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Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Trouble with Trolls

Lately, there have been a growing number of complaints regarding “Diane” including suggestions that she be banned from further comments.

Our host, Rob, has declined those suggestions. The rules here are his to determine and his to enforce. I gather that there was one such person banned in the past, but the threshold pertained to actual threats made, rather than the tedious belligerence and vile invective offered by Diane.

Instead of sporadic comments scattered about various posts, I’ve chosen to address the problem this way, through a post to be seen, and discussed, by all.

For if Rob feels compelled not to enforce a ban, as his certainly his right, there is still no reason that the rest of us should not discuss the situation among ourselves and determine our own options and how best to deal with the problem.

Dave, and others, have suggested that best course of action is to simply ignore Diane from here on. I agree. I have tried reasoning, and arguing, with her, to no avail. I have even suggested that she consider taking her very own advice, the advice she adamantly insists the US follow, which is to heed the hate, disdain, and lack of respect of the rest of the world (according to her) and change our policies accordingly. The irony of my suggestion, as Likwishoe noted last evening, is obviously lost on her.

Again, the rules about banning someone are Rob’s to make and enforce. But that doesn’t mean that everyone else should not have their own say, or decide what our other options are and what actions we each decide is appropriate. For any "shunning" to be effective, I think it should include as many persons as possible. I may be the newest "regular" here, but I am no less offended by her behavior. To disagree... with Dave, or WOOF, or anyone else, is one thing. That is, after all, the point. To be continually rude, offensve, and beligerent about it, is another matter entirely.

Comments?

Comments

Rob
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As most of you know, I am not nearly as active in the comments as I once was.  Given the sheer volume of comments posted here every day I simply cannot keep up with them any more.  I do scan the comments, but usually only for words from those readers I respect the most (as well as newcomers who I haven’t heard from yet).

So, frankly, I stopped reading Diane’s comments a long time ago.

As most of you also know I strive to keep SA an open forum.  Things like belligerence and abusiveness are...well...often subjective.  I have no doubt, both from what I have read of Diane’s comments and what others have told me, that she is very rude and certainly abusive.

That being said, a few of the "right wing" readers on this forum are also abusive and/or rude at times.  Not, I think, on Diane’s level...but still.

This presents a dillema for me.  Like anyone else, I have my biases when it comes to all things politics.  I have never attempted to claim to be without bias or partisan feelings.  So when judging who should be banned or who shouldn’t, I tend to be more sympathetic to those with whom I generally agree and told to hold a grudge against those I do not.

So what do I do?  Once I start banning people, where does it stop?  I have to hold everyone to the same standards to be "fair," but I’m never going to be able to please everyone and I certainly don’t want to find myself in the role of being a referee.

However, as SA grows I have a feeling that more and more people like Diane are going to be a problem.  I don’t want the comment threads here to be constantly hijacked by partisan, self-centered malcontents.

I’m open to suggestions.  Maybe some sort of a process for nominating and then voting on people to be banned?  Not sure how that would work, but my ears are open. 


When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

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Rob on May 9, 2006 at 12:43 pm
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I am all for considering her comments invisible for the time being.  Any further hijacking of threads could be construed as true harassment and possibly dealt with more severely.  Who knows, there may be some outside chance that she may eventually change her methods and contribute something of substance. (Although I believe it to be highly unlikely"

 

My .02 Lane

hvywgt on May 9, 2006 at 01:03 pm
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Rob: I think, in a free society, you have to take the bitter with the sweet.  I’m sure having this thread devoted exclusively to her is right up her alley.  Like most lefties, she is not truthful with us "infidels", and poses as a victim, having started the namecalling and insulting all on her own.  I think banning is giving her too much attention.  After the last round of lies and namecalling, I see there is no use in responding to her at all, and as the regulars here catch on to the reality, the situation will resolve itself.

robert108 on May 9, 2006 at 01:03 pm
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I’m on the same page with you Rob.  Where is the line drawn?  I don’t mean to pick...  well, take it for what it is:  2H9 (whom I respect for his insatiable service to the community and country) is often disrespectful.  Likwid (again, whom I respect immensely for his ability to survive the odds and understanding of freedom and "right"wink can be as crass as any other.

