I HEREBY STEP DOWN FOR NOW

[Gadianton]

It was a no-win scenario, sadly, in that context. Trolls get to troll, they are happy. Trolls get banned, they are happy because they can brag they were so powerful they had to be banned. Either way, they get attention, which is what they want.

In a different context though, consider that Shades’ rules were supported and the wholesale disruption of a community was countered. That’s a win.

Do you remember when Will Schryver's wife, Mrs. Will Schryver showed up one day after Will had either been modded or booed off the stage, to tell us how brilliant will is? For some reason that just came to mind today. Had to have a chuckle about that.

I'm curious about the new or sometimes-posters showing up to express gratitude for Shades allowing unrestricted free speech for so many years, up until his recent gagging by progressives. Are they expressing gratitude for being exempted from following his own rules all these years? Shades has 13 forum rules. If anybody has been posting here without restrictions, then they've been posting without expectation to follow Shade's 13 rules. That's a lot of rules by the way, God himself only has 10.

[Res Ipsa]

Of course he is. We gave him what he wanted.

He wanted free reign of the forum which is what Shades gave him. That's gone now, which is why he's expressing his frustration with the fact Shades stepped down. Not sure what evidence you're using to arrive to the opposite conclusion that he's happy.

The big payoff for malicious trolling is the destruction of the online community. He’s not frustrated that Shades stepped down. He’s just used it as an excuse for more trolling.

I do agree with Marcus that trolling is a no-lose proposition for the troll. They see being banned as a win. They see being able to disrupt as a win. But the thing that I think we should not let them win is to divide the community — turn folks against each other. For us, destruction of the community is the real loss. That’s the part of the fight we should try to win.

[K Graham]

He wanted free reign of the forum which is what Shades gave him. That's gone now, which is why he's expressing his frustration with the fact Shades stepped down. Not sure what evidence you're using to arrive to the opposite conclusion that he's happy.

The big payoff for malicious trolling is the destruction of the online community. He’s not frustrated that Shades stepped down. He’s just used it as an excuse for more trolling.

I do agree with Marcus that trolling is a no-lose proposition for the troll. They see being banned as a win. They see being able to disrupt as a win. But the thing that I think we should not let them win is to divide the community — turn folks against each other. For us, destruction of the community is the real loss. That’s the part of the fight we should try to win.

We probably have different definitions of trolling.

Mike has no interest in "destroying the community," he's only interested in entertaining himself because that's what these radical right types get off on. Causing a ruckus because they think they're "owning the libs" by doing so. The Wiki defines it as:

"In internet slang, a troll is a person who posts inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.), a newsgroup, forum, chat room, online video game, or blog), with the intent of provoking readers into displaying emotional responses, or manipulating others' perception. This is typically for the troll's amusement, or to achieve a specific result such as disrupting a rival's online activities or manipulating a political process. Even so, Internet trolling can also be defined as purposefully causing confusion or harm to other users online, for no reason at all."

Yep, sounds about right.

[Markk]

You were one of the ones who wanted me to step down so the moderators could do their thing. In fact, you had a rather dramatic meltdown over it.

So it's unnecessary for me to tell you something you already know.

…every board has “trolls,” but to your point here…most boards have “Nanny’s” and Jersey Girl is by and far this boards Nanny. Being the board charlatan, I would ban her just for that last post, as if she owes you anything.

I for one appreciate your vision, moderators will just screw it up if given total control. Right or wrong I believe the best government leader would be a wise benevolent dictator, which would be impossible in a large population and system, but you my friend has pulled that off for a long time.

I vote you ban Jersey Girl, get rid of the drama queen, and take back your throne as the benevolent dictator.

Request, can you please change my position name from nursery back to Charlatan like on the past board?

[Res Ipsa]

The big payoff for malicious trolling is the destruction of the online community. He’s not frustrated that Shades stepped down. He’s just used it as an excuse for more trolling.

I do agree with Marcus that trolling is a no-lose proposition for the troll. They see being banned as a win. They see being able to disrupt as a win. But the thing that I think we should not let them win is to divide the community — turn folks against each other. For us, destruction of the community is the real loss. That’s the part of the fight we should try to win.

We probably have different definitions of trolling.

Mike has no interest in "destroying the community," he's only interested in entertaining himself because that's what these radical right types get off on. Causing a ruckus because they think they're "owning the libs" by doing so. The Wiki defines it as:

"In internet slang, a troll is a person who posts inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.), a newsgroup, forum, chat room, online video game, or blog), with the intent of provoking readers into displaying emotional responses, or manipulating others' perception. This is typically for the troll's amusement, or to achieve a specific result such as disrupting a rival's online activities or manipulating a political process. Even so, Internet trolling can also be defined as purposefully causing confusion or harm to other users online, for no reason at all."

Yep, sounds about right.

Like Marcus, I’ve read and am still reading from the abundant literature on trolling. Trolling is not strictly a right wing phenomenon. And what better way could there be to “own the libs” than to target and destroy a perceived online community of Libs?

[Res Ipsa]

You were one of the ones who wanted me to step down so the moderators could do their thing. In fact, you had a rather dramatic meltdown over it.

So it's unnecessary for me to tell you something you already know.

…every board has “trolls,” but to your point here…most boards have “Nanny’s” and Jersey Girl is by and far this boards Nanny. Being the board charlatan, I would ban her just for that last post, as if she owes you anything.

I for one appreciate your vision, moderators will just screw it up if given total control. Right or wrong I believe the best government leader would be a wise benevolent dictator, which would be impossible in a large population and system, but you my friend has pulled that off for a long time.

I vote you ban Jersey Girl, get rid of the drama queen, and take back your throne as the benevolent dictator.

Request, can you please change my position name from nursery back to Charlatan like on the past board?

