LJ

[Tequila Cowboy]

I've had enough. He's no longer a member of this board. I thought a week off might get him to calm down a little but he was right back at attacking others and telling them to fuck off when he didn't get the reactions he wanted. It's not what this place is about and I don't want to spend any more energy on it. We've got a lot of good people here with a lot of things to say from many viewpoints and no one should have to feel attacked for stating them, even when they've learned to brush off the attacks. It's done.

[bovine knievel]

You owe a big apology to all of the possums out there... even they know when to play dead.

[Zip City]

[Smitty]

I think we all owe you a big thanks.
Some folks may not agree with it, but I personally think it was the right decision. He's had chance after chance to act appropriately and contribute something useful to the board, but all he ever did was incite people and lower 3DD's collective IQ by a few points.

[Clams]

Why does he have to get banned? Yeah he says some stupid shit, but he does keep most of it confined to the political thread, so is there really any harm to the board? My own views are pretty much 180 degrees from his, but I believe banning him is wrong. Seriously.

[Smitty]

Why does he have to get banned? Yeah he's LJ, but he's our LJ. He keeps most of his shit is confined to the political thread anyway, so is there really any harm to the board? He's been here a long time. My own views are pretty much 180 degrees from his, but banning him is wrong. Seriously.

II ain't talked to TC, but I think it's safe to say he ain't being banned for his views, he's being banned because he's nothing more than a troll who makes the entire board look bad.

[Zip City]

You can have any view you want.

You can't, however, treat everyone who disagrees with you like shit, and generally ruin every thread you participate in.

He was also warned, repeatedly, and refused to show respect. He made his own bed

[Clams]

Why does he have to get banned? Yeah he's LJ, but he's our LJ. He keeps most of his shit is confined to the political thread anyway, so is there really any harm to the board? He's been here a long time. My own views are pretty much 180 degrees from his, but banning him is wrong. Seriously.

II ain't talked to TC, but I think it's safe to say he ain't being banned for his views, he's being banned because he's nothing more than a troll who makes the entire board look bad.

Who does he make us look bad to? The PC peaceniks on the Kings of Leon board?* Every message board has a douchebag in its political forum, so what's the big deal?

*I could not remember the name of Kings of Leon - so I googled "pigeon shit band concert" and their name came right up! I swear.

[Smitty]

Zip said it better. It ain't nothing to do with being PC. LJ's had his chance time and time again.

[Zip City]

Again, it has nothing to do with politics. He was a disrespectful clown in the music threads as well.

[bovine knievel]

Of his 4836 posts, 7 were in the Drive-by Truckers discussion forum. He clearly wasn't here for DBT. Fuck him.

[John A Arkansawyer]

*I could not remember the name of Kings of Leon - so I googled "pigeon shit band concert" and their name came right up! I swear.

Absolute truth--I tried it myself. And one of the links was to 6 Screw-Ups by Famous Bands That Make Spinal Tap Look Smooth, containing this wonderful caption under a picture of whoever got his mouth crapped in: "In most shows, shit just pours out of his mouth, so this was kind of an improvement."

[Smitty]

Who does he make us look bad to?

To the average DBT fan.
Most message boards are filled with "LJ's" - we're lucky we only had one. I can't think of how many times I've contemplated joining a forum dedicated to a band and changed my mind after reading a few posts. Of course that may not have even been a factor with him getting banned; TC may have just been thinking about current members having to deal with his bullshit, but thinking about that is what made me change my mind. I used to oppose banning anybody, but fuck that. Some folks don't contribute anything but negativity. I want this board to grow; the more intelligent members discussing shit the better. Someone like LJ is a serious impediment to that.
Just my 2 cents.

[beantownbubba]

If the great Earl Monroe will forgive me, LJ was the Earl the Pearl of this board: He got away w/ shit that nobody else could simply because he established it as his style. Given that inch and the proverbial yard provided by repeated warnings, he took the whole damn field: he pushed the boundaries of acceptability and people's patience further than they could stretch, and he got hit by the rebound (see what i did there?).

Many, many, many times I've seen posters try to engage LJ on the merits. My sense is that people would have liked to hear and exchange views w/ someone who expressed opinions outside the typical A to B spectrum. It never lasted more than a couple of posts before the typical pattern repeated: first factual disinformation (a polite term for lies or intentional mistakes); then tangential (a politer term for off the wall) comments which didn't reply to any actual point expressed by anyone else, usually made in the most obnoxious fashion possible; and then finally degenerating to versions of either "i know you are but what am I?" or "fuck you you fucking fuck" or "you and Obama are both Nazis. Unless you're communists." Occasionally his posts would degenerate even further in language and/or personal direction, as Cortez well knows. As has been said it wasn't the substance of any point of view that was the problem (if his views can actually be characterized as substantive), it was the personal attacks coupled w/ complete disregard of history and facts and the rules of logic and civility. I think that it's pretty easy to see throughout this board how the vast majority of members and posters have opted to create a certain tone, often referred to as a supportive community. Even if you find that to be a bit idealistic and unrealistic, it's pretty clear that LJ was motivated by very different values and it's pretty easy to understand why folks would find his posts and persona to be out of step with this board and more than typically annoying by the usual standards of an internet message board.

That being said, I really don't understand why so many people continued to engage w/ him when the alternative of the ignore button was so handy*. I consider banning to be pretty extreme and to be avoided at almost all costs. Ignoring LJ would have been better for everyone and would have eliminated the "need" to ban him (out of sight = out of mind). I wish more people had gone that route. But we/they didn't and by the end LJ seemed to be asking (begging?) to be banned. I see no reason not to honor his request. In my perfect world, nobody would be banned, and yeah the world and 3DD would continue to spin even if LJ were allowed to continue to throw his tantrums and invective, but I can't give TC any grief about this at all. I think it's a totally reasonable and understandable decision and I support it.