I, from time to time, can be out-right rude!  

Would I ban myself for the infraction of terming a fellow poster an idiot?  No.  But neither would I ban Diane for calling me much, much worse.  I, simply, do not care what her opinion of me is.  

I’m not sure that the issue is "name-calling," however.  To me, the issue is one of constant hijacking of threads with the purpose of misdirection and intentional miscommunication.  

I am far less tolerant of the intentional miscommunication than I am of petty name-calling… but that’s just me.

On the flip-side, you ban the robots posting Viagra and Cialis ads.  Is diane much different than this? 

Still, the question is: what to do?

If there is such a thing, I vote no ban, except in the case of direct threats or obviously malicious, intentional, and heinous hijacking of threads.

Not to defend her, but diane usually addresses the topic, or comments in the thread.  Does she ever agree with anyone?  Not really.  Is that a reason to be banned...  not in my opinion. 

Seth Yantiss on May 9, 2006 at 01:05 pm
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Like most lefties, she is not truthful with us "infidels", and poses as a victim, having started the namecalling and insulting all on her own.

I am having a pretty good time watching her defend baby killers!  I think she’s done more to discredit her side than anyone else could ever have done.  Like Sheehan...  she’s more benefitial to us the more vocal she is. 

Seth Yantiss on May 9, 2006 at 01:09 pm
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Robert108,

You are likely right that devoting this single thread to her is paying her more attention than she is due… certainly that’s so when you consider the paucity of substantive content and the sheer virulence of her nastiness.

On the other hand, fear of discussing the problem merely because of her expected reaction is hardly the honorable course to take.

Personally, I am quite willing to have the ignoring, the "shunning" as I believe it is correctly called, start right here and now.

Bat One on May 9, 2006 at 01:09 pm
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I believe a "shunning" would work quite well.  We have enough regulars that anyone not clued into the fact that Diane is a troll and thus isn’t worth talking to could be reminded with a quick comment saying "Dude, don’t feed the trolls" along with a link back to this thread.


When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

robport.gif border=0

Rob on May 9, 2006 at 01:13 pm
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It takes two to tango.  When anyone tries threadjacking(diane is the worst at this, but all of us have done it at one time or the other), if no one responds to the "jack" but just stays on-topic, nothing happens.  We are not all her victims, unless we choose to be.  In the off-chance that she makes any thoughtful submissions, it would be appropriate to reply in kind, as with anyone else.  After all, blogs are about ideas, not personalities.

robert108 on May 9, 2006 at 01:20 pm
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Hey Rob I just wanted to thank you for allowing me to post here, I am sure if you do decide, which you have every right to, allow a vote to ban certain people, then I would be sure to get the axe. Any way I just wanted to say thanks before that happen smile

WETBACK on May 9, 2006 at 01:21 pm
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I’m with Wetback...  Ban him!  wink

Seth Yantiss on May 9, 2006 at 01:32 pm

Dhiane no longer exists to me.

Done.

Ken McCracken on May 9, 2006 at 01:36 pm
Avatar for diane

Wow, Batty! That trouncing regarding credit score terminology you took really got you going, apparently.

Well, with my thanks to rob (shunning wouldn’t bother me one bit, rob) and Seth and any others who voted or would have voted to let me ‘stay’, I will say no thanks.

My purpose here was to debate.  It turned into nothing but being called horrendous names (admitted to by one honest person..of all people Hotel) and I responded in kind, simply to show you that you could not/would not intimidate me.  I’ve shown that, I’ve made some excellent points and now I’m leaving.

I’d like to make a suggestion though, rob, if I might.  One reason I have been accused of hijacking threads is that only certain people here may start threads, as I understand.  Therefore, if someone wants to share an article or thought, they have to TRY to fit it in without starting a new thread if they’re not one of ‘the chosen’.  Maybe there’s no way to fix that, but, if there is, it might help threads stay on track, especially if people who aren’t of the Right Wing persuasion visit your board.

I have noted the other ‘libs’ as you call them (among other things) are very polite, witty, and nice people and I’m glad they will stay to try to inject some intelligence and truth into the ‘hate lib’ fluff that abounds.