I think only admins can do that. I’d suggest PMing Shades.

[Jersey Girl]

You were one of the ones who wanted me to step down so the moderators could do their thing. In fact, you had a rather dramatic meltdown over it.

So it's unnecessary for me to tell you something you already know.

At no point did I ask you to step down so the moderators could do their thing. The moderators could have done their thing with you at the helm if only you would have allowed them to.

I think I threw at least 2 fits here. I apologized for them. Here is an example of one of the fits wherein you can clearly see that at no point did I ever want you to step down. You can see clearly what my concerns were. My concerns were for YOU personally and for this board as a community.

I'm going to bold or enlarge what bears out my above claim.

WRONG. Here you had the gall to lecture and correct Philo Sofee who is responding directly to your neglect of this board. All these years I have come to love you like a brother, Shades, but you have really screwed up here.

What do you expect people to do? Sit on their hands when you are not even here? How long do you expect them to do that? How long? The moderation thread has been ongoing for months now. How many times have you replied there? How many times have you even looked in there?

If you have outside commitments that prevent you from monitoring this board then you need to accept that and let someone else substitute for you in your absence. That's what a good manager does, Shades. That is what is needed.

Otherwise you piss off an entire community because you do not have the time to attend to the job. I cannot imagine what the mod team has been feeling all this time. I just cannot. Every time they come in here they MUST have a back log of reports a mile long. Is that fair to them? Is it fair to any of us?

WE are the board, Shades. WE are and here lately you come in here after we've posted our assess off in protest, trying like all hell to follow the rules in the face of two trolls who do NOT follow the rules and you come in here and you lecture US? You come in here and correct US?

Correct YOURSELF, Shades. Take a break. Give yourself the gift of time if you require it right now and give us some sanity. Put someone second in command. Please ask Gad if he might do it. I know he can do it if he's agreeable to it. I trust him for over 2 decades now. I know him longer than I know you! He's got his head on straight here. He knows what needs to be done and he can do it. He might not act as a clone of you but he will get close. Close enough to the satisfaction of most every poster I am sure. If he can't or won't, I offer my own services. I will not mess up this board, I promise you. I will not mess up your mod team, I promise. I have professional personnel management skills and education, and can apply them to this work.

Instead of putting us through your libertarian idealistic view of utopia and free speech (to which we have all been agreeable), you are putting us all through HELL.

I have been a good friend to you. I have been a strong supporter of this board before there even WAS a board. I have taken it on the chin when you doled it out to me. I have made amends. I have acted in good faith to every single thing we discussed prior to my return. I have prayed for you and cried for you. Cheered you on and encouraged you.

But I tell you what, I am so hopping mad at you on account of all that is going on right now I can't even stand it.

What does second in command and substitute mean to you, Shades? Does that mean you step down and why do you think I alluded to your in real life? Why do you think others in their replies on this very thread, alluded to your in real life?

Here's a sample:

I hope the things stressing you out right now are resolved soon.

There are ways he could have reached out to us. I wish he had.

Shades has been going through a lot, and brought additional moderators on board to assist with … moderation.

In a recent post, Some Schmo frames it precisely and I'm going to bold this as well:

I'll just say for my own part that it was never my intention to get Shades to step down. What I really wanted was for him to moderate his board, or at least let necessary moderation take place. He said he was busy/exhausted. I don't condemn him for that, but it seemed reasonable to ask him to do whatever was necessary to save this place from the people trying to destroy it. He decided to step down, and that's likely the best thing for him right now, given what he's told us he's going through, but it wasn't what I was after.

I'm not sorry for asking for something to be done.

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Our comments on this and other threads had exactly nothing to do with "Get Shades the hell out of here". Our comments had to do with frustration on account of the condition of this board, a situation that had been ongoing for 8 months while we tried to communicate with each other in spite of the trolls while moderators continued to shovel out Paradise forum on a daily basis, your not being here attending to it, and possibly every single poster here thinking that something in real life was preventing you from doing the job. No one asked you to beat it the hell out.

In the end, my final suggestion (I called it the obvious solution) was for you to uncuff the mods and let them work as they saw fit. Why would you think that uncuffing the mods meant you had to step down?

You couldn't uncuff them, stay in place as chief mod, and choose a wing man (like Gad) to act in your place should the need arise for admin services for which the mod team are not equipped to carry out?

People here care about you and they care about this community. I submit to you that most all of us here, including myself, were trying to take care of both.

[K Graham]

You were one of the ones who wanted me to step down so the moderators could do their thing. In fact, you had a rather dramatic meltdown over it.

So it's unnecessary for me to tell you something you already know.

At no point did I ask you to step down so the moderators could do their thing. The moderators could have done their thing with you at the helm if only you would have allowed them to.

Good point. I don't think anyone here suggested he "step down," only that he let the mods do their jobs without the confines of silly free speech guidelines. Choosing to "step down" is something he decided to do.

[Marcus]

At no point did I ask you to step down so the moderators could do their thing. The moderators could have done their thing with you at the helm if only you would have allowed them to.

Good point. I don't think anyone here suggested he "step down," only that he let the mods do their jobs without the confines of silly free speech guidelines. Choosing to "step down" is something he decided to do.

And he only stepped down as head moderator. He is still moderating.

[Kishkumen]

"In internet slang, a troll is a person who posts inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.), a newsgroup, forum, chat room, online video game, or blog), with the intent of provoking readers into displaying emotional responses, or manipulating others' perception. This is typically for the troll's amusement, or to achieve a specific result such as disrupting a rival's online activities or manipulating a political process. Even so, Internet trolling can also be defined as purposefully causing confusion or harm to other users online, for no reason at all."

Yep, sounds about right.

From my point of view this still results in the disruption or even destruction of what I like about this place.