Posted by Minnie-Haha on April 14, 2005, at 14:37:56
From time to time strong debate arises about the posts of Lou Pilder. I'm sure there have been past discussions about what to do about posters like Lou. Forgive me for bringing it up again, but it’s really starting to eat at me.
There are many who get annoyed with Lou (myself included) and would like him to cool it. There are others who defend Lou’s right to express himself freely (including myself). However, this is a message board, an electronic SUPPORT group for sufferers of various psychological disorders. We all registered to use this site and agreed to abide by certain rules (written and unwritten I suppose, as civilized societies do). I think it can be argued that Lou's posts are disruptive in their quantity and quality, and constitute a form of badgering of the whole group, including Dr. Bob, the man who is nice enough to administer this awesome resource.
I did an informal count (I can be as obsessive as the next person) and between September 2004 and today, Lou has started approximately 150 threads on the Administration board. The majority ask Dr. Bob to make a call on expressions of faith or figures of speech. Having been on the receiving end of one of Lou’s “clarification” requests, I know how frustrating it can feel.
In addition to looking at the sheer numbers of Lou’s posts (and his start-up posts only make up a small fraction of his total posts), consider the quality.
First, does anybody else get confused or stressed about the abbreviations Lou uses in his subject lines? Examples: “fth-ptycldy,” “hrdtmwtsxulatrct,” “soudmntlheth.” They seem to be some sort of shorthand to himself. What purpose do they serve the board? Does he keep a log of what we write? Although we have screen names to protect our privacy, I kinda feel like Big Brother is watching over me. And then, how does one follow—or heaven forbid, respond to—a post when he's taken someone else’s original and parsed it into his own peculiar citation system. Here are two examples.
BEGIN post “Lou's rerquest for clarification” dated September 4, 2004:
Dr. Hsiung,
Could you clarify what allows the poster to wtrite without admonishment the statement:
[...He,(god) says that {Jesus is the only way to Him.} No other way is given by God except through the salvation offered by Jesus...].
If I was to know why you are allowing that post without admonishment when sin\milar posts are admonished,, then I could have the opportunity to respond accordinglyEND post.
BEGIN post “Lou request to Dr. Hsiung-grnofnacl2” dated February 21, 2005:
Dr Hsiung,
I am requesting that you write a determination as to the acceptablility or not in relation to the guidlines ofthe forum for the following:
The poster writes,[...Please, please take {anything} "dancingstar" says with a grain of salt....].
I feel that IMO this use if that idiom has the potential to be not acceptable here.
The idiom has an origin going back 200 years or so when salt was thought to have healing properties and also to be an antidote to poisons. Hence, when the idiom was originally used, it had the potential to mean that what the person was saying could be poisonous to you so you should {...take what is said with a grain if salt...].
Lou PilderEND post.
Huh? These are two of Lou’s most common types of posts. One asks Dr. Bob to be a theologian (frankly, I get tired of all the Jesus and Jew squabbles that have to get moderated here) and the other asks him to be an etymologist; both ask him to be a cop (and one might say a mind reader as well).
When one person is constantly asking Dr. Bob—a busy man with his own life outside this board—for rulings that others rarely feel the need for, when one person’s posts overshadow others, how is that person being a civil member of the group? How would we expect everyone to behave if we were meeting together in person to support each other? Some might say Lou serves as a moral compass, or perhaps a watchdog, defending others here. But I suggest that his incessant requests for clarification can discourage the free speech of those here who are timid and virtually incite to riot those who are quick to anger.
I like to come to the Admin board from time to time to get a feel for the overall ideas, questions and concerns of the board, but when most of what I see is Lou’s requests to clarify this or that over and over and over again, I don’t know about you guys, but it really stresses me out. I suppose this satisfies some need of his, but I don’t think his needs should be waved in our faces night and day.
So what do we do about posters like Lou?
Talk among yourselves…
poster:Minnie-Haha
thread:484197
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20050323/msgs/484197.html