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

I've suggested nicely in the 'official complaint thread' that you take a break from this warring and find something more constructive.

Maths Wizard and Della are now both offline so it is just yourself and blickybadger who are continuing the vitriol in the thread.

I am going to contact the people who deal with this sort of thing directly though I am fairly sure they are aware of the situation and are dealing with it as we speak.

In the meantime, leave the thread alone, let people calm down while a suitable conclusion is found to this mess.



Mel

Your suggestion is noted.

Your *instructions*, on the other hand, I spit on. Don't patronise me.

No patrinisation intended

I have no right to instruct you and therefore anything I ask you to do is only intended as a push in what I feel is the right direction

As for the spitting -> <./>HouseRules</.> No Spitting

Mel

Oops!



(eeeuuwww!)

I was just in the process of posting a reply to the 'who I am' thread when I noticed your post come up.

I assume that you are either subscribed to their pages or watching their conversations which as you can imagine many people don't like.

TPTB are looking into this case at the moment and as I have told everybody almost everytime I post if you all kept a wide beth from each other the world would seem a much nicer place

I am going to quote one of the things my mother used to say because there is an element of truth. "If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all"

Different people react to online confrontations in different ways. Some like me have seen their fair share and now just walk away, others get more and more irrate until they end up leaving a site because they cannot cope with the stress, others enjoy a heated discussion with people who hold different opinions. Unfortunately there is another group who enjoy confrontation so much that they will actively pursue it and goad people into having arguments that they don't want. This is often refered to as trolling and can be very upsetting for the person on the receiving end.

I think you need to asses which group you fall into and whether following someone to their personal space when they walk away from a discussion is a suitable thing to do.

Please do not take this to mean that I think you are trolling intentionally, I just feel that there is a fine line between groups 3 and 4 which can sometimes be hard to distinguish between.



Mel

"whether following someone to their personal space when they walk away from a discussion"

I don't see anyone walking away from anything. I also, coincidentally, don't see any apology or admission of guilt. (Not that *I* am due an apology - but if one makes a very public death threat, the least that can be expected is an equally public retraction and apology for one's behaviour.)

Frankly, given their conduct here over the last 48 hours, I'm surprised Death-threat Della and her violent whelps are even still allowed to post here. What does it take for a user to get banned, or at the very least pre-moderated, if not "seriously" threatening another user with death?

<./>DontPanic-Moderation</.> explains all about the moderation on h2g2, if you have any more questions about the issue then I would suggest you contact the team directly. h2g2(dot)support(at)bbc(dot)co(dot)uk is probably the best address to use for this (replacing (dot) with . and (at) with @ as expected. ).

As has been mentioned on the official complaints thread they are already investigating the matter but it may take some time as they don't want to make any rash descisions without first having as many of the facts as possible.

As for walking away, I consider that to be when someone stops posting in a thread, such as everyone did in the official complaints thread.

Everyone wants an apology, everyone wants and admission of guilt. Who are you or I to judge who is due to receive them? I suggest that we let TPTB sort this mess out without making it more difficult for them than it already is.

Mel

"Everyone wants an apology, everyone wants and admission of guilt. "

I don't want an apology - I wasn't the one who Death-threat Della threatened.

Admissions of guilt are superfluous - guilt in this case is clear and obvious to anyone who can be bothered to look.

I was merely expressing surprise that people such as these are permitted to continue using this site after such violently objectionable, indeed illegal, behaviour. If you don't like me expressing my views, may I suggest you try reading another thread - there are lots.

"If you don't like me expressing my views, may I suggest you try reading another thread - there are lots."
There is no need to be so defensive, No wonder you get into arguments so easily

I am not trying to threaten your free speach, I'm just saying that from experience TPTB will have the final decision and they will make the best one they can on the evidence available. They are already having to read through dozens of conversations to try and understand the history of the case and having people 'voice their opinions' on every thread they can only succeeds in making their job more difficult, if you have something to say about a researchers conduct, say it to them via email

"guilt in this case is clear and obvious to anyone who can be bothered to look."
That is why TPTB are looking they just know from experience that they need to look very carefully before they make decisions.

People often overreact when riled and post things they don't really mean. If everyone who did that once was banned from the site then I'm sure we would have lost some very good researchers by now. You have to remember that on this site you cannot delete or edit posts like you can on other sites. So whereas on another site Della may have decided after an hour that she didn't mean the post and deleted it on this site she can't. We all know you should count to 10 before you post, sometimes that's not easy, sometimes it's not long enough.

I would like to think that if I posted something in anger I would be given a second chance. I therefore offer that chance to others.

Mel

" If everyone who did that once was banned from the site then I'm sure we would have lost some very good researchers by now"

Two points:

1. This is not Death-threat Della's first experience of flying off the handle. She's well known for it - although actual serious death threats are an entertaining new turn for her.
2. You're right, we might have lost some good researchers. In this case, however, we'd only be losing Death-threat Della and her dishonest and violent pups. Hardly a cause for wailing and gnashing of teeth...

I haven't experienced her flying off the handle before, have you yikesd her previous posts which are in this ilk? Have you brought them to the Italics attention?

"In this case, however,...."

You cannot change the rules because you like or dislike a person. She is allowed the same leeway as any other researcher. If you believe that she has shown herself unworthy of this then I suggest you make your case to the Italics.

I can do nothing about this which is why I refuse to be drawn into taking sides over the matter. I have done what I feel is right for the site, we will see in the long run if I made the right decision.

If you want the Italics to take into consideration Della's past behaviour then you will need to make the posts which show this behaviour known to them.

Mel

"have you yikesd her previous posts which are in this ilk? Have you brought them to the Italics attention?"

No, I haven't. I don't yikes posts, as a matter of principle. I believe that button is too readily used by most people. They click it on messages which might offend others. I've never yet seen anything here so beyond the pale it had to be hidden. If someone is stupid or irresponsible enough to post something reprehensible, in most cases I'd much prefer it remain visible. Hiding it allows them to pretend they never said it.

To my mind, Death-threat Della's prior form is irrelevant. She threatened another user here with death, and assured him that she was not joking. She is not a child. She is a responsible adult. Well, an adult.

People have been barred from this site for much lesser offences. Indeed, I can't think of anything much worse. Even if she'd been sweetness and light up to that point, I think there are some things that simply should not be tolerated, and threatening to kill people is one of them.

Nevertheless, if the Italics choose not to ban her, that's up to them. Equally, I can choose to call her "Death-threat Della" till the day she dies.

I have to admit that your last point is true, as Ian Hislop so rightly pointed out "for it to be libel doesn't it have to be untrue"

From what I am aware of people have been banned from the site for lesser but more frequent offences, though I am willing to learn if you think there have been cases otherwise.

The yikes button does not delete the post, it only removes it from public view. If it is needed for an investigation such as this it is still available for the Italics to see.

What the Yikes button does allow is people to notify the moderators of unacceptable behaviour before it gets to a situation where researchers are flaming each other right left and centre. As far as I'm concerned if people are only here to say nasty things they can go and say them elsewhere, but I don't like to judge on just one post and other than the death threat post most of Della's have been accusatory but mostly upset.

Mel