What happened in the other neighborhood

JoeJester said:

As far as the incidents at AAC. stuff like that happens. It wasn't that long ago that there was a minor uprising here at ETO.

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The difference is that the people in charge here at ETO took notice of the members' complaints and did something to fix it. At AAC, however, the moderators are all-powerful self-righteous omnipotent beings and don't want to pursue any changes that could in any way jeopardize their position of power and control over mere members.

Someone may have tipped EM off to that thread two years ago Matt. I don't know if anyone tipped off jrap or EETechMedia over there.

They would have to notice a group of disgruntled members with a moderators actions for them to take action. That's human nature, being reactive to external stimuli.

The moderators, no matter which forum, are limited in their power and abuse of power, should be reported as they represent the forum owners at this level.

I'll leave you with this Matt,

Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.
--- John Stuart Mill, in an address at the University of St. Andrew (1 February 1867)

I wouldn't want to bastardize Mill's statement to make it fit moderators, but you get the drift.

JoeJester said:

Someone may have tipped EM off to that thread two years ago Matt. I don't know if anyone tipped off jrap or EETechMedia over there.

They would have to notice a group of disgruntled members with a moderators actions for them to take action. That's human nature, being reactive to external stimuli.

The moderators, no matter which forum, are limited in their power and abuse of power, should be reported as they represent the forum owners at this level.

I'll leave you with this Matt,

Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.
--- John Stuart Mill, in an address at the University of St. Andrew (1 February 1867)

I wouldn't want to bastardize Mill's statement to make it fit moderators, but you get the drift.

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I vaguely remember having a discussion with jrap some time ago, while it was before many of the most recent changes he showed no effort to fix the issues that had arisen. I guess I lost all of my respect for him at that point, and haven't even bothered since. The threads over there complaining about the moderators abusing their power are very prominent. I would be amazed if jrap hasn't seen them.

Those voting with there feet should drop a line or an open message to the ownership on why they are departing.

I've been on forums where some had poor vocabulary skills, still mustered enough members to get someone banned.

JoeJester said:

Those voting with there feet should drop a line or an open message to the ownership on why they are departing.

I've been on forums where some had poor vocabulary skills, still mustered enough members to get someone banned.

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Or, one can just change their AAC avatar to a screne capture of...

JoeJester said:

Those voting with there feet should drop a line or an open message to the ownership on why they are departing

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I thought about sending my complaints up the chain but decided intentionally not to.
I can have beef with mods, that's my prerogative, but at the end of the day I recognize that they are unpaid interns for a job that doesn't exist.
That's almost enough reason in and of itself to keep conflict resolution at the lowest level possible, but that's not all.
In the case of AAC(now) they are volunteers for a for-profit organization. Someone is capitalizing on their labor.

So, I leave it up to the forum owners to know what is going on in their own forum. It shouldn't be a "set it and forget it" type of operation, should it? No investment is that easy. You invest in real estate, you have to inspect and maintain it. You invest in stocks, you have to stay in tune with the market and move your money to the right places. You invest in an online forum, you damn well better know what's going on, especially within your unpaid workforce, and cull the troublemakers.

If I were the forum owner, I wouldn't need my members to inform me when my mods are on a power trip, I'd already know, they'd already be chastised or replaced.
If their forum turns into a ghost town, they won't notice until the cash cow goes barren, not my problem.
If it were still a nonprofit owned by jrap, I would have a different stance. I was empathetic to that situation; he was one man who financed the place out of his own pocket and had a real life.

strantor said:

If I were the forum owner, I wouldn't need my members to inform me when my mods are on a power trip, I'd already know, they'd already be chastised or replaced.

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"Power trip" is a good descriptor; the mods there seem obsessed with control, rank, status and enforcing rigid adherence to arbitrary rules. This was my final post there; I suspect the same fate will befall AAC as befell the others, and I've no desire to stick around and watch it happen.

The final straw for me was when the moderators started deleting posts that criticized RK and his silly questions, or editing them to remove content they deemed "offensive" or "bullying," without having the courtesy of informing the poster. Not acceptable.

Reloadron
I was referring to the site's identity. It is a load different than when Dave was the boss. There is, of course, the new Orange Team. Then, you have a heavy handed, narrow-minded moderation team -- with two exceptions IMHO. The site has also become quite silly.

John

Two years ago there were political problems and some bad attitudes here. Since then, there has been less activity here but it has been a pleasant friendly place. I hope the undesirable types don't come back.

OBW0549 said:

"Power trip" is a good descriptor; the mods there seem obsessed with control, rank, status and enforcing rigid adherence to arbitrary rules. This was my final post there; I suspect the same fate will befall AAC as befell the others, and I've no desire to stick around and watch it happen.

The final straw for me was when the moderators started deleting posts that criticized RK and his silly questions, or editing them to remove content they deemed "offensive" or "bullying," without having the courtesy of informing the poster. Not acceptable.

