User blog:Berrybrick/Regarding chat
I wanted to type this up last night, but I couldn't because I had things to do. Ideally, I also would have spoken with a few people, but I'm not interested in waiting any longer. I've let people get away with this for too long.
I learned a long time ago that nobody is interested in abiding by the same code of ethics as I do, and I have no desire to push it upon them, because that is one of my first rules. When I come here, it is usually because if news hits, I can see it pretty immediately in the RC and hear reactions on chat. Sometimes I like to edit (especially when I have nothing else going on) but I do have things going on outside of this place, personal projects and obligations. Just because I have chat open doesn't mean that I'm interested in sitting crosslegged and staring hawkeyed over my screen to make sure that everyone is behaving. Often it is too boring for that, and I have things I want to accomplish. I don't like moderating. I don't like disciplining, and I don't like guilting or arguing with a boulder, but it is doing damage to the site. Some older users have been less inclined to come back because of the way people are acting, and it'll be easy enough to scare off new blood by acting so immaturely. If it's attracting anyone, I doubt that they will be very productive outside of chat (and I use the term "productive" very loosely).
Personally, I don't care what you and your friends do on chat. I might think of you as immature, but that doesn't mean anything. I'm immature sometimes too. I just have other things I am more concerned with. Since we have moved, instances of trolling have gone down and there are less new users around, so I've been more lenient, but a few other admins and I have noticed the way things have changed, and it's become uncomfortable. It needs to stop.
Last night, a user who used to be a dedicated regular came on here and used a sockpuppet account for trolling. I am very disappointed in him, but frankly, the way that people have been acting on chat, it doesn't surprise me. I'm sure that it was that immature behavior which drew him back. It fit right in. It was only a couple of notches above what usually happens anyway. Only a couple of hours after I banned him, it ramped right back up with more than just one user playing along, and doing so without the fuzzy warmth of a wooly meatsock. I haven't spoken to anyone about it, so if you feel terrible, I hate to pour vinegar in the wound, but even though I'll feel bad if I make you feel bad, this needs to be said.
It's rare that I personally hate someone, and I could count the people who I do on just one hand. I'm not adding anyone to that list because of chat, but I'd like to tell you about the people who have earned a spot there. The area where I grew up is noticeably devoid of cliques. They are there, since everyone spent the most time with their own group of friends (me included), of course, but aside from people who were rejected, there was plenty of mobility. There was just one group who seated themselves "at the top." I'll call them The Clique, even though their actual name was much more pretentious and annoying, but basically they were made up of the brattiest athletes and the most stuck-up of the cheerleaders. They had a very distinct sense of humor. It actually wasn't all that different from my own, and I was able to keep things from getting too bad for a while because of that (and I totally won against them in my head), but I digress. Though they were quirky and sarcastic and self-aware, the thing about them was that they had adopted this act that they were the "mean girls/man-girls" and played it up. They were parodying themselves, and using it as an excuse to justify the way that they treated other people, which, wasn't nicely.
Just earlier today, I noticed that I might be the only active US admin, so I know very well that you can argue "freedom of speech." I hear that one all the time. I'm all for those rights. Yes, you can say whatever you would like, but what you are saying is an abuse of those privileges. It's intended purpose is to convey opinions and ideas openly. What I see are bad jokes which tend to be sexual, racist, or both. Call me a social justice warrior if you want, but I don't actually care what you say. I care what you say does, and the only effects I can imagine are damaging, if not to me, than someone else. If I'm only supposed to lookout for myself, then we wouldn't have moderators. "Dude, not funny!" at TV Tropes and this xkcd strip apply. If you abuse your right of free speech, nobody is going to take you seriously when it matters. Yes, in a boy who cried wolf scenario, but also in the sense that people will just figure that you are so full of garbage that you can't possibly have anything wise to contribute. If you have an issue, I'll listen. I'll work with you. If you haven't been banned, I haven't given up (and even then, once it blows over everything is okay), but you can't expect that from everyone. Not in life, and not here. It's about respect. Not necessarily for me, I'm just a moody admin, but for yourself and everyone around you.
I don't know if the "purge" is still planned for Wednesday, but from the logs I looked at, the one that everybody remembers from a couple years back so fondly was basically only LMBW chat with more innuendos getting past the mods. I'm sure that you remember it being wilder than that though and intend to take it up a notch from what you do now. You can consider it off. I don't want there to be consequences, but if there have to be, there will. I'll make that clear. I don't want anyone to get in trouble. I want things to run smoothly. If I do anything, it is because you've crossed some barrier which changes like the tide. Does that sound unfair? Perhaps, in a sense, because I do my best to treat everyone equally, but if I come onto chat upset and you only add to that stress, who is really at fault?
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