Atheism Plus/Free Thought Blogs (FTB)

[RandFan]

Reading a few threads at A+ should be required before anyone complains about the moderation here. As I've said before, any JREF mod who behaved in such an arbitrary and capricious manner, closing threads willy-nilly and so on, would be stripped of their mod powers posthaste. We almost never close discussion threads here; the only exceptions are when things have degenerated beyond all salvation, or discussions that breach Rules 1, 2 or 9. Other than that, we try to stay out of the way and let people discuss whatever they choose (civilly and politely).

This ^^^^ My appreciation for our moderators shot through the roof when I learned what was going on at A+ and FTB. Looking back many of my complaints were petty and I'm sincerely sorry for that. The moderators here are not perfect. No moderator is. But they have an obvious commitment to objectivity and fairness. My hats off.

Oh, I do remember one ex-moderator who used her moderator skills to act inappropriately. I can't think of her name at this time but her initials were RW.

 

[tsig]

This ^^^^ My appreciation for our moderators shot through the roof when I learned what was going on at A+ and FTB. Looking back many of my complaints were petty and I'm sincerely sorry for that. The moderators here are not perfect. No moderator is. But they have an obvious commitment to objectivity and fairness. My hats off.

Oh, I do remember one ex-moderator who used her moderator skills to act inappropriately. I can't think of her name at this time but her initials were RW.

IIRC she was never officially a mod, she got mod powers thru a glitch and promptly abused them.

 

[zooterkin]

IIRC she was never officially a mod, she got mod powers thru a glitch and promptly abused them.

No, she had been a mod, but stopped. She was later suspended for something; when she returned from suspension, the glitch was that she had mod powers again.

 

[tsig]

No, she had been a mod, but stopped. She was later suspended for something; when she returned from suspension, the glitch was that she had mod powers again.

OK, guess I missed her mod time and I never had any interaction with her.

Thanks.

 

[Professor Yaffle]

No, she had been a mod, but stopped. She was later suspended for something; when she returned from suspension, the glitch was that she had mod powers again.

I don't recall ever seeing her name as a moderator on old reports when I was on the mod team, so I don't think she ever was. I'm also getting deja vu - I feel like I have discussed this recently, but I can't find the post at the moment.

 

[jhunter1163]

No, she had been a mod, but stopped. She was later suspended for something; when she returned from suspension, the glitch was that she had mod powers again.

IIRC, the glitch was that she got admin powers; she was able to ban a few people (which mods can't do).

 

[zooterkin]

I don't recall ever seeing her name as a moderator on old reports when I was on the mod team, so I don't think she ever was. I'm also getting deja vu - I feel like I have discussed this recently, but I can't find the post at the moment.

I think it was quite some time before you were a mod that she stopped. Anyway, here's the official word:

The facts:

When rebecca's recent suspension was lifted the account was reset to be a member of the "moderators" usergroup. The lifting of suspensions is an automated feature of the software. This may be a bug with the software somehow related to the fact that at one time rebecca was a moderator (no other accounts that have been "auto-unsuspended" have been reset to an incorrect usergroup).

rebecca then accessed the mod-only section of the Forum and also the profiles of two Members, she made various edits to posts and banned the two accounts she accessed.

All moderator and admin actions are automatically logged by the software so we could access exactly what she looked at and how she had used the moderator permissions that came with the mistaken usergroup. rebecca did not inform any of the admins or Jeff that her account had been reset incorrectly.

When I realized what had happened, I banned her account, checked the log to determine exactly what she had done and reversed her actions. I then referred the matter to the JREF.

 

[brodski]

I don't recall ever seeing her name as a moderator on old reports when I was on the mod team, so I don't think she ever was. I'm also getting deja vu - I feel like I have discussed this recently, but I can't find the post at the moment.

She was a Mod, round about the same time that Kyless, Mercutio and Tim and kittynh were mods. One of the theories about how she was given mod superpowers was due to how the software handled unsuspending a former mod. Another former mod from her mod days (phil, of phil's pants fame) was suspended and unsuspended to test this theory, he never got any superpowers, and in teh end teh entrie incident was put down to (in)human error.

her name may not have appeared on reports in the mod areas as modding procedures were much less formal in those days.
Of course the golden age of modding on this form was somewhere between teh time Rebecca stepped down as a mod and before you were appointed. The parties we used to have in the mod forum, ah those were the days.

 

[d4m10n]

Had she a more robust theory of mind, one capable of seeing the world though the eyes of others, had she less ego and less narcissism when she made her original statement about the elevator and simply said, "this is my opinion, but men, you might not want to do that" then none of this would have happened.

