Thanks, Rich!
NetDoc:
Oh, you got it perfected now... much better than your buoyancy!
Ho, hey... Thanks.
I don't think you could try any harder!
"There is no 'try' - only 'do.'" -Yoda.
The rub is, you were never asked to not be a smart whatever... you were asked to stop posting sexual innuendoes on a family board. You were never asked to refrain from sharing your dive experiences... just the ones in a hotel room.
'Doc, I was never "asked to stop posting sexual innuendoes on a family board."
One day, out of the blue, I was banned. I wasn't alone, either... About half a dozen of us were gone.
Come to find out, the reason cited for the oust was a post from two weeks prior - I had said the word "frisky," and the post was deleted. I complained, but not much... Something like, "Awwww... C'mon... That wasn't bad..." And the subject was dropped.
Two weeks later, bam... I was gone. No warning, no "chat," no "ask to stop innuendos"... Nothing. In fact, I was banned and never received word one - before or after.
...Not even after everyone threw a fit.
...And so I had to clear out the cookies on my machine so that I could even VIEW the board. I really shouldn't have done that, but I did... The lies that were being spread around were so thick I couldn't stop reading.
Here's the killer... After everything that's been said and done, I remembered something new last night... I remember writing the person that deleted my post... The "frisky" one. I said "frisky," she deleted, and I said, "Awwwww, c'mon..." Then I wrote her offlist, saying to her, "Hey, what's the deal?"
I never got a response. Not a response to my message, not a, "Hey, screw you," not a, "You're banned," nothing.
...And so I sat there and read line after line of people telling board members that I'd been warned, and that the banning was justified, and that I deserved what I got, and all that junk.
Baloney.
...And so now you're surprised when I say something like, "I would love to post, but I'm afraid I might say something wrong...?"
People have been writing me and asking me where I went. I don't know what else to tell them, 'Doc. I tell them I miss them and that they can get in touch with me directly - but they want the board and the community. They want the public posts and the social enjoyment. But I'm afraid to say anything, for fear of losing the privilege.
The LCDs in a teaching environment (which this is) are those with the lowest level of inteligence. IOW, you are inferring that the board is filled with idiots. Constantly refering to LCDs is a back handed insult to the majority of the board. I am sure you don't mean it that way...
Well, that's true, 'Doc... I don't mean it that way. They're just going to have to live with the idea that I might have called someone an idiot... Even when I didn't.
You know, if "they" are going to go around looking for something to be offended at, then they'll probably find it.
...Or in the meantime, they can deal with the occassional word, "frisky," and the fact that sometimes friends call each other idiots or whatever and live with it. There's been much, much worse things to be posted on internet boards.
...I tell you this as a friend and a colleague: It's really unbecoming and uncalled for. But hey, it's your pity party should you choose to keep it that way. Your call.
Thanks, 'Doc. I have yet to hear an apology from the person who banned me - and the half-dozen others that didn't deserve to have any "action" taken against them. (Have they not stopped posting as well?) That might be a good start - and something I would do if the situation was reversed and it had been me that made an unjust call.
Furthermore, I think that the ensuing four month conversation about "What it takes to get banned" and the "Procedures for getting banned" had completely the wrong focus. IMHO, any time a public place's focus becomes more about "keeping people out" than "putting people in," there's a problem. Yes, I know it's your board - and yes, I choose to be here, so I must play by the rules. I do.
...But you just told me that I was in trouble for sexual innuendo - which is something I'm not doing at the moment. Instead, I'm sharing a first-hand account of what happened, and the truth about it, since that seemed to go by the wayside very quickly.
I would really enjoy an apology from the person that pulled the plug that day. And I'd like to have some reasonable assurance that something like that is not going to happen again. Furthermore, I wish that the Scubaboard that I know and love would stop focusing on "How to get rid of people." The mentality's all wrong.
...Of course, I'm not in a position to demand such things, or even ask for them... But I sure would like them.
How can people write when they're afraid they might write wrong?
I feel like I'm looking down the barrel of a gun every time I put words on this board.
