Is there a cabal against free speech?

[Caesar dude]

Well dudes ......we just don't know right now do we?

What can we say and what can't we say on these here pages....?

Time was when we could all gather here and have a laugh and a joke and an oat soda or two....sometimes things got serious and intellectual stuff would be said....then the resident intellects would gather round and talk Kafka and Sartre and other introheads....

Us lesser mortals would ignore that and carry on being dudes because we were too busy slacking to have that much thinking going on in our heads.

But nobody thought to ban the posts...nah...cos most of us were smart (or too dumb) enough to walk on by...ignore it and let the others ramble.

I think it's all gone a bit Pete Tong don't you Dudely Lamma?

Peace.

[DigitalBuddha]

Well dudes ......we just don't know right now do we?

What can we say and what can't we say on these here pages....?

Time was when we could all gather here and have a laugh and a joke and an oat soda or two....sometimes things got serious and intellectual stuff would be said....then the resident intellects would gather round and talk Kafka and Sartre and other introheads....

Us lesser mortals would ignore that and carry on being dudes because we were too busy slacking to have that much thinking going on in our heads.

But nobody thought to ban the posts...nah...cos most of us were smart (or too dumb) enough to walk on by...ignore it and let the others ramble.

I think it's all gone a bit Pete Tong don't you Dudely Lamma?

Peace.

I love a good conspiracy theory! 

[Stumblin Stumbleweed]

In a strange kind of way, I was enjoying the Hof's delusional ramblings; made me exercise the old brain a bit there. Closing threads and other real reactionary shit tarnishes the reputation of our quiet beach community.
I'm relatively new here, so don't want to make waves, in the parlance of our times, but I sure hope this kind of thing is a rare occurrence round here.

[Masked Dude]

As I see it (aka, here's my bullshit) we're still a bit shaken from another experience. So far the Hof has just made connections that no one else sees. He's either too gung ho or he's skipped a few psych appointments.

Let him wear his tin foil hat and speak. At least for now. He seems mostly harmless.

[Nolan Hofstadter]

Ok Duder. Just opened your message. I will tone it down.

[DigitalBuddha]

Ok Duder. Just opened your message. I will tone it down.

Much obliged.

[Yeti]

One thing I like about this forum is the mods here aren't dicks. Most forums are ruled over by power-hungry neckbeards who love to pound anyone who steps out of line with the almighty banhammer, like they're playing Wac-A-Mole. Now I'm beginning to think we have the opposite problem - there's too much consensus and tolerance of extreme and disruptive behavior. Sometimes the mods need to let out their inner Walter when toes begin to creep over lines.

It's 2014 and this isn't the first Internet rodeo for any of us. Either a member is contributing in some meaningful or (at the very least) harmless way or else they're trolling. If someone is just dumping deranged copypasta on the board and isn't contributing in any other way, then they're trolling. Trolls should get the banhammer.

That's my two cents, take it or leave it.

[meekon5]

One thing I like about this forum is the mods here aren't dicks. Most forums are ruled over by power-hungry neckbeards who love to pound anyone who steps out of line with the almighty banhammer, like they're playing Wac-A-Mole. Now I'm beginning to think we have the opposite problem - there's too much consensus and tolerance of extreme and disruptive behavior. Sometimes the mods need to let out their inner Walter when toes begin to creep over lines.

It's 2014 and this isn't the first Internet rodeo for any of us. Either a member is contributing in some meaningful or (at the very least) harmless way or else they're trolling. If someone is just dumping deranged copypasta on the board and isn't contributing in any other way, then they're trolling. Trolls should get the banhammer.

That's my two cents, take it or leave it.

We gave him a chance (e-mails were sent, requests were made for reasonableness) but he seemed unable to understand (further posts of the same nature appeared, cross  referencing all his previous posts) so he was removed this weekend.

[DigitalBuddha]

He was shown the door and tossed out of our beach community (think I saw a coffee mug dent on his forehead). I had suggested to him, before he was marched out, that he seek asylum at LebowskiFest. (just kiddin'')

And, if anyone is wondering; he ignored every attempt to communicate with him.

Even though I hate to see people banned, I agree, enough was enough.

[Stumblin Stumbleweed]

We gave him a chance (e-mails were sent, requests were made for reasonableness) but he seemed unable to understand (further posts of the same nature appeared, cross  referencing all his previous posts) so he was removed this weekend.

That seems reasonable; firm but fair, in the parlance of our times.
Sorry if I, as a relative forum newbie, encouraged the guy in any way by responding to his posts. I feel kind of a bit responsible, parts anyway.

[jgiffin]

It's like I said in one post, dude was insane but he wasn't completely wrong. Started off with some better, less forced, parallels and points. But that devolved into manic ramblings pretty quickly.

C'est la vie. 

[meekon5]

We gave him a chance (e-mails were sent, requests were made for reasonableness) but he seemed unable to understand (further posts of the same nature appeared, cross  referencing all his previous posts) so he was removed this weekend.

That seems reasonable; firm but fair, in the parlance of our times.
Sorry if I, as a relative forum newbie, encouraged the guy in any way by responding to his posts. I feel kind of a bit responsible, parts anyway.

As I said before one of the big problems is we are trying to be reasonable and Dudeist in our treatment of people.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, just don't wave it in our faces.

[Yeti]

As I said before one of the big problems is we are trying to be reasonable and Dudeist in our treatment of people.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, just don't wave it in our faces.

Exactly! There are people here who fall on the opposite end of the political spectrum from me, but they're great Dudes and legitimate contributors. I'd never think in a million years of demanding they be censored in any way, although I do wish there was a way to just set the whole political subforum on ignore. But when someone delves into behavior that's 100% antisocial and disruptive, we shouldn't feel bad about giving them the boot.

[milnie]

I don't believe the coens have that amount of depth to their stories but if someone else wants to read into it and share their thoughts that's fine. I don't like the board filling up with people responding dogmatically. If what someone is saying is daft, have your own laugh in private but don't engage. It's the tit for tat responses filling up the recent posts section that are annoying imdo.

[jgiffin]

imdo

Hmmmmm. "In my dudeist opinion?"

If so, I like it. If not, I'm stealing it.