Thanks, rob, for allowing me to be here.  Batty....get over it.  You were wrong.  You need to get out more among the people in a profession that feeds your company loans (if indeed you own such a co.) and learn the terminology of the business; you will probably do better if you do that.  The largest real estate company in the world (Century 21) has interviewed mortgage experts who disagree with you that FICA is not used/acceptable as a term for credit scores and that can be found in the ‘Visine’ thread with a link to the statement ‘FICA score’ being used by an expert in mortgage lending. 

 they run their credit quite a but and that is going to affect their FICA score and so I would suggest that they are very careful in running their credit.

http://www.c21talk.com/search/segment.asp?ShowID=3&SegmentID=4

Bye to RBB, MikeA and any other normal folks here.

See ya at the polls!

 

 

diane on May 9, 2006 at 01:46 pm
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Pssst...rob, don’t know how to ‘unjoin’ so that’s up to you.

diane on May 9, 2006 at 01:46 pm
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Look, diane did it again...  HA! 

Did no one tell diane that anyone can write posts for this site?  Oh, never mind... 

Seth Yantiss on May 9, 2006 at 01:51 pm
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Diane, I have noticed several times when you have shown up in a thread and posted totally off-topic rants.  Now there is no set-in-stone rule about staying on topic in a post’s thread, but it does get annoying after a while.  With the sheer number of comments you post it is little wonder that you’ve ticked some people off.

If you want to stay, just try to comment on the topic at hand or on topics at least somewhat related.

Also, the people who can submit posts are not chosen by me.  Anyone can sign up for a posting account.  The link for that is on the sidebar and has been since you came to SA.  And you may not have noticed (not sure if any have come through since you’ve been reading) but I have posted several items written by lefty commenters here (CV Rick, Mcair and others) and posts but "right wingers" with which I’ve disagreed.  I will admit to exercising a certain level of quality control over the submitted posts, but I do not exercise any bias in this regard as to political persuasion.

So, you could have been starting your own threads here all along, but I suspect that your intent has always been to harrass and obfuscate more than to debate and share opinions so that is really just sort of irrelevant, I guess. 


When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

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Rob on May 9, 2006 at 01:52 pm
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I’m ignoring this thread.

The Whistler on May 9, 2006 at 01:54 pm
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Diane, I don’t know what you mean by "unjoin," but if you are talking about comment notifications there is an unsubscribe link in the bottom of each email.


When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

robport.gif border=0

Rob on May 9, 2006 at 01:54 pm

There is a huge difference between what WETBACK does and what Diane does. I’m not being personal here, but I find a lot of what Wetback posts to be very vile and in extremely poor taste. But at least his posts are relevant to the current discussion. I will disagree and usually be offended with almost everything he says, but his posts are never self-serving; they are always related to whatever we’re talking about.

In that respect, I would put myself on the same level as Wetback. I, too, hold views on many issues that put me in an extreme minority on this blog, but when I post comments they are (I hope!) on topic.

I don’t think it would be advantageous to ban people just for holding minority political views. But that is not what Diane does.

Diane has hijacked every single thread she’s participated in. Every thread, no matter the topic, serves as an opportunity for her to criticize the President or talk about herself and how she’s a "victim" for facing all this harrassment. There was an interesting thread on "Price Gougin," which I’d been following....until Diane showed up, and it descended into absurdity. She is so much more harmful to this blog than a Neo-Nazi would be, for Diane actually succeeds in prohibiting the free discussion of political issues. She is a cancer. She’s already ruined, I don’t know, 20 threads so far....why let her continue?

I vote to ban her.

Dave on May 9, 2006 at 01:55 pm
Avatar for Seth Yantiss

I have an idea for diane’s first thread! 

"Why using pre-school children for maryters is a good idea."

She has so much to offer on the topic.  I’m sure we would all find it interesting.

#2 could be "Beslan, How and why the US made the Muslims do it." 

#3 "Beheading innocent people 101." 

It seems endless... 

Seth Yantiss on May 9, 2006 at 01:57 pm
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TW states

I’m ignoring this thread.

I’m ignoring your ignoring of this thread. 

