# Dinkledog Bashes Users Publically



## Mistwell (Jan 24, 2003)

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.
> 
> ...




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.


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## Dinkeldog (Jan 25, 2003)

I'm sorry you took that personally, Mistwell.


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## Kaiyosama (Jan 25, 2003)

n/m


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## Mistwell (Jan 25, 2003)

Dinkeldog said:
			
		

> *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).


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## Dinkeldog (Jan 25, 2003)

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.


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## jgbrowning (Jan 25, 2003)

*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.


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## Mistwell (Jan 25, 2003)

Dinkeldog said:
			
		

> *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!


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## d20Dwarf (Jan 25, 2003)

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?


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## LrdApoc (Jan 25, 2003)

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.


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## The It's Man (Jan 25, 2003)




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## dpdx (Jan 25, 2003)

*Re: my take*



			
				jgbrowning said:
			
		

> *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.*



Regardless of the actual topic at issue, this particular premise is totally false.

In point of fact, many of us have paid cold, hard cash to keep this board going. We're called Community Supporters. Without us, this board is less than it was, at the very best, and does not continue at all, at the very worst.

While we do not set the rules, we've paid for the right more than most to have an opinion about what goes on here, as long as we play by them: me, you, Mistwell, and many others. And sometimes, we even post it! (the Horror!)

So while I respect your right to have an opinion about Mistwell's post, when your opinion precludes anyone else from having the right to their own opinion, your opinion is wrong. But you're lucky, in a sense, that ENWorld works the way it does - your opinion gets to stay on the board, regardless of how wrong it is!

(This board is mostly opinion; especially so in General Discussion: "Most favorite setting", "Did Rangers get the shaft?", "Bad Class/Race combinations", etc.)

Even Hivemind's an opinion, in the truest sense - "Should a bunch of posters hang out on the boards and have a thread just for the sake of conversation?"

Therefore, Anti-Hivemind's an opinion, too, and in the minds of a few people, just as valid. But even if it weren't, it could still exist on the board, just like your ham-handed attempt to regulate others does.

So it would seem that Dinkledog registered his opinion on Anti-Hivemind, and then Mistwell registered his opinion about his perceived treatment within that statement. Everybody has the right - so far, so good.

Whether Dinkledog meant to abuse Mistwell is pretty much known only to Dinkledog. However, Mistwell felt that Dinkledog crossed a line, maybe even several, and has the right, ESPECIALLY as a person with a financial stake in this board, to call him on it, and at that, especially in Meta, where it's been set up to do so. 

On the matter at hand (brace yourself: here comes another opinion!), I think Hivemind and Anti-Hivemind pretty much make the same amount of difference to me on the board: they're BOTH clutter that I have to wade through while the threads I follow get pushed to page 2 and beyond.

Of course, this entire post is my opinion, and you're as free to blow it off as I am to post it.

And in that, we can all rejoice!


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## EricNoah (Jan 25, 2003)

Yay, so everyone's having fun, yes?  Good, all is going according to plan...

Bleh.  Ok.  You know, I could go back and try to figure out where civilization as we know it fell apart, or I could just say ... let's let it go for now.  

So I shall.  G'nite!


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## Piratecat (Jan 25, 2003)

*Re: Re: my take*

Actually, Eric, I'm going to step in here with an important comment.



			
				dpdx said:
			
		

> *
> While we do not set the rules, we've paid for the right more than most to have an opinion about what goes on here *




This is incorrect. It's very clearly spelled out on the Community Supporters page: Community Supporters do *not* have their opinions weighed more heavily than anyone else. We love you and appreciate the support more than you'll ever know, but it doesn't give anyone the right to tell Morrus how to run his site.

Now, I'll return you to your previously closed thread.


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