Davids Boa Thread...or not!!

[Roy Munson]

And I third that. Just my opinion.
Too much for David.
Too little for Mr. Quetzalcoatl.
Just my own personal opinion.

Ditto. But maybe I don't have all the facts.

 

[alan]

Kathy, I don't know about others, but I am totally straight with David, about his posts and my opinions. This isn't all of it of course, but it's real hard for him not to defend himself, and from his less than stellar start-off here there is always someone around to give him something to defend against.
I thought that I might point this out since we're talking about David's conduct and threads, and how HE is a disruptive element. This thread is about David, not started by David, not posted in by David, not about something that David himself did, and it is now over 70 posts and over 1300 views. Is it always David's influence that makes the "David" threads so lengthy?

edit: Over 80 replies.

 

[v_various]

I'm looking forward to a year without David, since we're all posting our opinions on the matter. He was quite...disruptive, and that's the kindest adjective I can muster. Whether or not he deserved it is not a matter I care to judge.

OH internet drama, never change.

 

[LBoz]

Is it always David's influence that makes the "David" threads so lengthy?

edit: Over 80 replies.

Exactly, Alan! David and I didn't always get along, but I genuinely like the kid, and I think he's come such a long way from where he started. There are so many worse things a 16 year old could be doing than owning too many snakes. If he has the means, the space and the support of his parents, who cares? It's just too exhausting for me to stay angry with people, as I typically forget what the original reason was, and it's just easier to accept people for who they are, warts and all. I have an 8 year old who thinks because mom has a few snakes, and he's read some books and watched some tv shows, he knows all there is to know about snakes. Trust me, you'd only be able to take him in small doses, but he's cute and he knows it, so he works it. :nope:

 

[Teddy Roosevelt]

"Kathy, if you're looking for an online foster kid, I volunteer! I'd love a mom who can appreciate the difference between corn snake morphs."

Haha - thanks! But you seem quite mature already. I don't think you need a foster mom, lol! Just teach your mom CORNS 101, and she will be perfect!

Awww, but you'd give the BEST Christmas presents ever!

I'm looking forward to a year without David, since we're all posting our opinions on the matter. He was quite...disruptive, and that's the kindest adjective I can muster. Whether or not he deserved it is not a matter I care to judge.

OH internet drama, never change.

It'll be better for us, but will it be better for him? Will he really learn anything or will he just get more and more indignant about his, perceived or real, antagonism here? I restate that taking away his privileges is punishment enough... but in the end it's Rich's call and I respect that as well.

 

[wade]

You are gone in her windows...no need to speak to her. You are an invisible ghost.

What she just comes out to take shots at me and then crawls back under the rock?

 

[jesserca]

I understand that you are only thinking about the welfare of the animals in David’s care and you have no personal hatred for him or young men in general.

Umm Wade, your posts crack me up, but don't you think that may have been a little errr degrading or a hit to her personal life? Maybe not...that just shocked me.

 

[desertanimal]

I thought that I might point this out since we're talking about David's conduct and threads, and how HE is a disruptive element. This thread is about David, not started by David, not posted in by David, not about something that David himself did, and it is now over 70 posts and over 1300 views. Is it always David's influence that makes the "David" threads so lengthy?

edit: Over 80 replies.

I see your point, but it really IS largely about something(s) that David himself did. If the "Unexpected" post were an isolated incident, it wouldn't wouldn't have elicited this much response. This thread is about many issues related to David. He is not culpable for all of those issues, and certainly he is not the only influence contributing to all of the issues being discussed here and in all the other "David" threads, but he is a causal factor in every single one of them, and he is probably the ONLY player that is a causal factor in every single one of them.

 

[danielle]

When I came here only a little over a year ago David was a know it all herp keeper, disrepectful, unable to take and use critisism, and usually made a complete donkey's rear out of himself.

Fast forward a year and I see a boy trying to learn here, in love with a hobby we all are just as passionate about, and IMO someone who has grown a lot. He's 16 and has faults, but who here doesn't? Of any member on this forum hands down he is goaded and provoked the most, and still maintains his tone far more than he did in the past.

