Yup, I was banned from A&A - and I probably deserved it [View all]

[intaglio]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by ZombieHorde (a host of the Religion group).

[center]Note to the hosts, I realise this is meta and will no doubt attract a large amount of interest. Please feel free to lock or to ask me to self delete. I will be online for about another 6 hours[/center]

I deserved it because I did not put the whole group, or even individuals on ignore. Or perhaps I deserved it because I didn't coddle certain atheists. In any event I am banned and because I cannot respond within that Group to the post made by a host I am posting my response here.

From the host's post

1. It became obvious that while he claimed a desire to improve the discourse at A&A, his words themselves were detrimental to the atmosphere in A&A.

Yup, because I refused to let the small clique have a free pass. These A&A members sole purpose within A&A seems to be to denigrate posters in other groups or to moan about how they are victimised within other groups, I regard such behaviour as foolish and immature and see nothing wrong with stating that. It is true I attracted the ire of other members, fine, I am not out to win a popularity contest and I am a big boy and can take criticism, however it seems that certain people within A&A cannot take criticism no matter how gentle or abrasive it is.
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2. Intaglio was sent a PM with the suggestion to spend his time at other areas of DU at which he had more in common with the group posters. He ignored that advice.

Here is the text of that PM. Please note that the person who sent it did not identify themselves as a host, nor that this PM was a precursor to exclusion. Indeed the only suggestion it makes is, essentially, to voluntarily ban myself from A&A

Greetings Intaglio,

I am writing because I notice you seem to be rather unhappily participating in AAGroup lately. Your posts indicate that you would like to change the dynamics of the group. Judging by the responses to your posts which demonstrate that, you are a minority of one in thinking changes are necessary.

If you dislike the group dynamics, perhaps you might consider spending your time elsewhere on DU? I generally ignore the areas where I find the discussion not to my liking. Life is too short to do otherwise, wouldn't you agree?

Regards,

My response

Greetings

Well perhaps if the dynamics of the group moved on from a small clique of self-satisfied posters back into a broader spectrum of both atheists and agnostics then perhaps there would be less friction. Please note that the vile name given to atheists by the current group dynamic is not due to any fault of mine; rather it is due to the obsessive posts, outsider denigration and general snobbishness displayed by a small group who see A&A as their personal territory where they are immune from any criticism whatsoever.

You may be happy to let things lie, but after recent posts I was not; especially following the "white knight" digs - a term used by MRAs and their female accomplices to denigrate any male saying anything supportive of a female they dislike. Such Men's Rights derived sentiments have been all too common in the atheist community generally and they should not be allowed to dominate the discourse here.

There has been no criticism of atheist/agnostic thought or community activity in the threads where I have been abrasive only sniping by that small clique at others on DU. These posts disrupt the broader community at DU and must be brought before a jury.

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3. One thing we don't do at A&A is coddle faithists or others who defend religious privilege, whether that on DU or in normal American life in general. Intaglio's POV can be seen as defending religion.

Interesting line. I'll leave others to look at the general tone of the first element: as to the (unconnected) second element perhaps some of the believers here would like to comment about my defence of religion
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4. Intaglio's tone towards atheists is derisive, sneering, and judgmental. If we wanted to be treated that way, we'd spend more time around believers. Treating fellow atheists that way isn't a way to make friends.

Apparently I am not an atheist and agnostics are no longer welcome in A&A. As observed above I am not in a popularity contest. It also seems sneering and judgemental posts about atheists and agnostics who are not part of the cabal are welcome in A&A. Similarly accusations of gloating and boasting, denigration of one poster as a retired white woman who no longer lives in the USA, attacks on myself as a "white knight" (an MRA term) are to be permitted and are not "sneering and judgemental"
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5. His/her behavior made DU suck.

I think that this actually means I made A&A suck (a hugely adult term) rather than the whole of DU. What does taint the whole of DU is the A&A using childish jibes like "faithist" and "religionista"; treating a particular protected environment for making meta posts about how nasty people on the Religion or Interfaith forums are being to hard done by atheists; and obsessively making Original Posts about one particular aspect of faith.
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At any time, intaglio is free to petition the A&A hosts with a request for reinstatement. The decision to do so will be judged on intaglio's behavior regarding this incident and the response to his/her banning from A&A..

Like I would want to rejoin such a tainted environment