You don't have any way to demonstrate the truth of this counterfactual claim, and we have every reason to doubt it. Trolls hit her hard on YouTube for a very innocuous comment asking her own fans not to assume that she is up for sexual liasons with them the first time that they meet her at cons. The idea that making her advice to them about how to treat her even more thoroughly innocuous would have prevented the blowback is groundless at best.

 

[Professor Yaffle]

Ah thank you, I was misremembering a conversation where someone said Articulett was a mod.

 

[brodski]

Ah thank you, I was misremembering a conversation where someone said Articulett was a mod.

Not only was articulate never a mod, but mods are never allowed to be articulate- it winds darat up almost as much as poetry.

 

[recursive prophet]

LOL I well remember going at it for 10 pages with Articulett and Dr. Adequate on a thread about randomness in evolution. They weren't the first married couple on JREF, but they were the first couple to both be banned.

 

[pipelineaudio]

steven novella calmy replies again to pzs ranting,

http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/scientific-skepticism-rationalism-and-secularism/

a good piece imo.

lxxx

Why do they keep RW around on that show?

 

[Foolmewunz]

Why do they keep RW around on that show?

Obviously for her sex appeal. All skeptics are overweight balding privileged white guys in their fifties who, if they could actually get it up, wouldn't be able to find anyone to help put it to use. We need Rebecca because she's smarter than us, prettier than us, and gives meaning to our dreary atheist lives.

Well, that or they can't find anyone else for the job. Personally, I'd go for that YankeeSkepticBlogger woman, or whatever KittyNH calls her blog. Female, attractive, skeptical, even-tempered,.... works for me.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

Well, so much for progress for Samsa. Thay've decided that him responding to all their questions is just too much of a burden on them (whereas dogpilling is not a burden on outsiders). He is "filibustering" and they will invoke "closure" to shup him up. Which just doesn't make sense on an online forum.

ceepolk and Satar are just bizarre people.

ceepolk's entire arguments seem to be "I'm stupid, therefore you are wrong and should be censored." And Satar just seems to like shouting "YOU'RE SUPPORTING THE GENOCIDE OF BABIES" at random intervals.

 

[Stacko]

ceepolk and Satar are just bizarre people.

ceepolk's entire arguments seem to be "I'm stupid, therefore you are wrong and should be censored." And Satar just seems to like shouting "YOU'RE SUPPORTING THE GENOCIDE OF BABIES" at random intervals.

To be fair, I believe Setar is from BC and could just be suffering from Hedy Fry syndrome¹.



1. Hedy Fry stated in Parliament that, "Mr. Speaker, we can just go to British Columbia, in Prince George, where crosses are being burned on lawns as we speak." No evidence has ever been found to substantiate this claim.

 

[AbsurdWalls]

There's a trick, a very simple trick, to preserve your online anonyity.

Don't use the same username all over the internet.

Moreso don't use your real name as your username. Quinn, I could show up at your office monday morning, maybe we could play some poker. It's that easy.

ceepolk is C.Polk, want a first name ? it's all out there for the perusing if you want to get to know your actors and all she does, all day is post on the internet.

Want to know how I know setar, lordsetar, setarelven, looks like an emo version of Michael Jackson ? GIYF

Heck I even ended up with a naked photo of maiforpeace ( hint set that photo to private in your flickr account )

Don't link to your blok where you pour out all your woes, if you write it, they will read it.

ischemgeek, now she plays her cards close to her chest, she's doing it right, a little to right ( hint, if you're Canadian, spell like a Canadian ). And if she is Canadian, and working in a university, quit pissing around on A+ when your on my taxpayer funded time, it gives government employees a bad reputation.

That does seem a little irresponsible considering there are people like this guy trying to dox the A+ members. It might be obvious and easily uncoverable to you, but it wasn't necessarily to the kid running that account (before you posted it, that is).

 

[Stout]

That does seem a little irresponsible considering there are people like this guy trying to dox the A+ members. It might be obvious and easily uncoverable to you, but it wasn't necessarily to the kid running that account (before you posted it, that is).

Holy Crap !

All I did was google, easy peasy.

Everything came from published information. If that kid is coming up with names and addresses, he's doing something way beyond my technical capabilities.

 

[AbsurdWalls]

Holy Crap !

All I did was google, easy peasy.

Everything came from published information. If that kid is coming up with names and addresses, he's doing something way beyond my technical capabilities.

I didn't expect you'd be aware of it, and I didn't mean to accuse you of stochastic terrorism or anything like that. I just thought I'd point it out seeing as what seems easy to some people might not be so obvious to others.

 

[Stout]

I suppose

Next time I'm bored, I'll research how to properly dox someone. As of now I suspect the technical details are over my head.