*Although I do understand the impulse to respond to some particularly egregious disregard of the truth out of some sense that LJ's post shouldn't be allowed to stand as the last word on the subject. I've had that reaction myself despite my best intentions. But on the whole, responding didn't change anything and ignoring him would imho have been the far better strategy.

[Smitty]

Ignoring only works if everybody does it, and having to warn everybody who ventures into the "Everything Else" basement to ignore/block LJ is crazy and shouldn't be necessary (and now it's not). He's no different from TheBowmanBody or PulledPork or anyone else who trolled 9B/3DD with no intention other than riling people up.

[bovine knievel]

Basement?!

I knew I was a bottom-feeder.

[Iowan]

He was the biggest douche bag/dipshit on this board.

I don't know if that means you should ban him (every message board needs its pariah), but I won't miss him.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

I agree on the "ignore" feature as well as the idea behind it. It doesn't really work. The best thing to do was never to venture into this thread as he rarely ever posted outside of it, unless it was to post 17 Tori Amos albums and one by Fiona Apple in the Female Vocalists thread. As long as the discussion didn't involve topics he enjoyed getting his rage on with he could be pleasant enough to talk to but 9 times out of 10 that just wasn't possible. BTB nailed it, there was no chance of any intelligent discourse with him as he followed the exact same pattern every time and that was never going to change.

[Lone Wolf1]

I've had enough. He's no longer a member of this board. I thought a week off might get him to calm down a little but he was right back at attacking others and telling them to fuck off when he didn't get the reactions he wanted. It's not what this place is about and I don't want to spend any more energy on it. We've got a lot of good people here with a lot of things to say from many viewpoints and no one should have to feel attacked for stating them, even when they've learned to brush off the attacks. It's done.

y'all never should have never allowed a politics forum. seems liberals are easily butt hurt. banning is too easy

[Beebs]

“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.”
― Charles Bukowski

[John A Arkansawyer]

y'all never should have never allowed a politics forum. seems liberals are easily butt hurt. banning is too easy

In my town, thinking someone's farts stink real bad and they need to step out for a while isn't the same as being butt hurt.

[Tequila Cowboy]

Again, it has nothing to do with politics. He was a disrespectful clown in the music threads as well.

It had ZERO to do with politics, in fact it was his politics that kept me from doing anything before now. As Zip points out some of his worst behavior occurred in the Other Bands forum. As long as he could spew shit without being called on it he would but try teasing him about Tori Amos and he would call you a cunt and tell you much of an idiot you were for still listening to country/blues based music. I've warned him repeatedly and never once did he say "I'll back off, sorry I crossed a line" instead he would blame the person he was tangling with. Other people have crossed the line before and been warned and they step back, reassess and move on from the situation. If this had been about politics he would have been banned long ago. I've been called Hitler, Stalin, Mao and a censor and I've let it alone. Worse than that is that I've allowed him to call other people all those things and worse and let him continue. As a moderator I'm ashamed of that. Yesterday, after being suspended for a week, he got into it again and told someone oh so cleverly to fuck off, not in jest or even in a petty argument but instead because he had been called on something and wouldn't answer. He could have walked away and we all would have laughed and moved on like he was some sitcom character, but he didn't. We don't tolerate this behavior from others so why should he be exempt? He's been around for years and has never changed his behavior. If you really think this was about politics you haven't been paying attention.

[beantownbubba]

We don't tolerate this behavior from others so why should he be exempt?

Exactly why i thought my Earl Monroe analogy/reference was pretty apt

[Iowan]

I've had enough. He's no longer a member of this board. I thought a week off might get him to calm down a little but he was right back at attacking others and telling them to fuck off when he didn't get the reactions he wanted. It's not what this place is about and I don't want to spend any more energy on it. We've got a lot of good people here with a lot of things to say from many viewpoints and no one should have to feel attacked for stating them, even when they've learned to brush off the attacks. It's done.

y'all never should have never allowed a politics forum. seems liberals are easily butt hurt. banning is too easy

That's not it at all, and you know it.

You and Cole Younger are both conservatives who are nowhere near close to being banned. Its not about LJ's views, its about his complete inability to debate respectfully. Maybe its just a liberal thing, but most of us can debate ideas without personally insulting other people or devolving into name calling.

All LJ did was insult liberals without responding with any kind of other ideas. Just taunts and belligerent behavior.

[Zip City]

I've had some very interesting debates with Cole, because they're civil and we listen to each other.

LoneWolf1, not so much. He likes to open the door, drop a load, then run away

[Beebs]

He likes to open the door, drop a load, then run away

And that is how you end up "Butt Hurt"

[Lone Wolf1]

use the ignore feature if you don't like certain folks. pretty simple

[Zip City]

use the ignore feature if you don't like certain folks. pretty simple

You don't seem to be taking your own advice

[Iowan]

He likes to open the door, drop a load, then run away

And that is how you end up "Butt Hurt"

Got butt hurt?

[Gang Green]

We don't tolerate this behavior from others so why should he be exempt?

Exactly why i thought my Earl Monroe analogy/reference was pretty apt

I'm not agreeing with this Earl the Pearl comparison. Earl the Pearl was one of coolest individuals of all time. I wouldn't put LJ in that category. Now Michael Jordan would be a more appropriate comparison. Jordan, was egotistical, mean and nasty much like LJ, and Jordan got away with absolutely everything.