MikeAdamson on May 9, 2006 at 02:56 pm
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Guys...I haven’t been here that long. BUT, I feel like you all are sort of like family to me. Diane does have a tendency to hijack some of the best threads. That FICO or FICA thing has become such an obsession with her! Yikes!… AND, Bullwinkle had such a great post up until her FICO attack. That did bother me. Anyway, diane is obnoxious, rude and a hijacker. BUT, she has become kind of like a wicked step sister. I don’t think she can help how she is??? Don’t ban her.

Zsa Zsa on May 9, 2006 at 02:58 pm
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I didn’t see that.

The Whistler on May 9, 2006 at 02:58 pm
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Here we go.  After some judicious digging, I found(on page 3 of the Google search, near the bottom of the page) this little tidbit:

Old Mutual Bank | Verification... details of each and every client, as required by recent legislation passed in the form of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 (FICA). ...
www.oldmutual.co.za/ombank/fica/ - 8k -  Cached - Similar pages

So here it is: the "meaning" of the acronym.  It is very recent(2001) and totally concerned with apprehending money launderers by scoring their frequency and amount of transactions.  It is only peripherally related to credit scores, but anyone on the radar for money laundering would have knowledge of it, I guess, at least since 2001.  Kinda puts it all into perspective, doesn’t it?  Having never done any shady transactions, I didn’t even know this exists;  ditto for the rest of us, I guess.  What does it tell you that diane is so intimately familiar with it that she regards it as common as a credit check?  Very interesting. 

robert108 on May 9, 2006 at 03:13 pm
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Rob, I have a lot of respect for the way you run things.  Allowing people to comment whose you might find distasteful is pretty cool, especially when one  considers that you pay for all of this out of your own pocket.

My big problem with Diane is that she is mean-spirited and generally intellectually dishonest.  She couldn’t even post a comment on this thread without a repeat of her special brand of nastiness, she almost never stays on topic, and is usually more interested in trying to get a rise from somebody rather than trying to make any particular point.

Put another way, she rarely means what she says.  She is using the words as a vehicle for verbal attack on others.

All of us at times get frustrated and will vent at others, especially people we disagree with, but sometimes just in general.  God knows I’ve done it, and probably offended a few people in the process.  But there is a difference between that and the general nastiness that Diane displays.

I suppose she doesn’t get or just doesn’t care that her form of verbal attacks don’t persuade anybody towards her posiiton.  If anything it tends to entrench them into an opposing view. 

For those of us who are interested in the art of persuasion, it’s a good idea to keep in mind that in an argument, the general public typically will side with the party who is behaving more reasonably.  In that respect, it is in the Republican Party’s interest to have  Carville’s, Feinsteins, Sheehans, Deans, Zuniga’s and the many other types of vocal moonbats out there a be highly visible, especially if they are opposed by rational, thoughful commentary.

The problem with emotional appeals is that they typically only work on a small subset of the population (e.g., antiwar people).  Typically they are offensive to more people than they persuade.  Rational balanced comments may not set anybody on fire, but they have a quiet way of persuading a large block of the population in away that fiery rhetoric never could.  (See George Bush for somebody who has successfully exploited this principle in persuading large blocks of people for well neigh 15 years now).

Weighing in on FICO versus FICA.... if you type "FICO credit report" and "FICA  credit report" on google, you get about 9 times more hits with FICO than FICA.  That’s one way to determine the frequency of word uses.  I can’t speak to what realitors WRITE. (How often do they spell out FICO versus FICA in any case & the pronunciation isn’t that different?)  But the correct word choice is by far the more prevalent of the two word choices.

Not that Diane really cares, which is my point about her being intellectually dishonest in her dealings on this blog. 

Carrick on May 9, 2006 at 03:13 pm
Avatar for Zsa Zsa

No more FICOING or FICAING!…

Zsa Zsa on May 9, 2006 at 03:40 pm

I’m with you Rob.  Open comments rock, and anything less will paint a biased picture (your own bias) at best, and smell like ordinary censorship at worst.

I spend some time on another blog where the owner is constantly handwringing over the ‘tone’ of some of the comments.  But he cannot have it both ways—either we have a fair and open debate, with all the emotional warts that go along—or he paints a warped picture of reality, warped by the funhouse mirror of his own emotional warts.   

