Alleged censorship on ScubaBoard

[Tortuga68]

If Dan is gone, who is gonna keep the new guys from buying split fins? Maybe I should go buy some stock in a company that sells split fins.

...and sell your stock in Halcyon

 

[The Chairman]

Somehow, doing a victory dance in the end zone, over another player leaving the team seems cheap and immature. That is what Pete's last post looked like to me.
Just my opinion.

Well, you are free to read anything into it you want. It was not meant as a victory dance. It was intended to subtlety mock the notion of ScubaBoard being a "virtual police state". Look how I even refused to embolden such a silly notion. What self respecting police state, virtual or not, would allow such free speech about how they run things? Think of how ironic it is to claim openly that we are trying to suppress the very thing you're posting about and that it isn't gone within seconds along with the poster. I find it laughable. I'm still going to send in the battle monkeys, but I'm going to snicker about it the whole time. The most common thing to be moderated on this board is "mean speech". We do ask that you respect others and play nice in our sand box. We've made that a big part of our ToS. If you call someone a stroke, and someone complains about it, it's going to be deleted. Oh, you meant it in jest? Do a better job of communicating that next time. But name calling is pretty easy to deal with when we have a complaint. Dan wants to call that zero tolerance and while I don't buy into zero tolerance, we get real close when it comes to name calling. Now, someone says something about you that you think is rude or over the top. That's a bit more difficult. The truth can often be interpreted as being rude or over the top because it implies a need for you to change. I know it can be startling to realize that not everyone thinks you're as cool as you do, but that's not an attack. We had a poster in this thread who took umbrage when I suggested that he was one of the most uncivil posters I know of. He called my criticism an attack. Did I call him a name? I most certainly did not. Did I express my opinion about him as a poster? Indeed I did and I did so in a civil manner. Not every negative opinion is unfriendly in nature. It might not be comfortable to read but that does not make it an attack. My comments even fit within the scope of our discussion about what constitutes needless censorship in contrast to legitimate moderation. This whole discussion started because Dan just had to comment about whether his post was going to be moderated in about every thread he was participating in. It was a huge distraction in a number of threads and I asked him to contain that type of commentary to the appropriate forum. While Dan might be fixated on the word "stroke", that is not the crux of the issue. Be civil. Be on topic. Respect others. Unless, of course, you're posting in the Pub. Then you still have to be somewhat civil but respect and staying on topic certainly is not expected.

For the record, I consider Dan a friend. I think he has a lot to contribute and truly believe that if he could control his paranoia a bit better, he would continue to be an awesome asset here on ScubaBoard. You just can't take yourself, or the interwebs too seriously. For the record, I won't be on here much today. I'm in the middle of teaching Cheer leaders how to dive in their bikinis. I didn't realize how many guys could fit in the swimming lane next to us. Talk about a distraction! Their mutual sentiment was verbalized by the one kid who loudly proclaimed: "I want your job!" I smiled and was glad that my girls were not as similarly distracted. Life is rough here in the Keys.

 

[gypsyjim]

I feel your pain, having to deal with teaching young ladies swimming. In my college years I spent one summer volunteer teaching girl scouts swimming in a Red Cross class each weekend. No touch, of course, but some damned nice scenery was a bonus.

As for the moderation here on SB, I have never felt that it was too terribly heavy handed, but then I do seem to miss a lot of the drama, and only learn of it later, second hand, through references I read in later posts. I do think that some folks have a chip on their shoulder about any moderation at all of their posts, and some folks have difficulty not making personal attacks part of their dialog

BUT, I also think that you are not always quite the innocent victim you like to portray on SB, Pete. I did take your post there as a bit of a self congratulatory, victory lap, in the thread started by Dan, but that is as I said, just my opinion.

I have had some difficulty with how Dan expressed himself at times, but if you stick with him, a lot of what he says makes sense. Personally, I can't get too upset if someone calls me names (and stroke would be way down the list of things I'd find offending), because as I see it, name calling says much more about the one throwing the mud, than their target.

 

[Farback]

Lose, eh?

I'm illiterate in two languages.

Actually, the older I get the worse my spelling has become.

---------- Post added August 12th, 2013 at 10:25 AM ----------



---------- Post added August 12th, 2013 at 10:26 AM ----------

I was assisting instructing firefighters at the provincial fire school years ago, when females were a rarity. While checking students in full gear with airpacks and facemasks in place before entry, I noticed one student'sregulator was not in place. At that time, these were chest mounted, just about over the heart. I pushed the reg back into place, and it slid right back. After two attempts, I looked into the visor to see a young lady grinning at me. Opps.

 

[lowviz]

...//... For the record, I consider Dan a friend. I think he has a lot to contribute and truly believe that if he could control his paranoia a bit better, he would continue to be an awesome asset here on ScubaBoard. ...//...

I never saw it as paranoia. More like he is trying to slap his intended audience with his words and make them see his idea of what is "true". He is known to overstate his position at times. He also takes things too seriously, you're right, he doesn't belong here in his present state.

...//... I have had some difficulty with how Dan expressed himself at times, but if you stick with him, a lot of what he says makes sense. ...//...

+1

 

[Dan G]

View attachment 162957
Stroke. Just a simple command to these ladies of the Pittsburgh Dragon Boat Team. As the great George Carlin, who had perhaps the greatest command of the English language, pointed out time and time again that words are just that. Words. So sad that people get so hung up on them. Like some cultures that kill each other to celebrate the end of so called "Holy" periods over their word differences. And yet words are viewed by some like others view handguns. Evil things that need to be heavily controlled and monitored. Even the display of a word that MIGHT be offensive to a minority of people makes it bad.

Such a pity that we can't simply change the channel anymore, turn the voilume off, or move on to another topic. Small wars need to be fought over single syllables. That to the majority are not offensive and, in fact, funny to everyone except those with the thinnest skins.

I don't care if someone calls me a stroke. It's a word. An insult? Not to me. I have to actually care about the opinion of who says it for it to matter to me and about the person that says it. Now if I was still in kindergarten and 5 or 6 years old it might matter. But that was 45 years + ago. I grew up. Shame some do not.

Jim, I disagree that words are just words and nothing more. Words have specific meaning and with that meaning comes a definition. The beauty of the English language is that there are many words that appear to mean the same thing, but in fact have subtle differences. When we choose our words wisely, we can convey meaning in the most pointed and beautiful ways. See Shakespeare, cummings, and Dylan.

Furthermore, if one of us is not offended by a specific word, it does not mean that no one else should be offended by that very same word. I do not get to decide what you are offended by and no one gets to do the same for me.

Bringing up Carlin in a censorship thread is quite apropos, however. When I saw him perform, his list of 8 words had grown to near 1,000. He spoke every last one of them. If we can work in a Zappa reference, the thread will be complete.

 

[lowviz]

Maybe our Mental toss flycoon will weigh in...

 

[uncfnp]

Hey Dan. If you are still keeping track of this thread, Eric wants to know if you are a Michael Savage listener?

 

[lowviz]

...//... Eric wants to know if you are a Michael Savage listener?

I'm planning on being civil to you, you'll be a mod someday.

:cowgirl:

-Hey Howie, we need a new smiley...

 

[letterboy]

Perhaps one to replace