I'm so not impressed. Really, I'm shocked and disgusted that my joke about republicans was deleted. And not just that, but my whole post? Now everyone who sees it and hasn't read the original message will think I was insulting YA, which I wasn't!

What the crappity smack!?

I'm not posting on this message board anymore. I swear it. Goodbye everyone.

Hope you're happy now, YA.

*VOMIT*

Well, someone did. I guess it was Quantum, then. Doesn't really matter. This forum is dead anyway. Abusive moderation was the last straw for me.

Oh, I forgot that YA was an admin too. Although, both you and Quantum were active on the forum a moment ago, so that's why I assumed it was one of you.

I'm sure you all think I'm overreacting and being a drama queen again. But honestly, excessive moderation is my biggest pet peeve on the internet. I just can't deal with it. Quantum never struck me as a zealot in that sense, but maybe I misjudged him.

Stupid internet drama bullshit. It was only a few days ago that I swore I would not say anything more than "cute boy" and "thanks for the caps." Maybe if I had stuck to it, all this could have been avoided.

I suck at the internets.

Well, it makes me feel better that at least one other person read it, so it's not just my word against whoever deleted it.

*sigh*

I gotta get back to work now. Wasted too much time and energy on this already.

Thanks for the explanation. But given that I still feel it was totally unjustified, I think I'm going to stop posting here. I know I've said this countless times before, and who knows? Maybe I'll change my mind in a month, or a week, or a day, or a couple of minutes. What can I say? I'm fickle that way.

For the  record, my deleted post said that we shouldn't worry about YA, because he would surely be happy posting at a (fictional) republican message board with a similar theme as this one. I then went on to parody the types of topics that might be discussed on such a message board. That was the joke part. I guess it wasn't very funny.

This  was followed by a "serious" part, where I respectfully told YA that I thought he was overreacting. I'm pretty sure I didn't insult him in the serious part any more than I did in the joke part.

Obviously, you can't please everyone. Either you allow people to freely express their opinions, in which case sensitive members like YA are going to leave. Or you decide to err on the side of caution and start censoring the discussion. In which case people who actually care about having a forum to freely express themselves (like me) will leave.

It seems you have made your choice, Quantum.

Best of luck to you and this (nearly non-existent) community.

Sure, misinterpretation is an inevitable part of online communication. And I'm not immune to it. But the difference is when I misinterpret what someone else here says, I reply to them. Maybe I get angry at them, maybe I overreact a bit, or maybe I just ask them to clarify what they meant. But I don't have the power to click on their post and delete it, obliterating their words and not leaving any evidence of what was actually said.

Moderators have the power to do that. I've been a moderator before, on several sites actually. And my philosophy has always been that this deleting power should only be used in the most extreme cases. Like death threats, or posts that contain illegal material, or extremely hateful ones that leave no room for misinterpretation. Otherwise, if you just feel like someone is "insulting" someone else, maybe lock the thread, maybe post a warming, maybe send a private message. Whatever. But don't delete the words and then claim that they were harmful, with no evidence to support that claim. That's just bad moderation, and at the very least, it warrants an apology.

Yeah, there are worse things than censorship. But out here on the internet, all I am is a flow of words desperately trying to express myself, and failing most of the time. Being misinterpreted sucks, and I'll admit that I don't always deal with it very well, but I understand that it's inevitable and beyond my control. Having my words deleted, though, feels like the ultimate affront. I'd rather get insulted than get deleted.

I know this is getting philosophical and a little off topic. It's also possible that I'm just mentally ill.

Hey, it's not New Years Day here yet. In fact, I'm supposed to be working right now. And in the past few hours, I've gotten absolutely no work done. If I want to go out and party tonight, I better get my act together and get off this message board.

OrionPax wrote on 31. Dec 2009 at 16:29:


Which part are you offended by?

People quitting.
Peope expressing their opinions.
People arguing.
People being over sensitive.
Peope over reacting.
People jumping to the wrong conclusions.
Peope censoring.

...or did you just fell left out and want to join the fun?

Geez, I let the bomb=thrower in me, always struggling to get out, have his say once and all hell breaks loose.

I think the part that hurts most is finding out that my phrase was a cliche'   

And who the HELL said I was a republican?? I have liberal leanings and conservative leanings and spent most of my life as a registered democrat. Now I don't know what the hell I am! How much easier this would be in spoken conversation than in text - the text makes it sound like I am still angry. Actually I was more frightened than anything else and it took all I had to come back and see if I had caused any real damage.

Yes, Cal, I should have explained more clearly what I meant by my poor cliche, 'indignant liberal sermonizing.' Gosh, you're sure someone got to it first?  I'm only half-joking. I know about those Republican conservative boards and several years back I checked them out. More narrow clowns who are sure they are right. But I don't get around much. I post here, and occasionally on B.O.Y.S. and that's it.

I didn't amplify my remarks because I am lazy, and cowardly, and hate writing opinion essays. What happened, I guess, is that I let loose all my bile and resentment from sources all over the damn place and Joseph's annoying (to me) posts got the full (or measly) benefit. I am just tired of all the sensitivity regarding blacks. I sense it all around me, all over all the media, and the stink made here over the careless use of the old N word just led me to say "I've had it." I've used the term 'black' myself, for years, I suppose because everyone else has.

Yes, it is good for someone to have the guts to stand up for what is right - on an editorial page of a newspaper. But at an internet site devoted to boys who are actors? And the provocation was the careless use of an obsolete word? I guess my problem is I am not sensitive enough. I don't catch the negative connotations of the word 'negro,' probably because it was in such common usage for the first half of my life.

Joseph is always accusing himself of mental problems but he is clearly not the only one with mental dragons. I mean me, just to be clear. I let one of them loose and caused an uproar. I'm an old fart and he's a young idealist (which I identify with most painfully at times) and maybe the twain can't meet.

I don't think I could ever really go; just be more silent than I have been, if that is possible. I think my real, and personal, problem is that I can't call back the eagerness or enthusiasm I once felt on discovering this site. I guess my real interest and joy has been in boys themselves, rather than boyactors. My interest is fading, though, and that is the most hateful admission of all. Old age. I never thought it could happen to me. I pray that it is just a temporary depression of spirit.

And will you still love me if I am not a Republican? 

edit and p.s. - "I suck at the internets"
Me too. I don't really think I belong in this realm of communication. Last night, not for the first time, I was wishing I never heard of it.