You do a great job here.  We love you man. 


[Feet make good soup!]

Marty on May 9, 2006 at 03:43 pm
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Too crafty for me.

MikeAdamson on May 9, 2006 at 03:45 pm
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I don’t know fica from fico.  Since I nearly went bankrupt a few years ago it matters not to me anymore.

But as to Dianne.  All of you /us are friends.  Look at the notes to Dave.  We try hard to respect and honor each other.  The dissonance Diane brings is hard to stomach.  I don’t like it either.

But, I don’t think if I was God (Rob) I would ban her.  Where does it stop?  Heck sometimes I say really dumb things. So, let’s continue.

I think Zsa Zsa has it right. 

So, Diane.  This is a worthwhile thing we do here.  Be part of it.  Don’t make the mistake of taking us places we didn’t sign on for in a thread.  Or as Rob said, post your own thread and take your chances.

We all do.

Thanks Rob, this is getting tougher as it grows.  But it’s worth it. This is amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

Gene Redlin on May 9, 2006 at 03:50 pm
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Thanks Dave and Iam glad you appreciate my comments as well smile

WETBACK on May 9, 2006 at 04:09 pm
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To all: I made a mistake.  In my zeal to find the most minute shred of relevance to diane’s rant, I gave you a reference for fica from South Africa money laundering!  Now it gets even more mysterious.

"As you may know, all South African banks are committed to assisting the government in its efforts to counter the scourge of money laundering.

This entails verifying certain details of each and every client, as required by recent legislation passed in the form of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 (FICA).

The target date for completing this process was 30 June 2004.  However, the Minister of Finance has extended this deadline to 30 September 2005. Failure to comply may result in restrictions being placed on your account."

 

robert108 on May 9, 2006 at 04:14 pm
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For those of you who have directed kind words in my direction, thanks.  I do my best and value everyone who reads and comments here.  I will point out, in fairness, that I do not pay for all of this out of my own pocket as Carrick says.  I do make a bit of money at it.  Not much, and most of it gets re-invested into improving the site (I have some big plans in store for later this summer) but some.

Don’t want anyone getting the wrong idea. 

As for Diane, I am pretty much convinced that she should stay.  As has been said before in this thread, we all annoy one another.  We routinely talk about highly emotional, hot-button topics and the discourse often becomes heated...even to the point of being insulting and petty.  But, mostly, everyone addresses the topic at hand and engages in the discussion.  What Diane does is little better than spamming.  She fills every thread with so much off-topic gibberish that it is difficult to follow the discussion at hand.

That being said, I think the solution is to follow the little mantra I have posted above the comment section:

  Grant me the serenity to ignore the trolls,
the courage to debate with honest opponents,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

Just ignore diane.  When you see a comment from her don’t even bother to respond.  If you see others responding to her, just warn them as to the nature of her comments and then move on.

Deprived of attention, I’m sure she’ll leave. 


When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

robport.gif border=0

Rob on May 9, 2006 at 04:25 pm
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Gang, I have already owned up to being particularly nasty to this troll. Hell, y’all know how little tolerance I got for whitesupremist scumbags. Got none for jewhaters,niggerhaters,arabhaters,redneckhaters,wophaters, or MelvintheMartianhaters either. Dhimi diane started here by voicing support for terrorists against Evil America. Not her wording, nevertheless it is her meaning,intention, leaning. As for her endlessly neverending cut&paste diatribes, I don’t read them. As I said last night, I have engaged the 30 word threshold with it. If it is longer than 2 sentences I scroll to the next. In an unrelated aside, I really miss how each new comment used to come with the email notification. I say Nae. Don’t ban it, its not worth the karma.

TwoHotel9 on May 9, 2006 at 04:29 pm
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In an unrelated aside, I really miss how each new comment used to come with the email notification.

I actually miss this too.  Unfortunately, the subscribe to comment code for Movable Type (which I moved to from Wordpress a while back, you will all remember) doesn’t allow for that and paying someone to re-write the code just isn’t in the budget right now. 