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Glad to see you here! And your post was prophetic, here we are.

OBW0549 said:

...The final straw for me was when the moderators started deleting posts ... or editing them to remove content they deemed "offensive" or "bullying," without having the courtesy of informing the poster. Not acceptable.

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That is exactly what happened to me... A post that took me over two hours to prepare was deleted without any prior notification or discussion with me. When I sent a PM to all the moderators requesting that my post be reinstated, I was told the moderators cant be bothered editing a one-line comment out of a three-page post with attached schematics and simulations; they only have time to delete it...

I suspect, but cannot prove, that it was Wendy that dumped my post. I have the impression that she was looking for an excuse to get even with me because I had publicly challenged her "electron current" sacred cow in other forum postings.

OBW0549 said:

The final straw for me was when the moderators started deleting posts that criticized RK and his silly questions, or editing them to remove content they deemed "offensive" or "bullying," without having the courtesy of informing the poster. Not acceptable.

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One day, after almost a dozen posts from RK in one day, all of them questions that my 10y/o would agree were stupid, I posted "Normally I just ignore stupid, but your flavor of stupid is particularly irritating. Can you start making an effort to answer your own questions instead of posting every thought you have that ends in a question mark?"

That post was deleted within 60sec. So was every other comment by regular members who chastised him. AFAIK he was never chastised by the mods. He was a troll, and they defended him at the expense of the community. I think that the reason for playing it that way was that it gave them/him (her?) so many more opportunities to swing the hammer of domination at so many more targets. Much more gratifying for someone who craves power and gets off on enforcement of it.

Woohoo! I just got a participation trophy, nannynannybooboo!
Thanks OBW

strantor said:

One day, after almost a dozen posts from RK in one day, all of them questions that my 10y/o would agree were stupid, I posted "Normally I just ignore stupid, but your flavor of stupid is particularly irritating. Can you start making an effort to answer your own questions instead of posting every thought you have that ends in a question mark?" That post was deleted within 60sec.

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I distinctly remember that post; I loaded the page just seconds after you posted it, and a minute later when I went to click the "LIKE" button, I got an error message because it was gone.

He was a troll, and they defended him at the expense of the community. I think that the reason for playing it that way was that it gave them/him (her?) so many more opportunities to swing the hammer of domination at so many more targets. Much more gratifying for someone who craves power and gets off on enforcement of it.

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I never thought of him as a troll, at least not in the sense of him being deliberately, calculatingly disruptive for the purpose of causing consternation among the rest of us members; I considered him a lazy, ignorant, unmotivated, coddled dolt who no doubt had spent his entire 24 years pampered by the adults in his life with no demands ever made on him, and he expected us to do the same.

The kid desperately needed people to whap him upside the head with a Cluebat. Or, as someone once said in another time and place and context, it was "time to peel back the Foreskin of Ignorance and apply the Wire Brush of Enlightenment with firm, brisk strokes."

Although I somehow doubt that even that extreme measure would've made any difference...

OBW0549 said:

I never thought of him as a troll, at least not in the sense of him being deliberately, calculatingly disruptive for the purpose of causing consternation among the rest of us members; I considered him a lazy, ignorant, unmotivated, coddled dolt who no doubt had spent his entire 24 years pampered by the adults in his life with no demands ever made on him, and he expected us to do the same.

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I considered him as you described for a while, but there was a point at which it seemed just "too much". I guess the opposite of "too good to be true"

I wonder if he made an appearance over here, and how he was handled if so.

His moniker here was koolguy. Haven't seen him around in quite awhile.

John

strantor said:

I considered him as you described for a while, but there was a point at which it seemed just "too much". I guess the opposite of "too good to be true"

I wonder if he made an appearance over here, and how he was handled if so.

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I considered him the same way as you both at first, and tended to ignore his posts. What really clinched it for me was when he asked what a hard hat was for.

He was over here for a while (I think before he was even at AAC) and just recently he changed his username to "koolguy" and his posts became even more troll-like. After lengthy discussions between the moderators here, he was eventually banned.

strantor said:

I wonder if he made an appearance over here, and how he was handled if so.

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I recall someone saying that he used to be here, but was banned for the same kind of behavior that was causing all the turmoil over on AAC.

OOPS: DerStrom8 beat me to it.

These are excerpts from a recent power trip thread by Bill/Wendy about police lights.

I have been using PCB express with good results for quite some time now. Problem is, it doesn't generate Gerber files.
This is a one time offer to PCB board houses to advertise on this thread only. Do it anywhere else on another thread and you will receive the standard life time ban, either from myself or my compatriots. Our regulars know about how seriously we take spam.
This circuit was discussed at ETO, it is against AAC policies.

What is his/her name here on ETO?

Back when Wendy was Bill, Bill had an account here under the moniker "QuietMan". QuietMan does not appear to have been active here since last August, and the last post under that name was from 2011.

What thread was that comment from?