Alright. So, I am talking to Tom Foolery on the phone last night, and he is catching me up on all of this fighting that happens to be occurring in my absence from the board. He read me posts word for word, and I have come up with an opinion since then. The posts about thinking this board is "shit" weren't mentioned when we were on the phone. This changes my position from what I originally would have posted.
Now, come on. Would I (or the majority of us) post on here if we thought it was anything close to "shit"? I think not. That is quite obviously a comment aimed to piss people off...after all, the people that have been pissed thus far are the ones who can always be found on the "Today's Top 10 Posters" list. Hell, if I wanted to come in here and stir up some trouble, you better believe I would I would pick on Digsy or Ray. (You guys know I dig you.) So, guys, I challenge you to keep that fact in mind.
At the same time, I must argue that just because someone doesn't share your exact opinion doesn't mean that they should be rejected from your community. Lots of people don't like what I say. Some won't like this post. That's fine. I will take the criticism; everyone isn't ever going to agree with everything I say.
In this particular case, an insult to the board has been stated, and [thus far] no comments about the band (whose board this is...I might remind you) have been made by the person in question. Should we ban someone who insults the band? Well, so far, this has been a pretty decent community, where thoughts about The Features have been shared, and people have gotten to know one another well enough to discuss more personal topics/preferences, such as musical and film tastes. Just because someone (not necessarily the person we are talking about here) doesn't agree with someone else's tastes, we shouldn't ban them. I heard of this experiment about a year ago, and it quickly came to mind when I heard that the basis of banning someone on here was that they didn't share other's opinions. My details might be a little skewed. This is the best that I can remember it. So, think of this:
There is a class of children in their earlier years of Elementary School. And, it just so happens that their teacher wants to conduct a little experiment. She comes in one day and says that she has read that all of the children with blue eyes were better: smarter, funnier, prettier/cuter. So, she wants all of the children with blue eyes to sit in the front of the class, and all of the children with brown eyes to sit in the back. The kids move around, and later on that day, when recess comes around, the blue eyed children get to go out first, then the brown eyed children are dismissed five minutes later. That very day these fights start breaking out. When the teacher asks the children why they were fighting, things like, "He called me brown eyes," were the basis of the responses.
The next day, she comes in and says, "You know, I was wrong yesterday. I have blue eyes, so I was easily confused. All of the people with brown eyes are smarter." Well, the inverse happened.
When the experiment was over, she explained what she had done to the children. They quickly understood (even at that early age) that they shouldn't eliminate someone from their "group" immediately based on a small amount of material.
In this case, before the comments directed to piss people off (for example- calling the board "shit") were made, I would say, let them hate buttons. Maybe they just don't like them. Let them think elliot was cool. If I recall correctly, others have thought his posts were funny. I wasn't around at the time, so I can't say my opinion on that either way. Bottom line: Don't persecute someone or eliminate them from your community simply because you don't like what they say.
Now, this obviously isn't the case here. Some negative comments meant to stir up trouble have been posted, so that changes things quite a bit. I trust that our lovely administrators will do whatever they feel is needed in whatever amount of time they feel is needed in order to mend the problem.
Oh, and I don't want anyone to think that I am attacking them. This post was just a general comment that hasn't really been stated on this board as of yet. I say that, if in the future we have someone join who doesn't like what the majority of the other members like, we should respect that opinion and consider their point of view. After all, how are we going to grow and become a larger Features-loving community if we don't accept others with various, differing views?
Quote from YaDaDaDa on Oct. 1, 2002 at 7:44 PM
i for one genuinely enjoy the posts of both ray and digsy and any other true message board member for that matter, and i think it's safe to say most others feel the same way.