When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

robport.gif border=0

Rob on May 9, 2006 at 04:32 pm
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Figured it was related to that. I cleared out my email when we changed providers. Had a pile of comment thread traffic from several places. Now no one does that. I am saddened.

TwoHotel9 on May 9, 2006 at 04:37 pm
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Robert108...Don’t be so hard on yourself. Diane has badgered everyone. We all need to recognize that she makes vicious personal attacks. She has some real self esteem issues and she lashes out at anyone who gets in her way. Rob...You are so cool and I am so pleased I found SA! You the man.

Zsa Zsa on May 9, 2006 at 04:45 pm
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Melvinthemartianhaters?????

I am truly in awe of that one. 

Bat One on May 9, 2006 at 04:50 pm

 Unfortunately, the subscribe to comment code for Movable Type (which I moved to from Wordpress a while back, you will all remember) doesn’t allow for that and paying someone to re-write the code just isn’t in the budget right now. 

Hmmm… I just happen to be friends with the guy who wrote MT-notifier.  In fact, he teaches my daughters sunday school class. 

Maybe I’ll have the missus bake him a pie… wink


[Feet make good soup!]

Marty on May 9, 2006 at 04:58 pm
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Wow, Marty.  That would be really cool.

You should have him take a look at this Wordpress plugin (that’s what I was using) and see if he can pattern his more after that.

Then if I could just figure out a way to allow readers to register themselves to post and get someone to port Spam Karma over from MT I’d be set. 


When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

robport.gif border=0

Rob on May 9, 2006 at 05:01 pm
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ZZ: My tongue is firmly lodged in my cheek.  She hasn’t furnished any meaning for "fica" and I can find nothing in the US other than Social Security tax.  I really tried, but no luck.  I’m glad I made the effort.  It just makes things all the clearer.

robert108 on May 9, 2006 at 05:26 pm
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You people are priceless.  But no, I must demur.

 

LOL

 

(P.S.  Thanks, Zsa, for the evil stepsister thang.  Let’s have a pajammer party sometime!!!  Whaddya say, girl??)

diane on May 9, 2006 at 05:33 pm
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And BobbyDearest:  Give it up.  It’s a commonly used term in real estate/lending we just throw around like an old football.  No need to trouble yourself so.

diane on May 9, 2006 at 05:34 pm
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I would like to believe you.  I always like to learn new things.  Please share with us what it means.  I know you can do it, can’t you?

robert108 on May 9, 2006 at 05:39 pm
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 Dhimi diane started here by voicing support for terrorists against Evil America. Not her wording, nevertheless it is her meaning,intention, leaning

Oh, and Hotel...at least you’re about the most honest person here admitting how really vicious you were and that’s what started the ball rolling.

Now, when I need someone to get inside my head and tell me what I ACTUALLY mean about what I say, you’ll be the first guy I’ll call. wink

And I’ll reciprocate.  Because we all need someone to tell us what we ACTUALLY meant by what we said.

diane on May 9, 2006 at 05:40 pm
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I would like to believe you. I always like to learn new things. Please share with us what it means. I know you can do it, can’t you?

What do I get if I tell you, Bobby?

diane on May 9, 2006 at 05:41 pm
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Can you, or can’t you?

robert108 on May 9, 2006 at 05:45 pm
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It is nice to see the acknowledgement of the rudeness of lik and R108.

Thanks Rob for keeping SA opened to dissent. There are more that a few other sites who bumped me after one or two comments.

 

bush sucks.

Give us an open thread.

realitybasedbob on May 9, 2006 at 06:03 pm
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 You say potatoh, I say potahtoh.  You say FICO, I say FICA.  t’s not such a big deal. 

But check this out:

http://vantagescore.com/

 

diane on May 9, 2006 at 06:09 pm

Personally, I think open threads are lame.

If you want to see how awful they make a blog look, go check out Atrios.

Lazy.

Maybe themed threads with reader-suggested topics would work. You could have something like "Resolved: George W. Bush is the spawn of Satan. Yea or nay?"

