Identifying Board Members

[Gadianton]

Would one of the moderators be so kind to explain to me what is actually going on in my thread and what post are acceptable per board rules and which ones are not? I was going to ask my opening question in the terrestrial on my first thread, but didn't want to derail my own thread. I'm hearing the moderators say as of late, if you have a off topic question or answer, start a new thread, so that's what I did. Res and Marcus posted very nicely and seemed like they genuinely wanted to have a civil conversation. To me that's how a thread should progress. But after their post I have had my motives questioned, told that the history of the board doesn't matter even though it does to me, and I have been told what the board is for when I'm quite capable of determining how to use the board just as everyone else that post here. I've been told what to post, apparently I'm not smart enough to figure out what to post about. And now I have been called a Karen without actually being called a Karen so the poster who actually called me a Karen didn't technically break a board rule.

How did an innocent thread with such a simple question turn into me feeling like I need to defend my integrity? Wasn't a rule just changed so this situation wouldn't happen anymore?

I'm not a mod but I suspect you started out in a strong position, with your stylometric brother Fernando -- who doesn't have a lot of time right now -- making real change to a rule that now forbids questioning the motives of the OP poster, which from Shades' commentary may extend to other commentary about the OP poster if it implies a motive about the posting of the OP. Frankly, I'm not sure how close I am here.

Fernando's rule, as I will call it, opens the way for stylometric siblings of his to start new posts for the sake of trolling, and nobody is allowed to publicly suggest that it's trolling, or that the OP is a sock; at least I think this is right.

And so binger, mike, and Ceeboo have scored a point. I admit it was a sly move by Fernando. I'm not sure he outsmarted the mods, but the mods are very good people who will allow the perception of being outsmarted for the sake of a small chance of sincerity, they go the extra mile to give benefit to the doubt.

A sly play however, isn't a victory. Fernando's rule leaves open some serious challenges to trolling and disruption. From what I can tell, and I admit I'm not a mod, Fernando's rule can only seriously protect the OP to the extent that the OP originator doesn't go off topic themselves. And so take, for instance, my comments to you. I constrained my responses to your own derailing. If the OP permits the off topic by pursuing it themselves, or creates their own off-topic content then others are free to continue it.

The other problem an exploiter of Fernando's rule might have is tone trolling within their thread. Tone trolling not only (likely, per my understanding) opens up the thread for others to debate tone, but may make it harder to get rid of the off-topic commentary, because, in my opinion, it shows that the off-topic was welcomed -- perhaps baited -- just so the post originator can cry foul loudly and publicly and get the interlocutor penalized. To avoid crying to mods over every potential infraction as a way of continuing a troll agenda, it's my opinion that the mods prefer the report feature be silently used.

And so it's possible, the mods are playing 4d chess, even though I'm not sure in this case, because it seems to me that Fernando's rule will still require some discipline from the OP poster if they want to troll, and may result in a hollow victory where off-topic comments are silently removed with no vibrato from the originator nor extraneous commentary, and we're left with a thread that nobody really wants to discuss including the OP originator that floats its way to page 2 and beyond.

[huckelberry]

Sara H, I think some of the posters are insinuating you are a sock puppet.


BtheW, Atlantic Mike was first known as Pennywise in a book by Stephen King.

Insinuating that a poster is someone they're not seems to be a regular theme on this board. I can tell from reading past threads that this has been going on for a long time.

Multiple members have told me not to worry about the board's history, but just last week I read a thread about how the admins were trying to figure out how to move the board's history from the old server to the new one. I think that's what was being talked about, but I can't remember which thread it was in. So it seems that some people here care a lot about the past of the board, but not when a new member wants to read it?

Sara H, people here find interest in board history because they value the discussions which have taken place. Some of them have been worth keeping because of the exchange and development of ideas and observations.

[Sara H]

I'm going back to my pickleball-related discussion sites. I think you have to be emotionally invested to use LDS chat boards, or at least that's how it seems to me. This isn't my thing. Good luck, and may you all find peace.

[Doctor Steuss]

I'm going back to my pickleball-related discussion sites. I think you have to be emotionally invested to use LDS chat boards, or at least that's how it seems to me. This isn't my thing. Good luck, and may you all find peace.

I'm confused. On MDDB, you present yourself as a believing member, yet here you indicate you aren't emotionally invested regarding Mormonism?

