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USM Forum -- Message Board -> AAUP-USM MESSAGE BOARD -> Banned posters: the "FireShelby" principle
Post Info TOPIC: Banned posters: the "FireShelby" principle
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Banned posters: the "FireShelby" principle
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It appears that posters have once again been escorted off the premises.  Thinking about that, and pondering Stephen's wonderful essay on anonymous posting reminded me a bit of the old "FireShelby" days.  I once likened that board to a home and FireShelby to the homeowner who had opened his house to the neighbors.  People were free to come and go, talk, have a good time and tell jokes, but a guest who got out of hand was escorted to the door. 
Even with all our changes, this board is still "private property" in the same sense, and its administration has the same right to show people the door that FireShelby had.  It's been suggested repeatedly that anyone who disagrees with this principle is free to set up a new board and run it any way they feel like running it.  In fact, I once set up another board just to demonstrate how simple a process it really is.

Once someone has been banned from this or any board, attempts to come back in disguise are unprincipled.  How can you call for truth and transparency under such circumstances?

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Love your enemies.  It makes them so damned mad.  ~P.D. East
LeftASAP


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RE: Banned posters: the "FireShelby" principle
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LVN,
From the tone of the "new posters", Framer and Cat, I suspected I had heard them before.  It didn't take long before my intuitions to pan out.

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Moderator


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Banned posters: the "FireShelby" principle
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If they want to post here "they" can email usmboard[at]gmail[dot]com and explain "themselves." You can have multiple identities but you can't use them to have fake conversations, unless it's clearly humorous.

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Impatient and intolerant.
stephen judd


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RE: Banned posters: the "FireShelby" principle
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Thanks for the thoughts folks -- and thanks for confirming my suspicions, moderator.

We've seen this game before. It is not only tedious, but it really is unprincipled because it uses the medium to undermine the foundation of discourse which is trust.




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Associate Professor of Theatre, USM
Web Master


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Posts: 243
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Banned posters: the "FireShelby" principle
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Cat insists that he is not Framer, but he doesn't want to be restored. Therefore I have restored Framer's posting ability for the time being. All posters should be aware that Webmaster/Moderator accounts can see IP addresses.

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stephen judd


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Posts: 151
Date:
RE: Banned posters: the "FireShelby" principle
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Web Master wrote

Cat insists that he is not Framer, but he doesn't want to be restored. Therefore I have restored Framer's posting ability for the time being. All posters should be aware that Webmaster/Moderator accounts can see IP addresses.


So . . .  one possibility is that Framer and Cat are two different people writing from the same IP address . . .  have I got that right you web experts out there?

I really don't mind conversing with people who disagree with me -- it can be stimulating. What is not stimulating is when the framework of discussion is so undermined that it is unclear if either party is working with the presupposition that genuine communication is the intent of the discourse.

This is a sad tactic when it occurs, because it is, in effect, a lie. The most damaging effect of lying is not the direct damage the lie itself might cause, but the way in which lies cancel trust -- the belief that we are operating on common principles of civil behavior. The effect of that is to negate rationality and order and to promost discord and chaos. This is a form of intellectual terrorism.

As my mother used to tell me . . . "just because you think you can get away with a lie does not mean you should."

In fact, choosing to be truthful when the possibility of being able to offer a successful lie in its place would seem to me to be the standard of best ethical practice.










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Associate Professor of Theatre, USM
Framer


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Posts: 8
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I have not lied to you.  I wrote about what was on my mind.  It was coincidence that Cat in the Hat and I were conversing at the same time.  Cat, I am sorry to drag you into this.  As for IP addresses, I do not know what you are talking about.  I use a computer at USM.



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