Ken McCracken on May 9, 2006 at 06:13 pm
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Weighing in on FICO versus FICA.... if you type "FICO credit report" and "FICA  credit report" on google, you get about 9 times more hits with FICO than FICA.  That’s one way to determine the frequency of word uses.  I can’t speak to what realitors WRITE. (How often do they spell out FICO versus FICA in any case & the pronunciation isn’t that different?)  But the correct word choice is by far the more prevalent of the two word choices. 

Not that Diane really cares, which is my point about her being intellectually dishonest in her dealings on this blog. 

Bingo on that Diane doesn’t care about FICO or FICA, but WRONG on intellectual dishonesty.  Bat STARTED the whole controversy just to be a smart-you know what and try to make me look bad.  (Not that he’s alone)

I was told it was INCORRECT (his words) to use FICA and then made snidely and arrogantly gave the best known use of FICA.

HE was the intellectually dishonest one by doing that when, as I’ve been able so easily to point out, FICA is an ACCEPTED term re: credit within the real estate/lending industry and ANYONE who knows ANYTHING about that industry would know that term, and in fact, as I said, myself and two lender/real estate people from my past both said they had only heard if pronounced FIC-AH in common everyday ‘banter’.

So, as usual, you are wrong, Carrick, in judging me, as Hotel was in trying to interpret my words to fit his own desires.

 

diane on May 9, 2006 at 06:17 pm
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When he pressed the issue, I pointed out further and backed it up, that lenders have their own fica scores because they have developed their own standards for what they are looking for, institution by institution, some using FICO as ONE scoring system.  And now the new competing system I posted a link to above will replace FICO, possibly, with many lenders. 

FICA scores.  Whack upside my head.  But I’m not the only one using it when they are talking about credit scoring.  And most people don’t hit eachother up for ‘sloppiness’.  They just keep quiet, take the chance to make a commission on a loan and treat Realtors like gold, because Realtors are a big piece of their bread and butter. 

 

diane on May 9, 2006 at 06:23 pm
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And, Carrick, speaking of intellectual dishonesty, after getting whopped publickly, Bat started a thread to publickly bring assault on me (as he knew I’m not popular) to try to shut me up:

Lately, there have been a growing number of complaints regarding “Diane” including suggestions that she be banned from further comments.

Now, if that doesn’t sound like an old gossipy snip, I don’t know what does.

And, that’s why, despite Zsa making it so tempting to stay and continue to get pounded on, I’m leaving.  Because so many people here are intellectually dishonest and have a ‘gang up’ mentality.

Bush started an immoral and murderous war.

People who support it are almost as responsible.

Palestinians were driven from their homes by Israeli Jews, including Stern Gang members.  (By the way, the U.S. has been pressured and backed down from withholding funds needed to live from the Palestinians...we’re losing face because the world is getting tired of being bullied).

Islam is a religion followed by over one billion people on earth and growing.  You had better learn to give Muslims more respect than you do when most of them are some of the most intelligent and wonderful people in the world.

High gasoline prices are lousy and are hurting alot of people.

People are not slackers just because they don’t care about getting filthy rich.

Jews with dual citizenship in Israel and the U.S., in my opinion, have a divided loyalty, when their Israeli fellow citizens are spying (Pollard in prison for it I believe?) on MY country. 

Jews=Right  Arabs=Wrong is just plain wrong.

Speculators drive up the price of things and hurt people, usually the poorest people, like in this last oil runup.

Wall Street is a big gambling casino.

Democrats and Republicans are both mostly a bunch of leeches who are out for their own good, not yours, in my opinion.

Democrats as a group are as patriotic as Republicans as a group, and both groups are stupidly partisan instead of logical and consistent.

Being anti-war is not being anti-American.

Wiretapping U.S. citizens without proper warrants is anti-Constitution and just plain wrong.

**********

Those are all things that I should have been/should be able to say without being called bitch, slut, whore, Dhummi/Dhimmi Diane, Wahhabi watercarrier, etc., but was not.

If I am pushed, I push back and that’s because I have a long way to go in my spiritual journey and for that I apologize but also believe there’s such a thing as ‘righteous indignation’ and I’ve felt alot of that here.

I am an anti-war, anti-Bush, patriotic American.

And if I’d taken any time to search this site I could have started my own thread and said all that.

 

 

 

diane on May 9, 2006 at 06:41 pm
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See? All about it.

