The Drama!

Big weird insanity going on over on the online knitting group.

Like, totally weird. Involved, hard to explain, I'm a victim of my own curiosity and therefore cannot blame my offense on anyone but myself.

I'm a member of an online knitting forum. It's like MySpace for knitters and crocheters. Inside this forum there are groups--Tons and tons of them. You can join any group that you like at any time--and leave as well, at your own discretion. Each group has moderators, which are put in place to make sure that all members of any particular group adhere to group and forum guidelines.

Well.

One group didn't follow the rules. Didn't do what they were supposed to, the moderators really didn't moderate anything. The 4 site creators had to get involved, and decided that the best course of action was to close the group.

And the shit--it hit the fan.

Why?

Because this group is for....Conservative Fundamentalist Christians. They are yelling discrimination, calling for all liberal groups to be closed, preparing petitions, and generally having their panties in a bunch.

But see, I can understand them being upset.....to a point.

They are not in trouble for being conservative, for being christian, or for adhering to a fundamentalist view of their faith. They are in trouble because they stirred up a lot of shit on other sites. They flagged posts all over the site as a whole, causing trouble for the 4 big mods, and when those moderators in turn asked the group moderators to keep their group in check, they failed to do so.

So they got closed down.

Any other group that behaved similarly would have been closed down, regardless of the subject matter. The knitting group from Scranton gets out of hand? Closed. The knitters-who-love-manatees group goes on a rampage and the mods won't do anything? Closed.

Of course, rather than say "Hey, you know, we should listen to the site moderators and say 'ok, we understand, but we don't agree'", they're saying things like: (all grammatical and spelling errors have been left as is. Only changes I have made have been to protect the identity of the site or the members spoken of.)(Yes, I too am afraid of people finding my blog and getting in trouble.)

"...Discrimination. Loud and clear. Where do I get my armband? Oh, yea, and which hand are they going to tattoo that number on?"

"...Oh, yea, and which hand are they going to tattoo that number on? Ironically the RIGHT…."

"...I have stayed away from the liberal boards because they are so hateful and nothing positive could come from any discussion with them."

(In response to a site moderator explanation as to group disbandment)

"This is honestly a back door tactic to deal with the complaints you get. You know we deal with complaints when they come up… and yes, we have discussed things with you at at times. Such as why it’s okay for someone to post that Pres Bush should be hanged on one of the main six [main six boards that everyone is a member of, like it or not], but we can’t discuss inaugural scarf patterns [this was the last bit of drama--this group sent anything from death threats to scathing notes to a woman who wrote a pattern, which was then published, which said something very.....unflattering about Sarah Palin] without it being considered a terrorist threat.

I imagine that we just haven’t been diligent enough as a group to troll all the other boards flagging posts and whining about them. It appears that the squeaky wheel gets the oil. But don’t worry, that’s not my style. I’m not so bored and pathetic that I’m going to wander around looking for ways to silence people I disagree with and harp on you all the time.

But I’d like to give you a big ol’ thanks for the shout out for the criticism of what lousy mods we are. That’s really nice.

If anyone has flagged a post on an opposing forum and has received one of those nasty messages from one of their ultra-classy mods, I suggest you forward it to [site builder and moderator] so he can see what’s really going on. Or if you have somebody sending you nasty messages then stalking you… disagreeing with you… friending you… faving your projects… then sending you scathing messages when you reply… send those along too. Apparently, we’ve been to silent in taking the abuse we’ve received."

"It is evident now more than ever, that the Conservative voice must be heard. We must not let the “Left” take control of every aspect of our lives. This is Communism and we must fight back."

It is more than pathetic that we cannot even conduct our own discussions without the Leftist watchdogs tattling. Will the Gestapo be at our doors next?"

"Ugly people often say ugly things. They cannot help themselves. If they think this will stop us in our march towards doing what is right for the country we will not be shut up so easily. Hey I will have extra time to email congress reps and senators and the white house."

"I really, really, really regret having spent any money in the online store. This website is just a sandbox for liberal alley cats to compete at shitting in."

"I’m not surprised that it’s come to this. The Nazi-in-chief and his oligarchical minded brownshirts have managed to spit in the faces of our Founders and defile the Constitution in three weeks. The weak-minded can’t bear to hear any opposition to the Nazi-in-chief. This is just a taste of things to come – “conform or be cast out.""

Am I wrong to be offended by this? I mean, seriously. You cannot cry 'freedom of speech' when you flagrantly break the rules. You can't cry 'discrimination' because you pissed off a lot of people, forced an 'us vs. them' mentality on your corner of the site, and ignored site rules when you were told that this behavior was unacceptable. No, the other 'nasty' groups didn't get disbanded.....because they adhere to site guidelines and rules.

Sorry. Your inability to read and comprehend the letters, messages and postings of the site mods explaining the reasons behind your disbandment has nothing to do with reality.

(Circe, I think you're rubbing off on me with the board rage....)