The Moderator Mac Attack Thread

[Marcus Bales]

Duke:

Seriously, dude, you've radically misinterpreted the tone and purpose of this bulletin board. You're taken aback by the reaction to your interests. You feel an injustice has been done. By now you've probably found some other internet site that is allowing you and those who enjoy the tone and purpose of your mode to enjoy the tone and purpose of your mode, there -- and the only reason you still look at this board or post here occasionally is that you remain outraged by what seems to you to be an injustice done not only to you but to the other ICQ refugees.

It's not worth your time.

No, really. It's not. The people who post here are simply not interested in the kind of thing that interests you. Your attempts to insist on justice don't merely fall on deaf ears, they are interpreted as attacks on the tone and manner of the whole Zefrank mode -- and, I think, rightly so. The modality here is one of play. You want to be serious.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with wanting to be serious, with a hard-charging concern with justice and rights. But internet sites such as Zefrank are private property, not public commons, and you have no more right to insist on seriousness amid play than you do to insist that people just read the damned title of the book or play or movie instead of playing Charades.

This is a place where people come to play all sorts of games; no doubt you think it frivolous, and you resent, illegitimately, I think, the moderators' and owner's insistence on the game-playing mode. You also resent, with a good deal more reason, the moderators' and owner's manner in trying to preserve their preserve: you think they have treated you and your compatriots unjustly.

In fact, right is on their side, though I think that you're right that the name-calling is simply wrong on the face of it, in addition to being naively inflammatory. The moderators and the owner here have very likely never seen what real flame wars look like, and don't have much of an idea about why their own name-calling could engender outrage and resentment. In their defense, they are used to the play-mode here, where name-calling for everyone's amusement is common. Because there are play-acting and game-playing limits to the name-calling on this site, the moderators have mistakenly, in my view, used a play tool in a real way. It's like offering to have a swordfight with a real swordsman but by the rules of epee, using a blunted foil. Because they're good at epee, they have no idea what the real thing is like.

Forgive them. Move on. It's not worth your time.

Marcus