TwoHotel9 on May 9, 2006 at 06:45 pm
Rob
Rob
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Ken, I’ve tried open threads in the past...but they just haven’t worked that well.  I don’t think the readers/commenters here are all that interested in just commenting for the sake of commenting.

At least not most of them. 


When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

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Rob on May 9, 2006 at 06:46 pm
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Uh, Diane?

I thought you were leaving?  Christ, you can’t even do that right… *sigh*

Regards…

LoadTheMule on May 9, 2006 at 07:49 pm
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Still no answer.  Guess she doesn’t have one.

robert108 on May 9, 2006 at 08:11 pm
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I vote for pie.

Andrew on May 9, 2006 at 08:15 pm
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As Load the Mule stated to Diane:

I thought you said you were leaving!  Of course if you go read the comment thread on price gouging she states that about 5 times, but keeps coming back.  I read this blog and its comments everyday, I’m not a regular commenter, but when I do, I usually enjoy the debates.  However, banning someone would be the last thing I would resort to when it comes to someone like Diane.

And Diane (since I know you’ll read this), it’s obvious what your first post should be should you sign up to have a posting account (shudder):

- FICO vs. FICA!!

Just kidding of course, I’ve read more than enough about this silly argument you keep waging.  If you could just let it go, quit with the juvenile name augments (battyone or likmyshoes; yes very clever) and just stay on topic, posts like this wouldn’t be necessary.

J.R. on May 10, 2006 at 04:05 am
Avatar for Seth Williams

I think Rob should be banned. Oh sure, it’s his blog, but we wouldn’t have to have this discussion if he didn’t have such an open comment policy in the first place. Who’s with me on this?

Seth Williams on May 10, 2006 at 04:36 am
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Andrew:

I vote for pie.

French Silk or Pecan? 

Carrick on May 10, 2006 at 06:13 am
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I’d like to write in "vinegar pie" on my ballot.

Seth Williams on May 10, 2006 at 06:16 am
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Thumping this dead horse once more,

Respect and honest dissertation.

And understanding of the diversity of this group of commenting readers.

Commenters are ages from Late Teens to (I might be the oldest among us) the 60’s.  To discount the value of these conversations by either a ban or by hijacking a thread is not good thread behavior. 

So to Diane, I say, stay but stay in order and respect for others.  To the rest of us, chill.  Ignoring any trollike behavior is the best action.

So, to hijack this thread, How bout those Chicago Cubbies.  In the tank again eh. 

Gene Redlin on May 10, 2006 at 06:43 am
Avatar for Robert Perry

Ivy covers a multitude of errors, Gene.  That’s what I say!  :^)

I’ve actually seen far less abusive behavior here than on some other places I’ve visited--and unfortunately, I’m not just referring to Daily Kos and such.  I’m therefore with those who want to try simply ignoring those who are off topic, or gently reminding them that what they’re saying has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

Robert Perry on May 10, 2006 at 12:07 pm

How bout those Chicago Cubbies.  In the tank again eh.

I first started following them in the fall of ‘96, when they were a decent team. So I was really excited for the ‘97 season...for the first time in my life I could follow a team for a whole year!

Then they lost their first 14 games.... it made me sad. wink

Dave on May 10, 2006 at 03:28 pm
Avatar for TwoHotel9

R.P. you are quite right! Of the blogs I trawl on a regular basis, SA is the most civil. And has far more ongoing, coherent discussion. On way more topics.

TwoHotel9 on May 10, 2006 at 04:01 pm
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So to Diane, I say, stay but stay in order and respect for others.

Well, okay, I’ll stay but only visit very sporadically.  I will respect those who respect me.

  To the rest of us, chill.  Ignoring any trollike behavior is the best action.

Agreed.

diane on May 11, 2006 at 10:50 pm
Avatar for Michael Toborowsky

How would one contact Diane directly.
She posted a comment on my blog and I would like to follow up but she didn’t leave a URL.

Any ideas ladies and gents?

MIKE

Michael Toborowsky on June 11, 2006 at 09:28 pm
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Just say it’s name 3 times. And watch out.

TwoHotel9 on June 12, 2006 at 07:36 am
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