Really good advice Sky.
I'll try and follow it, but I cant promise............. the five year old in me gets so cwoss!

Its always piece by piece that everyone is being re-translated... wow.... that's... brutal

Guys, guys, GUYS!

Before anyone else earns a timeout... CALM DOWN, YO!

I did plenty to earn a ban.

Indeed. As he has already has illustrated amply, Pika did the right thing. I did not. More on that later...

I was well on my way to turning myself into a public martyr, and it wouldn't have been pretty if I had. I dare say I unwittingly succeeded even while being sent to a lenient 24h timeout. You made a better judgment call then I could have asked of anyone, and I think most of this thread's participants owe you a heartfelt "thank you" for not letting AFF be transformed into WWIII again like it was back in October for reasons better left in the past.

On the other hand...

(apologies in advance for bringing up past bs and my overuse of paraphrasing and/or poetic license as indicated by 'apostrophes')

Call me nuts but I actually was taking a liking to Fnord before he went on his exodus from AFF. He holds some unpopular political and religious beliefs, is politically incorrect and is a diehard republican... tough nookies. He was also confrontational when he felt a situation warranted it. In my mind, we need more confrontationalists in activism and community management at some point in a global future that will likely still be as unfriendly towards autism as it is today.

Enter Grumpy Rossco/Bloke, who has very successfully done a 360° in his particularly notorious past as a leader of an 'autistic (and rebellious) wolfpack' that then took a near-permanent leave of absence from AFF after one of the now-deleted threads he participated in went NUCLEAR(!!!)

He has also demonstrated a willingness to change his course involving interaction with other people on the web. Sure, he's still a bit of a hothead some days... so am I. Nevertheless, he's demonstrated a willingness to atone and rethink his behavior. I don't think anyone here at AFF can fully answer "How?" or "Why?" he has done this, only that he has. /shrug
Yeah, I'm probably going to lose face and earn a few blank stares for repeating this notion YET AGAIN, but it bears repeating: sometimes even the "ugliest of underdogs" deserve support and recognition. Make of that what you will.

Then there's you and me, Skyblue. You and I don't give new members the friendly 'handshake' that they sometimes deserve, and instead turn the other way when they introduce themselves on forums, here.  As I recall, we both agreed in private why we do this. AFF has been through far too much just to simply suffer a demise at the hands of a few "granola punks" that enjoy stirring up needless crap at random, after having "slipped through the cracks" of normal, healthy community management. (My words, not Skyblue's)

That's in addition to all the spam, intentional flamewar, and DDoS-related attacks we receive here. It's hardly unique to AFF, but at the same time... we are, apparently, a target for some scattered about the world.

Get this: Gedrene has quite a few salient points to make on her end, and (SURPRISE!) I actually agree with her on many issues I've seen her post about while she was here. Her one fault that I can recognize offhand, is that these "salient points" she makes goes to hell in a handbasket the moment she is put on the defensive for whatever reason.

My attitude (as always) is "Honestly, I could give a sh!t" about what someone says about me on the internet, thanks in part to my past time spent on mmorpgs/online games in general, and on forums where flamewars are passively encouraged by mods/staff. I've gotten permabanzooka'd before on my natural 'thick skinned' and apathetic behavior, too.

How many times? Too many to count. But enough to learn some interesting things regarding web communities. I'm still learning to deal with "hyperactive children" scattered across the web, because it distracts me from my well-learned "teacher's pet aspie" behaviors that took nearly two decades to fully master. Dealing with a stressed out, nagging, bitchy mother can do that to a guy.




I draw the line at flamebaiting and a unique manner of rubbing my friends every wrong way once earning a rebuttal or two from some of our more senior members here. My "thick skin" vanishes into midair faster than one can blink, to my own detriment.

IMO, be it dtx or some random honery as.s from elsewhere on the net, a person should demonstrate a basic willingness to assimilate into whatever forum they are attempting to post on or simply "not post".

Gedrene has demonstrated that much. All other concerns have gone out the window already. [/done_with_this_issue]

Here's an even more radical suggestion: my actions taken over the past 96 hours are my own and not anyone else's. Lock this thread and let bygones be bygones and keep a blank slate in mind when dealing with others here.  No one presently needs to be alienated from the site just yet.

(I've had a short fuse for mood-related reasons already mentioned here, and because of intense household related stresses no one here knows about just yet.)

I like Fnord and Bloke....both middle aged guys with unigue voices

doesnt mean I agree with them on everything

good to see ya back Kapkao

I second closing the thread

I am the 3rd Vote to close the thread

I really like Fnord, and Bloke is a decent...guy.

I have to say, Kapkao, that is one of the best reactions to a temp ban I've ever seen.

Now, as you say, I agree with a lot of what Gedrene says, and I do agree that (s?)he is a little quick to go on the defensive - but that's ok, I was much the same when I started here and I grew out of it as I got more comfortable with the community.

Skyblue, I don't think it's entirely fair to say you can't defend yourself; Rather, as I've said before, I don't mind arguments. They're good, they keep things interesting and trying to persuade another person of your viewpoint can expose you to avenues of thought you might not have considered. What I do not want to see are personal attacks by anybody. Sometimes I see somebody calling people out on strawmen and I'm not always sure which way to lean on that, so I don't.

Now, I made a Really **** bad call a while back, and I am hesitant to be seen to be coming down on one side or the other on this one, because I have no desire to repeat that clusterfark.

Regarding the posting style; It's probably because it is similar to my own that I'm not seeing the perceived personal attacks. When I get into an argument about something, I will break a post up into manageable chunks and address points one by one; That, in my eyes, is not being aggressive but more being thorough - there is no ambiguity about which points you are addressing at any one time. I am from 2007; I've seen a lot of changes here, I've seen more than a few members of staff and believe me I was shocked as hell when I was made moderator, considering my own rapsheet here isn't exactly spotless.

Everybody just needs to chill the fark out.

Gedrene, you need to assess posts directed at you a bit more carefully; Somebody attacking your points is not necessarily attacking you, there's no need to go on the defensive quite so hard.

/honorable_bow

I'm done with this thread...