[Marcus]

I'm going back to my pickleball-related discussion sites. I think you have to be emotionally invested to use LDS chat boards, or at least that's how it seems to me. This isn't my thing. Good luck, and may you all find peace.

I'm confused. On MDDB, you present yourself as a believing member, yet here you indicate you aren't emotionally invested regarding Mormonism?

Wow. Some interesting discussions took place over on mddb with Sara. Although multiple people kept calling her Mike, for some reason.

[Jersey Girl]

Marcus is not Liz. The history doesn't matter. The fact that Marcus is not Liz doesn't matter either. This is a board of ideas. Post on topic. That's what the board is for.

Sheesh. Where do these people come from?

I'm replying to you, Jersey Girl, because your two posts were rude and insulting. First of all, why do you care if I want to know who was who in the past? I like reading about the past of discussion boards, but it can be hard to figure out what happened on this one because different people have written under different screen names. Yesterday, a moderator said that Binger is Mayan Elephant, but I thought he was Cultellus. I'm still not sure who is who. Why do you think you can say that past shouldn't matter to me? I can choose what's important to me.

I think it's funny that you're telling me to stay on topic when both of your posts are off topic and don't answer my question. It seems like you're trying to derail my thread. I don't need you to tell me how to post because I can read the rules just as well as you.

Lastly, I want you to know that I'd rather be called the N-word than "these people." I can only remember being called "the N-word" once, but someone seems to call me and my family "these people" about once every five years because we didn't meet their standards. I find it rude how you talked about me, and you have no right to try to stir up trouble in a thread as calm as this one. Isn't that now against the rules?

What possible difference does any of the above make if you are posting on topic...on a topical forum?

[canpakes]

Fernando's rule, as I will call it, opens the way for stylometric siblings of his to start new posts for the sake of trolling, and nobody is allowed to publicly suggest that it's trolling, or that the OP is a sock; at least I think this is right.

I’m not convinced that publicly wondering if (as example) Person A is a sock puppet account necessarily assigns motive. There’s a difference between these two statements:

“I think that Person A is a sock puppet”
… and …
“Person A is saying ‘x’ because they’re a sock puppet”.

Motive is ‘the reason for which (someone) initiates, continues or terminates a behavior at a given time’. It doesn’t address a state of being.

And so binger, mike, and Ceeboo have scored a point. I admit it was a sly move by Fernando. I'm not sure he outsmarted the mods, but the mods are very good people who will allow the perception of being outsmarted for the sake of a small chance of sincerity, they go the extra mile to give benefit to the doubt.

Alternatively, ‘Fernando’ may have outsmarted alleged sock puppets and posting styles like that of Binger. Binger has shown a ridiculously heavy reliance on assigning motive. And saying so isn’t ‘assigning motive’ by me; it’s a factually observable and historically verifiable thing.

The new tweak would have prevented the vast majority of Binger’s past posts, if tested under this quideline, from ever having seen the light of day in the upper kingdoms. Anyone dependent upon that posting behavior is going to need to make a few changes if they want their posts to survive.

[Some Schmo]

I'm going back to my pickleball-related discussion sites.

Why tell us? Just go.

I think you have to be emotionally invested to use LDS chat boards, or at least that's how it seems to me.

No, you don't. The subject of Mormonism has been of no interest to me for quite some time. In fact, I don't think I was ever really emotionally invested in the church, which is why it was so easy for me to quit going. I started posting here years ago when I wanted to vent frustration over the stupidity of it all (and family members still in attendance). I suppose that's a kind of emotional investment, but an investment in myself, not the church. I've worked through it now and no longer give a damn about the church specifically. I'm critical of religion generally.

In any event, this is the off-topic forum you're in right now (off-topic being anything except the church, you see).

This isn't my thing. Good luck, and may you all find peace.

Yeah, you aren't the impartial onlooker I thought you might be. It's little wonder so many here are skeptical of your posts. I really wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, but come on.

[Jersey Girl]

Marcus is not Liz. The history doesn't matter. The fact that Marcus is not Liz doesn't matter either. This is a board of ideas. Post on topic. That's what the board is for.

Sheesh. Where do these people come from?

When a man and a woman love each other very much…

or when someone is hellbent on committing a true crime?

[Moksha]

Wow. Some interesting discussions took place over on mddb with Sara. Although multiple people kept calling her Mike, for some reason.

Sara H did have an interesting question about why God didn't increase the lumen output for the seer stone so that Joseph did not have to put his head in his hat to block outside light.