Goodbye and thanks for all the fish.

[Ophiolite]

Recently I asked for support from the mod/admin team over systematic application of negative rep by a specific member. Rather than provide that support I was issued a warning by the team. My offense: calling the member an opinionated twat in my final pm to that member before putting them on Ignore.

 

I joined the forum in 2004 while recuperating from a stroke. Thirteen years later I leave. It has brought me an immense amount of satisfaction, until now, to participate in it. My thanks to all of you whom I have interacted with. I shall no doubt miss you.

[imatfaal]

I will miss your incisive and witty posts Ophiolite; I hope you will reconsider and continue to post, we will be poorer without you. That said: these difficult decisions were made by a group of staff and we stand by them.

[michel123456]

Recently I asked for support from the mod/admin team over systematic application of negative rep by a specific member. Rather than provide that support I was issued a warning by the team. My offense: calling the member an opinionated twat in my final pm to that member before putting them on Ignore.

 

I joined the forum in 2004 while recuperating from a stroke. Thirteen years later I leave. It has brought me an immense amount of satisfaction, until now, to participate in it. My thanks to all of you whom I have interacted with. I shall no doubt miss you.

Too bad.

 

IMHO you shouldn't evaluate the respect that people has for you from a single incident.

I hope you will change your mind.

Quoting one of my most knowledgeable & detestable professor:

"Only the stupids never change their mind"

 

--------------------

Is this a Christmas spirit aftermath?

[iNow]

I joined the forum in 2004 while recuperating from a stroke. Thirteen years later I leave.

Geesh. You were clearly admonished for your ignorance in maths. Haha... Noob.

 

FYI - The TSF dot org site is significantly quieter and lower traffic'ed than here or the TSF dot com site, but I'd love to see you there any time helping to correct the silliness of the opinionated twats we happen to have in that other community.

[StringJunky]

Being ignorant of the facts, I don't know what say other than I am saddened that you feel this way, Ophiolite. Maybe it is such that one can't see the wood for trees and it's necessary to take some time outside of it to evaluate what is really important. I do hope you will reconsider in time.

Edited December 26, 2014 by StringJunky

[arc]

NO! . . NO! . . NO! . . NO! That is a hole that will not be filled. A geologic chasm impervious to time!

[MonDie]

Any longtime member knows that you're knowledgable, Oph. Any user can get a good reputation by preaching to whatever choir will hand out reps for it. It's called socially desirable responding.

[michel123456]

(...)Do think before you hit the post button. Recognise that alternative viewpoints may be more correct than your own. And, most importantly, remember that this forum is meant to be for fun and education, not frustration and ego.

NO! . . NO! . . NO! . . NO! That is a hole that will not be filled. A geologic chasm impervious to time!

You liked the chasm word too.

[Vexen]

Recently I asked for support from the mod/admin team over systematic application of negative rep by a specific member. Rather than provide that support I was issued a warning by the team. My offense: calling the member an opinionated twat in my final pm to that member before putting them on Ignore.

 

I joined the forum in 2004 while recuperating from a stroke. Thirteen years later I leave. It has brought me an immense amount of satisfaction, until now, to participate in it. My thanks to all of you whom I have interacted with. I shall no doubt miss you.

My advice : personally apologise to the member you insulted. Don't let your ego cause to leave this forum you have enjoyed for so many years.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Vexen

[Unity+]

Recently I asked for support from the mod/admin team over systematic application of negative rep by a specific member. Rather than provide that support I was issued a warning by the team. My offense: calling the member an opinionated twat in my final pm to that member before putting them on Ignore.

 

I joined the forum in 2004 while recuperating from a stroke. Thirteen years later I leave. It has brought me an immense amount of satisfaction, until now, to participate in it. My thanks to all of you whom I have interacted with. I shall no doubt miss you.

While I agree there are many members here(including me) who still have a lot to learn about our ever-changing Universe, simply attacking their ignorance of the information is not the correct way to go about changing their viewpoint about the Universe. While some members are willing to change their views with the appearance of evidence(I changed my view on climate change when I finally became unblinded by my ignorance of the issue), others are not so willing. I don't know if you will like this quote, but I think this quote will give some knowledge on how to response to issues like this:

 

"If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet."