I would hope Rich chooses not to ban him for a year and take his improvement into consideration. There are maybe 10 people who disagree, but whatever happened to being mature and using the ignore button? David has never threatened, cursed at, or violated any major site rules. He's guilty of being 16, a little cocky, and sometimes too excited for his own good, but if he's banned what does that ultimately teach him? You learn social norms and etiquette by being social and being corrected, not being stiffled. I hope he gets to hang around and continue to flourish by being guided and not humiliated every time he posts. If I were constanly treated the way he is I would have left, but he has really tried to show people he's serious about changing by staying.

 

[Maligator]

From the few pages I read of this thread, David is banned for a year? Or that's the idea? I'm probably going to get all sorts of hatred for this [and honestly I'm pretty far past caring]; but I wonder how many - in that year's time - of the members that constantly rip on David left and right will actually let a thread discussion commence without bringing him up. For all of the people that can't stand to see what he writes and can't stand to look at his attention-getters, you all CONSTANTLY interact with him. I'm so tired of reading 'boo-hoo I can't block him..he's a contributing member..' I make posts in threads/start threads that plenty of people never post on..it's not THAT difficult to hit 'new posts' and ignore the members you can't stand. I just can't believe that this is the hot topic of the cornsnake forum: a bunch of 'adults' griping about how they can't stand some 16-year old.

I really enjoyed this forum when I joined in September. I honestly felt like it was a caring, friendly community and I feel like for the last month and a half ALL I read is personal drama between members.

 

[wade]

Umm Wade, your posts crack me up, but don't you think that may have been a little errr degrading or a hit to her personal life? Maybe not...that just shocked me.

You are absolutely right, that comment was more than was necessary. I hope someone will tell Lauren that I apologize, sincerely.

 

[desertanimal]

You are absolutely right, that comment was more than was necessary. I hope someone will tell Lauren that I apologize, sincerely.

I appreciate that, Wade. I happen to know that you don't think that lesbians are men-haters. Given that knowledge, I thought your comment toed the line as far as possible without crossing it, and therefore I didn't address it in this thread (which was about something else entirely). But, now that it's come up, I'll say that I would personally appreciate it if, when you argue with a gay person, you avoid tactics that exploit stereotypes that we already have to struggle against in everyday life. Leaving those tactics out may deprive you of the fastest ways to infuriate your opponents, but I'm positive you have many, many other tools in your debate arsenal and that it won't be a handicap to you.

Thanks again for the apology. It was important to me.

 

[kathylove]

Thanks, Wade...

I would not have actually SAID anything if you didn't. But I really was a bit aghast, and had to read it twice to see if I read what I thought I read.

 

[vetusvates]

When I came here only a little over a year ago David was a know it all herp keeper, disrepectful, unable to take and use critisism, and usually made a complete donkey's rear out of himself.

Fast forward a year and I see a boy trying to learn here, in love with a hobby we all are just as passionate about, and IMO someone who has grown a lot. He's 16 and has faults, but who here doesn't? Of any member on this forum hands down he is goaded and provoked the most, and still maintains his tone far more than he did in the past.

I would hope Rich chooses not to ban him for a year and take his improvement into consideration. There are maybe 10 people who disagree, but whatever happened to being mature and using the ignore button? David has never threatened, cursed at, or violated any major site rules. He's guilty of being 16, a little cocky, and sometimes too excited for his own good, but if he's banned what does that ultimately teach him? You learn social norms and etiquette by being social and being corrected, not being stiffled. I hope he gets to hang around and continue to flourish by being guided and not humiliated every time he posts. If I were constanly treated the way he is I would have left, but he has really tried to show people he's serious about changing by staying.

I do not think I could say it better than Danielle just did.
In my own personal humble opinion I would wish for leniency for David.
And I am not wimping out, I still stand by my post #26 in the other thread. I believe my thinking and postings have been consistent and with a sound note of moderation.
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94578&page=2

 

[ComoxCorn]

There is an inconsistancy to David that causes me to question really his sincerity with people and what his down the road goals really are. Rarely do I post in his threads...just because. But in the thread that caused this uproar, I took it more or less that is was him saying what was said, because on other forums, snakes listed as his goals for 2010 include a yellow anachonda and a BCI. So who really knows:shrugs:
What I hope David gets out of all this latest goings on is that some time to sit back and do a little self reflection may not be such a bad thing. I think he has a lot of potential, but he also needs to learn a lot more about focus and be a little bit less impulsive. Enjoy what you have today and and set realistic goals for the future.

 

[Teddy Roosevelt]

I would not have actually SAID anything if you didn't. But I really was a bit aghast, and had to read it twice to see if I read what I thought I read.

