Sad

Miami Vice? What a crcok of shtie! Dunno what the influence was, Ralph... may have been an old Greco post or perhaps an episode of the Dukkies of Hazzard. Vroooom! "Ahd maary yoo if yoo wusnt ma cuzzin" "Nevah stopped no one befor" :-)

Ah yes ... "dookie" ... very much a blast from the past of third grade. (I remember using that word around the house until my parents figured out what it meant.)

It's a great word. Up there with goon, dweeb, twerp, and my favourite: weenie.

I was not complaning Storms.

Could someone at least put a sign over the Gen Dis forum advising that it is *not* a safe environment for mentally ill people??

Who did you have in mind, Jon?

No one in particular. It's just we've had more than one incidence of people complaining that they were maltreated in the gen diss forum on account of their mental illnesses not being recognised.

Well I doubt the few that we've had here would take any notice if there was a notice. I don't think ill people have been deliberately targeted. I can only speak for myself, and I'd have to say that I'm an equal opportunites antagonist.

We have a saying: I'm not a bigot, I hate everyone equally. In certain moods I like to tell people I got an honours degree in misanthropology.

I'm not saying you treat them differently, Missi - just that we need a disclaimer. Then at least we can say, "Look, didn't you see the sign on the door as you came in?"

I doubt it would make much of a difference, Hen... we writes what we writes...

I don't think mental illness is the issue but it could be worth pointing out that people who think they can participate in an internet discussion forum in an opinionated way but not be argued with or insulted are likely to be disappointed.

'Argued with' I have no problem with, even heatedly. 'Insulted', now....

One man's insult is another man's compliment. I got hold on the wrong end of the stick, Jon, I thought you wanted us all to handle them with kid gloves, when in fact you just want to feel justified in telling them to fuck off when they get upset! Perhaps we should have certificate ratings like movies. Top forum 'U', Gen Diss 'XXX'

Ralph, I know you weren't! Hence my taking the piss out of your typo and my subsequent launch into a Dukes of Hazzard spiel. Ho hum.

Perhaps the disclaimer should be: Mentally ill people, when posting under the influence of spliffs and booze and insulting anyone who treads in their path, will get shat upon? After all, that's what it's about.

It strikes me that everyone seems to be missing the point; that people, mentally ill or not, can be stopped from posting without warning, ryhme or reason if they annoy the wrong people. I can understand why Jasper was blocked but, so far as I know, Rita and Maxwell were never given any indication that they might be breaking any rules and yet they were blocked without warning. It's difficult not to break the rules when no-one has ever said what the rules are... we'll tell you what you did wrong a few days after we've blocked you! Strange that the 'Forum Cleaner' who - no doubt caused the Pop2Top to be disabled by bumping all the latest threads off the top forum - probably caused the ensuing 'spammer' witch hunt which seemed to be the excuse for the 'blockings', never even got a repremand; I wonder why :o)

Isn't that what they complain about, anyway?

I missed this 'Maxwell' character, but Rita didn't need a warning - she knew very well what was going down. No, I don't think mental illness is the issue. But if Alumbloom's/Harold's/Stephen_d's argument is, "You shouldn't treat me like a twat - I'm mentally ill," I'd like to be able to say, "Well, we told you the gen diss forum wasn't a suitable environment for you." As for how we treat them - kid gloves, no, but why can't we just ignore them? It's like arguing against Nazis - the minute you respond to them in an argumentative manner, you're accepting they have points worth arguing against. They don't. They lynch themselves within a couple of sentences. So just leave them to it, and if they flood the forums with stupid threads, delete the threads. "It strikes me that everyone seems to be missing the point; that people, mentally ill or not, can be stopped from posting without warning, ryhme or reason if they annoy the wrong people." You'd have a point if you took out the 'rhyme or reason' bit.

I personally don't think anyone should be blocked; a frightfully unpopular opinion, but there you go. I have no problem with people with mental illness coming on here; I think it's probably a healthier way to vent than some other methods they may have tried before. If forum members don't want to respond, they don't have to. I try to, just on the general principle that people often need an 'ear' without needing to have something 'fixed' for them.

