stirring the pot: bloggergate

so, i really love blogging.

i love the work i/we have put into hitthepost, and i love having people who read it and comment on my stuff, the social community of it all, the gamethreads over at M&G, and when people i've never met can poke fun at me because they "get" me/my passions/my likes and dislikes.... i love having had the opportunity to meet people through a common interest (side-note: who's in for the blogger meet up for this saturday's PPV ??) and i have developed friendships in the real that began through reading and commenting on the various flames-centric blogs....

i think it's incredible that duncan and i (and d_p_h as well, for that matter) went to the same highschool, but never even spoke until we "met" online. i think it's crazy amazing that i spent fifty bucks and four hours getting a theo fleury book signed for awildermode; a favour that was paid back both monetarily and in a thousand thankyous by a dude i've never met in person, and who i am beyond certain would put me up in his spare room if i happened to be in redondo beach.... i think it's incredible that kent is widely acknowledged for his wisdom and talent, and i'm personally (for whatever reason) proud of his achievements since the time that we met when he, too, blogged under a pseudonym.... ;)

maybe it's because i have waaaaay too much effin' time on my hands, or maybe it's because i consider alot of the commenters to be my comrades, but when someone gets banned from a popular forum for no reason, i take it pretty personally.... and it's because of my soft heart that today, sadly, i thrust myself (and my white flag of reason) into what i presumed would be a complete misunderstanding.....

you see, one of my favorite current regulars over in the comments section at M&G is a dude that calls himself rod blogojevich; 459 comments, 2 fanshots, and one post (contributing to a profile of what most of us would call an upstanding blogosphere citizen), plus the most rec'd comment in M&G history (to the best of mikeH's recollection)... he's been helpful with links, sarcastic and funny in his notes, and innocuous in his opinions.... sounds like a nice enough guy, right ? well you can imagine my (and his, and everybody's) surprise to discover that, as of today and without explanation, he had been banned by the M&G site.... and so i began my investigation into why ???

well it didn't take very long to get to the bottom of it....

the long and short of it is that RO explained that he discovered today (with IP and email address recognition) that RoBlo used to comment under the handle Dustin Timberlake.... back in december, after a particularly offensive comment in one of the "clutch" comment threads, DT got hisself (understandably) banned.... what RO didn't know at the time, and what i found out just now, is that the rudeness was directed tongue-in-cheek at a real-life buddy of DT's (who actually noted, "thanks for getting rid of that Dustin Timberlake. I hope he wasn’t a solid, well-liked guy who posted here often. I didn’t mean to provoke him."). aaaaaahhhhh, hindsight !!!!! unfortunately, after 89 comments that DT posted between march and december, an ill-advised joke led to his expulsion.... and fair enough, says RoBlo. he gets it, it was dumb.... live and learn.... he signed up as rod blogojevich, about a month later.

RO, understandably, feels like RoBlo is deceitfully circumventing the ban and sneaking around the system. RoBlo, understandably, feels like he's left all the DT bullshit behind him and shouldn't be punished for starting over... as for me, i just don't like the idea of banning people on principle when they've shown that they've been good team-players for a large chunk of time.... in my opinion, if someone is a jerk in the comments thread and gets banned but then decides to return and actually offer some decent opinions, then to ban that person out of nowhere for no current issue seems sortof... well.... shitty.

so where do we go from here ? RO says that RoBlo can contact one of the editors and they'll reinstate him under his old account... i don't want to stir the pot any more than i already have but why should he have to ??? as far as i'm concerned (and i realize that ultimately none of this is actually my business), RoBlo should get an apology and a reinstatement without having to beg for it... and don't even get me started on where the website's manager has been through all of this today. *ahem* you should either check your email more often or get your head out of the proverbial sand... a response would've been courteous...

in the end, it's a pretty sad day for me.

i don't know if i want to partake in a regime that i feel headhunts and holds grudges. i understand the need for moderating, but i don't know if i want to contribute to a website that deletes posts describing unfair banishings with no forewarning so that the situation remains a big ol' secret... blogging is supposed to be enjoyable for everyone, a forum for discussion and debate ---not a dictatorship (except in the case of domebeers, but i digress)... i don't know if i want to continue participating on a site where the folks in charge can take harsh measures against its readers when they feel slighted.... i'm sure i'm being overdramatic and no doubt i'll get over it, but it's been a sad, sad day for me and my blossoming little hobby.... maybe i'll just stick to my own site...

best.

[sutter(s) dismissal countdown: day 21]