Reason I haven't been around much lately is I was watching a rather spectacular meltdown happening at talkrational.org. (TR) It began with a couple unbelievably rare suspensions in an attempt to address the exodus of active users. A+ style dogpiling/harassment on steroids has been the norm at TR for years. I only stick around as the wind cart thread landed there after it being put on mod status here and later running into trouble at RDF. Feels almost like coming home catching up itt. Like a kindergarten teacher after a rough day stepping into the teachers lounge and listening to adult conversation. What a long, strange trip it's been.
The latest TR drama has got it all. Members scoffing at PM warnings; mods pulling a mutiny and pushing buttons supposedly reserved for admins and unbanning a banned member; admins all in hiding; International art theft charges leading to the artist being banned but not the promoter who allegedly stole his 6 paintings and was a TR mod-natch-who after laying low amidst the furor was defrocked; recall votes on all 4 admins; cats and dogs, sleeping together!!!
Ravenscape, the ultra-dominant driving force at TR, lives in the Bay area and writes/edits software. Another co-founder is Febble, aka published cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Elizabeth Liddle. While not still on staff she has 37k posts on TR, Raven 80k. Sounds like a good plot for a book to me. Neuroscientist teams up with a silicon valley IT pro to create a kind of virtual Stanford Prison Experiment? Or perhaps Lord of the Flies was their model, with a different slant. Give the children (mentally anyway) an equal vote with the few adults on how to control infantile behavior, and see what happens.
A+ is p. much dead afaics, and just can't match this show. When the TR admins were faced with a revolt by a cadre of the resident chronic rule abusers, they caved. They have an A+ thread like this one, and quite a few who logged in at A+ were quickly banned based on comments made at TR. Sound familiar? The real irony is all the ways the two sites are similar, and now TR is even on the cusp of moving in the same direction wrt blaming the dogpiling targets for trolling and disrupting the forum. Staff discussions are public there, and I have quotes. Add the fact that any member can start a recall for any mod or admin, and it looks like good times are still a comin there.
The denouement of TR is in process now, with half the admins up for reelection. Much of the drama has abated, but many questions remain unasked, let alone answered. My reason for posting this here is to see if there is any interest in adding TR to the other sites being discussed itt. It is much larger and more active than A+, averaging about 50 logged over the day, even during it's current decline. But I realize it's not part of the SJW scene, so I'm not sure if it would fit here. If not, I apologize and request all the above about TR be deleted. Please also advise me what would be the correct forum for an analysis of TR thread. "Experiment in democratic moderation mutiny?" will be the tittle unless some of the wags here suggest a better one.
Lots of bad energy has developed in this remnant of the net's wild west days. The cart thread was p. insular there so it took me a long time to notice as that's where I spent like 90% of my time. Hate the thought of losing access to the nearly 5 thousand pages from this epic saga that began here at JREF in '08. It led to and witnessed 2 world records for wind powered vehicles-directly upwind and down-and countless experiments posted on YouTube. And TR as a whole might yet serve as an example of what happens over time when none of the rules are enforced. It sure ain't purty at times.