I did the same thing, but decided not to comment on it because there was already plenty of drama in here and I felt that if Lauren, Tara, Steph or any of our other lesbian and gay members decided it bothered them enough to comment about it, let them. Though personally, homosexual people must get enough baaaarely crossing the line into intolerant comments I imagine they'd have a thick skin for it by the ages our members are at.

 

[desertanimal]

. . . Of any member on this forum hands down he is goaded and provoked the most, and still maintains his tone far more than he did in the past.

. . . but whatever happened to being mature and using the ignore button? David has never threatened, cursed at, or violated any major site rules. He's guilty of being 16, a little cocky, and sometimes too excited for his own good, but if he's banned what does that ultimately teach him? You learn social norms and etiquette by being social and being corrected, not being stiffled. I hope he gets to hang around and continue to flourish by being guided and not humiliated every time he posts. If I were constanly treated the way he is I would have left, but he has really tried to show people he's serious about changing by staying.

It's true, he's goaded a lot, but the less he has acted like a donkey's behind, the less has has been goaded. There's like a 1 to 1 correlation there.

Also, it is not my job to teach him. It is my job to teach my intro. students, and sometimes I have to put up with a lot of ridiculousness to do that, but it is not my job to teach the children here how to behave in an adult world. I do not humiliate him, but it is not my job to guide him.

For all of the people that can't stand to see what he writes and can't stand to look at his attention-getters, you all CONSTANTLY interact with him.

I assert that you have no idea who "all the people that can't stand to . . . look at his attention-getters" are, because not all of them CONSTANTLY interact with him. I belong to the former group, but not the latter. There may be many others like me. Illustrating that point is, actually, my main purpose in contributing to these most recent threads. (And just for the record, I don't block him because some of this threads are interesting and not attention-seeking, and I like to see those. My choice, and I haven't whined about it. But I'm still telling it like I see it here.)

I really enjoyed this forum when I joined in September. I honestly felt like it was a caring, friendly community and I feel like for the last month and a half ALL I read is personal drama between members.

I really enjoyed this forum when I joined several years ago. And I've enjoyed it for most of the time since. And I feel the same way you do about the amount of personal drama recently (although I feel that way about more than just the last month and a half). My recommendation to you is this: just ignore all the personal drama that goes on between members--it's not THAT difficult to ignore drama you can't stand.

 

[RobbiesCornField]

I did the same thing, but decided not to comment on it because there was already plenty of drama in here and I felt that if Lauren, Tara, Steph or any of our other lesbian and gay members decided it bothered them enough to comment about it, let them. Though personally, homosexual people must get enough baaaarely crossing the line into intolerant comments I imagine they'd have a thick skin for it by the ages our members are at.

It's not a question of how thick our skin is. It's a matter of someone using a low-blow shot like that in their argument. I'm not a very easily offended person and will laugh at a good gay joke, but there's no reason for a hurtful shot like that in what should be a debate and not a no-holds-barred brawl.

 

[vetusvates]

Though personally, homosexual people must get enough baaaarely crossing the line into intolerant comments I imagine they'd have a thick skin for it by the ages our members are at.

I won't speak for all, but I do.

I have also rehearsed Wade on the deep fashizzle he'll find himself in if/when he pisses off the gays.

So no need to take this further off topic. Back to the original OT discussion...David.

 

[Teddy Roosevelt]

It's not a question of how thick our skin is. It's a matter of someone using a low-blow shot like that in their argument. I'm not a very easily offended person and will laugh at a good gay joke, but there's no reason for a hurtful shot like that in what should be a debate and not a no-holds-barred brawl.

You're right and I realized as soon as I posted that I had said it differently than I meant it. I meant that it was hurtful and ignorant and intolerant, whether Wade meant it or got caught up in the heat of the moment or whatever, but that, were I gay, I wouldn't take nearly as much offense to that as I would to something more blatant like a slur or something incindiary like that. I've been accused of being gay in the past because of my behavior towards women and been shunned and lost friends because of it, WHEN I WASN'T GAY OR EVEN BICURIOUS, just had a strange sense of humor, and I know how much it pissed me off that people treated me different for something they perceived me as being, so I can imagine in a minuscule way what people who are really gay must go through every day. All I'm saying is, I wouldn't take nearly as much offense to being insinuated as a man-hater than I would to being called a dyke or something similar.