Recent shittiness

Sorry if anyone has been having trouble accessing the site today. I’ve solved the problem for the time being, so I don’t expect any additional downtime and the site should be operating at its usual level of charming mediocrity.

– William Gibson, Johnny Mnemonic

Charming mediocrity can be a good thing… sometimes. Another forum I occasionally dropped into often had massive dramas going on and was anything but charming or mediocre. It came to a head a few days ago when one of the posters threatened to kill himself if a moderator didn’t stop harassing him. The moderator (a female) told him he should kill himself to make the world a better place and the kid went though with it. He left a suicide note giving his reasons for taking his life and his friends and family have now threatened to sue the forum owner for allowing it to get to that stage. The forum was abruptly closed down. Sometimes ‘charming mediocrity’ has its own rewards.

Yeah, KTS can get pretty wild at times. Didn’t know it went that far. A suicide?

Not KTS. :smiley: The site I’m referring to (GMG) has closed down.

Edit: Today, I’ve noticed the message on the home page that said “We’re sorry but this website will be closing down…” has been changed to
“Shine your bright light into the darkness of the world so that it may be transformed. I will always believe in you.”

Green Man Gaming?

No, but I don’t think it’s appropriate to send more ambulance chaser there. I only mentioned it because
a) we should appreciate the relatively low level of drama on ILP.
b) we should always remember that sometimes drama can get out of hand and threats can turn real and
c) the owner of the site will be the one who has to contend with the legal battles.

Frankly I was surprised at this remark Carleas.

Was it because you had to repair the site during a public holiday, (seems likely from the heading you chose), or does your enthusiasm run ragged these days.

I did read somewhere you were open to selling the Forum.

Just another rumour?

It seems to me all participants were consumed with fear on that Forum.

Did not a single person come to his defence?

Then again, how do you know that his suicide was genuine.

Not at all. I meant it as a self-deprecating joke targeting ILP’s too-oft-occuring technical issues; the mediocrity is my own, and that of those aspects of ILP over which I have the most direct control (the back-end, the server, the software, uptime, etc.). I had originally written that everything was back in working order, and that seemed to overstate the accomplishment.

In fact, while I never want ILP to experience downtime, I was glad to have the issue forced and to do some maintenance and mucking about. And I do like mucking about in the server, it’s the nerd equivalent of spending a day in the garage with a beat up old motorcycle (and ILP’s performance is in line with the analogy).

Not true, but an interesting rumor. Never say never, I suppose, but I have turned down offers for the site.

Honestly, I love this site beyond rational justification, I’m proud of it and I beam about it to everyone IRL who will listen. My feelings for it are somewhere between a mentor, a childhood friend, a first love, and a son or daughter. It’s shaped my life and my career. It’s woven into my personal narrative, and whatever else I do with my life, ILP will be a part of my story. Frankly, I could give it away as soon as I could sell it, but only if I knew it would be safe.

But I’m glad to know there are rumors about it; no one spreads rumors about things that don’t matter.

If you give the server to me, I will put it in a padded box, in a museum, people in the future can read it. It will be immune to viruses and breakdowns if it is offline.

And the only person wanting to buy it was Smears, and that was for the sake of destroying this site.

I really hope you don’t brag about this site and let it make career choices for you. Have you seen some of these threads?

Who but the parent cares sincerely for their offspring. I no longer feel distressed or anxious. :slight_smile:

Not unlike this site in some respects. I’ve seen people here being bullied and nobody (including me) says a word. It’s hard to know when to intervene in this politically correct world.I’ve seen women turn on the person who came to their aid because they found it ‘sexist’ to think a woman needed a man to help defend them. #-o :icon-rolleyes: I’ve even had a handicapped friend attack me for helping her out because she found it condescending. #-o ](*,)

I guess the grey area is crossed when the bullying reaches the ‘kill yourself’ stage. It’s often hard to tell how hurt a person is until it’s too late. I guess the best thing to do is simply ask the person being bullied if they mind you intervening?

I don’t, for certain. Most were suspicious until photos were posted. There were several, apparently, but I only saw a photo of the suicide note (with a pile of pills next to it) but even if there was a photo of a body how could you tell it was him and/or it wasn’t faked? There were a lot of other details and posts (some from his family) that seemed genuine. Finally, the site owner was convinced enough that it was real for him to close the site down.

We had a suicide on ILP a couple of years ago and I’ve been on another site where there had been two suicide (and several accidental/natural cause deaths). I’m not sure if we had 100% proof any of them happened apart from a loved one telling us that they logged off for good.

Personally, in cases like this, I prefer to believe someone first, then be laughed at for being a gullible fool than not believing them and feeling ashamed for being a cynical fool.

.

Turd, what do you mean for the sake of destroying it? Why do you need me to be your boogeyman so badly?

Your not a boogeyman, your a punching bag, get your role straight.

I dunno man, it’s never really felt that way.