Sheep is done and so am I

So much drama.

I understand the part in copperpot's post about people who have been banned. I advocate bans, and even vacations, as a last, last, last resort. There were people who have been absolute jerks to me for no reason on here, for example -- I had a loser on here stalking me from thread to thread lobbing insults at me at one point even though I had never even directed a post to the idiot -- who I didn't advocate banning. It's what I have told others who have problems on here. Just ignore it. If you think someone is stupid or a jerk -- don't respond to them. Pass them by, no matter how much they try to bait you. Save your posts for people you care more about.

That said, there was a lot of toxicity on the board that we were not dealing with. And there were a lot of people who weren't ignoring others, the way I am suggesting. They were becoming as bad, or worse, than the people they were taking the bait from. And the board was having problems because of it -- it had been that way for a while.

I think Jeff has been heavy handed, but please don't make anyone who has been tossed into a martyr. At best, in the case of a few of the bans (and there haven't been that many), they were were people who came on here to just be assholes and shit all over the board. And the tone has changed for the better since they've been gone. Even some people who are otherwise OK on here, but were often getting into personal feuds that were spilling all over the board, have toned it down since Jeff asked them to cool it.

I haven't agreed with some of the bans, but at the same time, it's not like he is just on an ego trip, or randomly picking users to ban. He also hasn't laid out some plan to boost membership or page views, the way copperpot suggested. In fact, when he gave a vacation to someone who was creating problems all over the board, I joked that he just cut his site traffic in half -- it was someone who was on here all day at the time, and was going through a period in which he or she was throwing up a gazillion posts every day.

Just use common sense. Don't act like an unhinged jerk because someone posted something you don't agree with. Don't make it personal. Don't take gratuitous shots just to be nasty, don't take constant passive aggressive digs at others, don't create endless drama over everything on the site, etc. There is a fine line between piling on the occasional user who shows up and acts like a silly cartoon character (people who have been on here for a long time should know when it is funny and when it isn't) and being the guy who takes passive aggressive digs at everyone and everything just to try to prove that he is the snarkiest anonymous guy on a message board.

My solution has always been "ignore it." Jeff has taken it a step farther and said, "People shouldn't have to ignore it. Don't be that guy (or girl) that others have to ignore." Agree or disagree -- and you can CERTAINLY express your disagreement on here -- but it shouldn't be that big a deal for 95 percent of the people on here who are just cool.

In my opinion, for what it is worth, nothing Jeff has done is worth the cliched "I am quitting the board!" thread. With regard to the member's passing, unless copperpot is privy to something I am not, and Jeff has lied to me -- and I will bet with 95 percent certainty that she is not and Jeff is not lying -- there was NOTHING disrespectful or disgusting or worthy of that cryptic post. It was the opposite. The member had posted some personal details about his life, and his family's life, over the years that his family didn't want lingering on the Internet now that he is gone. Jeff was responsive and gave the family unfettered ability to edit or remove some of his posts, as they saw fit. I can't understand why that became a source of this drama.