Eric:
Are there any regulations in the Blogcritics Charter that forbid obvious and repeated bigotry?
If no, fine. It's your site, and I respect that.
If yes, however, I want to ask you how such regulations are enforced. Does a majority or 2/3rds vote of those who are official authors to Blogcritics count? In other words, if 51% or 67% of your authors oppose letting a Blogcritic further engage in horrific personal attacks, does the offender get removed from future use of your Blog?
Just curious...
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Mac Diva
Back to the drawing board, doofus. BB tried the same maneuver less than a month ago. And, frankly, given your less than even vapid contributions to Blogcritics, you are in no position to complain about other members.
2 - josh
Don't we all know it RJ.
BB has already said it for us.
3 - Ken Edwards
this is pathetic people, as josh pointed out, this has been discussed already. and even the need for that discussion i question.
don't you realize how this crap makes blogcritics look?
there is this thing called email, go discuss your differences there. this site is no place for personal attacks. it makes the place look bad.
4 - Craig Lyndall
If any story ever deserved to be deleted, it might just be this one. Next time you get the inkling to do a post like this, go listen to an album you have never listened to before. Write a review of said album. Go post it in the music section. It will serve as a reminder of the primary function of this website.
5 - Tom
The vitriolic nature of some of the converstations going around in here recently are part of the reasons that I don't post nearly as much any more. Being called a racist, bigot, Aryan Nation type really starts to wear thin on you.
And I agree this post does not deserve line time. It makes Blogcritics look petty.
6 - Chris Kent
Mac Diva, Mac Diva, the Cat Woman of Blogcritics. She's fiery and loveable. My only question is.....
...does she do black flips and wear a black leather suit?
7 - Tom
Did you mean "Back Flips"?
8 - Chris Kent
My apologies. That's what I get for being a smart ass....
9 - Shark
Sheesh. How embarrassing. (Is there such thing as a digital Pacifier? 'Cause somethin' about this sucks.)
I vote for "TAKE IT TO E-MAIL!"
Oh, wait, I don't get a vote?
Nevermind.
10 - Eric Olsen
I guess I don't even understand where this is coming from. It feels like a very delayed reflexive reaction to things that happened weeks ago.
Dirtgrain had an excellent post about taking offense:
I prefer this simple definition that I also found on the Rutgers site: “verbal assault is the verbal threat of physical harm.” That leaves out psychosocial abuse and hurt feelings, but despite the research about hurt feelings, I don’t feel people should be punished for using language that may be construed as offensive"it’s too much a relative concept. What offends one, may not offend another. So we intervene only when the language is clearly threatening physical action. As for people who seek out a certain person repeatedly to force some offensive language on them, I think anti-stalking laws would apply.
....The First Amendment requires a certain minimal toughness of citizens. It is understandable that speech would be 'chilled' if people felt they risked arrest every time they opened their mouths. However, when people claim they have been 'chilled' by the speech of others, simply because it conflicts with their views or casts them in a bad light, they are only saying they are cowards and would like to live in a world where everyone agrees with them.
Everyone has feelings, everyone is has thicker or thinner skin on any given day. I do, and I am not always proud of how I respond to disagreement. But all you can do is keep going and express your own view as best you can. If you can do that - whether or not you have changed anyone's mind - you have won.
I am an editor concentrating on writing my own stuff. I am not a dictator ruling the course that conversations take.
11 - Dawn
If I have a vote it is to keep posts like this from ever being posted. What a waste of valuable resources.
Also, Mac has just as much right to post as anyone, and when she is not feeling particularly "fiesty" she has some amazingly intelligent and interesting things to say.
As for the inter-fighting: we can all make an effort to keep our comments and posts relevant and move back towards being a really fine group blog.
12 - Red
Dawn, while I do agree that Mac Diva has often made good points, your vote to stop posts such as this one is just as bad as this one you are trying to stop. RJ has as much right as anyone to post; the fact that his ideas may be irrelevant or not very intelligent is beside the point.
As for inter-fighting, I haven't seen a single person here who hasn't made pretty below-the-belt personal attacks on people, insulting people's literacy or intelligence mostly. That includes everyone.
What valuable resources are being wasted by this post?
Eric, there is a difference between not agreeing with someone and personally attacking them. It's "I don't agree and here's why" versus "I don't agree, how could you believe that you narrow-minded racist idiot, and here's why."
13 - Red
For instance, read the blog on Poll: Greatest Guitarist of All Time. A certain Anthony G didn't just disagree with people, he posted under many, many names, including other peoples', and in general screwed the whole place up. That is what is not acceptable.
14 - Eric Olsen
I agree that is totally unacceptable. I have said anyone commenting under someone else's name will be banned. If he made p a bunch of different names, that is stupid and unhelpful, but we can't kick people off for pseudonyms, that's half the comments. But using someone else's name is completely forbidden.
15 - Chris Kent
After coming into this room a month ago, I discovered (thanks to Shark, and a few others) that I don't know my ass from a hole in the ground. The arguments and the comments are great fun, and I've learned a lot in the last month. New books, new ideas, new films, new authors, different opinions. It's as fascinating as one wishes it to be. I was slammed by Mac Diva after my very first post, and it was a blast. She, and many others in here will keep you on your toes. It's a lot of fun if you allow it to be.....