There are plenty of people who use this forum regularly that suffer from a mental illness, without having to try and destroy the site. I agree that people should be (where possible) informed of why they have been banned (even if it is self evident). There's a lot of bollocks spoken about this, but the truth is, Tony and co set up this site. They had aims and objectives for it and if they feel someone is trying to screw it up, they are entitled to act as they see fit. Social inclusion is not about watching people destroy something you love, in the name of an abstract liberal ethos. Tony held off banning anyone for a long time as, I believe, he felt it was contarary to some aspects of the site values. However, if people (irrespective of their mental state) abuse the freedom they have been afforded, then so be it. There is a greater good. As for the forums being less 'twinkly', well lord only knows what that means,but this forum has been battered beyond recognition. I hope that it can be about people enjoying and sharing great writing once again. Firstly we need some people to post some work (other than mscraig (although I'm sure they're very good)) and people to regain enough confidence to start to flag good work and for people to be able to discuss it freely.

I agree, TT. It was probably a difficult choice for Tony and Co, and I'm not complaining about the decisions they made. I just think it's too bad that there has been a certain lack of. ... restraint ... in some members, leading to the banning. I (being the eternal optimist) would hope that they would come back on at some point and perhaps be a little less aggressive toward other forum members; one can have serious disagreements without getting nasty. Then again, perhaps some forum members are also a little over-sensitive about things said on here; forums are, after all, a prime place to bullshit eachother...

This wasn't about disageements. We all have disagreements. The people that are now excluded, deliberately acted to harm the site. That is why they are banned. It's not censorship, it's not the influence of certain ABC members, it's not Tony discriminating against sufferers of mental illness. It's just that they prevented (in their own ways) the site from being what Tony wants it to be. That is his perogative. Whether people agree or not, Tony didn't start this site so that he could victimise people, in fact quite the opposite. Yes, people can be over sensitive, we ALL can. But the people who are banned are not banned because anyone was over sensitive with them. It's because they persistently were twonks.

>> Strange that the 'Forum Cleaner' who - no doubt caused the Pop2Top to be disabled by bumping all the latest threads off the top forum - probably caused the ensuing 'spammer' witch hunt which seemed to be the excuse for the 'blockings', never even got a repremand; I wonder why :o) << As usual the thickest sad sack this site has ever been unfortunate enough to attract is a million miles from the truth. I didn't cause pop2top to be suspended, but maybe the twat who popped the 'registry' thread to the top 3 mins before the suspension, DID. As far as I am aware all those banned were asked privately several times to behave (I know this is the case where ritatripes is concerned because I was told by the horse at the last meeting I attended), and they ALL chose to ignore the requests and continued to be destructive. The goon posted an illegal document. The wallaby shagger was just plain ignorant and ruinous. The only mistake I believe the management made was in not banning Slimey also. He is a malignant nasty presence here that is determined that he will have things his way. Yeah right!

Jasper wasn't always ignorant and ruinous, Missi. He posted many positive things, espcecially on this forum. Whether you personally agreed with his literary interpretations is beside the point. His only problem was getting a little carried away in spouting off (and saying some quite inflammatory things), and getting too abusive with some other forum members.

Yes I noticed his posts on THIS forum, at one time there was 14 of his threads on the front page, mostly consecutive. Even his literary comment was a waste of time as he had an unshakeable belief in his own ability to pick what was best, when in reality he was no better a judge of writing than most others here. Humility certainly wasn't his forte. Whatever you may think, most people here are bloody glad he's gone. The same applies to the other two, and Slimey would be missed by no more than 2 users.

I suspect most of us have an unshakeable belief that we know best, even when we pretend we don't, Missi. Humility is not a valued trait in this culture. I will say that it's been much more peaceful of late.

I could get bogged down in a very time-consuming discussion on the 'unshakeable belief' topic, but the gains probably aren't worth the effort. At least that is my unshakeable view. Actually self-belief is not one of my strong suits either. Before the derisory comments from the usual suspects regarding that last comment, I would point out that those that actually know me would agree.

Erm, I probably wouldn't argue with that, Missi. And I don't know you personally. But shaky self-belief is not a bad thing in itself. It's more normal than not, methinks. Anyhow, I'm off to beddy-bye. The shite day job drains the vitality from me. Barbecue tomorrow, shampooing the carpets on Sunday; no energy for either. Yee. Hah. Sweet dreams, Missi and everyone.