 

If you look past the origins of the quote, it states that if a person is refusing to listen to you(with valid evidence presented, which is not a part of the quote of course), then simply ignore them. Let the staff deal with them, as they always have done successfully.

Geesh. You were clearly admonished for your ignorance in maths. Haha... Noob.

 

FYI - The TSF dot org site is significantly quieter and lower traffic'ed than here or the TSF dot com site, but I'd love to see you there any time helping to correct the silliness of the opinionated twats we happen to have in that other community.

I tried looking for the site you referred to, and it says the domain is being sold. I must be looking in the wrong place.

[Royston]

I tried looking for the site you referred to, and it says the domain is being sold. I must be looking in the wrong place.

 

http://www.thescienceforum.com

 

Recently I asked for support from the mod/admin team over systematic application of negative rep by a specific member. Rather than provide that support I was issued a warning by the team. My offense: calling the member an opinionated twat in my final pm to that member before putting them on Ignore.

 

I've just reread the rules, and unless I missed something, there's nothing stating that carpet bombing negative rep is disallowed (unless it's a sockpuppet or whatever). Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Derogatory statements such as 'opiniated twat' is against the rules. You know full well it is, so why act surprised at this decision ?

 

Firstly, if you're bothered about getting negative rep from (by your own admission) a twat, then why should it bother you ? You have enough rep that your status as a good poster is intact. Is your rep really that important to you...unless it is way below zero, who cares ?

 

Secondly, this forum could do with more experts, I consider you one of them, and I really enjoy your posts. You have a good knack at laying it on the line, and advising people how to improve their posts, which is a good thing IMO.

 

Thirdly, grow up and don't get all pissy over some minor incident (slightly hypocritical coming from me, but ho hum), which is all this is.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Royston

[swansont]

I've just reread the rules, and unless I missed something, there's nothing stating that carpet bombing negative rep is disallowed (unless it's a sockpuppet or whatever). Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

No, it's not explicitly against the rules, but it is against the intended purpose of the system. One could argue abuses of the rep system are contrary to being civil.

 

There's a limit to how much negative rep one can give, and we have taken steps on a couple of occasions to deal with abuses of the system. But such incidents have been rare such that there's not been any serious discussion I can recall to change the rules to specifically address this.

[StringJunky]

 

No, it's not explicitly against the rules, but it is against the intended purpose of the system. One could argue abuses of the rep system are contrary to being civil.

 

There's a limit to how much negative rep one can give, and we have taken steps on a couple of occasions to deal with abuses of the system. But such incidents have been rare such that there's not been any serious discussion I can recall to change the rules to specifically address this.

I think the membership generally negates unjustly applied negative rep and notifies administration if a vendetta seems to be happening, so I don't think it's a really a problem. As long as the people that care about fairness watch each others backs it's all ok.

[michel123456]

This is how the story goes on my head. Pure speculation.

 

Ophiolite was sombre this Christmas night.

 

His wife asked him, why are you like this? Aren't we supposed to be happy?

 

Ophiolite answers: grmlbm grrrlmmm grrrrrmbmlml

 

Wife: "Sorry?"

 

O: "an O.T. on my Forum has been supported by the Mods and grmlmbmm I am right and grlmmblm they are all wrong and grrrrrbmllm all of them against me grrrblmmm"

 

W: "Are you serious? Ruining Christmas because of an Internet Forum? You must be joking. Leave them, that' s all they deserve"

 

O: "You are right darling. That's what I will do".

[Royston]

But such incidents have been rare such that there's not been any serious discussion I can recall to change the rules to specifically address this.

 

I guess a small addendum to the use of the rep system i.e if it's clear that negative rep is being dished out to a particular member with no apparent justification will be investigated, regardless of whether it's a rare occurrence. Future proofing is useful, and can stop such incidences reoccurring (of course that's up to you guys if you think that is needed).

