Judgement of the Moon and Stars (Ludwig's Tune)

I know.

I'm very grateful for the hospitality of the Loungers, but I'm also very bummed and feel that most of us Metazens got a raw deal because of a few (who should've just been suspended from Meta if need be). I don't believe in criticizing behind anyone's back, so there it is...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1259268

This does suck lemons, I have to say. I'm probably going to go back to mostly lurking soon, and I really didn't want to or plan to do that. But I don't feel like I have much to say about anything, after being treated like this. Transparency to blackout; democracy to dictatorship really isn't ok with me. We're just s'posed to go on posting and pretend like this didn't happen? Well I can't do that.

If somebody gets mistreated now, we don't even know it. (I happened to see a clue to an instance of that in the Lounge today -- but not enough to know what it's about, as it has to be now.) We can't even agree with each other or support each other in what happens to us here because we aren't allowed to know about it. All the bad stuff is merely invisible now, and that doesn't solve a thing, it makes it worse because it gets pretty much of a free pass without general awareness of it. It just isn't ok with me.

And the worst of it is... the people who behaved the worst on Meta are the most glad that it's gone... and that pisses me off.

I like the site a lot, I like the admins a lot, and I like most of you guys a lot. But this was wrong, wrong, wrong. Sorry, I don't get treated like this and just say, "please, sir, can I have some more".


ETA: link fix

I realize that you are the owners of the site.

But do you really think it's ok to treat people the way you have this week? Do you really think it's any better than the bad behavior in Meta?

I don't, at all. This was extremely rude, and unnecessary to do this way. There wasn't even any serious attempt made to reform Meta, by changing its rules or SoP. There was no input at all from posters beforehand. There was no input from you as to what you didn't like about it, or wanted to see changed. There was no announcement made of what was going on, or why. Posters don't even have access to their posts in a read-only format.

I am in the minority, clearly, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels very run-over by this. And the only recourse we're left with after being treated this way, is to come to this group hat-in-hand to line up one at a time like school children. There's no forum even left to us where any objection or reaction of any kind can be discussed, because "no whining about DU" has been added to all the forums' SoP's. Frankly, I think that makes it a very heavy-handed and cold-blooded thing to do. It comes off as a smack in the face and STFU.

I doubt this will make any difference but I had to say what I think. I don't think you admins are bad guys, on the contrary, but I think this was a really bad action you took. I'm really sorry it was done.

Truth be told

and this is my opinion only.

On the last day there was a thread up, in which a certain faction was getting its ass handed to it. Not by attacks, but by people notably refusing to get in it with them. Right in the middle of that dragging on (@ 8 hours with few replies), Meta went down. So... whatever. They say they're so happy it's gone, and imo that is why. They were imploding (and that might have been a good thing for DU, who knows). It appeared to me that the effect of taking away Meta just then, rescued them (or saved face) in the nick of time.

Just one opinion for 2 cents. And I'll leave it at that, hereafter.

(ps, Yes I do agree that Meta was a train wreck, but I also think a couple of rule changes could've mostly fixed that. But it is, what it is, gone is gone.)

October Project & Til Tuesday

On death and Meta

This post is firstly for my Dad, who passed away a few days ago at the age of 95, and for those here who have lost loved ones in their close inner circle.

It's secondly to thank hrmjustin, Behind the Aegis, Warren DeMontague, libodem, pipi_k, Wait Wut, susanr516, and Sissyk all at once for their kind words in hrmjustin's thread, where I had mentioned Dad's death in passing, within a comment on a Meta incident earlier in the day. I thoughtlessly threw a bit of a curve ball into hrmjustin's thread, but instead of noticing that faux pas, he was simply his gracious kind self, as always.

And now here comes the Meta part. (I'm going to bemoan an oversight, which I intend to simultaneously correct.)

Meta has shown me the best and the worst of DU. The worst is frequently mentioned about Meta, but the best almost never is. I guess it takes adversity to provide a "frame" to see that in. Or put another way, it may take meanness to bring out nobility of spirit, or bigness of character -- which I see in many in Meta, not just a few. Maybe that's what keeps drawing me back here.

So this thread is thirdly also to you, "the salt of Meta" if you will. You are so intelligent, and witty, and brave, and caring... and contexts to show that come up all the time here. It's a pleasure to read your thoughts and become to some degree familiar with how your mind works, via this window.

The song I posted below best expresses not only my thoughts on death, but my thoughts on you "salt of Meta" characters as well (I mean that, smilingly, in the most complimentary way). I'm glad to read you here, and I feel that I have gotten to know who people are better in this forum than in any of the others. For four years I had posted on DU, still wondering after several thousand posts what the background stories referred to meant, until I saw them explained during incidents in early Meta. I couldn't really remember who one poster was from another much, until Meta started. Comprehension gradually replaced bewilderment.

Thank you so much for all that you give us -- in the words of still another songwriter -- "For Free". (Joni Mitchell http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=oQJMq0IZbxI , remove the space to go there, couldn't get the "link" function to work on this)

Please consider this thread and the thought in the song below "to you" personally, and an all-of-you-at-once "thank you!" for all your thoughts of comfort, encouragement, and insight, that you give so often to not just me, but to so many of us here on DU.