"This thread had degenerated into hijacks and personal attacks rather than discussion of the topic.
*click*" - VideoAdminRho
*SNAP*
*Puts bolt cutters aside*
Two things were happening on that thread.
The first one is that it was dying on its own. This happens on every online debate I have where nobody comes in and locks the thread. It starts with the topic, then shifts. It turns into a debate about debate tactics before becoming insults.
The thread ends when the opposition does what the smart posters did early in the thread... ignore my posts.
They all eventually give up the fight.
The opposition made a futile attempt to drive me away from the thread. They couldn't win the fight, so they gunned for the last word. I wouldn't let them have it. They utilized the same tactics others used against me in the past. I responded in kind.
Others jumped in to do personal attacks just to get the thread locked.
Many ran to you, crying and sporting figurative ego bruises, begging you to lock the thread.
They could've taken responsibility for their own actions. This means knowing that they can't control my actions. They could only control their actions. Instead of demanding that I should stop, they should've stopped giving me incentives to come back.
If they honest to God wanted me to stop posting, they would've quit replying to me. They adopted a phony "high ground" moral argument instead of admitting the obvious... that they wanted the last word.
They ultimately didn't care if they were right or wrong. They just wanted the last word.
They couldn't stand seeing their side of the argument get pummeled. They couldn't stand the idea that someone on the other side of the argument would dare continue to argue against them... instead of "giving up."
They could've had the integrity to give up a fight they lost the moment they jumped in. That would've been the adult thing to do. That's what they'd tell their kids and grand-kids to do if they were in similar situations.
But no. Like children, they ran to you and whined about getting the thread closed.
You should've told them to put their adult britches on. You should've told them to take what's coming to them. You should've told them to grow the fuck up and take their medicine.
You should've told them that you see right through their ploy... That they should ignore me if they wanted the thread to go away. The mere fact that they're still arguing against me proves that they're gunning for the same thing that I'm gunning for.
You couldn't force them to put their adult britches on. You caved in to pressure instead.
When you locked the thread, you missed an important opportunity.
I've posted on a message board with absolutely no moderation. The board administrators went absent, and let the posters have at it. I saw something that I've never seen happen on moderated boards.
People, from opposing sides, actually carried clean conversations. People wore their adult britches and acted like adults. Even trolls became productive board members.
How did this become possible?
A message board where the moderators don't change the playing field is like a town where everybody owns a gun. Your incentive to behave skyrockets.
Now that you locked that thread, posters can attack each other with impunity. The losing side knows that they could always run to the moderators. All they have to do, in the face of defeat, is to beg the moderator to change the playing field. This means locking or pulling a thread.
And you people wonder why you have to keep screaming the same thing year in and year out.
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