Edited December 27, 2014 by Royston

[iNow]

http://www.thescienceforum.com

That's actually not it, but thanks.

[MonDie]

No, it's not explicitly against the rules, but it is against the intended purpose of the system. One could argue abuses of the rep system are contrary to being civil.

 

There's a limit to how much negative rep one can give, and we have taken steps on a couple of occasions to deal with abuses of the system. But such incidents have been rare such that there's not been any serious discussion I can recall to change the rules to specifically address this.

The current rep system gives the sum of all reps from all members. If you're remembering who gave which rep anyway, you might as well make the calculation more resistant to outliers. Besides, wouldn't it be fun to incorporate statistics into a science forum? Have it show the rep standard deviation!

[Ten oz]

I have been on other forums where it is made public who liked or disliked a specific post. Perhaps that might be something to consider here. If posters felt more compelled to stand behind the reps they give perhaps they would be more cautious in how they award them. I personally don't like seeing threads where a poster has multiple negative rep points yet the thread itself has no responses. We should be posting our thoughts and not merely clicking yea or nay.

[Unity+]

I have been on other forums where it is made public who liked or disliked a specific post. Perhaps that might be something to consider here. If posters felt more compelled to stand behind the reps they give perhaps they would be more cautious in how they award them. I personally don't like seeing threads where a poster has multiple negative rep points yet the thread itself has no responses. We should be posting our thoughts and not merely clicking yea or nay.

I think they aren't displayed because showing who liked or disliked a post would hinder the way each user discusses with each other.

[MonDie]

rep war!!

[StringJunky]

I have been on other forums where it is made public who liked or disliked a specific post. Perhaps that might be something to consider here. If posters felt more compelled to stand behind the reps they give perhaps they would be more cautious in how they award them. I personally don't like seeing threads where a poster has multiple negative rep points yet the thread itself has no responses. We should be posting our thoughts and not merely clicking yea or nay.

When someone is obviously being an ass, rather than potentially derailing a thread, I think a red one is enough. If multiple people give a person one then there is something clearly amiss with that post, commented on or not. Some things don't need to be said aloud.

[Unity+]

The downvoted Ophiolite? I hope it was a joke. Otherwise, I upvoted.

[Ten oz]

When someone is obviously being an ass, rather than potentially derailing a thread, I think a red one is enough. If multiple people give a person one then there is something clearly amiss with that post, commented on or not. Some things don't need to be said aloud.

I mostly agree. I have seen multiple negatives given to posts without replies where the post being accumulating the negs did not seem offensive or out of line. Sometimes certain posters team up on issues they are passionate about. Which is fine. I just don't like seeing more neg/pos points than actual posts. This is a forum after all. The objective is to discuss things right?

[StringJunky]

I mostly agree. I have seen multiple negatives given to posts without replies where the post being accumulating the negs did not seem offensive or out of line. Sometimes certain posters team up on issues they are passionate about. Which is fine. I just don't like seeing more neg/pos points than actual posts. This is a forum after all. The objective is to discuss things right?

I sincerely hope that people don't gang up to show negative solidarity between them just because they disagree intellectually with a person. I personally see the negative part of the rep system as a means of admonishing them for some unreasonable aspect of their posting style or argument.

[timo]

I wonder if the process of this thread comes from the reputation system being a simple topic that everyone can say something about (other than the actual topic which is Ophiolite saying goodbye) or from virtual reputation in a room full of strangers having taken up a key role in this forum.

 

From my personal forum experience, I can strongly recommend putting people on the ignore list before feeling compelled to insult them (incidently, Ophiolite was one of those people who ended up on my ignore list as the result of such a process). It may not be very action-hero like to not battle everyone you consider an idiot or simply wrong to the bitter end. But it's very time-effective and good for the nerves.

Putting people on ignore may seem to defeat the purpose of a discussion forum. But in reality once you are at the level where you consider putting people on ignore the trade-off is not between ignorance and healthy discussion, but between ignorance and name-calling or smart-assing.