I'm leaving. Goodbye

[goodbye bascule]

Hello everyone.

 

I used to be a regular on these forums. But I purposefully changed my account credentials to the point I can't recover my account. This is because I don't think posting on these forums are productive.

 

I feel that, at best, all I can accomplish on any of the controversial forums where I generally post, such as climate science and politics, is to get people to agree on single points while they continue to disagree with me as a whole. Other than that, I generally feel that the climate science forums are dominated by climate denialists, and that the politics forums are dominated (and administered) by Fox-style spinmeisters.

 

For example, I strongly feel that Pangloss is an extremely bad moderator of the Politics forum. He may as well be Bill O'Reilly. Bill O'Reilly calls his program a "no ideology zone" and Pangloss calls himself a moderate. Both Bill O'Reilly and Pangloss are conservatives who purposefully deceive everyone to believe they don't have a particular ideology. It's not that having an ideology is a problem. I freely admit I'm a liberal, and arguably an "extreme" liberal. But I freely admit it. Pangloss purports otherwise. He self identifies as a "moderate", and when I try to call him out on it and point out he is a conservative (especially from an ecumenical point of view) he chastises me. Rather than responding to controversial threads I post, he has deleted them outright without first attempting to have a dialogue. These are the very same tactics of censorship, spinning, and purposefully deceiving others which are utilized by Fox, which purports itself to be "fair and balanced", and very similar tactics are utilized by climate denialists to undermine what is actually sound science.

 

I don't feel that continuing to argue here is purposeful. So I am leaving. Pangloss may call this "emo" (yeah hurling baseless insults at me, that's mature). I would suggest that Pangloss and many of the other conservatives who post on the forums are incapable of rational discourse and prefer to spin and distort both reality and their own viewpoints and purposefully deceive others as to what their viewpoints are. Personally I find these type of actions deplorable, and those who purposefully distort their own viewpoints as "assholes". Yes, Pangloss, you are an asshole, and you have both dumped gasoline on the fire and let other conservatives be loose cannons without moderating them. I'm not saying I could do a better job as a moderator as you, but without a good moderator, the Politics forum is nothing but a purposeless bitchfest that only serves to make everyone more frustrated.

 

I would suggest the best step forward towards making these forums more science-oriented would be to delete the Politics forums altogether. Politics are not science, and the frustration I've experienced attempting to post on the Politics forums and dealing with a very much impartial moderator have been enough to drive me from these boards and convince me I'm wasting my time and should never post again.

 

All that said, it's been a fun and interesting ride. Goodbye.

Edited November 14, 2010 by goodbye bascule

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Rather than responding to controversial threads I post, he has deleted them outright without first attempting to have a dialogue.

 

If you could contact me with specific details (approximate date, discussion title, etc.) of these incidents, that would be exceedingly helpful. You may contact me at staff at scienceforums dot net. Outright deletion is against SFN policy and I will investigate.

 

If you have other evidence (specific discussions, posts, etc.) you would like to point out as examples of bad moderation, please do send them to me. (That goes for everyone who has a problem with a moderator.) Unfortunately I don't often read discussions in Politics, so I am only alerted to any inappropriate behavior after the fact. The administrators will review the information you send and take appropriate action.

 

On the other hand, if there is indeed a problem -- and I do not yet know if there is -- this topic is not the best way to solve it. Please contact me. For now, I will close this topic, because it will only become yet another bitchfest.