Flames wouldn't be eternal if they actually consumed anything.

Lilah ,'Not Fade Away'


Bureaucracy 1: Like Kafka, Only Funnier  

A thread to discuss naming threads, board policy, new thread suggestions, and anything else that has to do with board administration and maintenance. Guaranteed to include lively debate and polls. Natter discouraged, but not deleted.

Current Stompy Feet: ita, Jon B, DXMachina, P.M. Marcontell, Liese S., amych


Gandalfe - Apr 12, 2003 10:58:54 pm PDT #9524 of 10001
The generation that could change the world is still looking for its car keys.

My apologies to those who felt I was insulting them - that was never my intention.


askye - Apr 12, 2003 11:06:32 pm PDT #9525 of 10001
Thrive to spite them

Gandalfe, apology accepted. I know emotions are running high and you have family stuff going on. I was probably reading more into your posts than were there.


DCJensen - Apr 12, 2003 11:07:47 pm PDT #9526 of 10001
All is well that ends in pizza.

Giving up a hundred posts back...

Reading this whole thing is making my head hurt.

A warning is something you get from a beat cop when you are annoying another citizen. it doesn't go on your record, it's just a societal aside.

"Hey, buddy knock it off." and the cop forgets about it.

That's it. The beat cop doesn't wonder and worry and think "What if that man was ill, or mentally unbalanced?" He says it because in a land of rules, one was getting kind of trampled on and he didn't really want to run the guy in.

It's what you type, not what you mean to type that we can judge. If someone chooses to get hurt by this, that's too bad. I have be rudely slammed by someone online, and I was hurt but i got over it.

However, we can't spend hundreds of posts on such minutia, as it will drive more people away by the mere fact of the amount of time devoted to this.

Give the warning, and if she objects, apologize for offending, and say "we have rules here,' this is just a simple aside to tell you we're concerned."

In fact, make it that. Stop using the word "warning" if it is seen as too harsh. Call it, a "note" or some other euphemism that will make more feel better.

Make the first one a more neutral tone:

"Hi, ____!

Just a quick note that you seem to be treading on some people's toes. This isn't a warning or anything drastic like that, but could you watch what you type for a while? Some people are getting pretty uncomfortable and we'd like to avoid that, wound't you? I mean, we'd hate to be giving you a warning or something alarming like that. Although a warning would't be all that bad, as you'd have to really screw up to get a real punishment like banning or something. So, consider this just a note from a cop on the beat telling you to watch it a bit, and we won't have to have this chat again. I know this might have offended you, but we really are just trying to make this place a more friendly community."

Buffistas admins"

---

That's it. Something like that.

Meanwhile all this talk-talk is freaking out some of the long-timers and it is not good for the digestion.

If someone has covered this in the last 175 posts, sorry for the inconvenience, carry on.


P.M. Marc - Apr 12, 2003 11:14:20 pm PDT #9527 of 10001
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear

A warning is something you get from a beat cop when you are annoying another citizen. it doesn't go on your record, it's just a societal aside.

Technically, an official warning DOES go on your record.

The Nutty Asstastic Suggestion from earlier, IIRC, does not.


victor infante - Apr 12, 2003 11:22:21 pm PDT #9528 of 10001
To understand what happened at the diner, we shall use Mr. Papaya! This is upsetting because he's the friendliest of fruits.

Roughly 200 posts ago, Nou wrote:

I wonder if victor and jengod gave up Stomping because they didn't want to have to make the decision, "I'm going to send the official warning. It's my call that enough of us agree." (I always wondered why they resigned, because the white-fonting duties of Stomping didn't seem high pressure.)

Won't speak for Jengod, but Victor resigned because he works ridiculous hours at one newspaper, writes columns for two others, writes for two Web sites and is eating what's left of his so-called personal time by working an extra 40 hours a week trying to launch a new magazine, which involves trying to secure 2.5 million dollars in funding for a project that doesn't exist outside my head, coordinating 30 people spread across the United States and Canada, all of whom are working on vague promises of a paycheck if--and only if--the whole thing doesn't go up in flames, and consistently postponing appointments with his impending nervous breakdown. Victor's a little tired these days.


DCJensen - Apr 12, 2003 11:24:00 pm PDT #9529 of 10001
All is well that ends in pizza.

Technically, an official warning DOES go on your record.

I guess an officeal write-up warning would. I was thinking of the colloquial "I'm warning you buddy," I guess.

t shrug sorry.


Noumenon - Apr 12, 2003 11:33:12 pm PDT #9530 of 10001
No other candidate is asking the hard questions, like "Did geophysicists assassinate Jim Henson?" or "Why is there hydrogen in America's water supply?" --defective yeti

Wow, victor. Like some chaos with your anarchy, do you? All that and ferrets. I wouldn't have pried into your reasons, if it weren't for the simultaneity with jengod that made me curious.


Allyson - Apr 12, 2003 11:36:19 pm PDT #9531 of 10001
Wait, is this real-world child support, where the money goes to buy food for the kids, or MRA fantasyland child support where the women just buy Ferraris and cocaine? -Jessica

which involves trying to secure 2.5 million dollars in funding for a project that doesn't exist outside my head

huh. this sounds all very interesting to the Make-Shit-Happen part of my brain.


P.M. Marc - Apr 12, 2003 11:46:18 pm PDT #9532 of 10001
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear

Victor, you're officially the good twin. Other than failing to bake bread and running a stupid fan site, I ain't doing SQUAT.


§ ita § - Apr 12, 2003 11:56:06 pm PDT #9533 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Two apologies in Building A Better Mouthtrap Board from Zoe. This is the type of behavior everyone wants from her, yes? Then, those who were apologised to might want to acknowledge the apologies.

As one of the people she apologised to ... huh? She apologised to me for thinking Nora did DB work. I was telling her Nora didn't do DB work (and by that I do NOT mean Boreanaz, though I suspect she hasn't worked him either) because it was true, not because I was offended! I think she apologised to Nora too, and I see even less point to that.

My instinctive reaction to it was "Huh? Okay." And typing that? Rude. So I didn't. But here you have it. Giving thanks for a meaningless apology is furthering nonsensical communication by participating in it, and I don't see a value to it. So I'm not going to play.