h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Brief interjection to Grief - I didn't say I wasn't *interested*. I'm *fascinated*. I wanted closure on this. Thanks to apologies and general respect of my right to different opinions, I've *nearly* got it. But developments, especially the "disappearing" of the personal spaces of people who were helpful enough to provide links to external sites, have rekindled my interest beyond the original expulsion. I'm a self confessed apologist for the BBC and the PTB. Recent events have made this job a great deal more difficult, hence my continued contributions here. I'm still interested. I'm going to be even more interested to see what happens *next* Friday...

F**k it, I am just going to have to resubscribe to this thread and be done with it.

Hoovooloo - is next Friday anything special, or is it just that all the dramas happen on Fridays?

a girl called Ben
*back in this thread for the foreseeable future*

agcBen:

LeKZ was declared unmutual on a Friday. Home spaces with links started disappearing on a Friday. The Moderation Helpdesk was closed on a Friday. Something else I'm not prepared to talk about this weekend happened to coincide with a Friday - more later if I'm still here. I'm a LOUD sceptic of conspiracy theories - but there could be a pattern developing.

H.
Denizen of a Village which used to be Digital.
PS Know what you mean about resubscribing. If this was just a conversation about censorship, I'd be gone by now - I've received all the apologies necessary to satisfy me that I am not perceived as some sort of... git (it's a very hot Sunday, I've had more than one beer, so please excuse the Blackadder dialogue). It seems to be more than that, though - specifically, a conversation about censorship that is *provoking* censorship - the conversation itself, and information pertaining to it, are seen as unacceptable. That's a hell of a lot more interesting. And worrying.

PPS. Don't be surprised if your previous post gets moderated on the basis of the very first word!

Just in case it does, here it is again in its entirety, minus naughty word:
F*** it, I am just going to have to resubscribe to this thread and be done with it.

Hoovooloo - is next Friday anything special, or is it just that all the dramas happen on Fridays?

a girl called Ben
*back in this thread for the foreseeable future*

Weird. That naughty word I read in full seems to have censored itself since I replied to your post. Bizarre.

PS. Welcome back. Interesting times are happening, and the more who know about it the better. Whether or not you agree with anything or anyone here, if you have any interest in this place at all there's some seriously bizarre stuff going on here. Tell your friends...

(Cool – I get an unexpected extra crack at the computer in the same day!)

agcB – Thank you very much for the link to the BBC/H2G2 forum. I should be able to form an opinion regarding 'who's trying to get onto who's good side' there.

Lucinda – If I understand an explanation by Mikey – and this is my understanding of it; I am not trying to put words in hir mouth – according to Moderation guidelines, *anything* that gives directions to a website is considered a link and judged accordingly.

Hoovooloo and Azara – I was complimenting HVL on hir elaboration of the pub metaphor only, not the creation of it. I will try to be more precise in the future. (Say, you don't use those mobile/cell phones while you're driving, do you? You do pull over to the side of the road, right?...or would that be 'left' in your case?)

everyone – It's exciting to see the passions that abound here, regardless of the 'sides' taken. No one could ever accuse anyone here of not caring about h2g2. Thank you for that.

-7rob7, who doesn't drive or drink or use cell phones... what a poop...

7rob7
Just giving credit where it's due...
H

subcom, the only entry on here that I can find that seems to clarify anything about the helpdesk shutdown is over at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/FFM63567?thread=130110&skip=0&show=20#p1179566

Hi, all! The most thorough explanation of the reasons behind the shutdown of the Moderation Helpdesk is a journal entry on Mark's page.


Mikey, who's too lazy to provide a link....

I see something really scary happening here.

First somebody is banned (oops, I mean "suspended forever") - there is a public debate about the validity of the decision, but that person is not allowed to take part. It is a violation of the House Rules to pass on messages from a suspended user, so the decision goes unchallenged.

Next a discussion group starts so that people interested in both sides of the story have an opportunity to talk to the banned party. There is nothing sinister involved, all the correspondence is publicly visible. However, the community is not allowed to know about its existence, and homepages are removed for linking to an email address (which is not a violation of the House Rules).

