.
I do my best to satisfy you all —

Chorus.
And with you we're quite content.

Captain.
You're exceedingly polite,
And I think it only right
To return the compliment.

Chorus.
We're exceedingly polite,
And he thinks it's only right
To return the compliment.

Captain.
Bad language or abuse,
I never, never use,
Whatever the emergency;
Though "bother it" I may
Occasionally say,
I never use a big, big D —

Chorus.
What, never?

Captain.
No, never!

Chorus.
What, never?

Captain.
Hardly ever!

Chorus.
Hardly ever swears a big, big D —
Then give three cheers, and one cheer more,
For the well-bred Captain of the Pinafore!
Then give three cheers, and one cheer more,
For the Captain of the Pinafore!
Click to expand...

Come back soon Rynner old chum.
 
rynner2 said:
Well, I never thought it would come to this, but after all the decades I've been posting here, it's no longer fun - in fact it's getting downright poisonous.
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OK. So, guessing that you don't intend responding, this reply will in effect be rhetorical. But I will reply to it. I think poisonous is not only hyperbolic, it's wrong. Some of the vitriol that was being batted around pre-July, however, was toxic, but none of that was from the mod/admin team. Which leads onto:

rynner2 said:
I'm referring to the heavy handed and immoderate modding that has recently been imposed on the MB, with stupid rules invented ten minutes ago for no perceivable benefit, and with random deletions of posts because of these rules.
Click to expand...

They weren't "invented ten minutes ago". Most of them, especially the ones about copy and pasting entire articles and news-dumping have been in place for years - in fact, you and I had a discussion about it on this thread that specifically covers the issue over three years ago, in which I explained the rationale in detail. Despite this you carried on doing so despite several discussions both on and off thread with me in the years since, hence the deletion of posts quoting entire articles, of no Fortean interest at all, and no comment even accompanying it.

rynner2 said:
The chief activist seems to be the Sorcerer's apprentice (who seems to have a down on me for some reason), but I fear the Sorcerer himself has taken his eye off the ball.
Click to expand...
"The Sorceror" has done nothing of the sort. And Yithian's a very good moderator - just because we have been enacting what has actually been policy all along (with the exception of banning politics, which seems to have been generally accepted) which you have ignored despite frequent conversations, you have now decided to take umbrage. Well, I'm not about to apologise.

rynner2 said:
So farewell to all my friends here (I know I have some from the Likes I've accumulated :)), but under present conditions I won't be posting here again.

Oh, I almost forgot - we're supposed to add a comment - right...

FECK!
Click to expand...

Ryn, we go back a very long way. You yourself were a mod on here: and you know all I ever wanted was for it to be a calm and respectful place, and that now we've largely achieved that. It's taken years. The copy and paste thing is for a very good reason, ie that if we got sued the mag would sink, so it's an editorial line, and I have to adhere to that. We're here at their expense. We've ditched politics because that's where 80% of said "poison" was, and as I said most people accept it, whether they agree or not. This is a Fortean board, about Fortean subjects, not a general chat board that occasionally veers into the outre. I know you don't like change, but change is the way of the world, and we have to adapt to it.

You also know me well enough to know that I don't bluff, I do what I say I'll do to the best of my ability, and that I don't respond to passive-aggressiveness. You are by far the most prolific poster here, but post-count alone does not immediately merit some sort of casting vote. There's no case for exceptionalism. I've always listened to you, and responded or explained things when you've asked. Unfortunately in recent times you have seemingly stopped affording me the same in return.

You will of course always be welcome if you choose to return - but the conditions aren't about to change, and the rules will continue to apply to everyone. If you want to speak privately you have my email address.

If you don't wish to return, then take care and thank you for all you have contributed. You will be remembered fondly.
 
Wow. I wasn't expecting that and it is, indeed, the end of an era.

FWIW I did not agree with the banning of political threads when it was introduced, and would personally have handled the toxicity differently. BUT so far it seems to have worked. There's far less rudeness, flouncing and snarkiness than there was previously. And, let's face it, those with strong views on Brexit, Trump, Jeremy Corbyn etc - on either side - were never going to persuade those on the other side and I can see that the constant arguing was off putting to casual browsers of the Board. And now that we have Mainstream News back the concern that we could no longer discuss major world events has gone away.

As for copypasta - as Stu says this has been Board policy for years and the mods have actually been pretty patient about it. Perhaps that patience is now becoming eroded, but I haven't noticed particularly hard handed modding on this.

So, hope you return Ryn.
 
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Crickey – Rynner’s about as old a timer as me. The dinosaurs (of which I’m a part) are being picked off one by one! J

Remember that big FTMB row back in the days of the infamous Virgin Queen, in which tons of people left because they couldn’t stand not being able to do whatever they wanted? It was the Dawn of the Age of Mod-Aquarius, when the first rules were really put into place that I recall and the mod team stood proud and tall against the Virgin Queen crew. I stayed on after that flap which if I recall split the board in half, but eventually even I left good Fort Fortania for the greener pastures of the Wunderkabinet when the FTMB set up the situation where you couldn’t even see the board unless you logged in, making it harder to keep up with things. But eventually the board was restored to a good working state and the Wunderkabinet became the Wonderbucket (i.e. wonder if anybody will post today) and I missed talking paranormal.

In your time away remember that the board is still here, and don’t stand on ceremony and refuse to rejoin if you change your mind about things or if you see a reason to post again. At the same time if you want to stay away, nobody but you knows about all the reasons that might be going on with the board and in your personal life to move you to this decision. I’ll be glad to read your thoughtful posts again if that happens; but if not, happy trails to you and I hope that you find fun ways to spend your time.
 
