Dinkledog Bashes Users Publically

[Mistwell]

Dinkeldog posted this, then locked the thread preventing response. I consider it inappropriate behaviour for a mod, and want to take the issue up here in meta.

For background, someone created an anti-hivemind thread in General, discussing why people do not like hivemind. I defended this point only: Hivemind should never have more than one thread on the front page (except during the tansition itself) and that Hivers should wait for a thread to be closed and locked if they cannot police themselves in having only one active thread. They had not been able to today (there was a 5 hour gap), and so they should be polite and not force other RPG topics to scroll off the page because they want to have two threads going, and therefore wait and take their discussion to the chat board until the thread gets closed before starting a new one.

Here is what Dinkeldog said, directed at me (since his response is basically citing the arguements that I had made, and not those made by others).

Okay, class, listen up.

Hivemind threads are allowed because it's basically harmless and fun and promotes a sense of board community. It's limited to one thread at a time so that it doesn't clog up the boards.

It used to be strictly in Meta, but then we (edit: meaning Morrus) decided it could come back here if it were limited to one thread at a time. I think this is a good move, as it opens up the light-hearted, whimsical, be-yourself nature of the board to people that normally wouldn't be bothered to go to Meta.

This isn't Darkness' personal pet project. Darkness alone isn't responsible for setting up the context in which a subset of the board is enjoying themselves. Trying to pin onto Darkness the added responsibility of making sure there's only ever one Hivemind thread is not only unfair to Darkness, it flies in the reality of a message board that's running 24-hours a day.

Finally, good freaking grief, what is it about Fridays around this place? I'm going to lock this thread down. If you want to, you can continue in the current Hivemind thread, or you can just shut up, already, because the Hivemind and the Pantheon have never been such an imposition on your lives that it should be this important. You want to really complain about something and make a change in the world, there are plenty of people starving, suffering terrible political persecution, and/or dying of various diseases curable and incurable. Expend as much energy helping other people as you do complaining now about other people enjoying themselves and maybe, just maybe, the world will be a better place.

EN World is a darker place because the Pantheon got chased away. There's no need to make it even darker by making sure no one ever is allowed to have fun with something that you, certain individuals, don't want to join in on. Good day.

I resent a Mod telling me I am not doing something to change the world or helping people, and that I am expending too much energy "complaining" and therefore making the world not a better place. I do a hell of a lot to help the world, and it is not the place of a Mod to make such an unfounded accusation.

Second, it is unfair to lock the anti-hive thread simply because a mod LIKES hivemind and thinks it is a good thing, and that complaining about it is taking away peoples fun. THAT WAS MY OWN POINT ABOUT HIVEMIND, THAT IT IS TAKING OTHER PEOPLES FUN AWAY BY DRIVING RPG TOPICS OFF THE PAGE WITHOUT MULTIPLE HIVE THREADS. Dinkledog is free to like Hive, but other people do not. One thread is fine for Hive, but two is not. And certainly locking down any dissention to what one Mod likes can't be fair. Complaining about it is just as legit as Hive itself. And it isn't that the complaint belonged here in Meta, since the basis of the complaint initially was just asking people to be polite about multiple hives, and to vent about hive, and not asking for a new policy (which would have belonged in meta). It also got a lot more attention being in General rather than Meta (which is why I think Hive wanted to move from Meta to general in the first place).

Just to be clear - this post is not about Hive or even Anti-Hive, it is about a mod bashing me publically and accusing me of expending my energy improperly, not helping the world, and locking down a legit thread in General to discuss Hive. That is wrong.

 

[Dinkeldog]

I'm sorry you took that personally, Mistwell.

 

[Kaiyosama]

n/m

 

[Mistwell]

I'm sorry you took that personally, Mistwell.

How could I not take it personally? Are you telling me you were responding to someone else? Are you telling me the crack about helping starving people rather than spending my energy complaining was meant as an objective statement about the world in general, and not the person you were responding to?

I do help starving people. In fact, I used to volunteer (for years) at legal aid doing just that, and I continue to contribute to that cause. I do help people suffering from political persecution, by representing them in immigration law matters to come to the US as refugees. And I do help people dying of diseases by donating money to cure-based causes, walking in various charitable events for donations, and offering legal assistance to a biotech company working on a disease treatment. I consider your statement personal BECAUSE IT WAS. Nor was that an apology you just made - since you said you were sorry I took it personally (which is about you, not anyone else), rather than sorry for saying it in the first place.

Bashing me, and then immediately closing the thread because you don't like the message, was rude (if not an abuse of authority).

 

[Dinkeldog]

Mistwell, that's a shock statement meant to allow you to reconsider just how serious it is that the Hivemind has one thread (oh, my GAWD, there were two for a while because the mods screwed up and didn't realize one needed locking) on the General Discussion forum for a message board about role-playing games. It wasn't a personal assault on you or anyone else.

And I really don't know why we're doing this in public instead of through e-mail.

 

[jgbrowning]

my take

1. This ain't a democracy. The mods do what they do and talk among themselves to help determine what is appropriate and what is not. You have no stake in this board. You are a guest and are subject to others rules. We are all the same here.

2. Don't pot and kettle. Don't post a post publicly bashing a mod who you think bashed you because you don't think you should get bashed. If you have a problem with the mods you should always always privately notify them or morrus, if you're concerned about maintaining a positive attitude on a public board.

3. Your complaint here makes me, and im sure others, think that dinkle dog wasn't so much out of line as it would have been were to you have handled such things in a less inflamatory method. Regardless if you like it or not, politness is the social lubraction proven most effective (TM).

4. Lighten up. We are all unjustly accused everyday. We are also often justly accused. Don't be so concerned about what other people think about you.

joe b.

 

[Mistwell]

And I really don't know why we're doing this in public instead of through e-mail.

You TOLD me to do it publically, as did the Hive members.

And you got a lot of chutzpah, making that bashing statement about me in public, closing the thread so I cannot respond, and then asking that I take the complaint private!

 

[d20Dwarf]

Perhaps because public debate is fair and open, where the true nature of one's character is brought to light.

Besides, isn't META for discussing board issues?

 

[LrdApoc]

When last I heard yes it was.

By all means Mistwell has the option to speak his piece, he's not violating any rules I'm aware of.

 

[The It's Man]