The Moderation Help Desk is closed. At the time of the most serious discussion of the application of the House Rules, the public forum for complaint is shut down. Now, you can only question a decision via private email. I believe it is unacceptable to post private messages from the Italics to h2g2?

I previously noted that Abi passed on a complaint to Peta, who (conveniently) wasn't available. I received a disparaging remark about "not having to put up with comments like that". (Dare I ask, what types of comments *do* you put up with? If I attach 10 smileys will you listen?)

Most of the major decisions are made on a Friday. This means that they are unable to be challenged for a full two days over the weekend.

Is it just me, or is the ability to discuss community issues being slowly stifled? There seems increasingly to be an Italic retreat into the clique of the "Party faithful" (for want of a better term), and anyone questioning the decisions being made is silenced.

I expected better.

Cheers,
Robert - mourning the old h2g2

---
"For every tool they lend us,
A loss of independence..."
- Pearl Jam, Grievance

My space was hidden because it held a link to a prohibited site.

I put a link there with a personal message to an online friend; that subtle link and message remained all through the weekend. I only have access during the week, so I didn't amend the site until Monday.

When I did, I made the subtle reference into an explicit one, because I adhere to the Zero Intolerance Ethic and I neither like to speak about people behind their back nor have *hide* contraband. So I "unhid" the reference, and announced where it pointed, because I contribute to the site in question. From the time when I came out of the closet (although I have never denied contributing to the site) to the moment of the site's *moderation* was 30 minutes. To my mind, this means someone has searched the server for the key word Top-ica or the other keyword Fol-kz, and hidden sites with such a reference.

How many people will be silenced?

Fenny (the latest victim in a painful game of hunt the thimble)

I'm now waiting to see how long it takes before the posting above, and my identical journal entry, are hidden...

()Fenny

This is just an experiment:

Topica

FoLKZ

I am critical of the policies of TPTB at h2g2

I think that researchers at h2g2 ought to be treated with more respect and less condescension

I think the banning of LeKZ was unfair

Let me try a little more:

I fear that TPTB may next ban all external links and blame us 'dissenters' for the measure.

I was told by Mark Moxon that I was allowed to discuss LeKZ's case, and also Mark said that offsite discussions have no relevance to a researcher's standing on h2g2.

Remember that, people, if for any reason myself and others should get banned from this site.

I will not let myself be banned. I am going to stay here and say what I have to say. I have not broken any rules - what I have done so far since the banning of LeKZ, I have specifically asked and received permission for. I am not out to make trouble. I want this to be a good site, that is all, and I think to be a good site there has to be more respect here for us lowly slobs who spend so much time and effort here.

Hoovooloo, I do apologise for all disparagement and ignorage on my part. I do not blame you for being a BBC and TPTB apologist. I respect your stance.

Hi Grief. Disparagement is water under the bridge. Ignorage was a healthy response. "Ignorage" is a reference to "Wally's pile of perpetual ignorage" from a Dilbert cartoon. If you are not already familiar with Dilbert, I suggest you become so. Quite a lot of Scott Adams' (he's the author/artist) material is about random acts of management and the hide-bound rule-based ridiculousness perpetuated by undervalued employees of large, faceless corporations.

Obviously it's not relevant to anything, but it is very, very funny.

H.

Has anyone had any explanation or reason from the Italics for the removal of the Topica and FoLKZ links?

***B

The personal space of Fenny-at-work has been hidden again. This time, for quoting the text of "Your space has been hidden pending moderation", plus a link from there to my Fenny-at-home space.

Granted, it wasn't a particularly clever, intelligent, witty thing to do; but I didn't think I was breaking any rules. This is obviously not the place to experiment... perhaps, less license is granted us in our "personal space" than in these public fora?

I await the future with interest!

x x Fenny (now laughing)

Re: The above post. My page was hidden because, following my cut-and-paste alteration, it was not hidden. Got it?

I'm sorry I pasted the text which made my page look as if the moderation was ongoing. I'm also sorry the joke backfired.

x x Fenny (subdued)

Huh?

a thicko called Ben

Dittoo

Hoovooloo, thickoo too

I think what she's saying is that she posted something to her home space to make it look like it had been moderated when it hadn't -- as a joke, which she now says wasn't as funny as she thought it would be -- and hence the page got hidden.

Make more sense?

Mikey