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N
rynner2 said:
Well, I never thought it would come to this, but after all the decades I've been posting here, it's no longer fun - in fact it's getting downright poisonous.

I'm referring to the heavy handed and immoderate modding that has recently been imposed on the MB, with stupid rules invented ten minutes ago for no perceivable benefit, and with random deletions of posts because of these rules.

The chief activist seems to be the Sorcerer's apprentice (who seems to have a down on me for some reason), but I fear the Sorcerer himself has taken his eye off the ball.

So farewell to all my friends here (I know I have some from the Likes I've accumulated :)), but under present conditions I won't be posting here again.

Oh, I almost forgot - we're supposed to add a comment - right...

FECK!
Click to expand...
Noooo "shout at sky cliche':eek:"
 
rynner2 said:
Well, I never thought it would come to this, but after all the decades I've been posting here, it's no longer fun - in fact it's getting downright poisonous.

I'm referring to the heavy handed and immoderate modding that has recently been imposed on the MB, with stupid rules invented ten minutes ago for no perceivable benefit, and with random deletions of posts because of these rules.

The chief activist seems to be the Sorcerer's apprentice (who seems to have a down on me for some reason), but I fear the Sorcerer himself has taken his eye off the ball.

So farewell to all my friends here (I know I have some from the Likes I've accumulated :)), but under present conditions I won't be posting here again.

Oh, I almost forgot - we're supposed to add a comment - right...

FECK!
Click to expand...

I pretty much reached the same decision several weeks ago and will have to confess to being crap and simply stalling since then as to wether I say something or just slip away... this won't be any surprise to anyone I'm in touch with by pm or elsewhere.

It's not about politics and it's not about censorship, it's about how people consider it reasonable to treat each other. When a person I've had on block for over a decade gets around it by becoming a mod, savages a disabled person in front of me for the utter audacity of expressing an opinion then not only can't see anything wrong with that but is supported for it - I can't ethically continue to support this forum.

I've lurked a while in the vague hope people might shape up, which has only persuaded me that recent events have gone to some people's heads, they're more high handed than ever.

Good on Ryn and good on anyone else who votes with their feet. I'm sad to go but can't support something I feel this strongly about.

 
OneWingedBird said:
When a person I've had on block for over a decade gets around it by becoming a mod, savages a disabled person in front of me for the utter audacity of expressing an opinion then not only can't see anything wrong with that but is supported for it - I can't ethically continue to support this forum.]
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Assuming this is directed at me, I'm utterly mystified as to what you are referencing. I'm not sure what 'savaging a disabled person' means, but i'm pretty confident that I'm innocent. I can even play the 'I have disabled friends card' here--that being true.

And the idea that I would volunteer to moderate for free and spend a chunk of my spare time making sure the forum runs properly just so I can force you to read my posts in spite of your IGNORE is... an indication that you are granting yourself a significantly larger place in my consciousness that you currently enjoy. Off the top of my head I can muster exactly three facts about you and I've never understood why you're the only person here who has ever stuck me on his ignore list. I did ask around, but nobody else seems to know: I'm sorry if I hit a nerve somehow.

If your post is referring to either of the othe two Mods, I'm equally mystified.
 
Yithian said:
"pdunno:

Assuming this is directed at me, I'm utterly mystified as to what you are referencing. I'm not sure what 'savaging a disabled person' means, but i'm pretty confident that I'm innocent.

And the idea that I would volunteer to moderate for free and spend a chunk of my spare time making sure the forum runs properly just so I can force you to read my posts in spite of your IGNORE is... granting yourself a significantly larger place in my consciousness that you currently enjoy.

If it is referring to either of the othe two Mods, I'm equally mystified.
Click to expand...

I think I may know what is being referenced here. A discussion on the now defunct UK politics thread where you took exception to a poster using ad homs and accusing everyone who disagreed with him of drinking Kool-Aid. I recall OWB getting upset about it at the time and saying you were being unfair (you weren't, although your irritation with the poster ignoring previous polite requests may have been showing through).

Edit: I wasn't aware of any disability issue.
 
Quake42 said:
I think I may know what is being referenced here. A discussion on the now defunct UK politics thread where you took exception to a poster using ad homs and accusing everyone who disagreed with him of drinking Kool-Aid. I recall OWB getting upset about it at the time and saying you were being unfair (you weren't, although your irritation with the poster ignoring previous polite requests may have been showing through).

Edit: I wasn't aware of any disability issue.
Click to expand...

Will go and have a look behind the curtain!
Kool-Aid should turn it up--but who's disabled?
 
Yithian said:
Will go and have a look behind the curtain!
Kool-Aid should turn it up--but who's disabled?
Click to expand...

I wasn't aware of any disability issue, as I say. The exchange that's in my mind was with Megadeth although a couple of others may have also been in the discussion
 
Just resurrected to read.

There's no discussion of disability whatsoever. Just my telling Megadeth to stop saying his opponents were 'Vile Scum'.

As I said: mystified.
 
OneWingedBird said:
I pretty much reached the same decision several weeks ago and will have to confess to being crap and simply stalling since then as to wether I say something or just slip away...
Click to expand...

If forty-four posts in the last month is 'slipping away', a great number of our members 'slip away' each and every month.
 
rynner2 said:
So farewell to all my friends here (I know I have some from the Likes I've accumulated :))
Click to expand...
for the record although i never liked your posts, i always liked your posts

I'll tell you what I'll do. Take off a few weeks. Grow yourself a beard. Draw flies. Just think about it for a while. If you still feel the same way when you come back, it's okay by me.
 
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