Taking things personal just ruins this room for everyone else....
16 - Eric Olsen
Thanks Chris, an excellent perspective and we are very happy to have you here.
17 - BB
Instead of shooting the messenger we should be focussing on the perpetrators of the crime. If Eric won't do anything then it is up to we Blogcritics to police ourselves and we should not be surprised with posts like this.
Let's be honest, there are mean spirited bloggers around here that intentionally instigate verbal altercations. Until the matter is fixed I predict there will be even more similar posts and good blogcritics will be leaving.
If y'all are so concerned with professionalism, then pray tell what is more professional - posts that bring to the fore these problems or comments such as this? If anybody finds this sort of stuff entertaining then I suggest there is something very (very) wrong.
As much as anybody I want to see this group succeed but in order to do that there has to be some guidelines that will put a stop to degenerate commentators.
18 - Mac Diva
What I learn from experiences like this is that people who can't do things love to complain about people who can. It is something I've observed all my life. I think most people with talent at anything have too. I've never made any kind of attack on RJ Elliott. I barely know he exists. Same for BB until he started following me from thread to thread harassing me. Feel free to read all 29 of RJ Elliott's entries by clicking on the list of entries above. You will see a complete absence of anything worth reading. So, he is not someone I've paid much attention to. It follows that he would be the sort to attack someone who can do what he can't. The vanity of the incompetent, one could call it.
Not that I believe the likes of RJ and BB are really behind these assailings. They are too inept and clumsy. For example, whoever coordinates this knows when Eric is less likely to be around and has his underlings put up the threads then. He or they keeps a low profile while the attacks are occurring. Furthermore, the person(s) has been at BC long enough to know he can get away with being more of an abuser than a contributor, which would get him ejected from other sites. My email tells me some Blogcritics know who the puppet master(s) is. Others will figure it out, as well. Just think about it.
19 - Phillip Winn
To MD: Please consider the possibility that the single common factor in all your dysfunctional relationships is you!
To all else: If we haven't banned MD by now, why do you think that would change? I'm neither going to boot MD nor scratch out this post. I think her comments and your post speak for themselves. If people can't make up their own minds about people based on their posts and comments here, I don't know what else to say.
You could always try pretending you don't see her posts and see if that makes you feel better.
Welcome to the wild west!
P.S. I have been following the post Red referenced for a while, and I did ban "Anthony" today for a deliberate attempt to crash the site, as well as an extensive history of posing as other existing people.
20 - BB
Given the above I must be the first to congratulate Mac. This is the first comment that she has referenced me without making a defamatory comment. If that is the shape of things to come then perhaps posts like this are proving their worth.
I must however correct one point. You can believe me when I say that I have much better things to do than follow you around dear. Please however be so kind as to allow this humble blogger to disagree with you upon occasion. :-)
Keep up the good work and I look forward to further constructive discussions with you.
21 - BB
One further matter that is of extreme importance. A warning. You may think this is the wild west but eventually the hanging judge arrived to bring law and order. If things do not settle down, (and as people start taking blogging more seriously), somebody will get pissed enough to call a lawyer and then the shite will hit the fan. As the publishing mechanism, unless BC takes steps to curb the abuse it may find itself in the unfortunate position of being a party to the proceedings. Take heed and remember where you heard it first because trust me when I say that it can (and will) happen.
22 - Mac Diva
(Snickering.) Not unless BB intends to sue himself. It is telling that he does not have the gray matter to realize he created the most abusive thread ever put up at Blogcritics.
There is a solution to this dilemma. The dimmer members of BC can set up a group blog of their own. There they can post pabulum to their hearts' content. There will be no bright participants to cause them to feel threatened. Since dimness and bigotry often go hand in hand, they can hold forth as much as they like with racism, misogny and anti-gay railing. If only they were smart enough to do it. . . .
23 - Chris Kent
OK, we've now officially entered The Twilight Zone...
*cues theme*
24 - Shark
Chris Kent, that was a very nice thing to say. I must add that reading the variety of opinions on BC has been rewarding to me also, including yours.
Some of these folks really know their stuff, and it's rare when one can participate in a discussion (live or digital) and actually learn something.
That, btw, is an unsolicited testimony to Eric et al.
Anyway, I think it's obvious to anyone who reads BC for a day or two that this MacDiva is really stark raving mad, starved for attention, has a massive inferiority complex, and nothing is ever going to change her. NOTHING. Nada. Zip. Zilch.
Her state of mind is so obvious that it sort of becomes funny if one can step back and take a few deep breaths when she does her thing.
My suggestion is the age-old, universal one you've heard before:
Ignore (which is probably the worst thing that can happen to her)
or
fight back (especially w/humor and/or a lack of the kind of epithets she is so famous for.
My two cents. And I leave you with a quote from Phil, my new hero:
To MD: Please consider the possibility that the single common factor in all your dysfunctional relationships is you!
~Bingo.
25 - BB
Sigh!
Now there's the Mac Diva we all know and love (notice the tongue on my cheek). Need anymore be said people?
Pushing for round 2 are we Mac? Confucious says those who "snicker" now eat crow later. Here's some pablum for ya. You reap what you sow. So read and weep. If you can't take it then don't dish it out.
Gee I could trade witticisms with you all day but I have more important matters. Unlike some I actually have a job, a life and responsibilities.